Better community engagement: a framework for learning

Because different needs and priorities call for different approaches, the document does not present a single curriculum. Instead it provides a statement of the purpose, elements and competences for community engagement practice that should enable training providers to develop their own curricula to address the needs of practitioners operating in different settings. We hope that this approach can make a significant contribution to establishing a range of learning opportunities that will deliver the best practice needed to deliver on policy commitments and to put communities first

Community learning and development training for professionals engaged in community regeneration and community planning

The study was commissioned by the Scottish Executive Development Department to identify training needs and current provision of community learning and development (CLD) training for a range of professionals (other than those formally qualified in CLD) who are engaged in community regeneration and community planning (Local Government in Scotland Act 2003). It was one of a series of studies emanating from the Scottish Executive response to the review: „Empowered to Practice – the future of community learning and development training in Scotland‟. One of the themes of the report taken up by the Scottish Executive was the need for; „wider opportunities for joint training with other disciplines such as teachers, librarians, college lecturers, health workers and social workers‟

The Demands-Resources Model : Theory Expansion and Introduction to the Influence on College Students

This study was designed to extend the Job Demands-Resources model of stress and motivation (Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner, & Schaufeli, 2001b) on a number of student outcomes including strain, burnout, well-being, engagement, satisfaction, commitment, and academic success. In line with the model, it was predicted that student demands and student resources would have main effects on outcomes and that student resources would moderate the relationship between demands and outcomes. A sample of 365 undergraduate students at a mid-sized university participated by filling out an on-line survey. Hypotheses were tested using regression analyses. Results demonstrated general support for the idea that student demands influence outcomes. Specifically, demands are negatively associated with strain, burnout, well-being, engagement, satisfaction, commitment, and academic success. Results also demonstrated general support for the idea that student resources influence outcomes. Specifically, increased internal resources (autonomy, competence, and active coping) are positively associated with GPA, satisfaction, commitment, and engagement, while negatively associated with strain. Additionally, external resources (social support, campus resources, professor feedback, and decision making) are positively associated with well-being, satisfaction, and engagement, and negatively associated with strain. However, there was little support for the idea that resources moderate the relationship between demands and outcomes. In fact, in the two significant interactions, it was found that increases in internal resources and increases in demands predict increases in well-being and strain. Study results suggest that the JD-R model is useful for understanding student stress. The model can be helpful to college administrators in better understanding the influence of student demands and student resources on stress and motivation related outcomes and help them pinpoint what areas of student demands and internal/extemal resources require enhancement

Reducing Eating Disorder Onset in a Very High Risk Sample With Significant Comorbid Depression: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Objective: Eating disorders (EDs) are serious problems among college-age women and may be preventable. An indicated online eating disorder (ED) intervention, designed to reduce ED and comorbid pathology, was evaluated. Method: 206 women (M age = 20 +/- 1.8 years; 51% White/Caucasian, 11% African American, 10% Hispanic, 21% Asian/Asian American, 7% other) at very high risk for ED onset (i.e., with high weight/shape concerns plus a history of being teased, current or lifetime depression, and/or nonclinical levels of compensatory behaviors) were randomized to a 10-week, Internet-based, cognitive-behavioral intervention or waitlist control. Assessments included the Eating Disorder Examination (EDE, to assess ED onset), EDE-Questionnaire, Structured Clinical Interview for DSM Disorders, and Beck Depression Inventory-II. Results: ED attitudes and behaviors improved more in the intervention than control group (p = .02, d = 0.31); although ED onset rate was 27% lower, this difference was not significant (p = .28, NNT = 15). In the subgroup with highest shape concerns, ED onset rate was significantly lower in the intervention than control group (20% vs. 42%, p = .025, NNT = 5). For the 27 individuals with depression at baseline, depressive symptomatology improved more in the intervention than control group (p = .016, d = 0.96); although ED onset rate was lower in the intervention than control group, this difference was not significant (25% vs. 57%, NNT = 4). Conclusions: An inexpensive, easily disseminated intervention might reduce ED onset among those at highest risk. Low adoption rates need to be addressed in future research

Putting Participants at the Centre of HIV Cure Research

Curing HIV infection moved from the aspirational to the theoretically plausible with the apparent elimination of latent HIV from Timothy Ray Brown, also known as the Berlin Patient, after receipt of a stem cell transplant from a donor homozygous for the CCR5-Δ32 gene deletion. As HIV cure-related research has expanded, much of the science has centred on biomedical outcomes, and less on the people for whom a cure is being sought. Specifically, there has been limited inquiry directed towards understanding the motivations, perceptions, desires, needs, and experiences of people living with HIV who are asked to participate in cure-related research. This relative lack of attention is troubling when considering trade-offs, risks, demands, and burdens accompanying many of these investigations, such as intensively monitored antiretroviral pauses in effective HIV therapy, large volume blood draws and leucaphereses, and dosing with experimental immunotherapies