Adolescent substance abuse: predictors of treatment outcomes

The purpose of this study was to explore the various drug, demographic, participant, and treatment characteristics predicting treatment completion and other treatment outcomes for 1148 adolescents receiving publicly funded substance abuse treatment. The data for the present study were extracted from a larger study evaluating substance abuse treatment that was funded by Medicaid in a midwestern state. Stepwise regression analyses indicated that treatment characteristics (e.g., multiple entries in treatment and type of treatment) predicted frequency of drug use and days missed at school during treatment. However, treatment characteristics failed to predict participants\u27 arrests during treatment. Participants\u27 arrest history and gender predicted arrests that occurred during treatment. Discharge status was predicted by characteristics of the treatment program and characteristics that participants brought to the treatment. For example, being white and being referred from the criminal justice system predicted completion of treatment. Use of marijuana, being male, having repeated entries in treatment, and having multiple arrests predicted involuntary termination of treatment. And, those participants who were older in age at admission were more likely to drop out of treatment. There were many gender differences found in the initial analyses using ANOVA and Chi-square statistics. For example, compared to males, females tended to miss more days at school, had multiple hospitalizations, and entered the treatment at an earlier age. Males tended to have multiple arrests, were more likely to live with families, and started using drugs at an earlier age than did females. However when combined with other variables in regression analyses gender was suppressed and only predicted number of arrests during treatment

How Medicaid and States Could Better Meet Health Needs of Persons Experiencing Homelessness.

An estimated 580 000 people experienced homelessness on any single night in the United States in 2020. This article argues that, to address these persons\u27 unmet needs, Medicaid should collaborate with clinicians and state programs to provide permanent supportive housing and housing support services to individuals experiencing homelessness. Access to shelter can improve health outcomes for individuals experiencing homelessness and reduce overall health care costs

Spectacular Subjects: The Violent Erotics of Imperial Visual Culture

The central concerns of this project are the visual constructions of feminine and feminist subjectivities, significations and semiotics of the (brown) female body, and the pleasures and power of global visual culture. I consider the primary visual fields that seek to tell the story of Pakistani women, and Muslim woman more broadly, after September 11th, 2001. Specifically, I offer detailed case studies of three visual stories: international human rights sensation Mukhtar Mai; twice elected Prime Minister of Pakistan and first woman to lead a Muslim country Benazir Bhutto; and female terrorists/religious martyrs of the Red Mosque events in Islamabad, Pakistan. I locate the relevance of these visual stories on three axes − human rights, democratization and the war on terror − where each operates as an arm of, what Jasbir Paur (2007) calls, the U.S. hetero-normative nation. I also examine the structures of affect, pleasure and eroticism that are embedded in these popularized representations and narrations in the U.S. cultural context. Finally, I offer ways to reread the potential radical subjectivities or possibilities that these visual subjects and their political labor open up

Preparing future teachers for virtual schooling: Assessing their preconceptions and competence

This dissertation presents three research articles in the area of preparing preservice teachers for Virtual Schooling (VS). The context of the dissertation is embedded in a Teacher Education Goes Into Virtual Schooling (TEGIVS) project under the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), U.S. Department of Education. The first article presented TEGIVS curricula and its preliminary evaluation, the second article discussed the study on preservice teachers\u27 perspectives and preconceptions about VS, and the third article described the development, validation, and implementation of a rubric to assess the preservice teachers\u27 competence as VS facilitators. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from preservice teachers and three practitioners in the area of VS. The main findings of the articles indicate that preservice teachers are ready to learn about VS, but hold preconceptions about VS. The most commonly stated preconception was technology is becomes teacher\u27s surrogate in VS. The TEGIVS curriculum was found helpful in preparing preservice teachers see the complexity of teaching and learning online. Lastly, the competence assessment instrument developed and implemented to assess preservice teachers\u27 competence to facilitate in VS was found to be reliable and valid. Thus, this dissertation provides evidence for the need to integrate VS into teacher education, and further suggests that teacher education should identify and correct preservice teachers\u27 preconceptions about VS. The competence assessment instrument that included a scenario and rubric was developed as part of this dissertation and has not been implemented outside the TEGIVS project. Teacher education programs can also use this very first competence assessment instrument to assess VS facilitator competence of preservice teachers in the three aspects of technology, mentoring, and collaboration

Entertainment Media Violence: Roles for Extension Professionals

This article highlights research findings and practical applications shared with over 1,800 professionals, volunteers, and parents during a national cooperative extension satellite series focused on entertainment media violence. Participants increased their awareness and understanding of the potential negative effects of entertainment media violence, as well as identified and took specific steps to address the issue locally. Extension is positioned well through its vast network and technology to deliver high-quality, timely, and cost-effective professional development to community partners

Hospitality Loyalty Program Effectiveness Evaluation Rubric

This paper examines the various loyalty program strategies and design elements utilized within the hospitality industry and evaluates the implications of the various strategies on establishing and fostering loyalty among consumers within a hyper competitive industry. In order to maintain competitive parity, many programs have constantly lowered reward thresholds and increased program offerings, making such programs very costly and with little direct evaluation in their ability to stimulate true loyalty. In a society bombarded by loyalty programs in almost all industries, consumers are becoming very savvy in comparing their personal rewards to the effort and inconveniences incurred by enrolling. The success of many loyalty programs have resulted in the establishment of independent companies, while other programs struggle to stimulate revenue and true loyalty however exist due to the popularity among consumers. Relationship marketing specialists require a comprehensive tool to understand and evaluate the various elements of loyalty programs to ensure their profitability and success due to the substantial financial commitment by companies in operating such highly popular programs

ICT in education: indicators for meaningful integration in government schools

The journey of Information and Communication Technology in Indian school education started through National Policy on Education in India in the year 1984-1986, modified in 1992, stressing the need to include technology in school education to improve the quality of education. This policy led to two central schemes for ICT and Education in 2004, revised in 2010, focusing mostly on computer literacy and Computer Aided Learning. In 2012, the ICT policy in School Education came into existence with the mission of developing accelerating, supporting and sustaining ICT and ICT-enabled activities and processes to improve access, quality and efficiency in the school system. Over time, the emphasis of ICT in education schemes and policy progressed from computer literacy to making ICT connected to school subjects to improve learning. However, the ground reality is that the use, role and relationship of ICT with quality learning remains elusive. This opaque relationship is a global phenomenon. OECD report (2015) challenged the value of ICT in influencing learning in classroom. Infodev (2010) reported that, while in India and other South Asia countries the interest to employ ICT tools and devices in schools is high, its actual use is low. Infrastructure challenge is huge especially in government schools in India: the erratic availability of power supply and connectivity further exacerbates use in rural areas. Further infrastructure and connectivity alone do not ensure use. Mobile phones have high accessibility in the interior rural areas, but their use in schools is unacceptable