Children Giving Eyewitness Testmionies in a Court of Law

In a court of law, the issue of a child giving an eyewitness account has been debated among professionals. There is a significant amount of evidence suggesting that children are unable to give a reliable account. Their cognitive ability to perceive a questionable situation is not fully developed, and neither is their ability to recall memories. In order to examine the different variables surrounding this issue, a literature review was conducted. The results of numerous studies suggest that although children may not be the most reliable witnesses, sometimes they are the only witnesses. The following literature review discusses the conditions under which children give the best recall, and under which they give the worst. Future policies regarding protection of children in the legal context, and all others involved in court cases involving children, may be shaped from research such as this

Moving Toward Reconciliation: Community Engagement in Nursing Education

The integration of community engagement learning experiences in nursing education promotes a commitment to social responsibility and service. A nursing department implemented learning experiences for undergraduate nursing students across five semesters in churches, schools, and community agencies. Focus group data and selected stories from undergraduate and graduate nursing students, nursing faculty, and community partners provided lessons for establishing effective academic-community partnerships. Lessons learned included: 1) time and academic expectations are constraints, 2) being in the community requires flexibility, 3) working side by side develops relationships, 4) the community teaches faculty and students, and 5) the learning curve needs to be recognized. The lessons learned provide guidelines for nursing faculty and community partners in creating and sustaining partnerships that contribute to educating nurses for practice in a diverse society

Autism Spectrum Social Stories In Schools Trial (ASSSIST):study protocol for a feasibility randomised controlled trial analysing clinical and cost-effectiveness of Social Stories in mainstream schools

INTRODUCTION: Current evidence suggests that Social Stories can be effective in tackling problem behaviours exhibited by children with autism spectrum disorder. Exploring the meaning of behaviour from a child's perspective allows stories to provide social information that is tailored to their needs. Case reports in children with autism have suggested that these stories can lead to a number of benefits including improvements in social interactions and choice making in educational settings. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The feasibility of clinical and cost-effectiveness of a Social Stories toolkit will be assessed using a randomised control framework. Participants (n=50) will be randomised to either the Social Stories intervention or a comparator group where they will be read standard stories for an equivalent amount of time. Statistics will be calculated for recruitment rates, follow-up rates and attrition. Economic analysis will determine appropriate measures of generic health and resource use categories for cost-effectiveness analysis. Qualitative analysis will ascertain information on perceptions about the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: National Health Service Ethics Approval (NHS; ref 11/YH/0340) for the trial protocol has been obtained along with NHS Research and Development permission from Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. All adverse events will be closely monitored, documented and reported to the study Data Monitoring Ethics Committee. At least one article in a peer reviewed journal will be published and research findings presented at relevant conferences. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN96286707

Engaging Communities in Nursing Education

This article highlights the efforts of a nursing program at a faith-based university to implement community engagement learning experiences in an undergraduate curriculum with the aim of preparing nurses to contribute to reducing health disparities, value cross-cultural efficacy, and develop a commitment to serving diverse populations.  Students participated in community engagement learning experiences over five semesters in the same community organization, which was either a church, school, or other organization that served diverse populations.  Both survey and focus groups were used to determine community partner, student, and faculty perceptions of community engagement learning experiences over the five semesters. Implications of evaluation data were used to revise both the structure and process of community engagement strategies.  Revisions included strengthening orientation strategies; offering additional support for students in establishing relationships in their community organization; providing guidelines for communication between students, faculty, and community partners; and creating a plan for faculty oversight of student experiences

Community engagement curricular strategies to reduce health disparities

Purpose: A nursing department implemented a revised nursing curriculum that integrated community engagement learning experiences to address health disparities. Nursing faculty aimed to prepare nurses who will: 1) contribute to reducing health disparities, 2) develop cultural sensitivity and competence, and 3) develop commitment to serving diverse and vulnerable populations. Methods: Focus groups with community partners, racial reconciliation lunches and dialogue with nursing faculty members, and lunch and learning sessions with community partners provided a foundation for development of the community engagement curriculum. Nursing students are matched to community engagement sites (churches, schools, and non-profit organizations) for community engagement learning experiences over five semesters of nursing courses. Students stay in the same community site; learning experiences include becoming familiar with the agency and people served, a health promotion presentation, and chronic illness project, a major project mutually decided with the agency, and developing a plan for health improvement. Evaluation measures included: 1) an initial student survey (n = 88), 2) a nursing faculty survey (n = 9), 3) a community partner survey (n = 9), and 4) focus groups with sophomore nursing students (n = 17). Results: Both faculty members and community partners valued community engagement learning opportunities for nursing students, but they also expressed similar concerns about lack of time and challenges in coordination, supervision of students, and communication. Focus group data revealed seven themes: 1) experiencing difference; 2) framing the experience; 3) learning from the community; 4) acquiring skills of communication, problem solving, and teamwork, 5) experiencing ambiguity, 6) expectations for faculty, and 7) strategies for creating effective partnerships. Conclusion: Community engagement experiences provide nursing students with the opportunity to encounter and experience difference in community settings. Students learn to respond to uncertainty and become better prepared for a nursing leadership role in addressing health disparities

Therapeutic impact of case formulation in Beck's cognitive therapy for depression.

Within the field of clinical psychology, case formulation (CF) is considered central to the treatment of individuals with psychological difficulties (Bieling & Kuyken. 2002). The importance of formulation has also been emphasised in a number of psychological therapies, particularly CBT (Persons, 1989). Within CBT, CF is reported to play many roles in the therapeutic process with the aim of securing improved treatment outcomes. This review identified sixteen quantitative studies that examined the relationship between CF and outcomes in CBT. Contrary to expectations. no (statistical) evidence was found to Support the relationship: it was only through personal interviews that clients reported CF to have an impact on them. Quantitative studies, however. may be criticised for viewing treatment outcome exclusively in terms of changes in symptom presentation. To understand the impact of CF on treatment outcomes, studies need to assess aspects of therapeutic change beyond the narrow focus of symptomatology and relief from symptoms

Autism Spectrum Social Stories In Schools Trial 2 (ASSSIST2) : study protocol for a randomised controlled trial analysing clinical and cost-effectiveness of Social Stories™ in primary schools

BACKGROUND: Interventions designed to support children with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC) can be time consuming, needing involvement of outside experts. Social Stories™ are a highly personalised intervention aiming to give children with ASC social information or describing an otherwise difficult situation or skill. This can be delivered daily by staff in education settings. Studies examining Social Story™ use have yielded mostly positive results but have largely been single case studies with a lack of randomised controlled trials (RCTs). Despite this numerous schools are utilising Social Stories™, and a fully powered RCT is timely. METHODS: A multi-site pragmatic cluster RCT comparing care as usual with Social Stories™ and care as usual. This study will recruit 278 participants (aged 4-11) with a clinical diagnosis of ASC, currently attending primary school in the North of England. Approximately 278 school based staff will be recruited to provide school based information about participating children with approximately 140 recruited to deliver the intervention. The study will be cluster randomised by school. Potential participants will be screened for eligibility prior to giving informed consent. Follow up data will be collected at 6 weeks and 6 months post randomisation and will assess changes in participants' social responsiveness, goal based outcomes, social and emotional health. The primary outcome measure is the Social Responsiveness Scale Second Edition (SRS-2) completed by school based staff at 6 months. Approvals have been obtained from the University of York's Research Governance Committee, Research Ethics Committee and the Health Research Authority. Study results will be submitted for publication in peer-reviewed journals and disseminated to participating families, educational staff, local authority representatives, community groups and Patient and Participant Involvement representatives. Suggestions will be made to NICE about treatment evidence dependent on findings. DISCUSSION: This study addresses a much used but currently under researched intervention and results will inform school based support for primary school children with a diagnosis of ASC. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The trial is registered on the ISRCTN registry (registration number: ISRCTN11634810). The trial was retrospectively registered on 23rd April 2019

The alleviating specific phobias in children trial : Challenges and solutions to implementing a randomized controlled trial in clinical services

In 2015, The Alleviating Specific Phobias Experienced by Children Trial (ASPECT) was commissioned by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) to compare the clinical and cost-effectiveness of multi-session Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for specific phobias in children and young people (CYP) (aged 7–16), with a briefer variant called One Session Treatment (OST). From 2016 to 2020, ASPECT recruited n = 274 CYP with specific phobias and their families from across England, including 26 Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) centres, three voluntary sector centers and one University-based wellbeing service. Whilst the trial successfully reached its recruitment target, the challenges experienced in its delivery highlight the difficulties of embedding child and adolescent research into clinical settings and routine practice. Using ASPECT as a case in point, this paper explores these challenges and provides important insights and considerations of potential benefit to others conducting research within the field of child and adolescent mental health

Adapting and validating the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule Version 2 for use with deaf children and young people

We report a Delphi Consensus modification and first validation study of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule – 2 with deaf children and young people (ADOS-2 Deaf adaptation). Validation included 122 deaf participants (aged 2–18 years), 63 with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This was compared to a National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guideline standard clinical assessment by blinded independent specialist clinicians. Results showed overall sensitivity 73% (95%CI 60%, 83%); specificity 71% (95%CI 58%, 82%), and for the more common modules 1–3 (combined as in previous studies) sensitivity 79% (95% CI 65–89%); specificity 79% (95% CI 66–89%) suggesting this instrument will be a helpful addition for use with deaf children and young people