Proceedings of the 3rd Biennial Conference of the Society for Implementation Research Collaboration (SIRC) 2015: advancing efficient methodologies through community partnerships and team science

It is well documented that the majority of adults, children and families in need of evidence-based behavioral health interventionsi do not receive them [1, 2] and that few robust empirically supported methods for implementing evidence-based practices (EBPs) exist. The Society for Implementation Research Collaboration (SIRC) represents a burgeoning effort to advance the innovation and rigor of implementation research and is uniquely focused on bringing together researchers and stakeholders committed to evaluating the implementation of complex evidence-based behavioral health interventions. Through its diverse activities and membership, SIRC aims to foster the promise of implementation research to better serve the behavioral health needs of the population by identifying rigorous, relevant, and efficient strategies that successfully transfer scientific evidence to clinical knowledge for use in real world settings [3]. SIRC began as a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)-funded conference series in 2010 (previously titled the “Seattle Implementation Research Conference”; $150,000 USD for 3 conferences in 2011, 2013, and 2015) with the recognition that there were multiple researchers and stakeholdersi working in parallel on innovative implementation science projects in behavioral health, but that formal channels for communicating and collaborating with one another were relatively unavailable. There was a significant need for a forum within which implementation researchers and stakeholders could learn from one another, refine approaches to science and practice, and develop an implementation research agenda using common measures, methods, and research principles to improve both the frequency and quality with which behavioral health treatment implementation is evaluated. SIRC’s membership growth is a testament to this identified need with more than 1000 members from 2011 to the present.ii SIRC’s primary objectives are to: (1) foster communication and collaboration across diverse groups, including implementation researchers, intermediariesi, as well as community stakeholders (SIRC uses the term “EBP champions” for these groups) – and to do so across multiple career levels (e.g., students, early career faculty, established investigators); and (2) enhance and disseminate rigorous measures and methodologies for implementing EBPs and evaluating EBP implementation efforts. These objectives are well aligned with Glasgow and colleagues’ [4] five core tenets deemed critical for advancing implementation science: collaboration, efficiency and speed, rigor and relevance, improved capacity, and cumulative knowledge. SIRC advances these objectives and tenets through in-person conferences, which bring together multidisciplinary implementation researchers and those implementing evidence-based behavioral health interventions in the community to share their work and create professional connections and collaborations

The Archive as Classroom: Pedagogical Approaches to the DALN

Since its public launch in 2008, the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives (DALN) has collected approximately 7500 unique contributions of people’s literacy experiences from across the globe and from a variety of backgrounds. The Archive as Classroom: Pedagogical Approaches to the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives showcases the variety of innovative ways educators have used this resource in classroom practice.Designed as a user-friendly guide for scholars and teachers of college English courses, and especially those with an interest in language and literacy studies, The Archive as Classroom provides an invaluable snapshot of the DALN’s diverse uses in classroom settings. The Archive as Classroom is the first edited collection of its kind to combine theoretically rich digital studies of the DALN’s uses with customizable teaching materials—assignment prompts, rubrics, syllabi, and the like—that readers can borrow and build upon as models for their own classroom, programmatic, or institutional needs.More than simply a “how-to” guide, this collection is informed by currently identified best practices, evidence-based pedagogy, and the general state of the pedagogical art as it relates to literacy instruction

A R T I C L E S

The prevalence of HIV and other STDs remains high among adolescents and young adults, 1 and clinicians' reports suggest that even youth who abstain from vaginal intercourse have contracted STDs, prompting calls for research to address a broad range of adolescent sexual behaviors. Anecdotal evidence suggests that same-sex experience is not uncommon among young women 7,8 and young men, 8 although it carries a greater stigma for men. 10 However, to determine the prevalence and correlates of same-sex experience among U.S. teenagers and young adults-and to target public health interventions to reduce their risk of contracting STDs-research needs to examine nationally representative samples of youth. To address this critical gap in the literature and to enhance our understanding of the development of sexual identity, the current study uses data from a nationally representative sample of never-married 15-21-year-olds. Our goal is to expand the knowledge base that informs health promotion efforts targeted to young people who are making the transition to sexual activity. We have three aims: to estimate the prevalence of same-sex sexual activity among both males and females; to evaluate relationships between same-sex activity and characteristics associated with having opposite-sex partners; and to assess the association of same-sex activity with heterosexual experience and self-reported sexual identity and attraction

Judicial Scrutiny of Merger Decisions in the EU, UK and Germany

The appropriate role of the courts in controlling the discretion of merger authorities has become one of the key issues in European merger law and policy in recent years. This article investigates judicial review of merger decisions, taking a comparative approach by examining cases from the EU, UK and Germany. We observe an apparent increase in the willingness of the EU and UK courts to scrutinize merger decisions, and a long-standing tradition of close scrutiny in Germany. In respect of the EU and UK, we consider agency theory offers a convincing explanation—that increased scrutiny is explained by the need to enhance the credibility of merger policy. In Germany, the constitutional basis of judicial review differs significantly, and the relatively close scrutiny exercised by the court is better explained by the very different constitutional context

Assessment of cataloging services in an academic library

Presentation for the 2015 Texas Library Association (TLA) Annual Conference. This presentation discusses the results of a survey that was administered from October 27 through November 17, 2014. The survey assessed how Public Services employees rate the importance of Cataloging and Metadata Services activities, and how satisfied Public Services employees are with Cataloging and Metadata Services activities