Empowerment Evaluation of Programs Involving Youth: Evaluators’ Perceptions

Background: Participatory and collaborative evaluation approaches, including Empowerment Evaluation (EE), are useful for evaluating programs involving youth. Empowerment evaluation involves stakeholders in the evaluation process through a set of structured steps. It is primarily concerned with empowering, illuminating, and building program beneficiaries’ self-determination. Given the emphasis that EE places on inclusivity of stakeholders, it appears to be a good fit for evaluating programs that involve youth. Purpose: To explore the extent to which evaluators use EE to evaluate programs involving youth as well as what factor(s) facilitate and hinder their use of EE in these programs. Setting: The study involved evaluators associated with the Collaborative, Participatory and Empowerment Evaluation and Youth-Focused Evaluation Targeted Interest Groups (TIGs) of the American Evaluation Association (AEA) who are involved in evaluating programs targeted at youth. Intervention: Not applicable. Research Design: We used a two-phase sequential mixed-methods research design. In Phase 1, we surveyed evaluators. In Phase 2, we interviewed a sample of evaluators from Phase 1.  Findings: In Phase 1, 41 (53.9%) respondents indicated not using EE to evaluate programs involving youth, 30 (39.5%) had used EE and 5 (6.6%) were unsure. Of those who used EE, they used it to teach youth program stakeholders about evaluation (n=8, 24.2%), produce more authentic results by engaging youth as experts of their lived experience (n=7, 21.2%) or produce more useful results for stakeholders to use (n=6, 18.2%), as well as other less popular reasons. In Phase 2, 12 interviewees raised five factors that facilitate or hinder the use of EE to evaluate programs involving youth including, evaluator perceptions, type of evaluation experience, evaluator knowledge and professional training, guidelines from organizations and funders, and stakeholders and time. Factors that some interviewees viewed as facilitators others viewed as hinderances.   Keywords: empowerment evaluation, program evaluation, youth-focused evaluation   &nbsp

Spring production of Calanus finmarchicus at the Iceland-Scotland Ridge

Distribution and reproduction activity of the calanoid copepod Calanus finmarchicus were studied in the waters between Scotland and Iceland in April 1997 during the expected time of the animals' ascent to surface waters following diapause. Ascent was taking place on both sides of the Iceland-Scotland Ridge, apparently from two separate overwintering centers. The population on the Faroe Shelf (FS) most likely came from the overwintering population in the Faroe Shetland Channel (FSC). Per capita egg production was highest on the FS (> 30 eggs female -1d-1) and lowest in the Iceland Basin (10 eggs female -1d-1). The maximum clutch size recorded was on the FS (145 eggs). As the maximum clutch sizes that females produced were between 40% and 77% (area averages of the station maximum rates) of their size-specific reproduction potential, it is argued that egg production rates were generally food-limited. Chlorophyll a concentrations were, at all but one station, under 1 ugL-1. Chlorophyll-based ingestion could, theoretically, support the observed average egg production rates in the Iceland Basin and on the FS but only about 30% of the observed production at the stations in the East Icelandic Current (EIC). The carbon assimilated through ingestion of phytoplankton, Calanus own eggs andnauplii in the EIC was estimated to be too low to support the frequently observed production of clutches consisting of over 100 eggs. Cannibalism on eggs and nauplii was not likely to have constituted a significant component of dietary carbon intake. However, a combination of feeding and assimilation of reserved lipid remaining from overwintering could be sufficient to explain the observed per capita egg production rates. C. finmarchicus copepod stages 1-3 were only recorded in considerable numbers only on the FS. This suggests higher survival rates of eggs in the shelf waters

Gender patterns in the contribution of different types of violence to posttraumatic stress symptoms among South African urban youth

OBJECTIVE: Identifying the comparative contributions of different forms of violence exposure to trauma sequelae can help to prioritize interventions for polyvictimized youth living in contexts of limited mental health resources. This study aimed to establish gender patterns in the independent and comparative contributions of five types of violence exposure to the severity of posttraumatic stress symptoms among Xhosa-speaking South African adolescents. METHOD: Xhosa-speaking adolescents (n = 230) attending a high school in a low-income urban community in South Africa completed measures of violence exposure and posttraumatic stress symptoms. RESULTS: While witnessing of community violence was by far the most common form of violence exposure, for the sample as a whole only sexual victimization and being a direct victim of community violence, together with gender, contributed independently to the severity of posttraumatic stress symptoms. When the contribution of different forms of violence was examined separately for each gender, only increased exposure to community and sexual victimization were associated with symptom severity among girls, while increased exposure to direct victimization in both the community and domestic settings were associated with greater symptom severity in boys. CONCLUSIONS: The findings provide some preliminary motivation for focusing trauma intervention initiatives in this community on girls who have experienced sexual abuse compounded by victimization in the community, and boys who have been direct victims of either domestic or community violence. Further research is required to establish whether the risk factors for posttraumatic stress symptoms identified among adolescents in this study are consistent across different communities in South Africa, as well as across other resource-constrained contexts.IS

Empowerment Evaluation of Programs Involving Youth

Background: Participatory and collaborative evaluation approaches, including Empowerment Evaluation (EE), are useful for evaluating programs involving youth. Empowerment evaluation involves stakeholders in the evaluation process through a set of structured steps. It is primarily concerned with empowering, illuminating, and building program beneficiaries’ self-determination. Given the emphasis that EE places on inclusivity of stakeholders, it appears to be a good fit for evaluating programs that involve youth. Purpose: To explore the extent to which evaluators use EE to evaluate programs involving youth as well as what factor(s) facilitate and hinder their use of EE in these programs. Setting: The study involved evaluators associated with the Collaborative, Participatory and Empowerment Evaluation and Youth-Focused Evaluation Targeted Interest Groups (TIGs) of the American Evaluation Association (AEA) who are involved in evaluating programs targeted at youth. Intervention: Not applicable. Research Design: We used a two-phase sequential mixed-methods research design. In Phase 1, we surveyed evaluators. In Phase 2, we interviewed a sample of evaluators from Phase 1.  Findings: In Phase 1, 41 (53.9%) respondents indicated not using EE to evaluate programs involving youth, 30 (39.5%) had used EE and 5 (6.6%) were unsure. Of those who used EE, they used it to teach youth program stakeholders about evaluation (n=8, 24.2%), produce more authentic results by engaging youth as experts of their lived experience (n=7, 21.2%) or produce more useful results for stakeholders to use (n=6, 18.2%), as well as other less popular reasons. In Phase 2, 12 interviewees raised five factors that facilitate or hinder the use of EE to evaluate programs involving youth including, evaluator perceptions, type of evaluation experience, evaluator knowledge and professional training, guidelines from organizations and funders, and stakeholders and time. Factors that some interviewees viewed as facilitators others viewed as hinderances.   Keywords: empowerment evaluation, program evaluation, youth-focused evaluation  

Laparoscopic heller esophagomyotomy is safe and effective in rural East Africa

Background: The incidence of achalasia in sub- Saharan Africa is not known. Experience in our region suggests the disorder affects mainly younger patients. Esophagomyotomy is the gold standard treatment for achalasia. Benefits of laparoscopic treatment are well documented in western populations. African data isinsufficient.Methods: A retrospective review of patients over 16 years who underwent esophagomyotomy at Tenwek Hospital (2008–2017). The primary outcome was improvement in symptoms before and after surgery as measured using the Eckardt score— lower scores for dysphagia, regurgitation, pain, weight loss indicate less severe symptoms. The secondary outcomes were duration of surgery, length of myotomy, length of hospital stay, and complication rate. Data analysis used ANOVA.Results: 54 patients were included: 28 with laparoscopic Heller myotomy (LHM), 26 with open Heller myotomy (OHM). LHM patients were younger than OHM patients (p<0.05). Patients who had LHM had lower postoperative Eckardt scores (p<0.05). Duration of surgery for LHM was longer (p<0.001) than for OHM, conversion rate was 10.71%, and length of the myotomy was unaltered. No difference was seen in hospital stay or complication rate between the two groups.Conclusion: LHM is effective and safe in a rural East African setting, with excellent functional outcomes compared with open techniques. Thus, laparoscopy can be feasible worldwide.Keywords: Laparoscopic, Heller Esophagomyotomy, Tenwek Hospital, Achalasi

Living with chronic neuropathic pain after spinal cord injury: an interpretative phenomenological analysis of community experience.

Purpose: This article presents an in-depth, idiographic study examining the lived experience of chronic pain following spinal cord injury (SCI). Neuropathic pain (NP) occurs in a large majority of the SCI population and is particularly intractable to treatment. It can be both psychologically and physically debilitating. This study examines how the experience of NP is mediated by its meaning to the sufferer. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight people with SCI and chronic NP, attending outpatient clinics at a specialist SCI Centre in the UK. Verbatim transcripts were subjected to interpretative phenomenological analysis to further understand the experience. Results: Analysis suggested that NP has powerful consequences upon the sufferer's physical, psychological and social well-being, in line with a biopsychosocial understanding of pain. Three super-ordinate themes were identified: a perceived gap between treatments received and participants' views of what they wanted and needed; a fight for life control and acceptance; and feeling understood by others with SCI, but isolated from the non-understanding able-bodied. Conclusions: The results are discussed in terms of the possible application of acceptance-based therapy to NP and the potential for the alleviation of the debilitating consequences of NP. Implications for Rehabilitation Chronic NP after SCI is often described as worse than the injury itself, often impacting upon the sufferers physical and psychological health. The experiences of persons with SCI-specific NP highlight the impact of pain on their physical, psychological and social health. This indicates that healthcare professionals should incorporate a biopsychosocial approach for managing pain post-SCI. Routine clinical follow-up of SCI patients with chronic NP, as well as comprehensive pain management treatment programmes, could address the three themes evidenced in the current study, by moving routine intervention with NP away from pain relief, towards pain management. Continued education for patients, friends, family members and healthcare professionals may be beneficial in promoting understanding and awareness of NP and its consequences following SCI

Seasonal copepod lipid pump promotes carbon sequestration in the deep North Atlantic

Physical, chemical and biological processes can mediate carbon transfer from surface ocean waters to below the permanent pycnocline and so promote ocean carbon sequestration. Passive sinking of organic and carbonate-rich biogenic particles - the ‘biological pump’ -has been estimated to account for a sequestration flux of 2 - 8 gC m-2 yr-1 at around 1000m depth. Here we identify a comparably important mechanism for sequestering carbon in the North Atlantic and other sub-polar seas. We estimate that as a result of the annual vertical migration of overwintering copepods, between 2 and 6 gC m-2 yr-1 are actively transported to below the permanent pycnocline as lipids. Only 25 - 50% of these lipids are carried back to the surface in spring with the surviving copepods, resulting in a sequestration flux of 1 to 4 gC m-2 yr-1. This ’lipid pump’ has gone largely un-recorded in either direct measurements of carbon sequestration, or estimates based on surface production and export flux. In addition, elemental ratios of nitrogen, phosphorus, silicon and iron to carbon are extremely low or zero in lipids, so the lipid pump does not strip the surface ocean of limiting nutrients, and decouples the carbon sink from nutrient replenishment rates

Fostering Communication Through Physical Activity

Many individuals with autism experience difficulties with reliable, meaningful communication often impacting their academic and social engagement. As the first and most frequent communication partners, parents of children with autism may struggle initiating or maintaining meaningful communicative interactions, and thus require training, tools, and support. This article describes an approach to coaching parents in fostering meaningful, reciprocal communication through recreational activities as part of a larger physical activity program for parents and families of children with autism. It describes a Cycle of Communication framework as a tool for parents to recognize opportunities to structure and support their children’s communicative attempts and are discussed herein for educators, families and practitioners to adapt and use within their local contexts

Effectiveness of Seasonal Influenza Vaccine against Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 Virus, Australia, 2010

To estimate effectiveness of seasonal trivalent and monovalent influenza vaccines against pandemic influenza A (H1N1) 2009 virus, we conducted a test-negative case–control study in Victoria, Australia, in 2010. Patients seen for influenza-like illness by general practitioners in a sentinel surveillance network during 2010 were tested for influenza; vaccination status was recorded. Case-patients had positive PCRs for pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus, and controls had negative influenza test results. Of 319 eligible patients, test results for 139 (44%) were pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus positive. Adjusted effectiveness of seasonal vaccine against pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus was 79% (95% confidence interval 33%–93%); effectiveness of monovalent vaccine was 47% and not statistically significant. Vaccine effectiveness was higher among adults. Despite some limitations, this study indicates that the first seasonal trivalent influenza vaccine to include the pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus strain provided significant protection against laboratory-confirmed pandemic (H1N1) 2009 infection