Examining the Role of the Catholic Environment in Students’ Search for Meaning

Emerging research illustrates that undergraduate students are searching for meaning in their lives, yet postsecondary institutions generally do little to support them in exploring such issues (Astin et al., 2005b). We speculated that religiously affiliated institutions might offer guidance on supporting students’ spiritual development, and thus examined students in the context of Catholic postsecondary environments, focusing on whether the students’ religious affiliations and perceptions of their institution as supporting their spiritual development affected their search for meaning. Further, we examined the aspects of the environment that strengthened students’ perceptions of their college environment as closely aligned with the Catholic mission, and thus supportive of their spiritual development. We discuss implications for secular and religious institutions

Community Engagement for Cooperative Extension: Who Is and Is Not Participating in Community Engagement?

Many communities face critical issues, such as how to develop sustainable food systems, assure economic development, and promote community health. Effectively addressing these issues requires engaging the community members most impacted by them in efforts to develop solutions. It is also important to include the multiple stakeholders who work on local issues and who serve affected community members

Community Engagement for Cooperative Extension: Inform and Consult from the Spectrum of Public Participation

Community engagement addresses the core concerns of residents and stakeholders by engaging them in a process of initiating, drafting, and implementing community-based programs. Community engagement guides collaboration and communication among organizations, stakeholders, and the public to create sustainable community-driven change. The International Association for Public Participation has developed a spectrum of public participation with five different levels that indicate the various depths of community engagement. The levels include Inform, Consult, Involve, Collaborate, and Community Directs. This publication will review the Inform and Consult levels of the spectrum

Community Engagement for Cooperative Extension: Strategies to improve representation in community engagement efforts

A key to meaningful program efforts is community engagement. Community engagement must engage community members most directly impacted by University of Arizona Cooperative Extension (Extension) programs and allow participants to guide their needs and interests. To gather community input and feedback, it is not enough to simply pick a date, reserve a space, and expect a representative group of people from the community to come to an event. Even when people from the community attend engagement events, significant thought should be given to how information is presented and how feedback is gathered to encourage broad and authentic participation. Consideration should also be given to how these experiences are mutually beneficial for Extension and the community members participating

Community Engagement for Cooperative Extension: Collaborate and Community Directs from the Spectrum of Public Participation

The International Association for Public Participation developed a spectrum of public participation with five different levels that indicate the various depths of community engagement.1 The levels include Inform, Consult, Involve, Collaborate, and Community Directs (Figure 1). This publication will review the Collaborate and Community Directs levels of the spectrum

Community Engagement for Cooperative Extension: What is Community Engagement?

The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention defines community engagement as, “the process of working collaboratively with and through groups of people affiliated by geographic proximity, special interest, or similar situations to address issues affecting the well-being of those people." Community engagement addresses the core concerns of residents and stakeholders by engaging them in a process of initiating, drafting, and implementing community-based programs. Community engagement guides collaboration and communication among organizations, stakeholders, and the public to create sustainable community-driven change2 Some community-based programs may seek to solve a specific problem, others may involve policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) changes

Community Engagement for Cooperative Extension: Involve from the Spectrum of Public Participation

The International Association for Public Participation developed a spectrum of public participation with five different levels that indicate the various depths of community engagement.1 The levels include Inform, Consult, Involve, Collaborate, and Community Directs (Figure 1). This publication will review the Involve level of the spectrum

Community Engagement for Cooperative Extension: Using Interactive Maps to Understand Communities

Before a plan for community engagement can be effectively developed, it is important to first vunderstand the community. Interactive Geographic Information Systems (GIS) maps are a useful tool to gather and visualize data that can describe a community, and have been used to inform Extension program design and planning in multiple other states, including California, Minnesota, and Florida. The University of Arizona’s (UA) Community Research, Evaluation, and Development (CRED) Team, from the Norton School of Human Ecology, created GIS maps to support the UA Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – Education (UA SNAP-Ed) efforts across the state of Arizona. These interactive GIS maps can be a useful resource for all of University of Arizona’s Cooperative Extension (Extension) programs to assist in planning and implementing community engagement work. By using the maps to identify a community’s existing resources and gaps in services, Extension can identify a community’s strengths and areas of need that could be supported by Extension efforts

The Mental Health Policy Template: Domains and elements for mental health policy formulation

Mental disorders are a major and rising cause of disease burden in all countries. Even when resources are available, many countries do not have the policy and planning frameworks in place to identify and deliver effective interventions. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank have emphasized the need for ready access to the basic tools for mental health policy formulation, implementation and sustained development. The Analytical Studies on Mental Health Policy and Service Project, undertaken in 1999-2001 by the International Consortium for Mental Health Services and funded by the Global Forum for Health Research aims to address this need through the development of a template for mental health policy formulation. A mental health policy template has been developed based on an inventory of the key elements of a successful mental health policy. These elements have been validated against a review of international literature, a study of existing mental health policies and the results of extensive consultations with experts in the six WHO regions of the world. The Mental Health Policy Template has been revised and its applicability will be tested in a number of developing countries during 2001-2002. The Mental Health Policy Template and the work of the Consortium for Mental Health Services will be presented and the future role of the template in mental health policy development and reform in developing countries will be discussed

The mental health country profile: Background, design and use of a systematic method of appraisal

This article describes the construction and use of a systematic structured method of mental health country situation appraisal, in order to help meet the need for conceptual tools to assist planners and policy makers develop and audit policy and implementation strategies. The tool encompasses the key domains of context, needs, resources, provisions and outcomes, and provides a framework for synthesizing key qualitative and quantitative information, flagging up gaps in knowledge, and for reviewing existing policies. It serves as an enabling tool to alert and inform policy makers, professionals and other key stakeholders about important issues which need to be considered in mental health policy development. It provides detailed country specific information in a systematic format, to facilitate global sharing of experiences of mental health reform and strategies between policy makers and other stakeholders. Lastly, it is designed to be a capacity building tool for local stakeholders to enhance situation appraisal, and multisectorial policy development and implementation