4-H Programs with a Focus on Including Youth with Disabilities

Youth with disabilities often have limited opportunities for integration within their communities. The mission of Intentionally Inclusive 4-H Club Programs, a 4-year pilot project, is to purposefully create accessible 4-H environments and engage communities to address the needs of people with disabilities. During year one, a collaborative team developed an experiential curriculum for 9 to 12 year-old youth entitled Shine Up and Step Out. In year two, selected counties used the materials and developed specific training and resource opportunities. A formative evaluation showed how 4-H staff are raising awareness and involving youth and volunteers with disabilities in community programs

Creating Inclusive 4-H Environments for People with Disabilities

The purpose of a 4-year 4-H Inclusion Project conducted in North Carolina was to create intentionally inclusive 4-H environments and engage communities to address the needs of people with disabilities. In year one an experiential curriculum, Shine Up and Step Out, was developed for youth ages 9 to 12 years. In the next 3 years, selected counties used the curriculum and developed training and resource opportunities. A summative evaluation showed how the county projects were successful and offered recommendations about the curriculum, statewide inclusion opportunities, program and policy, community involvement, and ongoing implementation and evaluation

Determinants of Cervical Cancer Screening among Women with Intellectual Disabilities: Evidence from Medical Records

We examined receipt of cervical cancer screening and determinants of screening for women with intellectual disabilities in one Southeastern state

Factors Facilitating Acceptable Mammography Services for Women with Disabilities

Prior research has described general barriers to breast cancer screening for women with disabilities (WWD). We explored specific accommodations described as necessary by WWD who have accessed screening services, and the presence of such accommodations in community based screening programs

The Public Playground Paradox: "Child’s Joy" or Heterotopia of Fear?

Literature depicts children of the Global North withdrawing from public space to“acceptable islands”. Driven by fears both of and for children, the publicplayground – one such island – provides clear-cut distinctions between childhoodand adulthood. Extending this argument, this paper takes the original approach oftheoretically framing the playground as a heterotopia of deviance, examining –for the first time – three Greek public playground sites in relation to adjacentpublic space. Drawing on an ethnographic study in Athens, findings show fear tounderpin surveillance, control and playground boundary porosity. Normativeclassification as “children’s space” discourages adult engagement. However, in anovel and significant finding, a paradoxical phenomenon sees the playground’spresence simultaneously legitimizing playful behaviour in adjacent public spacefor children and adults. Extended playground play creates alternate orderings andnegotiates norms and hierarchies, suggesting significant wider potential toreconceptualise playground-urban design for an intergenerational public realm

Barriers to Adherence to Screening Mammography Among Women With Disabilities

Objectives. Given the lack of screening mammography studies specific to women with disabilities, we compared reasons offered by women with and without disabilities for not scheduling routine screening visits

GRAIDs: a framework for closing the gap in the availability of health promotion programs and interventions for people with disabilities

BACKGROUND: Evidence-based health promotion programs developed and tested in the general population typically exclude people with disabilities. To address this gap, a set of methods and criteria were created to adapt evidence-based health promotion programs for people with disabilities. In this first study, we describe a framework for adapting evidence-based obesity prevention strategies for people with disabilities. We illustrate how the framework has been used to adapt the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u27s (CDC) obesity prevention strategies for individuals with physical and developmental disabilities. METHODS: The development of inclusion guidelines, recommendations and adaptations for obesity prevention (referred to as GRAIDs--Guidelines, Recommendations, Adaptations Including Disability) consists of five components: (i) a scoping review of the published and grey literature; (ii) an expert workgroup composed of nationally recognized leaders in disability and health promotion who review, discuss and modify the scoping review materials and develop the content into draft GRAIDs; (iii) focus groups with individuals with disabilities and their family members (conducted separately) who provide input on the potential applicability of the proposed GRAIDs in real world settings; (iv) a national consensus meeting with 21 expert panel members who review and vote on a final set of GRAIDs; and (v) an independent peer review of GRAIDs by national leaders from key disability organizations and professional groups through an online web portal. RESULTS: This is an ongoing project, and to date, the process has been used to develop 11 GRAIDs to coincide with 11 of the 24 CDC obesity prevention strategies. CONCLUSION: A set of methods and criteria have been developed to allow researchers, practitioners and government agencies to promote inclusive health promotion guidelines, strategies and practices for people with disabilities. Evidence-based programs developed for people without disabilities can now be adapted for people with disabilities using the GRAIDs framework