Linda Cabral and Laura Sefton on So Many to Choose from: How to Select Organizations for a Site Visit

Blog post to AEA365, a blog sponsored by the American Evaluation Association (AEA) dedicated to highlighting Hot Tips, Cool Tricks, Rad Resources, and Lessons Learned for evaluators. The American Evaluation Association is an international professional association of evaluators devoted to the application and exploration of program evaluation, personnel evaluation, technology, and many other forms of evaluation. Evaluation involves assessing the strengths and weaknesses of programs, policies, personnel, products, and organizations to improve their effectiveness

Linda Cabral and Laura Sefton on Utilizing Survey Data in a Traditional In-Person Interview

Blog post to AEA365, a blog sponsored by the American Evaluation Association (AEA) dedicated to highlighting Hot Tips, Cool Tricks, Rad Resources, and Lessons Learned for evaluators. The American Evaluation Association is an international professional association of evaluators devoted to the application and exploration of program evaluation, personnel evaluation, technology, and many other forms of evaluation. Evaluation involves assessing the strengths and weaknesses of programs, policies, personnel, products, and organizations to improve their effectiveness

Creating Solid Interview Guides

Blog post to AEA365, a blog sponsored by the American Evaluation Association (AEA) dedicated to highlighting Hot Tips, Cool Tricks, Rad Resources, and Lessons Learned for evaluators. The American Evaluation Association is an international professional association of evaluators devoted to the application and exploration of program evaluation, personnel evaluation, technology, and many other forms of evaluation. Evaluation involves assessing the strengths and weaknesses of programs, policies, personnel, products, and organizations to improve their effectiveness

MA PCMH Eval Week: Linda Cabral and Laura Sefton on Participant Observation as a Data Collection Method

Blog post to AEA365, a blog sponsored by the American Evaluation Association (AEA) dedicated to highlighting Hot Tips, Cool Tricks, Rad Resources, and Lessons Learned for evaluators. The American Evaluation Association is an international professional association of evaluators devoted to the application and exploration of program evaluation, personnel evaluation, technology, and many other forms of evaluation. Evaluation involves assessing the strengths and weaknesses of programs, policies, personnel, products, and organizations to improve their effectiveness. This blog post was posted to AEA365 during a week of posts featuring the team at the University of Massachusetts Medical School that helped to evaluate the Massachusetts Patient-Centered Medical Home Initiative

Linda Cabral and Laura Sefton on Using Voice Recognition Software for Transcription

Blog post to AEA365, a blog sponsored by the American Evaluation Association (AEA) dedicated to highlighting Hot Tips, Cool Tricks, Rad Resources, and Lessons Learned for evaluators. The American Evaluation Association is an international professional association of evaluators devoted to the application and exploration of program evaluation, personnel evaluation, technology, and many other forms of evaluation. Evaluation involves assessing the strengths and weaknesses of programs, policies, personnel, products, and organizations to improve their effectiveness

Post-Project Debriefings as Part of Performance Improvement

Blog post to AEA365, a blog sponsored by the American Evaluation Association (AEA) dedicated to highlighting Hot Tips, Cool Tricks, Rad Resources, and Lessons Learned for evaluators. The American Evaluation Association is an international professional association of evaluators devoted to the application and exploration of program evaluation, personnel evaluation, technology, and many other forms of evaluation. Evaluation involves assessing the strengths and weaknesses of programs, policies, personnel, products, and organizations to improve their effectiveness

Linda Cabral, Laura Sefton, and Kathy Muhr on Recruiting People with Mental Health Conditions for Data Collection

Blog post to AEA365, a blog sponsored by the American Evaluation Association (AEA) dedicated to highlighting Hot Tips, Cool Tricks, Rad Resources, and Lessons Learned for evaluators. The American Evaluation Association is an international professional association of evaluators devoted to the application and exploration of program evaluation, personnel evaluation, technology, and many other forms of evaluation. Evaluation involves assessing the strengths and weaknesses of programs, policies, personnel, products, and organizations to improve their effectiveness

Evaluation of the Massachusetts Peer Specialist Training and Certification Program (Phase Two)

Most public mental health systems are shifting to a recovery-oriented system of care; however, offering recovery-oriented and peer support services to various cultural and linguistic groups is challenging. This study sought to better understand how persons with mental health conditions from two cultural groups – Latinos and Deaf and Hard of Hearing (D/HH) - access recovery-based services. Interviews with national key informants were conducted prior to data collection to better formulate instruments. Cultural brokers, identified as leaders in their communities who also have mental health conditions, were hired to aid in recruitment and data collection. Interviews and focus groups were conducted with persons with mental health conditions from both cultural groups. Across both cultural groups, language barriers pose the biggest challenge in accessing mental health services. There is a lack of qualified professionals who speak Spanish or use American Sign Language. Among both groups, the preference is to work with someone in the language they feel most comfortable with and to avoid the use of interpreters. Feelings of isolation and stigma are high among persons who are D/HH, while many Latinos cite problems with family members\u27 understanding of mental health. Many are accessing peer support services and value what it has offered them. Access to adequate mental health services, not just recovery-oriented and peer support services, are not widely available for Latinos and persons who are D/HH. Public mental health systems need to adapt and expand services for these and other cultural groups to insure recovery

A regional application of the MAGIC model in Wales: calibration and assessment of future recovery using a Monte-Carlo approach

International audienceA survey and resurvey of 77 headwater streams in Wales provides an opportunity for assessing changes in streamwater chemistry in the region. The Model of Acidification of Groundwater In Catchment (MAGIC) has been calibrated to the second of two surveys, taken in 1994-1995, using a Monte-Carlo methodology. The first survey, 1983-1984, provides a basis for model validation. The model simulates a significant decline of water quality across the region since industrialisation. Agreed reductions in sulphur (S) emissions in Europe in accordance with the Second S Protocol will result in a 49% reduction of S deposition across Wales from 1996 to 2010. In response to these reductions, the proportion of streams in the region with mean annual acid neutralising capacity (ANC) > 0 is predicted to increase from 81% in 1995 to 90% by 2030. The greatest recovery between 1984 and 1995 and into the future is at those streams with low ANC. In order to ensure that streams in the most heavily acidified areas of Wales recover to ANC zero by 2030, a reduction of S deposition of 80-85% will be required

Nursing Students Teaching Medical Students: An Interdisciplinary Teaching Experience

For a number of years, Advanced Practice Nursing ( APN) students have taught interested 1st year medical students to perform intramuscular injections prior to their participation in community flu clinics. When several 4th year medical students needed documentation of competency in intravenous (IV) cannulation prior to participating in an elective rotation at another institution, the Director of Interdisciplinary Partnerships in the Graduate School of Nursing requested assistance from the medical school\u27s Dean of Students. In fact, all medical students need IV therapy training prior to graduation, not just those who seek out elective rotations at other medical schools. Integration of IV therapy training into the Undergraduate Medical Education Surgery Clerkship curriculum supports the clinical objectives of the Surgery Clerkship along with the developing use of simulation within the medical school. This need led to the development of this interprofessional simulation education initiative. Presented at the AAMC (Association of American Colleges) Annual Meeting, RIME (Research in Medical Education) Program, November 2008