Training Teen Mothers as Motivational Interviewers: A Feasibility Study

When teen mothers do not graduate from high school, they and their children risk a lifetime of negative outcomes. They face major economic and health difficulties, often repeated across generations.  To address this growing national concern that particularly impacts Hispanic teen mothers, we began by training young nonprofessional peer mentors in motivational interviewing (MI) to provide one-to-one support for teen mothers.  To our knowledge, young non-clinicians have never before been formally evaluated for MI competency.  Our preliminary investigation tested whether teen mothers who had succeeded in graduating could use MI effectively in conversations with their peers who had not yet completed high school.  The six peer mentors were able to attain basic competency in MI. Some of their demonstrated skills went beyond competency to MI proficiency as measured by the MITI coding system.  They also expressed their enthusiasm for the experience.  They fully participated in the study protocols and also maintained the spirit of MI throughout the study. These findings are being used to design a training strategy for the peer mentors that can be used in schools and clinics throughout New Mexico. The question we asked was:  “Can these young mothers, who have succeeded in graduating from high school, competently use MI to support other teen moms to continue their education?”  The answer in this feasibility study was “yes”

OER & Textbook Affordability Initiatives: an Introduction

An overview of initiatives and programs supporting the use and creation of Open Educational Resources (OER) or other Affordable Course Materials at higher education institutions. The report also identifies relevant organizations, addresses related issues in higher education and the textbook industry, and provides further readings and resources on OER. This was originally assembled as background and reference materials for the 2018-2019 University Academic Senate Task Force on Open Educational Resources and Affordable Course Materials, at Grand Valley State University (Allendale, Michigan). It was subsequently revised and expanded in Summer 2019. The report focuses primarily on the Michigan context, and is intended to be illustrative, rather than exhaustive

Choose Your Own Initiative: Exploring the Landscape of OER and Textbook Affordability Programs

Congratulations! Your college or university is ready to plan (or maybe expand!) a campus-wide initiative focused on Open Educational Resources or other textbook alternatives. But OER and affordability programs vary widely in scope, funding, and strategies, described in articles, book chapters, and news stories. At Grand Valley State University, library OER supporters faced this situation when our faculty senate established a task force to identify university-wide strategies for OER and affordable course materials. To help this task force hit the ground running, we surveyed the landscape of programs at other institutions, identified organizations actively engaged in OER work, and selected readings on related issues. The resulting background report gave our task force members a shared foundation of knowledge, models to borrow from, and ideas for their subsequent work. We are now excited to share this resource with a wider audience, especially anyone looking for ideas and inspiration in their own OER initiatives. If the variety of potential OER support strategies is daunting or you aren\u27t sure where to start, go to Takeaway 1. If you\u27re excited by the wide open world of OER and want to know more about the background report, go to Takeaway 2. If you\u27re a savvy OER traveler with expertise to share, go to Takeaway 3. Takeaway 1: This poster presentation shared highlights from our environmental scan and illustrated how our context made some models particularly good (or bad) approaches for a campus initiative. Takeaway 2: We also shared the latest version of this living document and discuss our Summer 2019 work to make it useful to a wider audience. Takeaway 3: Education is sharing, so please share with us! We invited participants, and invite online readers, to suggest new examples, resources, and relevant readings for this compilation, as well as new ideas for OER initiatives. Leave a note on our poster, strike up a conversation, or join in online

Client Commitment Language During Motivational Interviewing Predicts Drug Use Outcomes

Client language from a motivational interview (MI) and drug use outcome were investigated. Interview videotapes of 84 drug abusers were coded for frequency and strength of utterances expressing commitment, desire, ability, need, readiness, and reasons to change or maintain their habit. Cluster analysis of proportion days abstinent (PDA) revealed 3 groups: high PDA at intake and follow-up (3, 6, 9, 12 months; maintainers); low intake PDA/high follow-up PDA (changers); and low intake PDA/low to moderate follow-up PDA (stragglers). Distinct group patterns emerged for commitment strength (CS) during MI. Clients dishonest in checklist self-report exhibited CS similar to stragglers. CS for client evaluation of a change plan predicted outcome PDA. CS was predicted by the strength of desire, ability, need, and reasons, but more strongly predicted outcome PDA, suggesting CS is a pathway for their influence on behavior

University Libraries Equity & Inclusion Committee White Paper

By Fall 2017, ULEIC, and the task force before it, had been successful in bringing training opportunities to the attention of Libraries faculty and staff. However, the committee was struggling with defining its scope in relation to the work of Faculty Development and Support Committee (FDSC) and Department Heads. Collaborating with the Dean, it was decided to move forward with a co-creation facilitation, which would engage all members of ULEIC, to define: The vision/purpose for the committee It\u27s relationships and partnerships with other library and campus groups The desired outcomes A new charge A workplan This report summarizes the findings of the group\u27s inquiry, which included reviews of the group’s history, campus resources, definitions, values, future and scope; a review of inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility work at peer and aspirational peer institutions; and a review of internal library partners. It includes the recommendations for moving forward, near future next steps, and opportunities and challenges to consider as we progress