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School-based sexuality education provides a means of disseminating valuable information about decision making and avoidance of risky behaviors that may result in an unplanned pregnancy or sexually transmitted infection; however, effective teacher training is required for efficacious sexuality education programs. The purpose of this paper is to describe changes in participants' perceptions and adoption of evidence-based sexuality education after attending a unique professional development opportunity for teachers of sexuality education using a Diffusion of Innovation Theory framework. Methods: A non-representative sample of 20 public school health education teachers (85% female) from across the state of Texas participated in the Sexuality Education Academy (SEA), and completed pre-, post-, and six-month follow-up Web-based surveys. Descriptive statistics and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to measure change in perceptions and adoption of evidence-based sexuality education. Results: Statistically significant changes were found between pre- and post-test scores in "relative advantage," "compatibility," "complexity," and "observability." At six-month follow-up, participants indicated increased advocacy for and implementation of evidence-based sexuality education practices. Conclusions: Teacher training can improve sexuality education teachers' understanding, confidence and effectiveness in delivery of evidence-based sexuality education within school settings.

Unhealthy relationships have a devastating impact on adolescents' academic performance, including poor attendance, difficulty concentrating, and feeling unsafe at school. Schools provide an ideal setting to positively influence adolescents' attitudes, knowledge, and relationship skills by integrating healthy relationship lessons into sexuality and/or violence prevention units. The primary goal of these units is to promote positive health behaviors and reduce unhealthy behaviors in order to decrease adolescents' risk for short- and long-term academic and health consequences. Therefore, the purpose of this teaching technique is to increase adolescents' ability to identify characteristics and corresponding behaviors of healthy and unhealthy relationships including romantic/dating, friendships, and familial relationships.

Excessive drinking among college students, which is influenced by an array of factors ranging from campus norms to membership in student organizations, has been linked to consequences including motor vehicle accidents, cognitive deficits, arrests, overdoses, assaults, and death. Considering the severity of consequences related to drinking, education on alcohol safety is essential. Communicating alcohol safety messages via social media outlets serves as a platform for members of campus-based student organizations to influence their peers to practice safe alcohol behaviors, which may lead to a decrease in negative alcohol-related outcomes for college students. This teaching technique will engage participants to develop social media messages to advocate for and promote alcohol safety. The leadership qualities of communicating, listening, and having relationships will guide participants as they create advocacy messages for alcohol safety that can be shared on social media outlets.

The current study examines complexities in relationships between need satisfaction at work, need satisfaction at home, work‐to‐family enrichment (WFE) and well‐being (in terms of positive affect). Competing theoretical perspectives are offered regarding relationships between need satisfaction and WFE. The first perspective, based in a domain specificity approach focused on the directional nature of WFE, suggests that need satisfaction at work is what matters for employees' WFE, irrespective of their need satisfaction at home. Alternatively, a second perspective proposes that both need satisfaction at work and need satisfaction at home represent important factors in employees' experiences of WFE and that congruence (i.e. similarity) between these two constructs is what matters for WFE. Competing hypotheses are tested in a sample of 204 full‐time employees who completed both a work and home survey and were rated on well‐being at home by a significant other. Results support the first perspective for competence need satisfaction and relatedness need satisfaction, while the second perspective is supported for autonomy need satisfaction. For all three needs, indirect relationships are found with well‐being, both at work and at home, via WFE. Relevant theoretical and practical implications are discussed as well as suggestions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Would You Rather (WYR), with a Sexual Health Twist! teaching technique uses two youth games, "Would you rather…" and Twister®, to actively engage students in developing decision-making skills regarding human sexuality. Utilizing the "Would you rather" choices, the teacher provides a short scenario with two difficult choices. Student groups identify the choice they believe is best, provide three reasons for the group choice, and offer one pro and con for the choice. Additionally, student groups provide one source of credible health information related to their choice. The lesson incorporates the game Twister® to facilitate student movement when reporting the "Would you rather…" choice their group selected. Student assessment includes an interactive discussion identifying which choice was most challenging, the importance of considering the pros and cons prior to making decisions, and common characteristics of credible health information sources.

Faculty and staff health promotion is a cost-saving component of coordinated school health, but little is known about the comprehensiveness of these programs. Self-insured school districts require employees to contribute directly to the district's health insurance pool. The purpose of this pilot study was to identify the prevalence of self-insurance within Texas school districts and compare districts' health promotion efforts to agency-insured counterparts. Using an electronic questionnaire, human resource personnel described the characteristics of their district's insurance status, health insurance coverage, health promotion program components, and considerations when planning health-promoting activities or services for school faculty and staff. Thirteen percent of respondents reported their school districts as self-insured. No significant differences between self-insured and agency-insured districts were discovered regarding health insurance coverage, district-offered health promotion, physical activity promotion, planning considerations, or utilization of community resources. Regardless of insurance type, findings indicated an overall lack in comprehensiveness of district-offered health promotion services. This study supports the need to further investigate this school health component so that district employees can financially and physically benefit from health promotion activities or services.

State policy and curriculum standards establish general guidelines regarding sexuality education while local school boards decide how teachers provide sexuality education. Local school districts may utilize programs and speakers from outside organizations and locally produced materials for sexuality education. Purpose: This article examines Texas curricular materials that commonly rely on scare and shaming tactics to teach students sexuality education. Methods: Materials provided by 990 Texas school districts were evaluated. The information related to the content of sexuality education was catalogued and entered into an SPSS database. Results: Problems with fear-based instruction about sexuality fell into three broad categories: 1) exaggerating negative consequences of sexual behavior; 2) demonizing sexually active youth; and 3) cultivating shame and guilt to discourage sexual activity. Conclusions: Informing students about realistic consequences of sexual activity is a vital element of sexuality education; however, in their eagerness to scare students away from a behavior (i.e. sexual activity), teachers use exaggerated, misleading, and misinterpreted facts. Recommendations: Young people need scientific, medically accurate information about sexuality to help them make healthy decisions. The use of fear, shame and guilt are not supported educational strategies in sexuality education.

Background: Diffusion of Innovations theory has been used to predict rates of adoption for a variety of programs. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess indicators that influence adoption of abstinence-only-until-marriage education as an innovation by middle school principals in Texas (N=433) as well as their likelihood of adopting such programs. Methods: This study utilized a paper survey that was mailed to principals. Results: Findings regarding characteristics of abstinence-only-until-marriage education: relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability are analyzed and discussed. In addition, a series of multiple regression models to predict the likelihood of adoption are presented. Discussion: Findings indicated that middle school principals most willing to adopt abstinence-only-until-marriage education programs strongly believed that abstinence education provided important advantages, and perceived abstinence-only-until-marriage education to be consistent with his or her beliefs and values. Controlling for demographics, religious preferences and behavior, and the perceptions of the attributes of abstinence-only-until-marriage education, the principals' religious beliefs/practices, complexity and trialability remained significantly associated with the likelihood to adopt. Translation to Health Education Practice: Rates of adoption by school administrators should be considered when implementing a new health curriculum or health-related educational program, especially when it is a sensitive subject such as sexuality. (Contains 5 tables.)

This study investigated the relationship between parenting stress and relational conditioning. Fourteen students who were not mothers, 14 mothers who reported high parenting stress and 14 mothers with low parenting stress completed two matching-to-sample (MTS) computer tasks, each requiring formation of three 3-member classes. The first MTS task examined class acquisition, with neutral symbols and stimuli theorized to be emotionally relevant to parents (i.e., negative child behavior words) or not (i.e., fruit or medical words). The second task required participants to form classes that included symbols, negative child behaviors and positive parenting words. Statistical analyses were conducted on number of trials needed to meet criterion, percent correct in training and testing, and latency to respond. Overall, distressed mothers were slower to respond than other participants. However, in MTS 1, they responded more quickly and made fewer errors in response to stimuli in the child behavior class. Further, they obtained a higher percent correct for these items than the other participants. In the second MTS, distressed mothers required more trials to reach criterion and made more errors than the other participants. Findings indicate that emotionally relevant stimuli are easily related to other things. However, once formed, emotionally relevant classes are difficult to relate in new ways. The findings may have important clinical and treatment implications for parents, particularly if computer responding relates to "real-world" inflexible parenting. (Contains 4 figures.)

Hurricane Charley made landfall on the Gulf Coast of Florida on 13 August 2004 as a category 4 hurricane, devastating North Captiva Island. The hurricane caused a breach to occur to the southern end of the island, which naturally healed itself over the course of three years. By 2008, the cut was completely repaired geomorphologically. LiDAR data analysis shows the northern half of the island has been subjected to persistent erosion from 1998–2018, while the southern half experienced accretion since 2004, including the complete closure of the “Charley cut”. The maximum volume of sediment erosion in the northern sector of the island (R71–R73) from 2004–2018 was −85,710.1 m3, which was the source of southern accretion. The breached area of the island (R78b–R79a) obtained 500,163.9 m3 of sediments from 2004–2018 to heal the cut made by Hurricane Charley. Along with LiDAR data analysis, Google Earth Pro historical imageries and SANDS volumetric analysis confirmed the longshore transport of sediments from the northern to the southern end of the island. Winter storms are mainly responsible for this southerly longshore transport and are hypothesized to be the main factor driving the coastal dynamics that restored the breach and helps in widening the southern end of North Captiva Island.

Children with autism and other disabilities are often prohibited from participating in inclusive educational environments due to the occurrence of problem behaviors. In this study, a standardized model for individualizing procedures of behavior support, Prevent-Teach-Reinforce (PTR), was evaluated in general education settings with three elementary school students with autism spectrum disorders and serious problem behaviors. A multiple baseline across students design was used to test the effects of PTR on the occurrence of problem behaviors and academic engagement. Results indicated that problem behaviors were reduced and engagement was increased for all of the participants. The findings are discussed in relation to the importance and the challenges of implementation fidelity and effective behavior support in general education settings. (Contains 2 figures.)

Conducting studies using an undergraduate participant pool is fraught with difficulties. Among them are problems with adequately motivating subjects both to come to the study, and once there, to actively engage the experimental task. Thirty-one college students participated in a matching-to-sample (MTS) study involving substantial training, testing, retraining, and retesting of conditional discriminations and equivalence relations among four 4-member classes of nonsensical words. The study was conducted during the end of the semester, when performance often had been observed to be poorer than at other points in the semester. Eleven of the participants, in addition to standard instructions about the task, received additional instructions specifying molar consequences for high rates of "correct" responses throughout the procedure. This subset of participants displayed markedly improved performance as compared to those who did not receive the additional instructions. Results suggest that specification of molar contingencies improves participants' sensitivity to molecular contingencies within the study. Instructions that specify and increase the consequential functions of feedback provided during MTS trials may be one means of reducing unwanted variability in human MTS performance. (Contains 6 figures and 2 tables.)

The authors reviewed the content, methods, and overall quality of 21 curricula used in abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. Only materials designed for use in middle school grades (fifth to eighth) or with middle school-aged audiences (9-13 years of age), which presented the abstinence message in at least 40% of their content, were included. A rating instrument adapted from 2 sets of education guidelines structured the assessment of each curriculum. Four experienced teachers rated each curriculum. Curricula exhibited considerable variability, in overall quality ratings. While on average, materials scored a 3.33 on a 1-to-5 scale (1 = Unacceptable; 5 = Excellent), 12 curricula received summative scores above the average, with 4 scoring 4.0 or higher. Eight curricula, however, received a below-average rating. While abstinence materials vary considerably in terms of overall quality; the values and world views underlying this sample of curricula were clear and consistent: those who develop abstinence education curricula value nonsexual antecedents of sexual behavior such as skills (goal setting, decision making, and assertiveness), deals (fidelity, friendships), and psychological factors such as self-esteem. (J Sch Health. 2005;75(3):90-98)

We build from justice and negotiation scholars' historical interest in interpersonal interactions and reciprocity to develop the notion of interactional justice congruence, which refers to the degree of reciprocity in negotiation dyad members' respectful and truthful treatment of one another. Yet, media richness theory holds that communication media differ in their provision of social cues and ability to interpret subjective information such as justice perceptions. Integrating social exchange theory tenets with media richness theory, we examine how communication medium influences the effects of negotiators' interactional justice congruence on their dyadic economic and social-psychological outcomes. Moderated polynomial regression and response surface analyses of data from 199 face-to-face and virtual negotiation dyads revealed that face to-face dyads' relationship conflict and outcome inequality were minimized when negotiators' interpersonal and informational justice perceptions were congruent--even if both negotiators perceived one another be disrespectful or deceptive. Virtual negotiation dyads did not experience this benefit. This suggests justice functions differently at the dyadic level in negotiations, such that justice needs to be similarly perceived by both face-to-face negotiators in order to produce dyadic benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maintaining regional competitiveness and economic viability for Port Bustamante -Kingston Harbour, Jamaica,required improved accessibility to "Post Panamax "(too large to pass through the Panama Canal)container vessels.Removal of the northern portion of the shallow coral reef at Rackham ’s Cay,which was partially obstructing the western end of the east ship channel,was proposed.This aesthetically valuable reef was used by local fishermen and comprises part of the declared Palisadoes -Port Royal Protected Area.The proposal to transplant certain of the benthic species was advanced to mitigate loss of viable reef components.Between December 2001 and February 2002,sixty thousand items,consisting of reef building massive and branching corals; gorgonians;urchins (Diadema and Tripneustes spp.)and Thalassia meristems were relocated.During dredging,sedimentation rates from suspended solids in the water column were 0.003 g/cm² /day at the control site and 0.008 g/cm² /day at the dredge site.Coral cover in the relocation area increased from 15%to 20%while bare substrate decreased from 27%to 21%.This paper documents the mitigation required;some factors controlling the ecology of Rackham ’s Cay reef;the methodology of the relocation process;and the level of post-dredging survivorship of relocated corals.Political and economic realities of some proposed developments often over-ride ecological considerations. Transplantation of important marine benthic species although time consuming, technically challenging,and expensive,may be one way for developers and ecologists to achieve sometimes disparate goals.This project cost US$1.7 million.The "items "moved were neither unique nor endemic and remain vulnerable to natural and anthropogenic impacts.This project increased public awareness and interest regarding the ecological and economic importance of reef ecosystems.It is anticipated that future coastal and inland developments will benefit from the lessons taught by these mitigative interventions.Para mantener la competitividad regional y la viabilidad económica del Puerto de Bustamante -Kingston Harbour,Jamaica,se requería mejorar la entrada de buques de contenedores "Post Panamax "(nombre dado a los buques que son demasiado grandes para pasar por el canal de Panamá).Se propuso remover la parte norte del cayo coralino Rackham que obstruía parcialmente el lado oeste del canal del este.Este arrecife,estéticamente valioso,era usado por pescadores y forma parte del Área Protegida Palisadoes -Port Royal.Se propuso transplantar algunos organismos bentónicos para mitigar las pérdidas de elementos arrecifales.Entre diciembre 2001 y febrero 2002,se reubicó unos 60 000 organismos de corales constructores de arrecifes masivos y ramificados,gorgonaceos, erizos (Diadema y Tripneustes spp.)y meristemos de Thalassia .Durante el dragado las cantidades de sedimentos en suspensión fueron de 0.003 g/cm² /día en el sitio testigo y 0.008 g/cm² /día en el sitio de dragado.La cobertura de coral aumentó en el sitio de reubicación de 15%a 20%mientras que el sustrato desnudo disminuyó de 27%a 21%.En este trabajo se documentan los requerimientos para la mitigación; algunos factores que controlan la ecología del arrecife del Cayo Rackham;la metodología del proceso de reubicación; y el nivel de supervivencia de corales reubicados.Es común que se dé más importancia a consideraciones políticas y económicas de algunas propuestas de desarrollo que a las consideraciones ecológicas.El transplante de especies marinas bentónicas importantes,aunque consume mucho tiempo, es técnicamente desafiante y costoso,es una forma en que los "desarrollistas " y los "ecologistas " pueden alcanzar objetivos dispares.Este proyecto costó EEUU$1.7 millones. Los organismos trasladados no eran únicos ni endémicos y siguen siendo vulnerables a impactos naturales y antropogénicos.Sin embargo,este proyecto aumentó la percepción e interés en la importancia ecológica y económica de los arrecifes coralinos.Se anticipa que futuros proyectos de desarrollo costeros y de tierra adentro se van a beneficiar de las lecciones aprendidas durante esta intento de mitigación.