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We evaluated the effectiveness of a statewide Medicaid program providing in-home Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention services to young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder living in a rural southern state. Program effectiveness was assessed via the Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills-Revised (ABLLS-R). A multi-level growth model was used to show significant variation among children's initial ABLLS-R scores and their growth trajectories. Hispanic children tended to have lower initial scores but demonstrated similar growth compared to their non-Hispanic peers. Children who were older at initial start in the program appeared to have higher initial composite scores and higher growth trajectories. Children in more populous counties had higher initial scores but grew at similar rates to children in more rural counties.

Data simulation and Monte Carlo simulation studies are important skills for researchers and practitioners of educational and psychological measurement, but there are few resources on the topic specific to item response theory. Even fewer resources exist on the statistical software techniques to implement simulation studies. This article presents an introduction to the questions that simulation studies can, and cannot answer, along with the primary steps of the simulation study. We primarily focus on the parts of the simulation for which statistical software is used, presenting syntax for simulating 2PL data, and discuss how to extend the basic syntax to more complex models. We focus on SAS software in the article to build upon an existing syntax base, as most universities have SAS licenses. Two small simulations serve as didactic illustrations and to demonstrate parameter recovery of the SAS IRT procedure and an evaluation of the procedure's item-fit options.

Although ticket sales and revenue have remained relatively constant in collegiate athletics over the past decade, attendance has steadily declined. Given the range of entertainment options available, student attendance at collegiate athletic events has, specifically, declined. Athletic administrators are often revenue oriented, and decreasing attendance has effects that span campus communities and cultures. As Greek-letter organizations are nearly ubiquitous within the higher education setting, fraternity and sorority members serve a unique opportunity area for engagement with fan attendance initiatives and future alumni giving. Accordingly, this study examined the motivations for attending collegiate athletic events as a member of a Greek-letter organization and the intention to attend collegiate athletic events as an alumnus of a Greek-letter organization. Findings illustrate that students and alumni that are affiliated with Greek-letter organizations have greater motivation to attend collegiate athletic events as students and greater intention to attend collegiate athletic events as alumni. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Junior doctors are reported to make most of the prescribing errors in the hospital setting., Aims: The aim of the following study is to determine the knowledge intern doctors have about prescribing errors and circumstances contributing to making them., Settings and Design: A structured questionnaire was distributed to intern doctors in National Hospital Abuja Nigeria., Subjects and Methods: Respondents gave information about their experience with prescribing medicines, the extent to which they agreed with the definition of a clinically meaningful prescribing error and events that constituted such. Their experience with prescribing certain categories of medicines was also sought., Statistical Analysis Used: Data was analyzed with Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 17 (SPSS Inc Chicago, Ill, USA). Chi-squared analysis contrasted differences in proportions; P < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant., Results: The response rate was 90.9% and 27 (90%) had <1 year of prescribing experience. 17 (56.7%) respondents totally agreed with the definition of a clinically meaningful prescribing error. Most common reasons for prescribing mistakes were a failure to check prescriptions with a reference source (14, 25.5%) and failure to check for adverse drug interactions (14, 25.5%). Omitting some essential information such as duration of therapy (13, 20%), patient age (14, 21.5%) and dosage errors (14, 21.5%) were the most common types of prescribing errors made. Respondents considered workload (23, 76.7%), multitasking (19, 63.3%), rushing (18, 60.0%) and tiredness/stress (16, 53.3%) as important factors contributing to prescribing errors. Interns were least confident prescribing antibiotics (12, 25.5%), opioid analgesics (12, 25.5%) cytotoxics (10, 21.3%) and antipsychotics (9, 19.1%) unsupervised., Conclusions: Respondents seemed to have a low awareness of making prescribing errors. Principles of rational prescribing and events that constitute prescribing errors should be taught in the practice setting.