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The Iowa Department of Education (DE) has a history of partnering with the Biobehavioral Service (BBS) at the Center for Disabilities and Development to consult with educational teams in Iowa schools regarding students exhibiting challenging behavior. In 2009, the DE requested that BBS consultants improve behavior assessment skills of school-based behavior teams across the state. One aim of the DE was to develop school-based behavior teams who could independently conduct the full range of behavior assessments (i.e., indirect assessment, direct assessment, and experimental analyses). The BBS consultants worked with challenging behavior teams from eight Iowa Area Education Agencies, teaching them to independently design, conduct, and interpret a variety of behavior assessments (e.g., preference assessments, functional analyses). A three-stage teleconsultation model was developed during consultation visits to support and evaluate the independent assessment practice of consultees. The stages included in-person consultation, onsite teleconsultation, and remote teleconsultation. Consultees expressed satisfaction with the use of teleconsultation during the third stage of the model. Additionally, the use of videoconferencing addressed some of the barriers to conducting team-based behavior assessments in the school setting by creating observation and assessment rooms for team members. Consultees continue to use this method as they independently assess the behavior of students.

Objectives Population-based recruitment of a cohort of women who are currently pregnant or who may become pregnant in a given timeframe presents challenges unique to identifying pregnancy status or the likelihood of future pregnancy. Little is known about the performance of individual eligibility items on pregnancy screeners although they are critical to participant recruitment. This paper examined the patterns and respondent characteristics of key pregnancy screener items used in a large national study. Methods Cross-sectional analyses were conducted. Descriptive statistics and multivariable logistic regression models were used to examine nonresponse patterns to three questions (currently pregnant, trying to get pregnant and able to get pregnant). The questions were asked of 50,529 women in 17 locations across the US, as part of eligibility screening for the National Children's Study Vanguard Study household-based recruitment. Results Most respondents were willing to provide information about current pregnancy, trying, and able to get pregnant: 99.3% of respondents answered all three questions and 97.4% provided meaningful answers. Nonresponse ranged from 0.3 to 2.5% for individual items. Multivariable logistic regression results identified small but statistically significant differences in nonresponse by respondent age, marital status, race/ethnicity-language, and household-based recruitment group. Conclusions for Practice The high levels of response to pregnancy-related items are impressive considering that the eligibility questions were fairly sensitive, were administered at households, and were not part of a respondent-initiated encounter., Author(s): Suzanne C. Hughes [sup.1] , Carol J. Hogue [sup.2] , Melissa A. Clark [sup.3] , Jessica E. Graber [sup.4] [sup.7] , Elaine D. Eaker [sup.5] [sup.8] , Amy H. [...]

: BackgroundSmoking prevalence rates in some ethnic minority groups are elevated relative to the majority population. Thus, identifying cessation interventions that are effective for these groups is important. This article reviews published studies that examine effects of smoking cessation interventions relevant to racial ethnic minority populations.: MethodsA literature search of tobacco interventions, reporting smoking cessation outcomes (including quit rates) in U.S. minority populations, was conducted for the period 1985 to 2001.: ResultsThirty-six studies met preset criteria for inclusion. Twenty-three reported quit rates for African Americans, 4 for Asian/Pacific Islanders, 3 for Native Americans, and 10 for Hispanics.: ConclusionsThe disproportionate number of studies that focused on African American smokers compared with the other major racial/ethnic groups suggests the need for continued efforts to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of smoking cessation interventions for all ethnic minority populations. Abstinence rates varied considerably depending on study design and intervention strategy. Moreover, a relatively small percentage of studies that were randomized trials reported statistically significant findings, and most used intervention strategies that do not reflect the current state-of-the-art. These results strongly suggest that more research is needed to identify successful smoking cessation interventions in these populations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]