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The aim of this study was to explore perceptions of mental health services from the perspectives of adolescents with no prior service experience. Thirty students in the Transition Year (fourth year) of secondary school participated in this study: 22 females and 8 males, aged 15 to 16. There was equal distribution across rural and urban settings. Participants had no prior experience of accessing mental health services. Data were collected in secondary school settings in the Republic of Ireland. An interpretive description approach guided this study. Data were collected through individual interviews. To complement interviews, participants drew images of mental health care environments and mental health staff members; drawings were not subjected to analysis. Data (participant interviews) were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Three themes were identified. Participants suggested that "mental health services" differed from "psychiatric services," with the latter term perceived more negatively. Uncertainty about how to access these services was voiced. Considering the vulnerability of adolescents to the experience of mental distress, education around mental health services is warranted. It is expected that provision of education in this area would enhance service delivery, improve adolescents' help-seeking behaviors for mental distress, and reduce stigma.

Researchers seeking to engage in projects related to Tribal communities and their citizens, lands, and non-human relatives are responsible for understanding and abiding by each Tribal nation's research laws and review processes. Few studies, however, have described the many diverse forms of Tribal research review systems across the United States (US). This study provides one of the most comprehensive examinations of research review processes administered by Tribal Research Review Boards (TRRBs) in the US. Through a systematic analysis, we consider TRRBs' online presence, online documentation, and themes across documents, for five entity types: Tribal nations and Tribal consortiums, Tribal colleges and universities, Tribal health organizations, Indian Health Services, and other Tribal organizations. Results include an assessment of online presence for 98 potential TRRBs, identification of 118 publicly available online documents, and analysis of 41 themes across four document types: Tribal research codes and TRRBs' guidelines, applications, and post-approval documents. Altogether, this research provides a macro-level analysis of the most common types of TRRBs in the US in an effort to increase researchers' understanding of these important processes as they prepare to ethically engage Tribal communities in research. These results aim to empower Tribal decision makers as they align their TRRBs' online visibility and documentation with community priorities and strengthen their protections for the rights and wellbeing of their citizens and community. Ultimately, by expanding our knowledge of TRRBs across the US, this contribution seeks to uphold Tribal sovereignty in research and promote ethical approaches to research with Indigenous communities.

The impact of community-wide teen pregnancy prevention initiatives (CWIs) on local U.S. birth rates among adolescents aged 15 to 19 years was examined using synthetic control methodology within a quasi-experimental design. CWIs were implemented in 10 U.S. communities from 2010 to 2015. Each initiative implemented evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention interventions at local organizations and enhanced best practices in adolescent reproductive health care at local health centers, while engaging diverse community sectors. The synthetic control method was used to estimate the impact of each CWI on overall and race- and ethnicity-specific teen births relative to rates in synthetic control communities. Additionally, we estimated the overall effect of CWIs across communities by pooling results from the 10 synthetic control case studies using the mean percentile rank. Pooled data across all 10 communities indicated an estimated average of 6.6 fewer births per 1000 teens per year overall during the initiative relative to each community's synthetic control (p = 0.001). By race and ethnicity, there were an estimated average of 6.4 fewer births per 1000 teens per year among Black teens (p = 0.03), 10.7 fewer births among Hispanic teens (p = 0.03), and 4.2 fewer births (p = 0.10) among White teens. Results from individual communities indicated an intervention effect on overall and/or race/ethnicity-specific teen birth rates in five communities. This study demonstrates the value of synthetic control methods in evaluating community-level outcomes of programmatic efforts. Findings indicate the CWIs had a positive impact on teen birth rates and have the potential to address racial and ethnic disparities in those rates.

The presence of a dog supports self-regulation, interpersonal skills, and readiness to learn in and out of the classroom. Somehow, dogs are able to improve student learning, sometimes through dog-student or dog-teacher interactions, and at other times by simply being present in the room. Most research has focused on the positive effects of having a dog in the classroom. It would be interesting to note what dogs do to affect students positively.

Allied health new graduates are entering private practice in increasing numbers despite limited opportunity to experience this setting during training. Exploring strategies used to host students may provide insight into how students can be integrated into practice whilst minimizing disruption to staff, clients, and service delivery. This study aimed to explore actual and potential strategies to integrate students into private practice organizations from the perspective of practices who currently, have previously, and who have never hosted allied health students (n=26) and university clinical education coordinators (n=13). Four themes were generated that encompassed key strategies in hosting allied health students. Allied health private practices and clinical placement coordinators use a range of strategies to integrate students, centering on supporting involvement in client care and steps to minimize disruption to service delivery. Consideration of such strategies may provide avenues for future practice-university partnerships, thereby increasing placement capacity in this sector.

Over the last two decades research has indicated an unpleasant experience for the elderly with exemptions. An important question for this paper is whether the unpleasant exempted experience for the elderly in accessing health services is linked to illiteracy. Since illiteracy can affect how services are used and its results, the answer to this paper's question could affect how health services are accessed and their associated outcomes. Policy implementors are operating without a solid knowledge of this relationship. The study used a mixed methods approach. Purposive random sampling was applied to select 879 elderly and was guided by research assistants in filling in the questionnaires. Also, purposive sampling was used to recruit 23 key informants. Results indicates a significant relationship between illiteracy and selected indicators of health service access: awareness, acceptability and adequacy. This paper argues for more training opportunities through non-formal programs among adults and communication capacity building among health providers based on the results of implementing the elderly exemption policy in Ubungo and Mbarali districts in Tanzania.

Contextual learning is critical to equip learners to apply knowledge and skills and to solve problems in the real world. The purpose of this article is to describe the collaborative effort of a subject matter expert and instructional designer to implement a situated cognition model to contextualize a fully online cardiac rehabilitation course. The implementation of the model resulted in the creation of an online learning environment that resembles the complexity of cardiac rehabilitation centers, where learners were able to solve a problem by articulating a cardiac rehabilitation plan for a client.

Background: The link between limited health literacy (HL), an often forgotten social determinant of health, inadequate access to health care, and poor health outcomes demonstrates the need for better patient education. Understanding HL supports patient education on multiple levels. Purpose: Our objective was to measure HL and its association with sociodemographic variables. Methods: A cross-sectional study with 328 patients was completed in 2 health centers. Three instruments, the Brief HL tool (BRIEF), Short Assessment of HL Spanish and English (SAHL-S&E), and the All Aspects of HL Scale (AAHLS), were administered. Participants also reported sociodemographic characteristics and perceptions. Results: Limited and marginal HL existed in 49% (BRIEF) and 20% (SAHL-S&E) of participants. Differences in HL were identified by race, ethnicity, and education (p-values < 0.05) for the BRIEF and SAHL-S&E. Limited functional and critical HL existed in 23% and 25% of participants (AAHLS). Ninety percent reported confidence accessing health information, and 33% and 41% perceived their health as being poor and good. Discussion: Results provide evidence of limited HL and merit in assessing HL in multiple ways. Translation to Health Education Practice: Measuring HL provides a background for designing multilevel patient education efforts, reducing health inequalities, and informing the healthcare workforce.

Primary care is an essential service for young children and one of the few settings where in-person care was provided during COVID-19 (recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, 2020). The HealthySteps (HS) model provides enhanced primary care to young children but required innovations to service delivery to adhere to public health orders and reduce virus exposure. The HS team in this clinic developed innovative service delivery strategies to continue providing comprehensive care to young children and families. The team also provides support to primary care medical colleagues as they navigate the ongoing challenges brought about by the pandemic.

The purpose of this study was to explore how a health-based informal science education course, as part of an elementary undergraduate teacher preparation program, influenced pre-service teachers' ideas about formal and informal science teaching and learning. Additionally, the study explored how the course impacted their understandings of the value of bridging informal science to supplement formal instruction. Qualitative study data were gathered through two (mid- and end-of-semester) focus group interviews with five pre-service teachers enrolled in a health-based informal science course. Analysis of data indicated that the inclusion of informal science education experiences during PST preparation has the potential to support novice teachers' developing ideas about science teaching and learning including ways to connect science to students' lives and make science engaging and meaningful. Findings are reported in four key themes that emerged from the data: (a) formal teacher preparation and informal education, (b) connections between formal and informal science education, (c) personal and professional collaborations, and (d) benefits of informal science education.

Objective: To evaluate the health education infographics posted on Twitter accounts by major health care institutions in Saudi Arabia. Method: Cross-sectional review of health education infographics using a semi-structured evaluation form. The scoring rubric included 10 criteria grouped under 4 main headings: (1) usefulness, (2) legibility, (3) graphics and illustrations and (4) aesthetics. Rated on a scale of 1 to 5, scored items were summed and converted into a percentage. Each infographic was classified as being of high quality (70%-100%), medium quality (40%-69%) or low quality (0%-39%). Results: A total of 297 infographics were evaluated. The most common topics concerned chronic diseases and associated risk factors (n = 72) and healthy lifestyle (n = 51). The highest re-tweets (524), likes (605) and replies (226) were received by government organisations. Overall, 249 (83.8%) infographics were categorised as of 'high quality', 46 (15.5%) as 'medium quality', and 2 (0.7%) as 'low quality'. The highest proportion (93%) of 'high-quality' infographics came from government hospitals. Among individual criterion, drawings (17.2%) made up the highest proportion of the 'low quality' category followed by overall design (10.8%) and purpose (10.8%). Light text (covering < 50% of the infographic) showed a significant statistical association with the number of replies (p = 0.007), number of likes (p = 0.003) and number of retweets (p = 0.018). Conclusion: The majority of infographics were rated as being of 'high quality'. Government institutions were assessed as having better quality infographics than private hospitals. We recommend that social media design specialists and health education specialists collaborate to design clear infographics with better overall design.

This study investigates the value of community experience for mediating linguistic practice and cultural learning. Learners of English as an Additional Language (EAL), both immigrants and international students, frequently report difficulties in practicing English outside the classroom (Wright, 2006). Grounded in poststructuralist social identity theory (Norton, 2000, 2009), social constructivism (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998) and imbued by insights into language socialization (Duff, 2007; Duff & Hornberger, 2008), this project identifies what students gain linguistically, culturally, and ontologically from prolonged interaction within a nursing home (known as a "rest home" in New Zealand). Four Chinese women who had undertaken a 10-hour community placement as part of a B.A. program in Auckland were asked to live on-site as caregivers. This project uses students' reflective diaries and transcripts of a focus group interview to address key questions about how the context of the rest home and the experience of volunteering impact actuating communicative practice into social learning. I conclude that authentic practice allowed the four women to apply linguistic strategies taught in the classroom, observe aspects of culture firsthand, report on language used in the homes and for what purposes, and realise they could "make a difference."

The usage of social media networks, such as websites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, had become the number one activity on the internet by 2010. The sweeping increase in usage led organizations to explore the marketing possibilities the networks offered. The turning point occurred when organizations began to ask whether it was feasible to use social media networks as a primary marketing strategy and reduce or ultimately replace traditional marketing efforts. A pilot project focused on a marketing plan that was implemented at a student fitness center, using social media networks as the primary marketing strategy.

Partnership projects between education and practice beyond clinical placement provide opportunities for growth and improved quality for both the educational unit and the health care facility. Such a partnership happened between Quinte Healthcare Corporation and Loyalist College to benefit students, educational curriculum, nurses new to their career (nurse interns), and ultimately patient safety and care.

The current study evaluated the effect of participating in simulated gambling activities on happiness levels of 3 nursing home residents. A 4-component analysis was used to measure objective responses associated with happiness during baseline, varying durations of engagement in simulated gambling activities, and 2 follow-up periods. Results indicated that all residents exhibited a higher percentage of happiness levels while engaged in simulated gambling activities compared with baseline. Follow-up assessment took place 10 min and 30 min following the intervention; no lasting effects were observed. (Contains 1 figure.)

Art therapists increasingly work outside traditional mental health treatment programs and facilitate art-making experiences within community-based settings. Although traditional mental health facilities provide frameworks for meeting ethical principles such as privacy, roles, consent to treatment, and setting therapeutic goals, community-based art therapists may require a different process for ensuring that ethical principles are met. A series of self-reflective questions posed by community-based practitioners at a 2008 gathering sponsored by the Maryland Institute College of Art offers valuable guidance to art therapists working outside traditional therapeutic settings. (Contains 1 table.)

With economic pressures restricting campus budgets and healthcare policy issues capturing national attention, facilities managers at university-affiliated hospitals and other healthcare entities say they feel more urgency than ever to provide cost-effective services to patients, providers, medical researchers, and students. Managing facilities at a university-related medical center is, in many ways, much like doing it on an academic campus--except in the many ways it isn't, and that's what makes their positions as facilities directors at major medical institutions particularly challenging. But it is also exciting, according to several APPA members who hold those positions. "Life and death," literally, is how they describe the principal difference between their management responsibilities at medical and non-medical facilities. Given the responsibilities and accompanying stresses of their jobs, facilities officers at university-affiliated healthcare institutions say they have learned lessons about how to do their jobs well.

Academic Health Centers and nonprofit hospitals are exploring strategies to meet Affordable Care Act mandates requiring tax-exempt institutions to address community health needs, which commonly include major chronic illnesses. We explore the implications of this regulatory landscape, describing methods that nonprofit health care institutions are using to undertake community health needs assessments and showing how value has been found in addressing needs through the implementation of nutrition-related Health Education initiatives that aim to prevent or delay the onset of major chronic diseases. We then share and evaluate approaches we have undertaken at Penn State Hershey Medical Center involving 2 nutrition-focused initiatives--a hospital-affiliated farmers' market and a community garden--and argue for why such investments may be valuable assets to other nonprofit institutions that must demonstrate community benefit by addressing major chronic diseases.

Everybody on campus is responsible for recognizing and responding to students in crisis. Sometimes the difficulty is knowing when to intervene. Being alert to students' mental health and wellness needs is an essential part of work life on today's campuses--even when it means stepping out of one's own narrow professional roles or risking leaving comfort zones. In fact, according to studies by Robert Gallagher, James C. Turner, and Adrienne Keller, about 2,000,000 students nationwide visit their college counseling centers, and millions more visit campus health centers each year. However, counseling and health center staff are only part of the support system for students' mental and physical well-being. Professors who notice strange behavior in class, residence life staff who respond to self-harm, Greek Life staff who arrange eating disorder interventions, and residence advisors supporting students with unplanned pregnancies all serve as reminders that being on the lookout for student wellness concerns, approaching students who appear in need, and following through--must be the gold standard.