Explore the vast range of titles available.

National surveys of self-reported substance use and other problem behavior frequently produce different prevalence estimates for substance use and other problem behaviors. There is research indicating different aspects of survey methodology may artificially inflate or deflate prevalence rates, and while some research has been done on specific influences, taken separately, little has been done to estimate the cumulative impact of these methodological variations, taken together, on survey estimates. The present study compares methodologies of three studies, Monitoring the Future (MTF), National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), and National Youth Survey Family Study (NYSFS), on how differences in methodology may influence estimated rates of problem behavior, and the extent to which knowledge of the differences, taken in combination, allow prediction of differences in those rates. Differences in survey methodology are predictive of differences in prevalence. Implications for the use of the surveys are considered.

To improve maternal and child health, the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood (WRA) implemented an innovative policy advocacy project in India, Uganda and Yemen from 2009 to 2011. PATH assisted WRA in designing an approach to measure the short- and longterm results of WRA’s advocacy efforts. Expert rating instruments have been widely used since 1970s to track country-level program efforts focusing on family planning, maternal and neonatal health, and HIV/AIDS. This article assesses and establishes the strength and applicability of an expert rating tool, the Maternal Health Policy Score (MHPS), in measuring and guiding a non-profit’s advocacy efforts. The tool was assessed using five criteria: validity of results, reproducibility of results, acceptability to respondents, internal consistency and cost. The tool proved effective for measuring improvements in the policy environment at both the national and subnational levels that the non-profit intended to effect and useful for identifying strong and weak policy domains. The results are reproducible, though ensuring fidelity in implementation during different rounds of data collection may be difficult. The acceptability of the tool was high among respondents, and also among users of the information. MHPS provides a quick, low-cost method to measure overall changes in the policy environment, giving advocacy organizations and grant makers timely information to gauge the influence of their work and take corrective action. WRA demonstrated the use of MHPS at multiple points in the project: at the onset of a project to identify and strategize around policy domains that need attention, during and at the end of the project to monitor progress made and redirect efforts.

Bullying is a form of aggressive behavior that has become increasingly pervasive in school settings. The consequences of bullying manifest as poor physical health, anxiety, depression, poor school performance, school avoidance, and increased risk for students. While no student is immune to bullying, research suggests that students with autism are particularly susceptible to bullying victimization and may be at least three times more likely to be bullied than their typically developing peers. The findings in my study reveal a major challenge and call for heightened concern for the well-being and safety of students with autism who participate in the general education setting. Such concern is particularly warranted in light of the difficulty with social skills, interactions, and communication that are often manifestations of autism.This study examined the prevalence of bullying of middle school students with autism participating in the general education setting from the perspectives of the middle school student with autism, their parents, and their teachers. The extent to which the participants shared similar beliefs about what constituted bullying was also explored. Adolescent students with autism shared their experiences with reporting bullying, the actions that were taken based on their bullying reports, and strategies they employed to address bullying behavior. Parents and teachers also shared their recommendations for reducing bullying incidents within the school.The study revealed that the student and teacher participants shared a common understanding of the definition of bullying and agreed that bullying is prevalent in the school setting. Students recounted bullying experiences that substantiated the prevalence of bullying. Parents did not demonstrate an expansive understanding of what constitutes bullying and expressed an overall satisfaction with school safety and their children’s learning environment. The study revealed that students are more likely to report bullying to a trusted adult staff member at school rather than to a parent. These students expressed strong confidence that staff members would address such situations. In addition, I found that the students developed coping strategies to address bullying behavior, though the strategies are frequently ineffective. The study determined that teachers and parents share similar ideas about how to reduce the number of bullying incidents in the school setting.The study included an analysis of survey responses by 12 parents of student participants with autism and 26 teachers of student participants with autism. It also included interviews with the 12 student participants with autism. The collective results from the interviews and surveys of the study participants revealed that students with autism have experienced some form of bullying while attending school. In addition, the results demonstrated that student participants had a positive relationship with at least one staff member to whom they felt comfortable making reports of bullying. The respondents also provided recommendations to improve the communication regarding bullying prevention, strategies for addressing bullying, and reporting bullying behaviors to reduce the incidence of bullying of students with autism.The study concluded with a set of recommendations for policy and practice. Critical components of the recommendations included district selection and implementation of a bullying prevention program that includes a component of social emotional learning; integration of the bullying prevention program into the curriculum; accountability for implementing the program; and incorporation of parent communication and education as part of the bullying prevention program. Recommendations also include suggestions for future research to address the limitations of this study.

The Member States of the World Health Organization (WHO) are committed to achieve quality, equity and dignity for women, newborns and children as reflected in the four World Health Assembly Resolutions.1-4 These resolutions provide the foundation to reach the targets for maternal, newborn and child health and survival5 of the sustainable development goal on health, and universal health coverage. Although coverage of health services has increased, many women, newborns and children continue to die from poor care practices, even after reaching a health facility.6,7 Poor care practices are not limited to the medical aspects of care or resources needed to provide this care; research has demonstrated a disrespectful or neglectful treatment in the facilities that negatively impacts the care outcomes for women and newborns.8 Implementing an approach to improve quality of care at scale that is effective and sustainable is critical to further reduce mortality and improve health outcomes.9Recognizing the need for action, the national governments of Bangladesh, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Malawi, Nigeria, Uganda and United Republic of Tanzania, together with WHO, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), implementation partners and other stakeholders, have established the Network for Improving Quality of Care for Maternal Newborn and Child Health care.10 The network has agreed to pursue the ambitious goals of halving maternal and newborn deaths and stillbirths and improving experience of care in participating health facilities within five years of implementation. Under the leadership of the participating countries' health ministries, the network will support the implementation of national frameworks for quality improvement by pursuing four strategic objectives: (i) leadership by building and strengthening national institutions and processes for improving quality of care; (ii) action by accelerating and sustaining implementation of quality-of-care improvement packages through operationalizing a standards-based approach to quality improvement; (iii) learning by promoting joint learning and generating evidence on quality planning, improvement and control of health services; and (iv) accountability by developing, strengthening and sustaining institutions and mechanisms for accountability of quality maternal, neonatal and child health services that are equitable and dignified.

Students are amazed that favorite books like Bridge to Terabithia, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, and the Harry Potter series have been pulled from library shelves because of offensive language, being too scary, and having a positive presentation of magic and/or witchcraft. Every year on March 2, which is Dr. Seuss's birthday, the National Education Association sponsors Read Across America to celebrate reading. Math teachers tend to be minimal and neat, drama and art teachers more quirky and unique in appearance. * First Lines-This activity can be thematic or random. Students are amazed that favorite books like Bridge to Terabithia, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, and the Harry Potter series have been pulled from library shelves because of offensive language, being too scary, and having a positive presentation of magic and/or witchcraft.

Self‐report survey data were first collected in the 1940s in an attempt to address limitations of official arrest data for describing the distribution and correlates of illegal behavior. Since the 1970s, self‐report data have come to be used extensively to estimate rates of illicit substance use and other forms of illegal behavior and to test theories that attempt to explain those behaviors. The present chapter focuses on measurement issues in self‐report research, including the differences between cross‐sectional and longitudinal self‐report surveys; issues of sampling, participation, and, for longitudinal research, retention of sample respondents over time; what behaviors we measure and how they are selected; how we measure or scale those behaviors; the reliability and validity of self‐report data; and additional issues in longitudinal panel studies of self‐reported illegal behavior. The chapter concludes with a description of needs for further study not only using self‐report research, but also further, updated study of the self‐report method itself.

Influenza surveillance is essential for detecting and managing outbreaks. The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) currently includes the number of emergency room and physician visits for influenza-like-illness (ILI) to track flu activity. Recently, internet and social media based surveillance methods have emerged as useful in detecting outbreaks. This study aims to determine if internet and social media based surveillance methods are useful in monitoring ILI in Maryland through assessing how Google Flu Trends (GFT) and tweets compare to portions of DHMH’s formal reporting system. Innovations of this study include using symptom based keywords and incorporating a variety of sources of surveillance data. Results show tweets had a strong positive correlation with all other surveillance sources, Pearson’s correlation coefficients ranged from 0.62-0.68. GFT were more highly correlated with DHMH data. Further research should investigate automating collection of tweets, application to other diseases, and standardized methods for location determination.

Epidemiological factors are frequently found to be significantly associated with self-reported problem behaviors. When comparing these findings across seemingly similar studies, reviewers often find differences in reported prevalence and frequencies. This may seem puzzling given that the validity of each has been supported by prior research. In addition, this poses a problem for organizations utilizing the data to support research and funding initiatives for the applicable populations. The comparison of the survey design and procedures of each of three surveys: Monitoring the Future (MTF) 2003, National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) 2003, and the National Youth Survey Family Study (NYSFS) 2004, is restricted to respondents under the age of 26. The research and conclusions provide insight as to the methodological conflicts in creating and processing self-report data on deviant behavior. The survey methods differences are notably different. The distributions reflect overall higher reporting in the MTF. The correlations by variables of gender, ethnicity, urbanicity, age, grade/education level, and family structure as compared to substance use and other deviant behaviors, provide many occurrences of similar direction and directional measures. The conclusion is that the measurements of behaviors are providing relevant results; however, the differences in setting and wording provide caution for interpreting those results. KEY WORDS: Adolescents, problem behaviors, self-report data, substance use, survey methods, transitionals, Sam Houston State University, Graduate School, Texas

This book is premised upon the assumption that the core purpose of universities is to create, preserve, transmit, validate, and find new applications for knowledge. It is written in the perspective of critical university studies, in which university governance processes should take ideas and discourse about ideas seriously, far more seriously than they are often taken within many of to day's universities, since doing so is the key to achieving this purpose. Specifically, we assert that the best way for universities to take ideas seriously, and so to best achieve their purpose, is to consciously recognize and conserve the entire range of available ideas. Though the current emphasis upon factors such as student headcounts, increased efficiency and job creation are undoubtedly important, far more is at stake in universities than only these factors.From this premise, we deduce insights and arguments about academic freedom, as well as factors such control and monitoring of the market place of ideas, the structure of information flows within universities, the role of language in university governance, and relationships between administrators, faculty members and students. We identify impediments to achieving the core purpose of universities, including the idea vetting systems of authoritarianism, corporatism, illiberalism, supernaturalism and political correctness. We elucidate how these impediments inhibit successful achievement of the core purpose of the university. In response to these impediments we prescribe relatively autonomous universities characterized by openness, transparency, dissent, and the maintenance of balance between conflicting perspectives, values, and interests.