Improving the parent-child relationship by using strategies based on social learning theory has become the cornerstone for the treatment of conduct problems in children. Over the past 40 years, interventions have expanded greatly from small, experimental procedures to substantial, systematic programmes that provide clear guidelines in detailed…

A concurrent mixed methods approach was used to understand how learned resourcefulness empowers individuals. After completing Rosenbaum's Self-Control Schedule (SCS) measuring resourcefulness, 16 past clients of a multimodal pain clinic were interviewed about the kinds of pain-coping strategies they were practicing from the program. Constant…

Professional development is a common and necessary approach to improving teacher quality. However, while teachers are required to participate in professional development activities, it is often the case that they are not involved in selecting and planning those activities, and that professional development may not be closely tied to classroom…

Community psychology theorists underline the importance of promoting sociopolitical empowerment, but few studies have been conducted on the evaluation of the efficacy of empowering programs among university students. The authors report two studies: the first, with 216 psychology majors, compared the efficacy of face-to-face and online community…

This study is designed to explore the effects of previous participation in Open Circle: Social Competency Program (SCP) on the relational health of 153 Caucasian middle school students who reported having recent and consecutive exposure to the program in elementary school. SCP is designed to foster social skills among children that enable them to…

The development of European Community administrative authority has greatly influenced the development of an evaluation culture among the southern and central member states of the European Union. The present case study from Spain provides an example of this diffusion through the use of an empowerment evaluation approach to build evaluation capacity…

A community-based intervention study for suicide prevention was conducted in six towns (total population 43,964) in Akita Prefecture of Japan according to a quasi-experimental design to reduce suicide rates in rural towns. Public awareness raising activities using a health promotion approach emphasizing the empowerment of residents and civic…

Strong school and family ties have long shown success in influencing positive child development and lasting academic success. While a multitude of programs exist to help facilitate the school-family connection, one program in particular, Families and Schools Together, or FAST, stands out as an effective prevention program that is suitable for a…

The new "Weighted Student Formula Yearbook 2009" from the Reason Foundation provides a simple framework for touting the successes of states and urban school districts that grant greater fiscal autonomy to schools. The report defines the Weighted Student Formula (WSF) reform extremely broadly, presenting a variety of reforms under the WSF umbrella.…

Impacting the academic performance of high school students in core academic content areas is important because of the high-stakes nature of secondary school course grades relative to their vocational and post-secondary pursuits. Getting students to become more active, strategic participants in their learning by teaching them empirically supported…

When preservice teacher programs are failing to adequately prepare collegiate students towards becoming thriving teachers, what can be done? After many complaints were voiced from my student body, a survey was constructed, which revealed student satisfaction levels were lowest in the following areas: 1) The variety of opportunities to teach…

Undergraduate college "science partners" provided content knowledge and a supportive atmosphere for K-5 teachers in a university-school professional development partnership program in science instruction. The Elementary Science Education Partners program, a Local Systemic Change initiative supported by the National Science Foundation,…

Sexual violence is a widespread problem for college communities. Students, faculty, and staff are increasingly involved in prevention efforts. To date, however, evaluation of sexual violence prevention programs has shown mixed results. One promising new practice teaches segments of college communities to be engaged, positive bystanders. It aims to…

Purpose: The No Child Left Behind Act laudably brings social justice and equity issues to the forefront; however, the act's threat- and sanction-driven methods are not only increasing stress levels but potentially causing a rigid response, especially in the growing population of schools labeled "program improvement" (PI). Specifically,…

This article explores the qualitative process findings from an evaluation of Project Jump--a sexual health drama project for hard to reach young people. Project Jump aimed to enable young people to consider their sexual behaviour and its impact and consequence on other people and themselves. The research aimed to capture the experiences and…