In an effort to promote the social and cognitive competence of youth, school psychologists must be prepared to address a multitude of contextual factors and life events that impact children's performance and adjustment in school and subsequent developmental trajectories. The domain of crisis preparedness and intervention has received increased…

Analyses of data collected from 480 university students (approximately 56% White and 44% Black) challenge the utility of the Multi-Attitude Suicide Tendency Scale (MAST) for use with individuals of diverse cultural backgrounds. This size sample allowed for an examination of the psychometric properties and cultural relevance of the MAST for…

The Circles of Care initiative emphasized the importance of developing an outcomes measurement plan that was consonant with the model system of care as well as community values and priorities. This analysis suggests that the Circles of Care grantees achieved this key programmatic objective, but that a major constraint was the tendency of funders,…

Process evaluation helps us to understand the planning process. This predominantly qualitative approach explains how and why decisions are made and activities undertaken. The focus includes feelings and perceptions of program staff. The evaluator's ability to interpret and longitudinally summarize the experience of program staff and community…

This article describes how the Fairbanks Native Association's (FNA) Early Head Start (EHS) program in Alaska participated in the EHS Pathways to Prevention initiative. At the FNA EHS program, staff members had watched their families struggle to receive appropriate and respectful mental health services. Developing more culturally relevant services…

In this article, the author shares insights derived from her journey as an evaluation practitioner and as a capacity-building evaluation facilitator committed to demystifying evaluation as a core development resource. The author weaves in some foundational stories that have shaped and informed her path. Through her work and praxis, she has been…

Although it is an established psychological specialty in the United States, counseling psychology is still a culturally encapsulated discipline confined to its national borders. Internationalizing the discipline will require colleagues in the United States to examine their attitudes, abandon their sense of self-sufficiency, and engage counseling…

The success of the Inuit people of Canada in seeking political autonomy resulted in the creation of the Nunavut territory. The new Government of Nunavut (GN) has instituted Inuit Quajimajatiqangit (IQ), the values, norms, and traditional knowledge of the Inuit, as formal policy to guide the delivery of health, social, and civil services in order…

This paper describes the development of a needs assessment guide that is user-friendly, facilitates the development of the youth-counsellor relationship, and is sensitive to gender, sexual orientation and cultural diversity. Through a three-phase collaborative process with counsellors and youth, the major issues in needs assessment were uncovered…

Child health and well-being are intrinsically important and also contribute to a healthy, productive adolescence and adulthood. Parents can play an important role in helping their children acquire or strengthen the behaviors, skills, attitudes, and motivation that promote physical and mental health and overall well-being in childhood, adolescence…

Despite its notable successes, the public education system fails many students, as evidenced by the disengagement, failure and high dropout rates for Black, Aboriginal, and other minority youths. African-Canadian parents and communities are continually being asked to take responsibility for solving the many problems affecting them; however, the…

Youth violence is widely recognized as a critical social issue in the United States, and many approaches to prevention have been developed in recent years. Emerging research suggests that only approaches that are deeply embedded in cultural, community, and organizational contexts are likely to be powerful enough to have a meaningful collective…

Whether individuals like it or not, they have witnessed and will continue to witness a drastic increase in the number of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students in schools. This increase is not being mirrored in gifted education. Why do gifted programs remain so stubbornly void of diversity? The author believes that attitudes in the…

Designing effective marketing and recruitment strategies for HIV prevention research requires attention to cultural relevance, logistical barriers, and perceived psychosocial barriers to accessing services. McGuire's communication/persuasion matrix (1985) guided our evaluation, with particular attention to success of each marketing "channel"…

In the past five years, there has been a surge in the attention shown to community and community-based health programs among Native Americans, particularly for chronic health problems such as diabetes. Community participation in health programming--from the efforts of community health workers (CHWs), to participatory research, to the impact of…