Building community connections for youth to reduce violence

The Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative in Morton High School District 201, Cicero, IL, used a social ecological systems perspective to implement its goals. Social‐emotional learning and violence‐prevention strategies were provided at the levels of the community, school, and individual. Creation of a safe school environment cut across developmental levels from preschool through high school. Intervention activities were universal/preventive, school, and targeted/individual. Finally, the project sought to develop a consortium infrastructure to institutionalize and sustain integrated services. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 40: 549–563, 2003.     

Implementing a school‐based health center: The Winston‐Salem/Forsyth County experience

This article traces the inception and implementation of school‐based health centers in the Winston‐Salem/Forsyth County (NC) school system. The challenges that arose during implementation are discussed, along with the opportunities that SBHCs provide to enhance the provision of comprehensive services for children. The involvement of the several school psychologists in the initial planning, organization and implementation of these centers is delineated as an example for other school psychologists who are interested in working with school‐based health centers. School‐based health centers represent an opportunity for school psychologists to assume a leadership role in the delivery of enhanced health and mental health services for children and families. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 40: 289–296, 2003.     

Safe Schools/Healthy Students initiative: Pinellas County,Florida

The Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) Initiative in Pinellas County, FL, emerged as a part of a broader local effort to implement creative educational and mental health programs to support children and families. This initiative focused on capacity building, prevention, and intervention efforts and comprehensive evaluation to address the barriers to learning and enhance healthy development. This article describes Pinellas County's plan, and highlights the instrumental roles played by school psychologists, which included grant writing, program and resource coordination, clinical services, program evaluation, staff training, parent advocacy, and steering committee membership. Promising outcomes and generalization of these findings to other communities is also discussed. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 40: 489–501, 2003.     

Families at risk of poor parenting: A model for service delivery,assessment, and intervention

The At Risk Parent Child Program is a multidisciplinary network agency designed for the secondary prevention of poor parenting and the extremes of child abuse and neglect. This model system of service delivery emphasizes (1) the coordination of existing community resources to access a target population of families at risk of parenting problems, (2) the provision of multiple special services in a neutral location (ambulatory pediatric clinic), and (3) the importance of intensive individual contact with a clinical professional who serves as primary therapist, social advocate and service coordinator for client families. Identification and assessment of families is best done during prenatal and perinatal periods. Both formal and informal procedures for screening for risk factors are described, and a simple set of at risk criteria for use by hospital nursing staff is provided. Preventive intervention strategies include special medical, psychological, social and developmental services, offered in an inpatient; outpatient, or in-home setting. Matching family needs to modality and setting of treatment is a major program concern. All direct services to at risk families are supplied by professionals employed within existing local agencies (hospital, public health department, state guidance center, and medical school pediatric clinic). Multiple agency involvement allows a broad-based screening capacity which allows thousands of families routine access to program services. The administrative center of the network stands as an independent, community-funded core which coordinates and monitors direct clinical services, and provides local political advocacy for families at risk of parenting problems.     

School‐based health centers: Opportunities and challenges for school psychologists

School psychologists have the potential to contribute to the development and delivery of health and mental health services through school‐based health centers (SBHCs). Possible roles for school psychologists within SBHCs are described. Factors that influence school psychologists' efforts within SBHCs are discussed, including factors such as system reforms, school system governance, importance of SBHC to stakeholders, and availability of funding. Knowledge of collaborative problem solving, effective prevention and intervention strategies, and recognition of limitations of traditional mental health programs were also identified as facilitators of the school psychologist's role in a SBHC. Factors that may impede the development of SBHCs are reviewed. These factors include definitional confusion, deemphasis on prevention, community stigma, limited resources, lack of integration and coordination of services, and an emphasis on a narrow role of providing only medical services. Additional factors discussed include the narrow role of school psychologists, space limitations, the challenge of collaboration, role strain, and lack of research on interventions within a SBHC. Strategies for overcoming barriers are suggested. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 40: 253–264, 2003.     

Implementation of school‐based wellness centers

This article describes the planning, implementation, and evaluation of school‐based Wellness Centers operated by the Riverside Unified School District in Riverside, CA, as part of the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). We describe the program as planned in terms of the theoretical model for the intervention and the evaluation design, and discuss the actual implementation including accomplishments and challenges. The program was designed to promote positive development and wellness for individual students via self‐ and teacher‐referrals for personal and mental health problems handled through a case management and referral process, support groups, and other activities such as after‐school programs, mentoring, tutoring, and parent training. An effort was also made to promote wellness at the school level by providing wellness campaigns, information, and compatible policies and procedures designed to enhance healthy development. Our observations are based on a qualitative assessment that was a component of the evaluation. A more detailed evaluation examining the impact of school‐wide and student‐focused activities on academic and behavioral outcomes is currently underway. However, we do include comments from students suggesting that the Wellness Center concept holds much promise for school‐based mental health and violence prevention services. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 40: 473–487, 2003.     

The school‐based health center as a resource for prevention and health promotion

The importance of school‐based health centers (SBHCs) in overall prevention and health promotion programming is growing as they become increasingly common in schools. SBHCs can improve access to comprehensive physical and mental health services for children and families, and make a significant contribution to universal prevention efforts in schools. Partnering with school‐based health centers in the overall prevention and health promotion programming provides an opportunity for school psychologists to broaden their impact on the entire school population. This article describes the role and primary functions of SBHCs and how these centers can provide important prevention and health promotion services for children and adolescents. Research regarding SBHCs' primary prevention outcomes is also reviewed with the goal of providing school psychologists the necessary background to work collaboratively with SBHCs. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Face fidelity: Perspectives from a local evaluation of the Safe Schools/Healthy Students initiative

The creation of a federal Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) Initiative reflects a growing level of concern across the United States that many children do not feel safe at school, and that teachers must receive a new level of training to better equip themselves to manage a diverse student population. PROJECT BLUE was funded during the first phase of this initiative and proposed to provide students in its District with a range of services to improve school safety, decrease school violence, decrease alcohol and drug use, and improve student mental health. The local evaluation team collected information regarding project implementation and its impact on school safety, school climate, and teacher preparedness to manage student misbehavior. Selected results are highlighted in the article. However, the primary purpose of this article is to document lessons learned from the evaluation of this project. Lessons learned are presented in four areas: leadership, communication, system change efforts, and local evaluation of federal initiatives. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 40: 515–529, 2003.     

Promoting safe schools and healthy students in rural Pennsylvania

The Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) Initiative is currently underway in the Tyrone Area School District. Tyrone is a rural community characterized by high levels of poverty, unemployment, and youth problems including substance use and alienation from school and community. Its strengths include strong administrative leadership and prior successful collaboration with Penn State University. The goals of the SS/HS Initiative involve reducing risk and building competencies for students and their families through integration of law enforcement and mental health into school‐based prevention efforts. The programs include early childhood, elementary, and secondary school components; and also district‐wide components that span these developmental levels. Despite challenges associated with the integration of different professional perspectives into the school environment, the Tyrone SS/HS Initiative has been quite successful. Program evaluation is varied, and reflects the different programs and student populations served. Currently, plans for sustaining and institutionalizing SS/HS programs are underway in Tyrone. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 40: 457–472, 2003.     

Creating synergy through collaboration: Safe schools/ healthy students in salinas,california

In Salinas, a city of 150,000 on the Central Coast of California, an $8 million federal grant program is helping children and their families grapple with issues pertaining to violence, substance abuse, mental health, and academic success. In just two years, the program has helped educators and service providers deter school crime, provide on‐campus therapy to troubled youth, increase participation in parenting programs, and decrease truancy at several schools. Most importantly, the Salinas initiative has helped providers coordinate services to children and families who need them most. Project directors say that approach will be crucial as they search for new ways to sustain Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS)‐funded programs. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 40: 503–513, 2003.     

Closing the gap in school mental health: A community‐centered model for school psychology

Disciplines involved in the development and/or provision of services in school mental health have recognized the promise of evidence‐based practices in meeting the growing unmet mental health needs of children, adolescents, and families in this country. As a result, School Psychology has strongly emphasized the development and dissemination of evidence‐based practices through professional development opportunities and published literature. Despite these efforts, evidence‐based practices are not implemented as widely or as effectively as intended. This article describes a community‐centered (CC) model for closing the research‐to‐practice gap in school mental health. CC models emphasize both adopting new practices successfully and improving existing practices through a process of planning, implementation, and evaluation, and an exemplar framework based in a CC model is presented and applied to school mental health. The role of school psychologists in leading schools to adopt CC models is discussed, and next steps for changes to training, practice, and research paradigms are presented. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The Better Beginnings, Better Futures project: findings from grade 3 to grade 9

Although comprehensive and ecological approaches to early childhood prevention are commonly advocated, there are few examples of long-term follow-up of such programs. In this monograph, we investigate the medium- and long-term effects of an ecological, community-based prevention project for primary school children and families living in three economically disadvantaged neighborhoods in Ontario, Canada. The Better Beginnings, Better Futures (BBBF) project is one of the most ambitious Canadian research projects on the long-term impacts of early childhood prevention programming to date. Bronfenbrenner's ecological model of human development informed program planning, implementation, and evaluation. Using a quasi-experimental design, the BBBF longitudinal research study involved 601 children and their families who participated in BBBF programs when children were between 4 and 8 years old and 358 children and their families from sociodemographically matched comparison communities. We collected extensive child, parent, family, and community outcome data when children were in Grade 3 (age 8–9), Grade 6 (age 11–12), and Grade 9 (age 14–15). The BBBF mandate was to develop programs that would positively impact all areas of child's development; our findings reflect this ecological approach. We found marked positive effects in social and school functioning domains in Grades 6 and 9 and evidence of fewer emotional and behavioral problems in school across the three grades. Parents from BBBF sites reported greater feelings of social support and more positive ratings of marital satisfaction and general family functioning, especially at the Grade 9 follow-up. Positive neighborhood-level effects were also evident. Economic analyses at Grade 9 showed BBBF participation was associated with government savings of $912 per child. These findings provide evidence that an affordable, ecological, community-based prevention program can promote long-term development of children living in disadvantaged neighborhoods and produce monetary benefits to government as soon as 7 years after program completion.     

Evaluation in school‐based health centers

School‐Based Health Centers (SBHCs) are ideal primary care settings for improving children's access to and utilization of health care services. In this era of shrinking funding for social service programs, SBHCs may provide services to youth from low‐income families, who otherwise might lack access to health care services. However, the growth of SBHCs has outpaced evaluation efforts. More information is needed about what services are being provided, and for whom services are effective. This article reviews information that will assist in the development of evaluation efforts for SBHCs. A review of evaluation theory, ideas for evaluation in SBHCs, challenges to implementing research in schools, and future directions for evaluation efforts are presented. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 40: 309–320, 2003.     

Community Engagement Project for Preservice Early Childhood Students

This article describes how a preservice early childhood program collaborates with a local agency in a community engagement project. The project was implemented in a family–community partnership class for preservice teachers. There were three purposes for this project. First, to build a partnership between the University of Alaska Anchorage Bachelor of Arts in Early Childhood (BAEC) program and a local child care center; second, to provide support for the child care center’s administration and teachers based on their needs and interests; and third, to offer authentic opportunities and experiences for preservice BAEC students to work with the children and their families. This project was a semester-long endeavor, which evolved through rich collaborative experiences.     

Community‐based early intervention for children with behavioural,emotional and social problems: evaluation of the Scallywags Scheme

Scallywags is a community‐based, early intervention programme for young children (aged 3–7) with behavioural, emotional and social problems, which integrates work in the home and school with a parenting curriculum and direct work with children. A pre‐post intervention study across multi‐sites of 340 participants is reported. Using standardised measures, the study found statistically significant reductions in problems at home and school experienced by children who completed the programme, and in parental stress levels. Participation was found to be high and the project acceptable to parents, many of whom would be described as hard to reach. The rigorous evaluation of this real‐life service and its positive outcomes highlight the potential of such programmes to tackle the needs of these children and families, and help prevent longer‐term problems associated with early onset behavioural problems, including social exclusion, antisocial behaviour and educational failure.     

Written emotional expression as an intervention for asthma

This investigation employed a multiple baseline design across five participants to examine written emotional expression as an intervention to improve lung function in high school‐aged students, college students, and adults with asthma. The predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV₁ measure of large airway functioning) and forced expiratory flow (FEF_25–75 measure of small airway functioning) were evaluated using spirometry. In addition, anxiety was measured using state and trait anxiety self‐report scales. Generally, results were effective. Individuals with asthma are at higher risk for increased hospitalization and death. For the school‐aged population, asthma is associated with increased absenteeism, restriction of various class activities such as physical education, and poor relationships with peers. Therefore, adults and children with asthma are in need of services and school psychologists appear uniquely qualified to intervene. More recently, the role of the school psychologist is diversifying with corresponding training (e.g., wellness, consultation, prevention, assessment and treatment of health issues) in the areas of health‐related disorders that involve a psychological component. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 40: 193–207, 2003.     

A school‐based violence prevention model for at‐risk eighth grade youth

This study examined the effectiveness of a school and community‐based violence prevention program for at‐risk eighth‐grade students in three public schools in Florida. School officials matched intervention students with community‐based mentors in an employment setting to allow targeted youth to explore careers and receive one‐on‐one intervention from an adult mentor. Intervention students were compared to a control group of students not receiving mentorship services. This study used MANOVA and t‐test analyses to examine six outcomes measured: (1) unexcused absences; (2) number of in‐school suspensions; (3) number of days of in‐school suspensions; (4) number of out‐of‐school suspensions; (5) number of days of out‐of‐school suspensions; and (6) total number of infractions committed on school property. The findings suggested that mentored students, as compared to control group students, had significant reductions in total number and days of suspensions, days of sanction, and infractions committed on school property. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 40: 403–416, 2003.     

Promoting ecologic health resilience for minority youth: Enhancing health care access through the school health center

Ethnic minority youth experience problems in access to healthcare, yet little is known about how to enhance utilization. This article will discuss the demographic realities of children of color in the United States, with a focus on health care needs and access issues that have an enormous influence on health status. The article will consider health policy as it describes the considerable barriers to quality health care for minority youth such as a lack of a usual source of care and limited health insurance. An ecologic model is presented that incorporates cultural values and community structures into the school health center. Enhancing access and utilization through the school setting is viewed as promoting ecologic resilience in youth. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 40: 265–278, 2003.     

School‐based health promotion: An introduction to the practitioner's edition

In this age of increasing professional accountability, it is important that school practitioners engage in evidence‐based practices. In support of this goal, the intent of this special issue is to disseminate practical, user‐friendly, evidenced‐based information related to school‐based health issues. This article introduces the Psychology in the Schools “Practitioner's Edition” on school‐based health promotion. A conceptual framework for the issue, encompassing universal prevention strategies and tertiary intervention strategies, is described. First, school practitioners have unique opportunities to promote healthy behavior for all children and to engage in universal prevention of common health conditions. Second, practitioners should recognize the special needs of children with specific diagnosed medical conditions and employ individualized intervention strategies for these children. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.