Search

Increasingly, graduate and professional students arrive at institutions of higher education with personal and professional commitments to make the world a better place through community engagement; however, departments often do not incorporate outreach and engagement into graduate curricula (Austin & McDaniels, 2006; O'Meara & Jaeger, 2006). As a result, students must seek out supplementary professional development opportunities to increase knowledge, strengthen skills, gain experience, and reflect critically on engagement. In 2008, Michigan State University initiated a competency-based Graduate Certification in Community Engagement to meet the professional development needs of students who aspire to be community-engaged, tenure-track faculty; community engagement professionals; extension educators; or engagement professionals in the public, nonprofit, and private sectors. This paper chronicles the evolution and emergence of community engagement competency areas identified through iterative cycles of participant evaluation and alignment with faculty community engagement competencies. In the conclusion, the authors address limitations, potential adaptations, and future directions for these community engagement competencies.

The article explores how children's development is influenced by their contexts, emphasizing the significance of relationships within ecological systems. Topics include various childcare options available to families, the Kentucky model of partnerships between school districts and community providers to improve access to preschool programs, and strategies for fostering collaborative relationships among early childhood professionals to create a unified approach to education.

Research Findings: Quality early science education is important for addressing the low science achievement, compared to international peers, of elementary students in the United States. Teachers' beliefs about their skills in a content area, that is, their content self-efficacy is important because it has implications for teaching practice and child outcomes. However, little is known about how teachers' self-efficacy for literacy, math and science compare and how domain-specific self-efficacy relates to teachers' practice in the area of science. Analysis of survey and observation data from 67 Head Start classrooms across eight programs indicated that domain-specific self-efficacy was highest for literacy, significantly lower for science, and lowest for math. Classrooms varied, but in general, engaged in literacy far more than science, contained a modest amount of science materials, and their instructional support of science was low. Importantly, self-efficacy for science, but not literacy or math, related to teachers frequency of engaging children in science instruction. Teachers' education and experience did not predict self-efficacy for science. Practice or Policy: To enhance the science opportunities provided in early childhood classrooms, pre-service and in-service education programs should provide teachers with content and practices for science rather than focusing exclusively on literacy.

Initiating and sustaining sufficient levels of participation among residents in low-income and urban neighborhoods have become significant focuses of many initiatives that strive to develop healthy communities. This study examines the factors associated with citizen participation levels in resident leaders and followers in seven low-income neighborhoods in one community. Overall, the findings suggest that different factors facilitate participation in leaders and followers. Leaders are more likely to actively participate in neighborhood and community affairs if they perceive themselves as having the skills needed to organize others and make change happen. Whereas perceived skill levels also matter for followers, these residents are strongly influenced by the norms for activism within their neighborhood. These norms mediate the impact of neighborhood readiness and capacity for change on citizen participation levels. Implications for funders and practitioners interested in promoting healthy communities are discussed. (Contains 2 figures, 2 tables, and 1 note.)

Investigated from a dynamic systems perspective mutual regulation during naturalistic interaction of mothers with their 4-month-olds. Found that mothers and infants communicated primarily through vocal signals and responses. Levels of contingent responsiveness between partners were significantly associated and occurred within distinct behavioral channels. Mothers were more influential than infants over object play, less influential than infants over expressive behavior. (Author/KB)

The validity of the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ) (A. Blatt and others, 1992) was studied in an adolescent inpatient sample of 823 (414 girls). Overall, results support use of the DEQ Interpersonal Concerns and Self-Criticism scales as measures of depressive concerns among seriously disturbed adolescents. (SLD)

Study 1 assessed whether trait reactance in disturbed adolescents (ages 12 to 17) is part of the same constellation of personality variables associated with reactance in adults, and Study 2 examined whether reactance predicts inpatient treatment duration and outcomes. Correlations between reactance and MMPI-A variables among 76 inpatients (41 girls) showed that reactance is associated with oppositional, nonaffiliative, and narcissistic traits in disturbed adolescents as well as adults. Reactance predicted longer hospital stays among 176 adolescents (90 girls), and also changes in aggression, mood problems, and substance abuse among those in middle (n = 89) but not early (n = 87) adolescence. Additional analyses identified 'typically male' and 'typically female' patterns of reactance-change relationships. The clinical significance and utility of these findings are discussed.

Abstract Background Poor feeding practices during infancy contribute to obesity risk. As infants transition from human milk and/or formula-based diets to solid foods, these practices interfere with infant feeding self-regulation and healthy growth patterns. Compared with other socioeconomic groups, lower-income mothers are more likely to experience difficulty feeding their infants. This may include misinterpreting feeding cues and using less-than-optimal feeding styles and practices, such as pressuring infants during mealtimes and prematurely introducing solid food and sweetened beverages. The Healthy Babies trial aims to determine the efficacy of a community-based randomized controlled trial of an in-home intervention with economically and educationally disadvantaged mother-infant dyads. The educational intervention is being conducted during the infant's first 6 months of life to promote healthy transition to solids during their first year and is based on the theory of planned behavior. Methods/Design We will describe our study protocol for a multisite randomized control trial being conducted in Colorado and Michigan with an anticipated sample of 372 economically and educationally disadvantaged African American, Hispanic, and Caucasian mothers with infants. Participants are being recruited by county community agency staff. Participants are randomly assigned to the intervention or the control group. The intervention consists of six in-home visits by a trained paraprofessional instructor followed by three reinforcement telephone contacts when the baby is 6, 8, and 10 months old. Main maternal outcomes include a) maternal responsiveness, b) feeding style, and c) feeding practices. Main infant outcome is infant growth pattern. All measures occur at baseline and when the infant is 6 and 12 months old. Discussion If this project is successful, the expected outcomes will address whether the home-based early nutrition education intervention is effective in helping mothers develop healthy infant feeding practices that contribute to improving infant health and development and reducing the risk of early-onset childhood obesity. Trial Registration Current Controlled Trials ACTRN126100000415000