Provider-identified barriers and facilitators to implementing a supported employment program in spinal cord injury.

Purpose: In a 5-year study, individual placement and support (IPS) significantly increased employment rate of United States Veterans with spinal cord injury (SCI), a historically underemployed population. In a follow-up study, data on barriers and facilitators to IPS implementation were identified.

Methods: Over 24 months of implementation, 82 key medical and vocational staff underwent semi-structured interviews (n = 130).

Facilitators and barriers to employment among veterans with spinal cord injury receiving 12 months of evidence-based supported employment services.

Background: Return to work is associated with positive rehabilitation outcomes for persons with spinal cord injury (SCI); however, more research is needed on vocational support for persons with disabilities seeking employment.

Objective: The association between facilitators and barriers of employment and employment outcome was examined among Veterans with SCI who participated in an evidence-based supported employment (EBSE) program.

Methods: Using a mixed-methods, nested case-control design, data on facilitators and barriers to employment were extracted from qualitative interviews and quantitative measures administered in person to 34 Veterans with SCI who completed 12 months of an EBSE program.

Social marketing: an underutilized tool for promoting adolescent health.

Social marketing applies some of the same principles used in commercial marketing for the analysis, planning, execution, and evaluation of programs designed to motivate voluntary behavioral change. It relies on consumer research for understanding the people they hope to change, including their values, aspirations, fears, lifestyle, and factors that motivate and deter them from adopting desired behaviors. Social marketing has been applied in public health settings since the 1980s for promoting such behaviors as safer sex, hypertension and cholesterol control, reduced occurrence of alcohol-impaired driving, improved utilization of public health prevention and screening services, and enactment of better school nutrition policies in schools.

Utility of the physical activity resource assessment for child-centric physical activity intervention planning in two urban neighborhoods.

Children's physical activity (PA) may be determined, in part, by environmental influences such as access to diverse and safe places to play. As part of the development of a community-based PA program, a PA asset assessment was conducted in two low-income urban neighborhoods that support elementary schools serving minority youth. Resources were rated using an adapted version of the Physical Activity Resource Assessment (PARA), a multi-dimensional instrument that rates various venues on their features, amenities, and incivilities.