A Mixed-Method Application of the Program Sustainability Assessment Tool to Evaluate the Sustainability of 4 Pediatric Asthma Care Coordination Programs.

Introduction: As part of a cross-site evaluation of the implementation of an evidence-based intervention for pediatric asthma care coordination into low-income communities, we sought to understand the factors that influenced the programs' expected sustainability of the programs after external funding ended.

Methods: We administered the Center for Public Health Systems Science's Program Sustainability Assessment Tool, a 40-item instrument assessing 8 domains of sustainability capacity, to 12 key informants across 4 program sites. We developed open-ended probes for each domain.

Cost and Cost-Effectiveness of Students for Nutrition and eXercise (SNaX).

Objective: To examine the cost and cost-effectiveness of implementing Students for Nutrition and eXercise (SNaX), a 5-week middle school-based obesity-prevention intervention combining school-wide environmental changes, multimedia, encouragement to eat healthy school cafeteria foods, and peer-led education.

Methods: Five intervention and 5 control middle schools (mean enrollment, 1520 students) from the Los Angeles Unified School District participated in a randomized controlled trial of SNaX. Acquisition costs for materials and time and wage data for employees involved in implementing the program were used to estimate fixed and variable costs.

Connecting Students to Mental Health Care: Pilot Findings from an Engagement Program for School Nurses.

Schools function as the major provider of mental health services (MHS) for youth, but can struggle with engaging them in services. School nurses are well-positioned to facilitate referrals for MHS. This pilot study examined the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of an engagement protocol (EP) designed to enhance school nurses' utilization of evidence-based engagement practices when referring youth to MHS.

The Influence of Setting on Care Coordination for Childhood Asthma.

Asthma affects 7.1 million children in the United States, disproportionately burdening African American and Latino children. Barriers to asthma control include insufficient patient education and fragmented care.

Cyberbullying perpetration and victimization among middle-school students.

Objectives: We examined correlations between gender, race, sexual identity, and technology use, and patterns of cyberbullying experiences and behaviors among middle-school students.

Methods: We collected a probability sample of 1285 students alongside the 2012 Youth Risk Behavior Survey in Los Angeles Unified School District middle schools. We used logistic regressions to assess the correlates of being a cyberbully perpetrator, victim, and perpetrator-victim (i.

Middle school student attitudes about school drinking fountains and water intake.

Objective: To describe middle school student attitudes about school drinking fountains, investigate whether such attitudes are associated with intentions to drink water at school, and determine how intentions relate to overall water intake.

Methods: Students (n = 3211) in 9 California middle schools completed surveys between 2009 and 2011. We used multivariate linear regression, adjusting for school sociodemographic characteristics, to examine how attitudes about fountains (5-point scale; higher scores indicating more positive attitudes) were associated with intentions to drink water at school and how intentions to drink water at school were related to overall water intake.

A web-based platform to support an evidence-based mental health intervention: lessons from the CBITS web site.

Objective: To explore the role of Web-based platforms in behavioral health, the study examined usage of a Web site for supporting training and implementation of an evidence-based intervention.

Methods: Using data from an online registration survey and Google Analytics, the investigators examined user characteristics and Web site utilization.

Results: Site engagement was substantial across user groups.

Sexting and sexual behavior among middle school students.

Objective: It is unknown if "sexting" (i.e., sending/receiving sexually explicit cell phone text or picture messages) is associated with sexual activity and sexual risk behavior among early adolescents, as has been found for high school students.

A randomized controlled trial of students for nutrition and eXercise: a community-based participatory research study.

Purpose: To conduct a randomized controlled trial of Students for Nutrition and eXercise, a 5-week middle school-based obesity-prevention intervention combining school-wide environmental changes, multimedia, encouragement to eat healthy school cafeteria foods, and peer-led education.

Methods: We randomly selected schools (five intervention, five waitlist control) from the Los Angeles Unified School District. School records were obtained for number of fruits and vegetables served, students served lunch, and snacks sold per attending student, representing an average of 1,515 students (SD = 323) per intervention school and 1,524 students (SD = 266) per control school.

Parents' views on engaging families of middle school students in obesity prevention and control in a multiethnic population.

Introduction: Overweight and obesity remain significant public health risks for youth in the United States, particularly among racial/ethnic minority groups. Efforts at obesity prevention and control have targeted youth and family members in diverse settings. Although involving parents in obesity prevention programs for youth may improve the potential of these programs, less is known about parents' preferred methods of engagement, especially among racial/ethnic minority parents and parents whose primary language is not English.

Development and implementation of a school-based obesity prevention intervention: lessons learned from community-based participatory research.

Background: National, state, and local policies aim to change school environments to prevent child obesity. Community-based participatory research (CBPR) can be effective in translating public health policy into practice.

Objectives: We describe lessons learned from developing and pilot testing a middle school-based obesity prevention intervention using CBPR in Los Angeles, California.

Mental Health in the Schools: Promising Directions for Practice.

Discontent with the state-of-the-art of mental health services being provided in schools has led to fundamental shifts in thinking about these services. This article reviews existing programs and highlights emerging trends in school mental health services. The authors demonstrate how mental health programs are changing from narrowly focused to comprehensive, from fragmented to coordinated, from problem-specific to cross-disciplinary, and from being supplementary services in the school to essential components that enable learning.

The speech-language pathologist's role in an interdisciplinary approach to learning-disabled children.

Individual and environmental factors or characteristics influence disabled learners, particularly in reference to language disorders. An interaction of various fields is needed to minimize the impact of learning disabilities on a child's education and subsequent ability to communicate successfully. Various components of communication are affected by the inability to decode and encode language.

Ethnicity and gender similarity: The effectiveness of counseling for adolescents.

Few studies in counseling and psychotherapy have examined the relationship between counselees' perception of counselors' attractiveness and therapeutic outcomes using high school-age counselees in actual counseling sessions. This study investigated the extent to which perceived counselor-counselee similarity affected the counselee's perceptions of counselor attractiveness and how perceived counselor attractiveness affected the degree of counselee satisfaction with counseling. The results suggested that racial and gender differences appear not to have operated as barriers to effective counseling.

School avoidance behavior: motivational bases and implications for intervention.

Intrinsic motivational constructs relevant to understanding and ameliorating school avoidance are discussed. Specifically, the concepts of self-determination, competence, and relatedness are highlighted in differentiating proactive and reactive avoidance behavior. From this perspective, five groups are described.