Online learning presents an opportunity to expand access to higher education to traditionally underrepresented students. However the challenges for these students may persist even when study is undertaken off campus. Fostering a sense of belonging and personal connection to learning may present a way to improve the learning experience and retention of these students, especially in the first year. In a qualitative study of university students from nontraditional backgrounds and academics, sense of belonging was found as a characteristic highly valued in online courses. How sense of belonging was understood and experienced by students, and the strategies used by academics to foster belonging in online learning are discussed.
The Child Advocacy Center (CAC) model has been presented as the solution to many of the problems inherent in responses by authorities to child sexual abuse. The lack of referral to therapeutic services and support, procedurally flawed and potentially traumatic investigation practices, and conflict between the different statutory agencies involved are all thought to contribute to low conviction rates for abuse and poor outcomes for children. The CAC model aims to address these problems through a combination of multidisciplinary teams, joint investigations, and services, all provided in a single child friendly environment. Using a systematic search strategy, this research aimed to identify and review all studies that have evaluated the effectiveness of the approach as a whole, recognizing that a separate evidence base exists for parts of the approach (e.g., victim advocacy and therapeutic responses). The review found that while the criminal justice outcomes of the model have been well studied, there was a lack of research on the effect of the model on child and family outcomes. Although some modest outcomes were clear, the lack of empirical research, and overreliance on measuring program outputs, rather than outcomes, suggests that some clarification of the goals of the CAC model is needed.
Multi-Disciplinary teams (MDTs) have often been presented as the key to dealing with a number of intractable problems associated with responding to allegations of physical and sexual child abuse. While these approaches have proliferated internationally, researchers have complained of the lack of a specific evidence base identifying the processes and structures supporting multi-disciplinary work and how these contribute to high-level outcomes. This systematic search of the literature aims to synthesize the existing state of knowledge on the effectiveness of MDTs. This review found that overall there is reasonable evidence to support the idea that MDTs are effective in improving criminal justice and mental health responses compared to standard agency practices. The next step toward developing a viable evidence base to inform these types of approaches seems to be to more clearly identify the mechanisms associated with effective MDTs in order to better inform how they are planned and implemented.
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