Collaboration between Mental Health and Vocational Rehabilitation programs is increasingly sought by staff o f both kinds o f programs as a way to promote vocational opportunities for persons with psychiatric dis abilities. This article presents six examples o f collaboration, focusing on how local program administrators and service providers initiated and implemented collaboration that directly enhances services to consumers.After reviewing the system-wide context o f barriers to and support for col laboration, we address the program-level impetus for collaboration and describe two main areas o f collaboration: funding and service design.
This effective multisite intervention improved several healthy behaviors in lesbian and bisexual women and showed that tailored approaches can work for this population.
Over the last ten years, Berkeley Planning Associates has conducted research into employment alternatives for people with disabilities. Three projects in particular have offered the opportunity to examine different approaches to providing community-based employment services for persons with psychiatric disabilities. The first of these was an effort to assist the funding agencies and service providers in Marin County, California, to develop a comprehensive coordinated county-wide system of vocational services for persons labeled chronically mentally ill (Collignon, Noble, and Toms Barker, 1987). More recently, we are researching "optimum models" of supported employment for this population and the role of "case management" in the vocational rehabilitation of persons with psychiatric disabilities for NIDRR. This work has not identified the "best models" of community-based employment services, but rather has allowed us to identify many of the characteristics of successful programs and raised many questions about the best way to go about developing and refining services in the future.This paper raises some of those questions for researchers, advocates and policy makers, and offers some recommended criteria for use in developing community service strategies.
BACKGROUND
The US Office of Adolescent Health (OAH) funded studies of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevention programs in 2010. The results of a 5‐year OAH study conducted in the state of Hawai‘i with middle school youth has implications for school leaders in the selection and implementation of comprehensive sex education curricula yielding positive outcomes for youth.
METHODS
A cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted across 34 middle school in the state of Hawai‘i with 1783 student participants in pre‐, post‐, and 1‐year follow‐up surveys to determine effectiveness of a culturally responsive teen pregnancy prevention curriculum, called Pono Choices, specifically developed for youth in Hawai‘i.
RESULTS
Students receiving the Pono Choices curriculum had significantly higher rates of knowledge gains than students in control schools, although there were no statistically significant differences in initiation of sexual activity between the groups at the 1‐year follow‐up. Teachers implemented the curriculum at high rates of adherence to fidelity making this a model for implementation.
CONCLUSIONS
Knowledge and retention of medically accurate teen pregnancy and STI prevention information can be attributed to implementation of a comprehensive program with attention to factors such as fidelity, program quality, engagement, and dosage.
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