Development and application of a rubric to compare strategies for improving access to health care in rural communities in the United States

Schuller, Kristin; Cronin, Cory E.; Nicks, Shannon E.; Jing, Xia; Kingori, Caroline; Morrone, Michele

doi:10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2019.02.013

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 7 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…A common thought has been that rural residence may relate to reduced access to care [ 4 , 6 , 7 ]. In fact, a national study of cancer clinical trials found that when access to care was uniform, rural and urban subjects had similar outcomes [ 5 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The need to study rural cancer outcome disparities at the local level: a retrospective cohort study in Kansas and Missouri

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Rural residence is commonly thought to be a risk factor for poor cancer outcomes. However, a number of studies have reported seemingly conflicting information regarding cancer outcome disparities with respect to rural residence, with some suggesting that the disparity is not present and others providing inconsistent evidence that either urban or rural residence is associated with poorer outcomes. We suggest a simple explanation for these seeming contradictions: namely that rural cancer outcome disparities are related to factors that occur differentially at a local level, such as environmental exposures, lack of access to care or screening, and socioeconomic factors, which differ by type of cancer. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study examining ten cancers treated at the University of Kansas Medical Center from 2011 to 2018, with individuals from either rural or urban residences. We defined urban residences as those in a county with a U.S. Department of Agriculture Urban Influence Code (UIC) of 1 or 2, with all other residences defines a rural. Inverse probability of treatment weighting was used to create a pseudo-sample balanced for covariates deemed likely to affect the outcomes modeled with cumulative link and weighted Cox-proportional hazards models. Results We found that rural residence is not a simple risk factor but rather appears to play a complex role in cancer outcome disparities. Specifically, rural residence is associated with higher stage at diagnosis and increased survival hazards for colon cancer but decreased risk for lung cancer compared to urban residence. Conclusion Many cancers are affected by unique social and environmental factors that may vary between rural and urban residents, such as access to care, diet, and lifestyle. Our results show that rurality can increase or decrease risk, depending on cancer site, which suggests the need to consider the factors connected to rurality that influence this complex pattern. Thus, we argue that such disparities must be studied at the local level to identify and design appropriate interventions to improve cancer outcomes.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The need to study rural cancer outcome disparities at the local level: a retrospective cohort study in Kansas and Missouri

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…First, the PDCA cycle provided a framework to follow as we met regularly to discuss poor mental health. The PDCA cycle has been used in many healthcare situations, including quality improvement (Bassuni et al 2021;Stan 2018), targeted disease management (Demirel 2019), and to improve access to care (George & Hatsukami 2020;Schuller et al 2019). We demonstrate another use of the PDCA cycle in identifying and planning a community intervention, and our process can be used by others as an example of implementation science.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Using thePDCAcycle to uncover sources of mental health disparities for Hispanics

Moyce

Chipperfield

Velázquez

2022

Int J Mental Health Nurs

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Hispanic population is growing rapidly in U.S. rural states, yet limitations in Spanish‐speaking behavioural health providers are a barrier to accessing care. In Montana, a new immigrant destination, mental health disparities may not yet be fully understood. We describe an interprofessional approach of nurses and engineers using the Plan‐Do‐Check‐Act (PDCA) cycle to identify disparities in mental health access in a Hispanic community in a rural state. We recruited a community advisory board to inform researchers about potential disparities and to design interventions. The Plan phase consisted of naming the problem and its root causes. Researchers and a community advisory board created flowsheets and diagrams to uncover personal, environmental, political, and procedural contributors to poor mental health outcomes. The Do phase included implementation of a community screening for depression and anxiety. The Check phase revealed 43 mental health screenings where 21% screened positive for depression and 16% screened positive for anxiety. We made 16 referrals to a mental health intervention study. The Act phase led to plans for regular implementation of the health fairs and a study designed to provide Spanish‐language mental health services. The success of our interprofessional work provides an example of how the PDCA cycle can be used to uncover potential causes for poor health outcomes and design and evaluate interventions targeted to mitigate those outcomes.

show abstract

“…They demonstrated that using a rubric scoring scale is appropriate for assessing the practical competence of students since it may translate qualitative criteria into quantitative forms on a grading scale. Most rubric development and implementation research focus on subjective assessments only (Grainger, 2021;Minnich et al, 2018;Schuller et al, 2019;Stanley et al, 2020).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Objective Assessment in Java Programming Language Using Rubrics

Priyanka¹,

Mehrotra²

2022

JITE:IIP

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aim/Purpose: This paper focuses on designing and implementing the rubric for objective JAVA programming assessments. An unsupervised learning approach was used to group learners based on their performance in the results obtained from the rubric, reflecting their learning ability. Background: Students' learning outcomes have been evaluated subjectively using a rubric for years. Subjective assessments are simple to construct yet inconsistent and biased to evaluate. Objective assessments are stable, reliable, and easy to conduct. However, they usually lack rubrics. Methodology: In this study, a Top-Down assessment approach is followed, i.e., a rubric focused on the learning outcome of the subject is designed, and the proficiency of learners is judged by their performance in conducting the task given. A JAVA rubric is proposed based on the learning outcomes like syntactical, logical, conceptual, and advanced JAVA skills. A JAVA objective quiz (with multiple correct options) is prepared based on the rubric criteria, comprising five questions per criterion. The examination was conducted for 209 students (100 from the MCA course and 109 from B.Tech. course). The suggested rubric was used to compute the results. K-means clustering was applied to the results to classify the students according to their learning preferences and abilities. Contribution: This work contributes to the field of rubric designing by creating an objective programming assessment and analyzing the learners’ performance using machine learning techniques. It also facilitates a reliable feedback approach offering various possibilities in student learning analytics. Findings: The designed rubric, partial scoring, and cluster analysis of the results help us to provide individual feedback and also, group the students based on their learning skills. Like on average, learners are good at remembering the syntax and concepts, mediocre in logical and critical thinking, and need more practice in code optimization and designing applications. Recommendations for Practitioners: The practical implications of this work include rubric designing for objective assessments and building an informative feedback process. Faculty can use this approach as an alternative assessment measure. They are the strong pillars of e-assessments and virtual learning platforms. Recommendation for Researchers: This research presents a novel approach to rubric-based objective assessments. Thus, it provides a fresh perspective to the researchers promising enough opportunities in the current era of digital education. Impact on Society: In order to accomplish the shared objective of reflective learning, the grading rubric and its accompanying analysis can be utilized by both instructors and students. As an instructional assessment tool, the rubric helps instructors to align their pedagogies with the students’ learning levels and assists students in updating their learning paths based on the informative topic-wise scores generated with the help of the rubric. Future Research: The designed rubric in this study can be extended to other programming languages and subjects. Further, an adaptable weighted rubric can be created to execute a flexible and reflective learning process. In addition, outcome-based learning can be achieved by measuring and analyzing student improvements after rubric evaluation.

show abstract

Development and application of a rubric to compare strategies for improving access to health care in rural communities in the United States

Cited by 9 publications

References 7 publications

The need to study rural cancer outcome disparities at the local level: a retrospective cohort study in Kansas and Missouri

The need to study rural cancer outcome disparities at the local level: a retrospective cohort study in Kansas and Missouri

Using thePDCAcycle to uncover sources of mental health disparities for Hispanics

Objective Assessment in Java Programming Language Using Rubrics

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About