Coparenting Interventions and Shared Physical Custody: Insights and Challenges

This chapter focuses on the issue of shared physical custody (SPC) in the broader context of coparenting interventions. To identify if and how these interventions address the issue of SPC, we provide a systematic overview of the currently available types of coparenting interventions after marital dissolution. To be selected, the interventions had to be published in peer-reviewed journals, target separated or divorced parents, integrate work on coparenting, and include a custody focus within the intervention curriculum or as a targeted outcome. Finally, they had to be subject to empirical evaluation.As a second step, using a case study, we investigate how the issue of SPC may be addressed before divorce, during couple therapy. We describe the therapy sessions to highlight the factors that may protect or undermine the development of a cooperative coparenting relationship while separating, and eventually create a positive shared-custody scenario after divorce. We also analyse the couple’s progress regarding individual symptomatology and coparenting satisfaction based on self-reported questionnaires and on the quality of their observed coparenting interactions.From a therapeutic perspective, this chapter aims to deepen our understanding of the challenges and opportunities of coparenting during and after separation and its intertwinement with the issue of SPC.

The Effectiveness of Two Implementation Strategies for Improving Teachers’ Delivery of an Evidenced-based HIV Prevention Program

Background: Effective implementation strategies are needed to enhance the success of evidence-based prevention programs. The current study evaluates the effects of two implementation strategies on teachers’ implementation of an evidenced-based HIV intervention.Methods: Using our 7-item Pre-Implementation School Screening tool, we identified teachers who were at-risk for not implementing the Focus on Youth HIV-risk reduction intervention curriculum which targets middle and high school youth. After completing a two-day curriculum workshop, 84 low- and moderate-performing teachers were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions and were asked to teach the intervention curriculum for nearly two months. This optimization trial examines the impact of two implementation strategies including biweekly monitoring/feedbacks (BMF) and site-based assistance/mentorship (SAM). The primary outcome is implementation fidelity defined as number of core activities taught. General linear model was used to examine the association of the implementation strategies with implementation fidelity.Results: BMF and SAM were significantly associated with teachers’ implementation fidelity. Teachers who received both BFM and SAM taught the greatest numbers of core activities, followed by teachers who received either BMF or SAM. Teachers who did not receive BMF or SAM taught the lowest numbers of core activities (15.0 vs. 7.9 vs. 6.9 vs. 4.1, p< 0.001). Teachers’ confidence in implementing five core activities, attitudes towards sex education in schools, and perceived principal support were significantly related to increased self-efficacy, which in turn was related to teachers’ fidelity of implementation. Teacher full attendance at the training workshop and teachers’ sustained implementation of FOYC in the prior school year were related to increased implementation fidelity. Conclusion: BMF and SAM are effective in promoting teachers’ implementation of youth evidence-based interventions. Researchers and future program implementers should consider teacher training, teachers’ attitudes towards sex education, perceived principal support and self-efficacy when attempting to maintain the effects of teacher-delivered interventions in schools.

Verbal Aggression Among Students With Emotional and Behavioral Disorders: Teacher Perceptions of Harm, Levels of Concern, and Relationship With Certification Status

Students who exhibit emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) typically have high frequencies of disruptive and noncompliant behavior including physical and verbal aggression (VA). Physical aggression attracts great concern from school professionals yet VA is often overlooked, despite being a highly pervasive and harmful social act. We surveyed 279 first to 12th grade teachers of students with EBD to assess their perceptions about the harmfulness of VA, students’ intent to harm, their concern about the frequency and/or intensity of VA, and concern about types of verbally aggressive messages. We investigated if these perceptions differed when teachers considered students with EBD compared with typical peers and if special education certification related to responsiveness to VA. The majority of teachers reported that VA was either somewhat or very harmful and perceived students with EBD to be just kidding around and not intending to hurt others when perpetrating VA. Compared with noncertified colleagues, certified teachers reported more concern about VA, more intent to harm when students with EBD exhibit VA, and they were more likely than their noncertified counterparts to report the use of a structured intervention/curriculum to reduce VA. We discuss implications for special education teacher preparation and offer suggestions for further research.

Unraveling the Role of Curriculum in Teacher Decision Making

Teachers make numerous decisions each day, yet processes undergirding these decisions are elusive and have not been the subject of many in-depth investigations within special education. The purpose of this qualitative investigation, therefore, was to complete a micro-level analysis of the influence of curriculum on 11 middle school teachers’ decisions regarding reading instruction for middle school age struggling readers. Using the theoretical framework of teachers’ literacy-related decision making proposed by Ruppar, Gaffney, and Dymond, the authors conducted interviews and observations during one school year to examine how teachers make curricular decisions based on their access to a prescribed, research-based reading intervention curriculum. Findings indicate the availability of such a curriculum facilitated teachers’ decision making around individualizing instruction and increased their self-efficacy, leading to the conclusion that a bidirectional relationship exists between curriculum and (a) beliefs, (b) self-efficacy, and (c) individualization. Implications for future research and practice in middle school teacher preparation are discussed.

Development of a Nutrition Education Intervention for Food Bank Clients

The focus of this article is the development of a nutrition education intervention for food bank clients. Formative research using mixed-methods (qualitative and quantitative) and community-based participatory research principles was conducted to assess the nutrition education needs of clients obtaining service from the Houston Food Bank (HFB). Participants were HFB and pantry staff and clients. Interview data were coded and analyzed using grounded theory approach. Themes were then identified. Quantitative data were analyzed for frequencies and descriptives. Data were used to tailor the curriculum to the target population. Six HFB staff, 49 pantry staff from 17 pantries, and 54 clients from 10 pantries participated in interviews and focus groups and completed questionnaires. The participants provided opinion on the current nutrition education provided via the food bank and made suggestions on strategies for development of an intervention. Their feedback was used to develop the six-session intervention curriculum to be delivered over 6 months. This research provides evidence that it is critical for members of the target audience be included in formative research to develop behavior change programs that are relevant and appealing and target their needs and interests.

A Culturally Responsive Approach to Improving Replication of a Youth Sexual Health Program

Youth-serving agencies continually turn to evidence-based interventions that have been empirically assessed for effectiveness in influencing young people’s lives, particularly those living in communities with considerable health inequities. Replicating promising evidence-based interventions requires thoughtful adaptation and modification to better fit participants’ sociocultural context and to enhance their learning experiences. Due to the restrictive nature of a replication model, adaptations to the intervention curriculum must be minimized during full implementation. Implementers must find innovative ways to ensure content is relevant and engaging to participants without altering core elements of the curriculum. This article describes practical best practice strategies used in implementing a sexual health education program among socioculturally diverse youth in a northeastern city in the United States. The implementing agency applied Richard, Brown and Forde’s framework for culturally responsive pedagogy as a heuristic approach to describe the application of implementation practices across three dimensions: institutional, personal, and instructional. The results not only highlight successful culturally responsive practices that enhanced the implementation process but also acknowledge areas in which such practices proved daunting to implement.