An Evaluation Framework of a Transdisciplinary Collaborative Center for Health Equity Research

Over the last few decades, there has been an increase in the number of large federally funded transdisciplinary programs and initiatives. Scholars have identified a need to develop frameworks, methodologies, and tools to evaluate the effectiveness of these large collaborative initiatives, providing precise ways to understand and assess the operations, community and academic partner collaboration, scientific and community research dissemination, and cost-effectiveness. Unfortunately, there has been limited research on methodologies and frameworks that can be used to evaluate large initiatives. This study presents a framework for evaluating the Flint Center for Health Equity Solutions (FCHES), a National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)-funded Transdisciplinary Collaborative Center (TCC) for health disparities research. This report presents a summary of the FCHES evaluation framework and evaluation questions as well as findings from the Year-2 evaluation of the Center and lessons learned.

Communal Coping Manifested in Daily Life: A Focus on Gender

Communal coping consists of a shared appraisal of a stressor and collaborative efforts to manage it. There has been a wealth of literature linking communal coping to relationship and health outcomes, but there is little research on the context in which communal coping occurs or how communal coping is manifested in daily life. The first and second study goals were to examine the implications of gender for the components of communal coping (shared appraisal, collaboration) and for potential manifestations of communal coping in daily life (e.g., shared meals). Our third study goal was to examine whether shared appraisal and collaboration in the context of diabetes generalized to another domain—household chore distribution—and whether these relations were moderated by gender. As an exploratory goal, we examined intersections of gender with race. Participants were 203 couples in which one person had been recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Shared appraisal and collaboration were assessed with multiple methods. Results showed greater shared appraisal and collaboration when patients were male than when they were female. This finding extended to some, but not all, of the daily life behaviors. Actor–partner interdependence models showed that the relations of actor and partner shared appraisal to household labor depended on both role (patient, spouse) and gender; relations of actor and partner collaboration depended only on role. Findings were not moderated by race. These results highlight the need to consider gender in the context of communal coping.

Partnership Between Teachers and School Counsellors for Quality Learning and Work in the Community

This article discusses the topic of schools as a learning communities from the perspective of the collaboration of two groups of school workers - teachers and school counsellors. The introduction defines how the concept of schools as learning communities is understood and how it is related to the concept of learning organizations. It also further elaborates on the key characteristics of learning communities. The first premise of the contribution is that through joint effort and collaboration, counsellors and teachers can more efficiently face the practical challenges of their work, both in providing help and encouragement to students and in ensuring better classroom work on the level of the whole school. The second is that they are important partners to each other in their professional development through joint reflections of their educational principles and expectations. The article further focuses on the quality of cooperation between counsellors and teachers in primary and secondary schools in Slovenia. The results of the empirical research show that both groups of school workers tend to evaluate their cooperation as either very good or good while teachers tend to be more satisfied. The questionnaire responses show that teachers believe collaboration can benefit them, however that they frequently leave decisions about work with specific students or classes to the counsellors. Establishing and maintaining partner collaboration is always a challenge, however, it is also crucial for effectively confronting contemporary challenges and ensuring quality learning for all and the contribution thus concludes with guidelines for establishing such a beneficial collaboration.

Strategic Management Drivers and Service Delivery: A Case of Huduma Centre in Mombasa County, Kenya

This study sought to establish if service delivery enhanced implementation of strategic management drivers in an organization in the public sector. Strategic drivers are forces that shape an organization’s strategy, which contributes to the growth of a particular business. This study’s general objective was to establish how strategic management drivers influence service delivery in Kenya’s Huduma Centres focusing specifically on Mombasa County Huduma Centre. Specific objectives that guided this study were; to establish customer orientation’s influence on service delivery, to establish the influence of marketing orientation on service delivery, to determine the influence of technological orientation on service delivery, and to find out influence of business-partner collaboration. The theories relating to the study were reviewed focusing mainly on the RBV, Resource Advantage theory, Service Dominant Logic and Technology Diffusion theory. The researcher adopted descriptive research design. The target population were employees deployed at Huduma Centre, Mombasa County with 154 members of staff drawn from all cadres comprising senior management, middle level management and operational staff selected from the relevant Government Ministries, County, Departments and Agencies of which a 30% sample size of 46 respondents were selected. The primary data was collected using structured questionnaires. Analysis of data done using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study concluded that customer; marketing, technological and business-partner collaboration has a positive and significant effect on service deliver. This study recommended that the management of Huduma Centers should organize for regular in-service trainings for the employees to improve on their customer relation skills. It should improve on customer orientation by finding ways to be more responsive to customers’ needs. Huduma centres should aim at having a workforce that offers services to its clients with uniformity and equity. They should also invest more in technological innovation in order to offer services that are more efficient to the clients by focusing on offering purely on-line services. Finally, all systems be updated by ensuring that all departments have enough machines to work with hence reduce dependency and sharing. Business-Partnership collaboration especially in terms of the partners providing the employees with necessary skills they need for improved service delivery.

ОСОБЛИВОСТІ ОРГАНІЗАЦІЙНО-ПЕДАГОГІЧНИХ УМОВ ФОРМУВАННЯ ІНДИВІДУАЛЬНОЇ ОСВІТНЬОЇ ТРАЄКТОРІЇ МАЙБУТНЬОГО ВЧИТЕЛЯ МУЗИКИ У ПРОЦЕСІ ПРОФЕСІЙНОЇ ПІДГОТОВКИ

The article defines the issues of the specificity of the structure of the individual educational trajectory of the future music teacher. The algorithm of individualization of the student learning process is considered. The definition of the terms “individual educational trajectory” and “pedagogical condition” is given. The author briefly reveals the organizational and pedagogical conditions for the formation of the individual educational trajectory of future music teachers, in which he emphasizes the improvement and revision of educational programs on the basis of partner collaboration with a student. It also points to the need to maximize the use of organizational ideas of dual education by increasing the elements of practice-oriented education. Particular attention is paid to the need to modernize the functions of the teacher-curator through updating the content and principles of the institute of the curator.

INNOVATIVE COMPETENCE OF A TEACHER: BEST EUROPEAN PRACTICES

The essence of the innovative competence of the teacher in the way of integration into the world space of education. The main tendencies of teacher's training for professional innovation activity are described. Best European practices according to the using of innovative studying technologies in the work with students are examined. The author proves the need for partner collaboration, group forms of activities to solve problematic learning problems at school through Problem Based Learning. Especially, the issues of development of creative initiative of children in collective work are highlighted. The content and typical difficulties in the practical using of Blended Learning are described. It is noted that Blended Learning combines traditional and distant models of studying, it can take place not only in the lecture room but outside, in synchronous or asynchronous regimes, and it predicts an extensive using of ICT in work with students. The technology of Inquiry Based Learning in teaching STEAM school subjects is presented, especially in the process of working with remote educational laboratories and Inquiry Learning Space (ILS). Some innovative tools for their practical using according to the work with students are implemented. The importance of using Project Based Learning for integration of educational subjects in the New Ukrainian School is also characterized, which gives an opportunity to form a coherent picture of the world in them.

Binarna i ternarna relacja uczestników procesu diagnostyczno-terapeutycznego w logopedii

The article points out that the problem of the main binary relation in speech-language therapist (therapist-patient) and the interrelated relationship (speech-language therapist-patient-family/carer) should be addressed with respect to dialogue personalization, respecting the autonomy of each participant in speech-language therapy as well as the specificity of the primary group (family) and secondary (organizational, contractual). The sequence of appropriate interactions, that is, the interactions of the main actors of the diagnostic and therapeutic process, can transform into a lasting relationship and thereby influence the progress in speech-language therapy and the quality of the patient's life, if personal contacts and language announcements are reciprocated with kindness, respect and willingness partner collaboration.