Addressing the challenging behavior of students requires evidence-based interventions that can be implemented in school settings; however, there is a relative lack of literature investigating effective strategies for high school students in secondary settings. Behavior contracts have been used to address challenging behavior in elementary and…

Background: Adults with mild-moderate intellectual disabilities have difficulties in accessing traditional evidence-based health promotion initiatives despite experiencing health disparities; yet there are few studies with this group and their carers exploring how their needs can be met. Method: This study adapted a behaviour change theory-based…

The student check-up (SCU) is a brief school-based motivational interviewing intervention developed to promote academic-related behavioral changes and to increase accessibility to mental health services. Despite published randomized controlled trials demonstrating SCU's effectiveness in promoting student self-efficacy in academic efforts, the…

Motivational interviewing (MI) is an established, research-based intervention that focuses on building intrinsic motivation to promote lasting, healthy changes in a variety of situations. In school settings, MI has been used to improve student motivation, attendance, punctuality, confidence in schoolwork, and self-determination as well as increase…

The supply of school mental health (SMH) providers and services cannot meet the demand of students in-need, and this gap is expected to widen in coming years. One way to increase the reach of helpful services for youth is to grow the SMH workforce through task-shifting to paraprofessionals. Task-shifting could be especially promising in expanding…

This dissertation in practice focused on the use of Motivational Interviewing in the school environment between school staff and families. More specifically, this program evaluation sought to see if the use of Motivational Interviewing by school staff could improve parent participation rates in student attendance improvement conferences (SAICs).…

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth and their caregivers often describe coming out as a process that impacts the family unit. Oftentimes, caregivers may experience a range of emotions in response to the youth coming out. Caregivers of LGBT youth who seek counseling may benefit from collaborative treatment that addresses their…

Background: Schools can reduce student access to competitive foods and influence healthy food choices by improving the school nutrition environment. This study describes changes in competitive nutrition environments in 100 K-8 schools participating in the Philadelphia Campaign for Healthier Schools. Methods: Interviews with school staff were used…

Intervention approaches to bullying are largely preventive in nature, and even these have been shown to be ineffective, if not iatrogenic, with adolescents. Responses to bullying are limited to traditional punitive approaches or "no-blame" approaches aiming to restore the relationship between the targeted students. Neither of these…

While many students in need of school-based psychological services have skill deficits that interfere with their academic and social functioning, others are unsuccessful because they lack motivation. Lack of motivation can also be a barrier to achieving positive outcomes for the child through teacher and parent consultation. Throughout one's…

Motivational interviewing (Miller & Rollnick, 2012) and the transtheoretical model of change (Prochaska, Norcross, & DiClimente, 2007) offer potential considerable benefits to professional school counselors' efforts to promote academic development. We describe how these models can be used by professional school counselors in the provision…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore a health program comprising the individual experiences, successes and setbacks of adults in an individually tailored, community-based smoking intervention and physical activity program. The program incorporated physical activity consultation (PAC) and phone support from the well-established Quit…

Emerging research on implicit bias recognition and management within health professions describes individually focused educational interventions without considering workplace influences. Workplace learning theories highlight how individual agency and workplace structures dynamically interact to produce change within individuals and learning…

Students attending schools today not only learn about formal academic subjects, they also learn social and emotional skills. Whole-school restorative practices (RP) is an approach which can be used to address student misbehaviour when it occurs, and as a holistic method to increase social and emotional learning in students. The aim of this study…

Motivating people to engage in regular physical activity (PA) is a constant struggle for many health education professionals. The purchase of activity-tracking devices (Fitbit, Nike Fuel Band, etc…) has been a popular trend in recent years, presumably to assist users to increase their PA. However, limited research has examined consumer feedback…