Residential environmental education aims to enhance proenvironmental attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors, as well as attain outcomes related to personal and interpersonal skills. Although these outcomes may not be evident for months or even years afterward, few program evaluations investigate how the experience and context affect intended outcomes…

The present study investigated within a substance abuse treatment center the influence of family therapy on flexibility and cohesion among family members. Past studies have suggested adolescents who abuse substances exist in families who have a lack of balance of flexibility and cohesion. Unfortunately, few studies have examined the influence of…

Given limited funding for school-based science education, non-school-based programs have been developed at colleges and universities to increase the number of students entering science- and health-related careers and address critical workforce needs. However, few evaluations of such programs have been conducted. We report the design and methods of…

This study explores front-line staff knowledge and perceptions of how people with intellectual disability residing in residential services are supported to communicate effectively. Participants ("n" = 138) completed a self-report questionnaire adapted from an instrument developed by DeSimone & Cascella (2005) "Journal of…

Clinical competence is a multidimensional concept and encompasses a variety of skills including procedural, problem-solving and clinical judgement. The initial stages of postgraduate medical training are believed to be a particularly important time for the development of clinical skill competencies. This study reports on an evaluation of a…

This article briefly presents eight basic methods of residence program evaluation. Some of the evaluation methods presented lend themselves easily to process, and others lend themselves to outcome; some are applicable to both. (Author)

In this study, interrater reliability of the Motivation Assessment Scale (MAS) was investigated utilizing 84 direct-care staff members familiar with 42 adults with moderate to profound mental retardation. Problematic overt behaviors were evaluated using the MAS. MAS items were found to be moderately but significantly reliable across raters.…

Four comprehensive approaches to assessing living environments for retarded persons are described. The Residential Management Survey (by McLain, Silverstein, Hubell, and Brownlee) is an approach to evaluating whether a facility is either resident-oriented or institution-oriented. An ecological approach to group behavior (by Landesman-Dwyer) is…

To resolve the contradictory approaches of the outside researcher and the clinician to the evaluation of residential treatment centers, it is suggested that ongoing self-evaluation be undertaken by the centers themselves. (CS)

A distinction is made between objective and subjective assessment when quality of life evaluation is considered. The aim was to explore the association between objective and subjective appraisals within similar quality of life domains. Correlations between scores on objective and subjective quality of life measures concerning choice, activity and…

This report begins with discussion of several issues in the field of quality assurance in residential services for individuals with developmental disabilities. The issues include definitions of key terms, the role of ideology, major types of quality assurance, and dimensions of quality assurance. The report takes the position that primary values…

The study's purpose was to develop a valid instrument for evaluating residential outdoor education centres in Canada. Using published and unpublished literature, a preliminary instrument consisting of 206 criteria was constructed. Twenty-five recognized Canadian experts in residential outdoor education were randomly selected from 3 subsample areas…

This study examined the prevalence of reading problems and self-reported symptoms of attentional deficits in a sample of adjudicated adolescent males (N = 101) aged 12 to 18 years who were residing in an alternative sentencing residential program. Thirty-four percent of the youth had reading problems while only 9% of the boys had self-reported…

A large-scale analysis was conducted of problem behavior by observing 20 individuals living in residential facilities. Data were converted into scatter plot formats. When the data were transformed into aggregate "control charts," 12 of 15 sets of data revealed 30-minute intervals during which problem behavior was more likely to occur.…