Support for students before planning, planning to enter, and while enrolled in higher education is needed to ensure academic achievement, especially among U.S. Hispanics. Measures for determining the nature of student support or obstruction are necessary if we are to understand academic achievement and its development among U.S. Hispanic learners.…

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on our efforts to balance consistency in our multi-year participatory action research study with the need to adapt our research protocol to what we are learning along the way. While both are important, we share several examples of how our flexibility and openness to adapt our protocol to our research…

Purpose: We examined rural primary care providers' (PCPs) self-reported practices of screening, brief interventions, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) on adolescent alcohol use and examined PCPs', adolescents', and parents' attitudes regarding SBIRT on adolescent alcohol use in rural clinic settings. Methods: In 2007, we mailed surveys that…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the progress of the curriculum reform in Hong Kong in the implementation phase from 2001-2006, with the agreement and support of heads and teachers on the reform. Design/methodology/approach: Survey questionnaires and focus group interviews were used to collect data from various stakeholders. A…

Purpose: A comprehensive whole-school approach has emerged as a promising model for building connectedness in the school setting. The health-promoting school model, through its whole-school orientation and attention to the school organizational environment, identifies structures and processes that influence school connectedness. This paper aims to…

Focus groups were conducted with 15- to 16-year olds in Northern Ireland looking at reasons for alcohol consumption and reflections on specific attitudes towards alcohol and behaviours resulting from alcohol use. Participants reported greater concern with "being caught" drinking by parents than with any negative short- or long-term…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the music activities that high school band students are involved in and how these activities might lead to lifelong music participation. Specific research questions were the following: (a) In what activities are high school band students involved? (b) What are high school band directors…

Heteronormativity, the concept that heterosexual sexuality is an institutionalized norm and a superior and privileged standard, is held firm when discourses of gender, sexualities and family form converge. In a study of heteronormative discourses in the context of early childhood education, teachers shared accounts of practices where genders,…

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to learn about the ways that instrumental music teachers in Chicago navigated the urban landscape. The design of the study most closely resembles Creswell and Plano Clark's (2007) two-part Triangulation Convergence Mixed Methods Design, with the addition of an initial exploratory focus group component.…

This study investigated how siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) describe and define their quality of life. Using a qualitative research design, the authors collected data through a 4-stage process which included in-depth interviews of 17 children ages 6 to 14 and focus groups. All of the children with ASD were male and between…

Providing graduates with a set of skills and attributes relevant to their future employment remains a key topic in both higher education policy and research. This paper reports findings from a pilot study of human resource management (HRM) students' perceptions of the graduate work experience. Specifically, it focuses on how these perceptions are…

The current higher education climate seems to be demanding increasing levels of written output from doctoral researchers during candidature. In this context this study employed an online questionnaire, individual interviews and focus group discussions to collect information on the challenges and successes of doctoral writing. It was found that…

In this three-phase exploratory study, we used participatory approaches with youth in a small Canadian province. Through iterative focus groups in school settings, we examined young men and women's perspectives regarding factors important to taking control of their sexual health behaviour. Youth aged 15-17 discussed sexual health through…

Playgrounds and play times offer valuable contexts for children to explore and learn about themselves and their social lives. This study sought to gather evidence of children's perceptions of their playgrounds and play times, specifically whether the playgrounds were seen positively or negatively and the types of activities in which they engaged.…

Early identification and treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in children younger than age 3 years is becoming an increasingly common area of concern and study. Research suggests that systematic, early intervention can significantly improve outcomes and reduce the cost of caring for children with ASD through the lifespan. Therefore, it is…