Takes a look at the questions involved in designing customized training: What changes does management expect to see as the result of training? Who has information that must be included and excluded? How "customized" should the training be? and How will the training be delivered? (CT)

Interviews with state mental health authorities revealed that many states are emphasizing program development and funding for the severely acutely and chronically mentally ill while deemphasizing consultation/education, prevention, and evaluation activities. Funding mechanisms are moving toward greater accountability and funding levels are…

Presents a brief overview of four sociological theories concerning rural-urban differences: classical, determinist, compositional, and subcultural. Draws implications and applications for social workers and human service personnel. Suggests development of a typology which would include such components as theoretical orientation, roles of workers,…

The role of Jose P. v. Ambach, a class action lawsuit involving the rights of handicapped students to be referred, evaluated, and placed in a timely fashion into appropriate educational programs and services in the New York City public schools, in structuring the delivery of special education services is discussed. (Author/CL)

Surveyed 400 public and private small (less than 5,000 students) colleges to examine their delivery of counseling and psychological services. Results are discussed for program organization, administration, staffing, delivery systems, most frequently provided services, and services ranked most important. (MCF)

Summarizes the 20-year history of the Appalachian Regional Commission's innovative, flexible, $550M model health care delivery system. Cites achievements in establishing primary care clinics; tackling black lung disease; and expanding health manpower, health education, maternal and child health care, and rehabilitation centers. (NEC)

Traces Southern West Virginia Regional Health Council's decade of delivering/linking cradle-to-grave health services for 500,000 rural residents. Describes microwave communications radio network; clinics; services in family planning, genetic counseling, prenatal care, maternal/child care, nutrition, heart/respiratory disease screening, renal…

A survey of visually impaired children (from birth to age 12) in the Rocky Mountain/Great Plains region indicated that the majority were multiply handicapped, and that within this group, the greatest number were in the mild to moderate range. Data are presented on age ranges, current service delivery options, vocational and alternative-living…

Two evaluation approaches were used to assess the impact of a continuing medical education manual that was distributed by mail. Implications for development of materials and for information dissemination strategies in continuing medical education are discussed. (Author/CT)

This study presents the successes and failures in the delivery of services to low income communities. Executive directors of community-based organizations throughout the county were asked to describe their most and least successful community-based service delivery projects. The service ventures then were classified based on the extent to which the…

The author reviews the changes in remedial education in Britain over the past 10 years, noting changes in scope and patterns of service provisions, and illustrating the effects on one metropolitan authority. (CL)

Surveyed 35 nursing home staff members and found that nurses generally are not knowledgeable about psychiatric symptoms and do not seek out psychiatric intervention for their patients. Suggests that the organizational character of health care delivery in nursing homes makes adequate nursing response to mental illnesses impossible. (JAC)

The author states a definition of mainstreaming and lists 30 underlying principles of mainstreaming, then describes 17 models ranked as most successful (e.g., the resource plan--most commonly used) by special education directors who responded to a national survey. Noted is importance of ongoing inservice education and individualized teaching. (MC)

Data were collected from 14 remedial and 208 regular private schools and 180 remedial therapists in South Africa on such topics as problems handled, staff qualifications, and multiracial practices. Among findings are that 42 percent white and three percent Black schools offer services to learning disabled children. (MC)

The author raises questions concerning the nature of learning disabilities and the effectiveness of special disabilities and the special education services (including resource rooms and secondary programs that are basically extensions of elementary programs) for this group. Three organizational solutions concerning research, policy analysis, and…