The Books and Article That Made an Impact On Me in the Last Year

I have read a lot of stuff since I started the program almost a year and a half ago. Something I wish for everyone is the time and space to read good stuff. If your time is limited and want to know what is a good read, here are some of my suggestions:

1. Israel, B.A., et al. (Editors). Methods in Community-Based Participatory Research for Health. Josey-Bass: San Francisco, CA. 2005.

What I like about this book is that it lays out Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) in action through case studies (tell me a story about what you did and how it is done). The descriptions are easy to read (compared to most journal articles) and describe CBPR step-by-step.

"From an ethnographic perspective, community-based participatory research offers an approach to conducting culturally competent research that aims for a cultural interpretation of research findings and that uses community members as researchers. CBPR includes community members as researchers in all aspects of the research process, including the development of research concepts, the conduct of the research, and the interpretation of the findings."

"Groups and community members become agents of change by telling their stories, articulating their perspectives on the health and social issues affecting them, and recommending strategies for addressing these issues that are grounded in the realities of their environment and experience."

2. The entire issue of Ethnicity & Disease, Volume 19, Number 4, Autumn 2009.

Seven chapters of clear and concise writing describing, in step-by-step fashion, how to carry out a Community-Partnered Participatory Research (CPPR) project with many examples drawn from the authors own experiences on a Witness for Wellness project addressing depression in South Los Angeles.

It's all good and important stuff about engagement, visioning, organization and structure, and so on. One of my favorite chapters is on evaluation written by Ken Wells. I know Ken and he is brilliant (I have a serious brain crush on him and will work with him someday although he is not aware of either truth just yet). One of the marks of a brilliant person is that they can take the complex and make it simple again. The chapter is elegantly simple and illustratively clear.

"...the long-range goal is to build capacity in the community for evaluating partnered projects...The evaluation is part of the whole process of respectful and equal engagement, which is the goal of Community-Partnered Participatory Research."

3. Public Policy and Program Evaluation by Evert Vedung

Who knew that Swedish folks had it going on? I have come across lots of interesting research coming out of that country. And I am looking forward to celebrating Swedish Christmas with friends this year for the first time ever. But I digress. This book was written after the author conducted a series of lectures on the topic and it shows. That is, it has a great conversational style and covers a lot of ground. I may have been conceptually predisposed to the topic but he managed to make me fall in love with the idea of policy evaluation - who knew there were so many ways to carry it out! It's like the Kama Sutra of policy evaluation.

4. Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Generalized Causal Inference by William R. Shadish, Thomas D. Cook, Donald T. Campbell

Okay, this is like a dictionary or reference manual for intervention research designs. Hardly the stuff of love, unless you are passionate about intervention research, which I am. Too much to digest or remember but exceedingly thorough and clear. Like any good reference, I will be coming back to it again and again.

5. Statistical Methods for the Social Sciences by Alan Agresti & Barbara Finlay

I used this book for two quarters of Stats with two different professors and one TA - each with their strengths and weaknesses. This book single-handedly taught me stats so I am grateful to the authors. I love a book that I can count on. My mother used to say she never worried about me because I had my mother - the books. So I guess it is not too much of a stretch to say, "I love you Agresti and Finlay!"

6. Empirically Based School Interventions Targeted at Academic and Mental Health Functioning by KIMBERLY E.HOAGWOOD, et al.

Hoagwood is another one of my brain crushes. Nearly every one of her 85 articles in PubMed is something I would like to have worked on with her. I must admit I came across this particular article before I came back to school but it helped lead me to where I am today. I have read, quoted and referred back to this article many times for the last year and a half.

The abstract reads...
This review examines empirically based studies of school-based mental health interventions. The review identified 64 out of more than 2,000 articles published between 1990 and 2006 that met methodologically rigorous criteria for inclusion. Of these 64 articles, only 24 examined both mental health and educational outcomes. The majority of school-based mental health intervention studies failed to include even rudimentary measures of school-related outcomes.

Analysis of the 24 studies yielded several key findings:

• The types of mental health outcomes most frequently assessed included self-, peer-, teacher-, or parent-reported measures of social competence, aggression, or problem behaviors.
• Academic scores and school attendance were the types of educational outcomes most frequently assessed.
• The majority of interventions focused on elementary students, had a preventive focus, and targeted prosocial, aggressive, and antisocial behaviors.

Only 15 of the 24 studies demonstrated a positive impact on both educational and mental health outcomes, 11 of which included intensive interventions targeting both parents and teachers. (This is what it takes to make an impact on both education and mental health outcomes. Sad that only 11 out of 2,000 did so.)

The studies that had an impact only on mental health outcomes tended to be less intensive with more limited family involvement. (Thee money line! If you want to make an impact on academics, then you have to involve families!! Duh, right? So what are we waiting for?)

This review discusses the implications of these findings for school-based mental health services and identifies directions for future research.

So what were the "methodologically rigorous criteria for inclusion"?

"To be included in the review, studies had to use a prospective, longitudinal design, with either random assignment or a quasi-experimental comparison. They also had to be published between 1990 and June 2006. In addition, the intervention being evaluated had to have taken place in a public school. School-based programs included a wide variety of services, and some involved both students and their families. Mental health outcomes were defined broadly to include behavioral issues, emotional problems, impaired functioning, or psychiatric diagnoses. Educational outcomes consisted of students’ academic progress (e.g., grades, special education placement) as well as their functioning (e.g., attendance, suspensions) within the school."

Okay, folks, that is my top six. Now I really have to get back to writing for school. I have a Community Project Plan due for Ken's class and based on what I've told you about him so far, you must realize I really want to do a good job.