As the United States' first disability-specific leadership academy in state government, the Leadership Academy for Excellence in Disability Services is a year-long competency-based training ...experience designed for employees who manage programs that impact the lives of Tennesseans with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. The Tennessee Department of Human Resources, in collaboration with the Tennessee Council on Developmental Disabilities, began implementing this program in 2017. The lasting impact of such a training experience on the practices of state employees once they complete the program is not known; this was the aim of the study. A follow-up survey examining graduate perceptions and outcomes was sent to 71 graduates; 48 completed the measure. The results reveal an increase in knowledge of disability service systems and a perceived ability to lead and advocate for others. Leadership competencies deemed most important to graduates' current efforts in state government included developing direct reports, managing diversity, organizational agility, and innovation management. Graduates' written comments cited the variety of subject matter experts, networking opportunities, and small group projects as fundamental in breaking down barriers to cross-agency collaboration in their disability work. The impact of this experience continues to be seen years after completing the leadership academy.
Comprehensive e-resource reviews often happen in response to financial crises. Data are collected, and faculty are consulted about reductions. After the review, the data are forgotten or lost until ...the next crisis. Librarians at one public institution were initially motivated by a financial crisis to review their e-resources. But, they also wanted to use this crisis as a means to develop persistent review criteria and a longitudinal review process. This article will summarize how they identified the principal stakeholders, review criteria, essential data, workflows, and management application to support a process that would transcend a single crisis.
The term 'permeability' has morphed from is primarily technical origins into the lexicon of architecture as architects (and other professionals) sought better language to describe the relationships ...of spaces to their environments and other spaces and to the interactions of users with spaces. In higher education, permeability incorporates aspects of campus spaces surrounding buildings as well as the building envelope and interior spaces themselves. In these spaces, permeability may be manifested by physical characteristics as well as how the spaces are used. Documenting uses of permeability in higher education contexts reveals design elements and potential user interactions that, combined with research findings, show that academic libraries incorporating permeable spaces and features may positively influence student engagement and learning. These factors can then lead to measurable change in student success metrics which are vitally important to campus administrators and which may raise the visibility and value of libraries to their campuses.
Purpose
To support the success of their students and faculty, libraries have to understand changing user needs. Robust user assessment programs and analysis of service patterns can reveal many of ...those needs. Many libraries have responded to changing user expectations by consolidating service desks and providing better organization of user services. Recent advances in assessment have added to libraries’ capacity to refine the scope and goals of service desk mergers. Assessment and analysis support better conceptual frameworks for realigning organizational structures and overarching service models. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a renovation and organizational restructuring in Ekstrom Library at the University of Louisville as a case study, this paper examines the assessment process, organizational restructuring, and physical renovation that resulted in service desks merging.
Findings
This study found that comprehensive and ongoing user assessment is crucial to planning for renovations and service changes. User needs awareness must then be linked with organizational models and service delivery systems. Service desk mergers will be successful when they result from thoughtful assessment and analysis.
Research limitations/implications
Other case studies with assessment driven renovation projects, service desk mergers, and organizational changes would be useful to add to these findings.
Practical implications
This paper provides a process and framework for library leadership who are evaluating and revising service delivery models.
Originality/value
The perspectives and process described in this case study will be of value to improve library service delivery models.
Throughout infancy and early childhood, stable and secure relationships with caregivers are needed to promote optimal socioemotional (SE) and cognitive development.The objective is to examine ...socio-demographic, maternal, and child indicators of SE problems in 2-year-olds living in an urban-suburban community in the southern United States.Mother-infant pairs enrolled in a prospective pregnancy cohort study.Shelby County (Memphis), Tennessee.One thousand five hundred three women were recruited during their second trimester and followed with their children through the child's age of 2 years.Child SE development was measured by the Brief Infant-Toddler Social Emotional Assessment at 2 years of age. Mothers reported their own behavioral and mental health, temperament, parenting stress, and potential for child abuse during gestation and/or when their child was 1 year of age. Examiners measured maternal IQ during data collection at the child's age of 1 year. Child communication, cognitive development, and risk for autism spectrum disorder were assessed at 1 and 2 years of age. Multivariable regression models were developed to predict mother-reported SE problems.In bivariate analyses, multiple maternal behavioral and mental health indicators and child cognitive skills were associated with reported child SE problems at 2 years of age. Regression analyses, controlling for socio-demographic, maternal, and child variables, showed the following factors were independently associated with mother-reported child SE problems: maternal education of high school or less, lower maternal IQ, higher maternal cyclothymic temperament score, greater parenting stress, greater maternal psychological distress, lower child expressive communication score, and child risk for autism spectrum disorder. Socio-demographic variables accounted for the variance often attributed to race.Since mothers in the study were medically low-risk, generalizing these findings to medically high-risk mothers is unwarranted. In addition, these SE outcomes in 2-year-old children do not reflect the trajectory of SE development throughout early childhood.Attention to independent indicators of future SE problems in children may help identify individual children and families needing intervention and target public prevention/treatment programs in communities.
Background
While the MCH Leadership Competencies and family as a discipline have been required elements of Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and related Disabilities (LEND) programs for over ...a decade, little research has been published on the efficacy of either programmatic component in the development of the next generation of leaders who can advocate and care for Maternal and Child Health (MCH) populations.
Objective
To test the effectiveness of integrating the family discipline through implementation of parent led curricula on trainees’ content knowledge, skills, and leadership development in family-centered care, according to the MCH Leadership Competencies.
Methods
One hundred and two long-term (≥ 300 h) LEND trainees completed a clinical and leadership training program which featured intensive parent led curricula supported by a full-time family faculty member. Trainees rated themselves on the five Basic and Advanced skill items that comprise
MCH Leadership Competency 8: Family-centered Care
at the beginning and conclusion of their LEND traineeship.
Results
When compared to their initial scores, trainees rated themselves significantly higher across all family-centered leadership competency items at the completion of their LEND traineeship.
Conclusions
The intentional engagement of a full-time family faculty member and parent led curricula that include didactic and experiential components are associated with greater identification and adoption by trainees of family-centered attitudes, skills, and practices. However, the use of the MCH Leadership Competencies as a quantifiable measure of program evaluation, particularly leadership development, is limited.
•Physicians detail the impact that a parent led curriculum in developmental disabilities during their residency has upon their current practice.•Physicians espouse a family-centered approach to care ...and decision-making.•Physicians demonstrate awareness and sensitivity to the effects that caring for a child with a developmental disability has on the family.•Physicians affirm the need and strive to take on a more prominent role in community resource coordination for the families they serve.•The importance of an integrated approach to health care provision is underscored.
Previous research has demonstrated high satisfaction and perceived relevance of Project DOCC (Delivery of Chronic Care), a parent led curriculum in developmental disabilities, across a sample of medical residents.
The influence of such a training program on the clinical practices and professional activities of these residents once they are established in their careers as physicians, however, has not been studied; this was the aim of the present study.
An anonymous follow-up survey was designed and disseminated to physicians who participated in Project DOCC during their one-month developmental disabilities rotation as part of their pediatrics or medicine/pediatric residency between 2002 and 2010. Fifty-eight physicians completed the survey.
The findings suggest that participation in a parent led curriculum during medical residency had a lasting impact on physicians' relationships with families. Specifically, a majority of the physicians espoused a family-centered approach to care, a sensitivity to the interactional effect that caring for a Child with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN) has on family members, the need for physicians to have a prominent role in community resource coordination, and the importance of an integrated approach to health care provision.
Use of a parent led curriculum as a means to increase the provision of family-centered care by physicians is supported.
User feedback told the story of the largest and busiest campus library being dated in both physical form and programmatic function. Under the framework of a newly-developed strategic plan, library ...leadership initiated a comprehensive and inclusive assessment program to understand fully user needs by engaging users, campus partners, and, importantly, library personnel. Simultaneously, they embarked on a review of change management literature for guidance on implementing the required transformation. Informed by the change management philosophy of John Kotter, the library utilized the findings of the assessment program to craft and implement a sustainable transformation of its services, staffing, and spaces.
Purpose
To support the success of their students and faculty, libraries have to understand changing user needs. Robust user assessment programs and analysis of service patterns can reveal many of ...those needs. Many libraries have responded to changing user expectations by consolidating service desks and providing better organization of user services. Recent advances in assessment have added to libraries’ capacity to refine the scope and goals of service desk mergers. Assessment and analysis support better conceptual frameworks for realigning organizational structures and overarching service models. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a renovation and organizational restructuring in Ekstrom Library at the University of Louisville as a case study, this paper examines the assessment process, organizational restructuring, and physical renovation that resulted in service desks merging.
Findings
This study found that comprehensive and ongoing user assessment is crucial to planning for renovations and service changes. User needs awareness must then be linked with organizational models and service delivery systems. Service desk mergers will be successful when they result from thoughtful assessment and analysis.
Research limitations/implications
Other case studies with assessment driven renovation projects, service desk mergers, and organizational changes would be useful to add to these findings.
Practical implications
This paper provides a process and framework for library leadership who are evaluating and revising service delivery models.
Originality/value
The perspectives and process described in this case study will be of value to improve library service delivery models.
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