It takes an ecosystem: Socioecological factors influencing equity-oriented evaluation in New England, U.S., 2021.

Evaluation must transform to center equity. Yet, while recent scholarship critiques evaluation at the macro level for reproducing societal inequities and calls the profession and individual evaluators to change, this research overlooks evaluation ecosystems - though dynamic interactions among evaluation teams, workplaces, community stakeholders, funders, and informal professional networks form crucial connections between the macro and micro levels and can be spaces for promoting equity within and through evaluations. Addressing this gap, this exploratory study proposes and uses an adapted socioecological framework to organize thematic analysis of data from interviews with evaluators in New England (n = 21) about factors that help and hinder equity-oriented evaluation practices. We identify nine domains and twenty-three factors across macro, meso, and micro levels that influence these evaluators' capacity to practice equity-oriented evaluation in regional, national, and international contexts. The study contributes a framework that future research can adapt to explore the relevance of identified domains and factors to other geographical settings. We also provide questions to guide evaluators, program leaders, and others in reflecting on leverage points for change within their own contexts and outline future directions for research on equity and evaluation.

Sowing the seeds: Sociocultural resistance in the psychological sciences.

Objective: This article problematizes the use of resilience as a psychological and developmental indication of well-being. We base our argument on the possibility that resilience theories internalize responsibility for survival within the individual, and that survival is dependent on the ability to assimilate to injustice. Resistance, on the other hand, represents acts of intentional, active, and often collective survival which can expose and oppose social injustice. Method: Bringing together transdisciplinary scholarship on resistance, we propose a conceptual framework of sociocultural resistance. This framework seeks to forward studies of health that acknowledge the complexity of relationships, culture, and power constitutive of the human condition. Results: We provide examples of sociocultural resistance in the psychological and developmental sciences and suggest the use of diverse theory and methods in the study of resistance. Conclusions: Resistance research is a timely, necessary, and critical turning point in the social sciences with the potential to change unjust systems and promote a nuanced view of health. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

"Hopefully you've landed the waka on the shore": Negotiated spaces in New Zealand's bicultural mental health system.

The multifaceted context of Aotearoa / New Zealand offers insight into the negotiation of cultural discourses in mental health. There, bicultural practice has emerged as a theoretically rights-based delivery of culturally responsive and aligned therapies. Bicultural practices invite clinicians into spaces between Indigenous and Westernized knowing to negotiate and innovate methods of healing. In this article, we present findings from a qualitative study based on one year of ethnographic fieldwork. Drawing on negotiated spaces theory and critical interactionism, we report results of a situational analysis of interviews conducted with 30 service providers working within the bicultural mental health system. Through iterative map-making, we chart the discursive positions taken in the negotiated spaces between Indigenous and Western lifeworlds. In total, we identified five major positions of negotiated practices within the institutionalized discourses that constitute bicultural mental health. Findings indicate that negotiations from Westernized systems of care have been, at best, superficial and that monoculturalism continues to dominate within the bicultural framework. Implications are made for genuine engagement in the negotiated spaces, so treatment has resonance for clients living in multi-cultural, yet Western-dominant societies.

Determining eLearning Preferences to Inform Beverage Policy Training for Early Care and Education Teachers.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the eLearning preferences of early care and education (ECE) teachers for an effective beverage policy training. METHODS: Mixed methods study conducted with ECE directors and teachers in 6 regions throughout Georgia. Researchers used an eLearning survey (n = 646) along with focus groups (n = 6) and interviews (n = 24) to determine eLearning preferences and preferred eLearning format. Descriptive statistics and qualitative content analysis were used for data analysis. RESULTS: Most ECE teachers in Georgia (85%) have never had a beverage policy training. Participants (48%) reported they would definitely use the Internet for training. Qualitative analysis revealed key themes; training should be engaging, concise, hold the trainees accountable, and be interactive. Interactive video is the preferred eLearning format. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Interventions that promote national beverage recommended in the ECE setting are critically needed. Study findings may inform other states about the feasibility of using eLearning to provide beverage policy training for ECE providers in other states.

African-American and Caribbean-Born Men's Perceptions of Prostate Cancer Fear and Facilitators for Screening Behavior: a Pilot Study.

This study describes how a concurrent exploratory mixed methodology (CEMM) approach was used to investigate perceptions of prostate cancer (CaP) fear and facilitators of screening behavior in African-American (AA) and Caribbean-born (CB) black men for instrument development. A quantitative paper-based questionnaire was modified, adapted, and administered to participants from the Personal Integrative Model of Prostate Cancer Disparity Survey and the Powe Fatalism Inventory. Focus groups and individual interviews were conducted and analyzed using thematic analysis. Of the 31 participants, 17 (55%) were CB black men and 14 (45%) were AA men. CB black men reported significantly higher mean perception of CaP treatment scores compared to AA men (8.23 versus 6.14, p < 0.05). Overall, the focus group and interview data revealed highly interrelated key themes. These themes included perceived barriers to CaP screening (e.g., health-care affordability), misconceptions about CaP (e.g., limited knowledge), and misinformation about CaP (e.g., conflicting CaP screening information from health-care providers). Feeling responsible to make sure family members were taken care of and the role of a significant other were reported as motivation for visiting the doctor. As a result of the CEMM design, a reliable survey instrument was developed to measure CaP fear and facilitators for screening behavior within subpopulations of AA men, which is important because despite their shared genetic ancestry, AA and CB black males may have very different lifestyles.

Exploring Changes in Two Types of Self-Efficacy Following Participation in a Chronic Disease Self-Management Program.

Chronic conditions and falls are related issues faced by many aging adults. Stanford's Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP) added brief fall-related content to the standardized 6-week workshop; however, no research had examined changes in Fall-related self-efficacy (SE) in response to CDSMP participation. This study explored relationships and changes in SE using the SE to manage chronic disease scale (SEMCD Scale) and the Fall Efficacy Scale (FallE Scale) in participants who successfully completed CDSMP workshops within a Southern state over a 10-month period. SE scale data were compared at baseline and post-intervention for 36 adults (mean age = 74.5, SD = ±9.64). Principal component analysis (PCA), using oblimin rotation was completed at baseline and post-intervention for the individual scales and then for analysis combining both scales as a single scale. Each scale loaded under a single component for the PCA at both baseline and post-intervention. When both scales were entered as single meta-scale, the meta-scale split along two factors with no double loading. SEMCD and FallE Scale scores were significantly correlated at baseline and post-intervention, at least p < 0.05. A significant proportion of participants improved their scores on the FallE Scale post-intervention (p = 0.038). The magnitude of the change was also significant only for the FallE Scale (p = 0.043). The SEMCD Scale scores did not change significantly. Study findings from the exploratory PCA and significant correlations indicated that the SEMCD Scale and the FallE Scale measured two distinct but related types of SE. Though the scale scores were correlated at baseline and post-intervention, only the FallE Scale scores significantly differed post-intervention. Given this relationship and CDSMP's recent addition of a 10-min fall prevention segment, further exploration of CDSMP's possible influence on Fall-related SE would provide useful understanding for health promotion in aging adults.