Technology-Based Bullying Intervention for Rural Schools: Perspectives on Needs, Challenges, and Design.

Bullying is a significant problem in the United States, with 26.7% of middle school students reporting bullying victimization. The majority of bullying programs are comprehensive, school-wide interventions that require significant resources for implementation, creating barriers and challenges for schools in rural and low-income communities. To increase access for these schools, we propose to translate a brief, bystander bullying intervention (STAC) into a technology-based format. Using consensual qualitative research (CQR), we aimed to understand the needs of school personnel and perceived challenges to program implementation to provide information on how to best serve middle schools in rural and low-income communities. We conducted interviews and focus groups with key school personnel at three middle schools in rural, low-income communities (N = 15). Participants indicated a strong interest in a technology-based bullying intervention and reported positive conditions for implementation including administrative support and technology-readiness. Participants identified program efficacy, flexibility of delivery, and parental involvement as important components of bullying prevention and identified implementation challenges, which included time, financial resources, and teacher buy-in. Perceived strengths of the STAC intervention included providing a clear definition of bullying, skills training and practice, and a certificate of completion. Feedback related to translating the intervention to a technology-based format included the use of virtual interaction and a hybrid virtual/in-person program, particularly for booster-sessions. Findings from this study support the need for the proposed technology-based STAC intervention and provide feedback on both the needs and challenges that need to be addressed for successful implementation in middle schools in rural and low-income communities.

A Mixed Method Evaluation of a Culturally Adapted, Brief, Bullying Bystander Intervention for Middle School Students.

The purpose of this mixed method study was to examine the appropriateness of a brief, bullying bystander intervention (STAC) adapted for a middle school in a low-income, rural community with a predominantly White and Hispanic student body. We were also interested in understanding the experiences of the students who participated in the intervention. Quantitative analysis suggested that students gained knowledge about bullying, increased their confidence to intervene in bullying situations, and used the STAC strategies to intervene in bullying behavior. Analyzing the qualitative data using Consensual Qualitative Research methodology ([CQR] Hill, 2005) revealed four domains in which students a) reported using the STAC strategies across multiple contexts and settings, b) spoke about fears related to intervening in bullying, yet intervened despite those fears, c) described emotional benefits experienced after participating in the intervention and while using the STAC strategies, and d) reported stronger interpersonal relationship after participating in the STAC intervention. This study extends the literature by providing preliminary support for a brief, bystander intervention adapted to address the need for culturally relevant bullying interventions for low-income, rural, ethnically-blended schools.

Residual Platinum Concentrations in Post-Cancer Chemotherapy and Healthy Control Populations Using an Automated, 96-Well Plate Method and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry.

BACKGROUND: Platinating agents are among the most commonly used cytotoxic drugs worldwide. It is recognized that Pt concentration can remain significantly increased in serum up to 20 years after completion of chemotherapy, with levels related to late treatment effects. METHODS: A Freedom EVO® Tecan liquid handler was used for aliquoting 50 µL serum at 10-fold dilution into 96-well plates. The Teledyne MVX-7100 low-volume autosampler was used for sample introduction into an Agilent 7900 inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. There was <1.2 min needed between injections. Time to completion for a maximum batch size using two 96-well plates was approximately 3.5 h, including preparation and analysis. RESULTS: Imprecision was <15%, and the limit of quantification was set at 5 ng/L based on imprecision of 18.3%. Bias based on fortified samples ranged from 0% to -4.3% within the analytical measurement range of 5-10 000 ng/L. The nonparametric reference interval for platinum in serum using 147 residual clinical samples was determined to be 8-47 ng/L. Serum platinum concentrations in 675 enrolled patients having an average time since chemotherapy completion of 6.4 (± 5.5 years) ranged from 20.1 to 8252.4 ng/L. Among all patients, 633 (94%) had serum concentrations exceeding 47 ng/L, and 42 (6%) had serum platinum concentrations between 8 and 47 ng/L. CONCLUSIONS: This method used an automated liquid handler, a novel 96-well autosampler and 50 µL patient serum to quantify platinum levels. The method was successfully validated according to current clinical guidelines for laboratory developed tests.