Sexually transmitted infections among HIV infected and HIV uninfected high-risk youth in the REACH study. Reaching for Excellence in Adolescent Care and Health.

OVERVIEW: This review presents the findings of published research in the Reaching for Excellence in Adolescent Care and Health (REACH) Project on sexually transmitted infections (STIs) within the context of the project's scientific agenda. Methods employed in the study for specimen collection, management, and laboratory analysis are presented. This review presents published analyses of cross-sectional data; longitudinal analyses are underway. In addition, baseline prevalence data on selected STIs and sexual risk profiles of the subjects in REACH are presented. High STI rates were evident in both human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected and uninfected youth of both genders regardless of sexual orientation. High infection rates at baseline suggest that prevention-oriented programs for risk reduction among adolescents should focus on both HIV infected and at-risk, uninfected youth.

Relevance of competencies to graduate education and experience in foodservice management.

The objectives of this research were to identify professional and educational characteristics of graduates from master's degree programs in foodservice management; determine the relevance of specific concepts to present professional responsibilities; rate the quality of master's degree educational preparation; and determine whether competence was gained from sources other than the graduate program. Participants were 85 graduates of master's degree programs in foodservice management (1980 through 1988) from five universities. The research instrument contained three scales to assess 43 foodservice management concepts regarding relevance, educational preparation, and competence gained from other sources. Demographic information was also requested. The most commonly held present position was foodservice director. Graduates were most likely to be employed in health care facilities or colleges and universities. All concepts were rated as relevant to graduates' present professional responsibilities, and quality of educational preparation was rated satisfactory or better. Principal component analysis, using a varimax rotation, resulted in four factors, which were titled food production, management, organizational communication, and strategic thinking. Analysis of variance was conducted to determine whether differences existed in the factor scores on the basis of position title or graduate program attended. Foodservice directors rated the food production and management of organization factors more relevant to their present position than did clinical dietitians. Scores for quality of educational preparation for the four factors did not differ on the basis of graduate program attended.

Noneconomic and economic benefits of continuing education for dietitians.

This research evaluated the expected and actual noneconomic and economic benefits from continuing education as perceived by registered dietitian members of the Kansas Dietetic Association in 1986. A random sample of 180 dietitians was selected from the 550 members of the association; 83.9% of the sample responded to the research questionnaire. Thirteen possible noneconomic or personal benefits and six possible economic or professional benefits were rated on a scale of 1, little or no benefit, to 5, great benefit. The highest ratings on noneconomic benefits were 4.43 expected and 3.95 actual on the benefit of "becoming informed about some subject". On economic benefits, the highest ratings were 4.36 expected and 3.82 actual on "learning recent job knowledge." The overall noneconomic ratings were 2.85 expected and 2.78 actual. On economic benefits, the overall ratings were 3.46 expected and 3.07 actual. Dietitians ranked "expertise of instructors" and "instructor's ability to explain or demonstrate" as the two highest perceived strengths of the continuing education experience. Obviously, the instructor is viewed as an important factor in continuing education. Dietitians rated their degree of participation in continuing experiences in the following descending order: "contributing to the evaluation process", "sharing experiences with others," and "developing goals and ideas."