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BackgroundDespite endorsement by the Saskatchewan government to apply empirically-based approaches to youth drug prevention services in the province, programs are sometimes delivered prior to the establishment of evidence-informed goals and objectives. This paper shares the 'preptory’ outcomes of our team’s program evaluation of the Prince Albert Parkland Health Region Mental Health and Addiction Services’ Outreach Worker Service (OWS) in eight rural, community schools three years following its implementation. Before our independent evaluation team could assess whether expectations of the OWS were being met, we had to assist with establishing its overarching program goals and objectives and 'at-risk’ student population, alongside its alliance with an empirically-informed theoretical framework.MethodsA mixed-methods approach was applied, beginning with in-depth focus groups with the OWS staff to identify the program’s goals and objectives and targeted student population. These were supplemented with OWS and school administrator interviews and focus groups with school staff. Alignment with a theoretical focus was determined though a review of the OWS’s work to date and explored in focus groups between our evaluation team and the OWS staff and validated with the school staff and OWS and school administration.ResultsWith improved understanding of the OWS’s goals and objectives, our evaluation team and the OWS staff aligned the program with the Positive Youth Development theoretical evidence-base, emphasizing the program’s universality, systems focus, strength base, and promotion of assets. Together we also gained clarity about the OWS’s definition of and engagement with its 'at-risk’ student population.ConclusionsIt is important to draw on expert knowledge to develop youth drug prevention programming, but attention must also be paid to aligning professional health care services with a theoretically informed evidence-base for evaluation purposes. If time does not permit for the establishment of evidence-informed goals and objectives at the start-up of a program, obtaining insight and expertise from program personnel and school staff and administrators can bring the program to a point where this can still be achieved and theoretical linkages made after a program has been implemented. This is a necessary foundation for measuring an intervention’s success.

Although activity involvement has been linked to positive youth development, the value that adolescents place on these activities (i.e., how much they enjoy the activities, find them important, and spend time on them) has received less attention. The purpose of the present study was to examine the bidirectional longitudinal association between engagement in valued activities and adolescent positive adjustment (optimism, purpose in life, and self-esteem), as well as investigate a possible underlying mechanism for this link. High school students (N = 2,270, 48.7% female) from Ontario, Canada completed questionnaires annually in grades 10, 11, and 12. Auto-regressive cross-lagged path analyses were conducted over time, controlling for gender, parental education, and academic grades. Greater engagement in valued activities predicted higher optimism, purpose, and self-esteem over time. Importantly, the results did not support an alternate hypothesis of selection effects, in that adolescents who were better adjusted were not more likely than their peers to engage in valued activities over time. We also found that the longitudinal associations between valued activities and positive adjustment may be due partly to an underlying effect of increased positive mood. Thus, engagement in valued activities appears to be important for adolescent positive adjustment, and may help to foster thriving. Communities, educators, and parents should actively support and encourage adolescents to develop valued activities, and seek to ensure that there are ample opportunities and resources available for them to do so.

Continuing education on dementia for healthcare providers has been shown to have positive effects on diagnostic confidence, knowledge, and care management. Technological approaches to educational delivery have been found to have comparable effects in terms of quality and efficacy. The purpose of the systematic review was to compose and present an evidence base for technology-delivered dementia education for healthcare providers. The review used PRISMA guidelines and Cochrane methods focusing on studies with a pre-and post-intervention evaluation. Technology-based delivery of dementia education was broadly defined as any technology-based medium delivered in real time or asynchronously. Ten studies were identified and analyzed using content analysis. The review revealed positive outcomes post-intervention, for dementia knowledge, readiness to change, receptiveness to training, communication skills, and self-efficacy. Studies were rated as medium to high quality on a scale for measurement of published data in research, and there was generally an unknown risk of bias due to a lack of a control group in most studies (N = 7). The findings revealed benefits of digitally-based, asynchronous continuing education for healthcare providers, which allow schedule flexibility and the ability to deliver remotely. Findings also revealed benefits of presentations using a variety of interactive educational materials via videos, voice recordings, textual medium and online discussion groups. Suggestions for intervention improvements include tailoring training for the specific needs and knowledge levels of healthcare practitioners and using validated scales to measure outcomes.

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is prevalent among individuals involved in the justice system. However, many of the characteristics of justice-involved individuals with FASD remain unknown. We assessed patients in a forensic mental health hospital (n = 26) for FASD before their release. The two objectives were to establish the prevalence of FASD in this unique environment and to describe the mental health and neurocognitive characteristics of individuals with FASD compared to patients with complex needs and those without FASD. The prevalence of FASD was 46%. We found the FASD group to have more than six impaired brain domains, greater than the other groups, and a higher prevalence of ADHD.