There is a critical need to increase communication and collaboration across the educational and medical systems on behalf of students with paediatric health issues.The purpose of the current study was to investigate school psychologists' perceptions of their communication and collaboration practices with paediatric professionals (e.g. paediatricians). Three hundred and forty school psychologists completed a survey that assessed their communication and collaboration practices with paediatric professionals, professional development in paediatric health issues and use of e-Health technology on behalf of students with medical problems. School psychologists reported communicating with paediatric professionals a few times per year (60.6%), collaborating a few times per year (34%) and receiving between one and five hours of professional development on paediatric health issues per year (50.8%). Only a small number of school psychologists used e-Health. Of those respondents, all indicated that it was beneficial to some extent to their practice. The major finding of this study was that interdisciplinary communication and collaboration practices were relatively infrequent. Results from this study can help inform strategies for increased collaboration, pre-service and ongoing training, and future research.
Multidisciplinary child fatality review teams (CFRT) have existed in the United States (US) for almost 30 years; the products of the review process, however, remain unexamined. This study reviewed reports from CFRT throughout the US to compile and evaluate the identification of problems and recommendations by professionals concerning child maltreatment fatalities. Team-and state-level data were also used for analysis to better understand the context in which recommendations are made. Over 300 recommendations for change from CFRT were grouped into 11 macro categories. The frequency of each type of recommendation and examples from each category are provided. The authors provide recommendations of their own for improvements in CFRT outputs.
This study evaluated a professional development intervention that stemmed from a university-district partnership and was developed through participatory action research. Baseline and postintervention survey items showed participating school psychologists' (n = 57) knowledge related to youth suicide improved reliably immediately after the intervention in all content knowledge areas. At 9-month follow-up, participants (n = 41) retained knowledge gains relevant to assessment and intervention strategies, whereas knowledge relevant to prevention and postvention activities declined. Increases in participants' confidence in their abilities to execute different suicide-related professional activities and in their confidence in working with diverse youth in relation to suicide risk maintained over time. At follow-up, 87% of participants who had received referrals for suicidal students reported accessing products from the professional development, compared with 40% of practitioners without the impetus of a suicidal student. Participants rated the professional development to be between "mostly" and "very" useful in facilitating their work with suicidal youth.
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