Background Conversations about death are often associated with fear, anxiety, avoidance and misunderstandings. Many adults feel that these discussions are inappropriate and confusing for young people. In this project, two fourth-year nursing students partnered with a local palliative care team to examine death education for children. The nursing students focused on children's understandings of death and their coping abilities, the lack of appropriate discussions about death with children, and the implementation of death education in public schools. Three online death education resources were identified and evaluated for use in public schools. This project fueled preliminary local discussions and advocacy efforts in the provision of death education for children. In the future, death education will need to be incorporated into education plans at local schools, and could be done in collaboration with the local palliative care team.

Peers on IDDT teams are associated with higher fidelity, leading to important possibilities about the incorporation of those with lived experience into research-supported interventions. Implications for team composition, implementation measurement, policy, and funding are discussed.

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Individuals with co-occurring illnesses are at risk for poor outcomes related to criminal justice, hospitalization, housing, and employment. High fidelity evidence-based models, including integrated dual disorder treatment (IDDT), are associated with significant outcome improvements. A descriptive analysis of secondary datasets including the full sample of IDDT fidelity reviews completed from 2006 to 2012 in one state was completed. Total IDDT fidelity significantly improved from baseline fidelity review (68) to second review (40) [t(38) = 35.00, p < .001], and from second review to third review (13) [t(12) = 22.60, p < .001], with adequate inner-rater reliability by the second review. Individual items that were lower across reviews included practice penetration and family interventions, and higher individual items included multi-disciplinary team, integrated treatment specialist, and time-unlimited services, and treatment measures are higher than organizational measures in baseline and subsequent reviews. In this large state-wide sample, IDDT took time to implement, and improved fidelity occurred from baseline to third review, and variance between components of the practice was significant.

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