No abstract

: Five-year results indicated that TVM provided a stable anatomic repair. Improvements in quality of life and associated improvements in specific prolapse symptoms were sustained over the 5-year period. Mesh exposure was the most common complication.

The authors describe a seven-step consensus development process used to create the two most recent editions of the Academic Pediatric Association's (APA's) educational guidelines for pediatric residency. The 1996 (printed) and 2004 (online) editions of the guidelines were designed as flexible tools to help residency programs meet changing accreditation requirements by providing lists of goals and objectives and objective-based evaluation tools. The guidelines were developed in seven steps: (1) centralized national leadership combined with coordinated, disseminated authorship, (2) clear definition of targeted users and repeated assessment of their needs, (3) incorporation of up-to-date information from the literature and national experts, (4) responsive consultation with the national Pediatric Residency Review Committee on the latest accreditation requirements, (5) wide distribution for prepublication review, to obtain broad organizational buy-in and end-user acceptance, (6) intensive dissemination and faculty development through multiple national workshops over several years, and (7) careful evaluation of utilization and user feedback. Representatives of all major organizations involved in pediatric education helped to refine the guidelines. User surveys conducted for the 1996 edition, and Web site user data collected for the 2004 edition, demonstrate that both editions have been used by most residency programs throughout the country. The authors believe that the multifaceted approach to consensus development and the customizable design of the curricular tools in the APA's guidelines are directly associated with their broad national use. These methods may help to guide educators in other disciplines who are interested in developing and implementing educational products for national dissemination and use.

The longitudinal study compared effects of varying amounts of tobacco instruction (one, two, and three years) on the knowledge, attitudes, and behavioral intentions of urban elementary students. A three-year, fourth-through-sixth grade tobacco prevention curriculum was developed based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Guidelines for School Health Programs to Prevent Tobacco Use and Addiction. The curriculum comprised five, 45-minute lessons per year. The same trained instructor taught the curriculum all three years. Six intervention schools were taught the curriculum, and two control schools were not. A 49-item questionnaire was used to assess tobacco knowledge, attitudes, and behavioral intentions. The experimental group's posttest knowledge and attitude scores were significantly higher than the control group's posttest scores. No significant differences occurred in posttest behavioral intention scores between the control and intervention groups.