Community Helpers Research Articles

Evaluating the impact ofthe Community Helpers Program on adolescents 12-18 years old in Edmonton, Canada.

Alberta Health Services (AHS) Community Helpers Program (CHP) to enhance mental health among youth. Identifying the impact of CHP on mental illness-related acute care use among adolescents aged 12-18 years in Edmonton and determining cost avoidance. Using administrative data from AHS, public school catchment area data from theEdmonton Public School Board, and area-level socioeconomic deprivation status indicators from the Pampalon deprivation index, we applied geographical regression discontinuity design to estimate the effect of CHP implementation on depression-, anxiety-, and suicide-related acute care use (emergency department visits and inpatient admissions). Cost data were derived from Interactive Health Data Application of Alberta Health. The study period (2002-2022) included pre (2002-2011) and post (2012-2020) CHP implementation periods. CHP had statistically significant impact when distance from the boundary (catchment area identifier to divide the sample into treated and control groups) was between 600 and 800 m. About 90 and 80 fewer anxiety- and depression-related visits (per 1000 visits) were observed among individuals aged 12-15 and 16-18 years, respectively, in catchment areas of the public schools where CHP was implemented. Impact of CHP on suicide-related visits was only statistically significant among individuals aged 12-15 years. Annual cost reduction ranged from $161,117 to $269,255 for anxiety- and depression-related visits. Findings show contextual effect of CHP; i.e., being potentially exposed to the program reduced the likelihood of anxiety- and depression-related visits. Costs of CHP implementation could be compared with the avoided costs to assess economic benefits of implementing CHP.

Caught in the Dragnet: How Punitive Immigration Laws Harm Immigrant Community Helpers

Legal violence, or the effects of an intertwining of immigration and criminal law, harms asylum seekers and immigrants, as well as the U.S. attorneys, social workers, health professionals, and advocates who help them.

Community Helpers as Paraprofessionals in Integrated Health Care

Community Helpers as Paraprofessionals in Integrated Health Care

Development of support software for inclusive online education

Situation with corona virus has demonstrated that online education is a compulsory measure in arrangement of education for children with disabilities. Learners with disabilities cannot capture educational programs without use of dedicated (adapted) educational programs, methods of teaching and upbringing, and also their software support. This article covers issues of arrangement of an educational process for learners with mental retardation with the use of online educational technologies and also describes experience of creation of “InclusiveEdu – Information Science 7” software within principal educational school program. It offers maximally available and efficient educational space, arrangement of which takes into account individual characteristics of learners. This educational space can involve all the participants in educational relations: learners, their parents (legal representatives), teachers, special community helpers. It has been found that mentally-retarded children prefer to watch and listen to information instead of reading. That is why the developed software product offers an opportunity to listen to important information. In order to test efficiency of the developed software, a pedagogical experiment was carried out in four schools of Almaty City in conditions of online education which produced positive results in favor of the offered teaching methodology.

Development of support software for inclusive online education

Situation with coronavirus has demonstrated that online education is a compulsory measure in arrangement of education for children with disabilities. Learners with disabilities cannot capture educational programs without use of dedicated (adapted) educational programs and methods of teaching and upbringing and also their software support. This article covers issues of arrangement of an educational process for learners with mental retardation with the use of online educational technologies and also describes experience of creation of ‘InclusiveEdu – Information Science 7’ software within principal educational school program. It offers maximum available and efficient educational space arrangement of which takes into account individual characteristics of learners and this educational space can involve all the participants in educational relations: learners, their parents (legal representatives), teachers, special community helpers. It has been found that mentally-retarded children prefer to watch and listen to information instead of reading. That is why the developed software product offers an opportunity to listen to important information. In order to test efficiency of the developed software, a pedagogical experiment was carried out in four schools of Almaty City in conditions of online education which produced positive results in favor of the offered teaching methodology. Key words: online education, inclusive education, inclusive online education, software, disabilities, mental retardation, dedicated educational programs, special educational needs.

Empowering Families to Address Suicide in Rural Colombia

Suicidal behavior is a major public health problem that has devastating effects on families. Relevant suicide risk factor identification is a critical component to developing effective suicide assessments and interventions. Suicide risk factors vary across countries. Thus, the intent of this seminal research was to investigate suicide risk factors relevant to a small and rural region in the South American country of Colombia. The factors identified in the present Delphi study appear relevant in informing the development and expansion of suicide prevention strategies and community-based programs. Educating family members and other frontline community helpers on the identified suicide risk factors can exponentially increase service resources in underserved and unserved communities.

Send a Girl!: The True Story of How Women Joined the FDNY by Jessica M. Rinker

Reviewed by: Send a Girl!: The True Story of How Women Joined the FDNY by Jessica M. Rinker Elizabeth Bush Rinker, Jessica M. Send a Girl!: The True Story of How Women Joined the FDNY; illus. by Meg Hunt. Bloomsbury, 2021 [48p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781547601745 $17.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9781547601752 $12.59 Reviewed from digital galleys Ad 5-8 yrs For Brenda Berkman, a New York lawyer, her relatively tame desk job lost its shine, so the 1977 announcement that the Fire Department was opening its testing to women for the first time inspired a new goal of undertaking a more active career that would let her directly serve her community. Berkman and other women applicants passed the written test only to be stonewalled at the next level, a physical fitness test that blatantly ignored the tasks actually required on the job. A test that eliminated every female aspirant seemed evidence of bad faith, and Berkman put her lawyering skill to work, filing a lawsuit. It took a few years to wind through the system, but the test was revised, women were admitted to the department, [End Page 273] and then a new chapter in discrimination opened as some members of the public insisted they only trusted men to rescue them, and some male firefighters took collegial pranking to the level of dangerous harassment. In streamlining the story for a young audience, Rinker's narrative and Hunt's digitally colored artwork glide over several specifics (it never makes how initial fitness testing advantaged men), leaving listeners dependent on adult assistance to wrestle information from endnotes not fully up to the task. Still, Berkman's story offers a refreshing twist for "community helpers" units and a tacit invitation to explore Berkman's post-retirement work in advocacy and the arts. A bibliography and website resources are also included. Copyright © 2021 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Drug-Related Death Bereavement: A Commentary by Kelly Thomas on Titlestad, Stroebe, and Dyregrov's Article: How Do Drug-Death-Bereaved Parents Adjust to Life without the Deceased? A Qualitative Study.

Kelly Thomas first contacted us briefly—but to us so poignantly—about an earlier publication of ours on Drug-Related Death (DRD) bereavement entitled Sounds of silence. The ‘special grief’ of drug-death bereaved parents (Titlestad et al., 2020). He commented: It is coming up on the 3 years since we lost our daughter at age 21 in a DRD. I have found my wife listening to the song your paper refers to more times than I would like to count. I cried as I read your paper and saw myself, and tears run down my face as I write this. The quote you provided from another father regarding this loss as being “world changing” is highly descriptive. Thank you for your work. At first, we were lost for words, we were so deeply touched by this response to our article, so moved by what he wrote about the title and about his wife listening to the song. We were also grateful for the feedback indicating that Norwegian parents’ experiences are recognisable in other parts of the world. Of course, we went on to respond to him personally and we also drew his attention to a further article that at the time was accepted in OMEGA—Journal of Death and Dying, the one that triggered further correspondence between us, the one which is the subject of this commentary. To step back a little and explain: These two publications are reports on a large-scale, still-ongoing research project that began in 2017 (The END-project), focusing on drug-death bereavement and recovery from the perspective of bereaved family members, close friends and community helpers. This project is close to the hearts of all three of us, as it also is to the extended team of END researchers involved in working on different aspects, all relating to DRD. We are keen to disseminate our findings, for both scientific and applied purposes: To add to knowledge and increase understanding of DRD bereavement, on the one hand, and to contribute to support for DRD bereaved persons and those who care for them professionally and personally, on the other hand. So when we received a second email from Kelly Thomas about the OMEGA—Journal of Death and Dying article, we were moved to suggest its publication as a commentary piece in OMEGA—Journal of Death and Dying: Kelly Thomas’s words vividly illustrate the points we covered in our qualitative analysis. Of course we ourselves included illustrations from the interviews with the participants, in our articles. But here we have an entirely different narrative, namely, the account of one particular DRD bereaved father actually reflecting on the categories—scientific constructions as they are—of feelings and behaviors and attitudes that we identified in our qualitative analysis. We learn from Kelly Thomas how our analysis “spoke” to someone who has himself had to endure the loss of a loved child to DRD. His words speak for themselves.

Irihapeti Ramsden: The Public Narrative on Cultural Safety

The magnificent voices of Indigenous women who want to restore, preserve and extend the beauty of Indigenous culture must be relocated and honoured as the last best hope of escaping the tragic impacts of colonization. This paper started as an exploration of New Zealand Indigenous scholar Irihapeti Ramsden’s extraordinary efforts to imbed Cultural Safety as a foundation for nursing training and unity of purpose for all community helpers to alter the trajectory of colonization and its tragic impacts on Indigenous peoples. It morphed into a celebration of the powerful ‘reflective topical auto-biographies’ or meta-narratives of adaptability and resilience all Indigenous people need to share as we recover and heal from intergenerational traumas inflicted in the name of civilization and racial supremacy. Transformative change starts with self discovery as Irihapeti Ramsden taught her student nurses. Women and children are the most poignant victims of that foolish colonial project and their survival stories can lead all humanity back to respectful and loving sustainability. Indigenous women’s resilience stories need a special space in academic literature. Their enduring women-spirit has always guided this First Nations to be better first as an Indigenous man and more importantly as a human being. Irihapeti Ramsden’s journey to put Cultural Safety out there in mainstream academia began with a powerful reflective inner healing journey. Her life and work was a remarkable gift to all. The title of this paper derives from Section Three of her PhD thesis. It must be shared throughout all the worlds’ spaces in need of decolonization. Her ultimately political meta-narrative to alter ignorance and arrogance within education, government and society is one all Indigenous writers and scholars must study and articulate across often culturally unsafe places and spaces within Canada’s colleges and universities.

"Smelly" Kelly and His Super Senses: How James Kelly's Nose Saved the New York City Subway by Beth Anderson

Reviewed by: "Smelly" Kelly and His Super Senses: How James Kelly's Nose Saved the New York City Subway by Beth Anderson Elizabeth Bush Anderson, Beth "Smelly" Kelly and His Super Senses: How James Kelly's Nose Saved the New York City Subway; illus. by Jenn Harney. Calkins Creek, 2020 [40p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781684373994 $18.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R 5-9 yrs "James Kelly smelled everything. Rats in the shed. Circus elephants a mile away. Tomorrow's rain." If this olfactory gift seemed a pretty risible superpower for an early twentieth century Irish immigrant facing a new life in New York City, it was [End Page 70] going to serve him and his city well, and even win him a share of acclaim. Working for the New York subway system, Kelly sniffed out water leaks before they led to collapsed ceilings and gas leaks before they led to explosions. When his nose wasn't up to a job, Kelly relied on his well-trained hearing to detect drips and hisses, often amplified by his toolkit of chemicals and gizmos that exposed and amplified culprits; he even trained other workers in his methods. His everyday heroism went largely unsung, but his courage and speed rather than his nose finally caught the city's attention when he saved a passenger who had fallen under a subway car from being crushed or being electrocuted by the deadly third rail. Anderson's zesty stick-to-the-facts narration (only a brief passage about Kelly's childhood is speculative) in this picture book biography will be a winner in class units on community helpers, and Harney's digital illustrations, in which the ginger-haired, newsboy-capped Kelly glows with good-natured determination in the shadowy blues of the urban underbelly, crackle with energy. An author's note on Kelly's early life and career includes a photograph; a note on his toolkit, some NYC underground statistics, a note on research, a bibliography, and a short but strong list of related children's materials are also appended. Copyright © 2020 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Dentists by E. Less

Less, Emma. “Dentists.” Real-life Superheroes. Amicus Publishing, 2018.
 Aimed at emergent readers, this Real-life Superheroes series is intended to inform children of the ways community helpers do their jobs, understand what the jobs mean, inspire readers, and expose readers to vocabulary and action images specific to occupations in the spotlight. This is a review of three out of twelve Real-life Superheroes books. Other occupations in the series include chefs, librarians, construction workers, farmers, firefighters, mechanics, police officers, teachers, and veterinarians.
 Each book begins with the relevant job title and a purpose statement. The “Dentists” and “Doctors” books have health-promotion statements while the “Nurses” introductory statement is limited to an illness focus. Health promotion is a primary focus of these three professions and it is incorrect to limit nursing to an illness focus in the primary introduction. Also, on the first pages of the “Dentists” and “Doctors” books the author says “They [Dentists/Doctors] are busy,” while the “Nurses” book does not include the same statement. Further, the “Doctors” book includes a “Maybe you will be a Doctor” statement, while the “Dentists,” and “Nurses” books do not. These statements should be included in all the books. 
 The books adequately introduce subject specific vocabulary and use child-centered action images. The images are high quality, and feature real-world tools (needles, syringes, stethoscopes, electronic vital signs monitors, etc.). Regarding the pictures of the professionals, there could have been greater effort to demonstrate diversity, to ensure all children could see themselves reflected in the images. For example, only one of seven nurses shown is male, reinforcing gender stereotypes related to this profession. In the “Dentists” and “Doctors” books the images show a more diverse picture of the professions, when race and gender is considered. The last page of each book is dedicated to tools seen in the workplace and these would encourage curious readers to ask questions about the profession. 
 As a tool to introduce early readers to health care jobs and inspire them to think of themselves in these roles, the books fall short; specifically, they do not give a full and accurate account of job tasks and job relationships. For example, the books mention the nurse-doctor team but do not mention the dentist-dental hygienist team. Overall, these books are of limited use as they do little to inspire children to imagine themselves in these roles, and they lack accurate job descriptions. 
 Not Recommended: 1 out of 4 StarsReviewer: Tabatha Plesuk
 Tabatha Plesuk, is a first year MLIS Student at the University of Alberta (who spends free time teaching dance to children ages three to fourteen) with an enthusiasm for children’s books.

Signs of current suicidality in men: A systematic review.

Suicide signs have been identified by expert consensus and are relied on by service providers, community helpers’ and family members to identify suicidal men. Whether signs that are reported in suicide literature accurately describe male presentations of suicidality is unclear. A systematic review of the literature was conducted to identify male-specific signs of current suicidality and identify gaps in the literature for future research. Searches through Medline, CINAHL, PsychInfo and the Behavioral Sciences Collection, guided by the PRISMA-P statement, identified 12 studies that met the study eligibility criteria. Although the results generally reflected suicide signs identified by expert consensus, there is little research that has examined male-specific signs of the current suicidal state. This review highlights the need for scientific research to clarify male presentation of suicidality. Implications for future research to improve the prompt identification of suicidal men are discussed.

“Our Community Helpers” and the American Feminist Struggle against Stereotypes

“Our Community Helpers” and the American Feminist Struggle against Stereotypes

Roles of Community Helpers in Using the Medicare Part D Benefit

To examine the experiences of low-income Part D beneficiaries with mental illness and their use of community helpers to access prescription medicines. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 26 Medicare beneficiaries with mental illness in community settings. The transcripts were analyzed for content related to community help-seeking and attitudes toward family and professional helpers. Medicare Part D beneficiaries with mental illness used the assistance of community helpers extensively. Pharmacists, nurses, community mental health case managers, and family members assisted beneficiaries with understanding their benefit plans and interpreting paperwork from plans and government agencies. Community helpers also assisted with tasks related to medication adherence. Mental health consumers appreciated the help that they received from family members and professionals. This group of Medicare beneficiaries would have experienced difficulty in using their benefits and obtaining their medication without considerable help from professionals and family members.

The Village Garage (review)

Reviewed by: The Village Garage Elizabeth Bush Karas, G. Brian . The Village Garage; written and illus. by G. Brian Karas. Ottaviano/Holt, 2010. [32p]. ISBN 978-0-8050-8716-1 $16.99 Reviewed from galleys R 4-8 yrs There's no rest for the weary in this small-town public works department. Spring is cleanup time, when dead branches are gathered and mulched. Summer brings on pothole patching, and even some bridge reconstruction after a particularly heavy rainstorm. In fall, the "elephant truck" that sucks up leaves is on the prowl. Just when the winter crew thinks they'll get some downtime, the snow blows in and the plows roll out. A little boy and his dog are never far from the action, fascinated—as will be the audience—by the specialized vehicles and machinery that keep the village in good trim, and by the spontaneous playfulness with which the crew lighten their workload: splashing under the truck-wash hose, riding the front-end loader at a July 4th party, playing cards and singing karaoke in the staff room. Any kid who's clapped eyes on a Karas illustration will recognize the style: spidery pencil lines robustly filled with textured gouache, and round-headed figures that could have been plucked from Charlie Brown's family tree. Select this as a seasons book, a community helpers book, or just a behind-the-scenes tour of Anywhere, USA. [End Page 486] Copyright © 2010 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Sports medicine pearls and pitfalls: Athletic performance after blood donation

Introduction Recreational runners and cyclists ask me if donating blood will slow them down in their weekend racing. Sure, I tell them, but only for a week or two, and donating is worth it. Blood donors are community helpers. Not long ago, I was asked: If an NFL team sponsors a community blood drive, can players who donate a pint of blood on Tuesday play to their full ability in a game 5 days later? That one is harder to answer. First, some background.

Sports Medicine Pearls and Pitfalls

Introduction Recreational runners and cyclists ask me if donating blood will slow them down in their weekend racing. Sure, I tell them, but only for a week or two, and donating is worth it. Blood donors are community helpers. Not long ago, I was asked: If an NFL team sponsors a community blood drive, can players who donate a pint of blood on Tuesday play to their full ability in a game 5 days later? That one is harder to answer. First, some background.

Beyond Community Helpers: The Project Approach in the Early Childhood Social Studies Curriculum

(2005). Beyond Community Helpers: The Project Approach in the Early Childhood Social Studies Curriculum. Childhood Education: Vol. 81, No. 3, pp. 133-138.

Counseling for Peace in the Midst of War: Counselors from Northern Uganda Share Their Views

This paper describes the way that counselors in northern Uganda are working to promote healing and build peace in a region plagued by war since 1986. In this area where the entire community is affected by the armed conflict, the counselors work as part of a community program. This paper attempts to describe (1) the background and nature of the northern Uganda conflict, (2) how counseling was established as part of a network of community helpers, (3) the complexity of counseling in the context of conflict, (4) how counseling is contributing to building long-term peace in the area, and (5) the challenges faced by counselors and their implications for others working in areas of armed conflict.

Addressing barriers to community care of battered women in rural environments: creating a policy of social inclusion.

Given domestic violence continues to be a serious social problem, recently acknowledged as a national public health epidemic as well, the need to examine existing formal helping services and address the barriers to service utilization among battered women is warranted. Social exclusion is the process by which multi-dimensionally disadvantaged individuals are prohibited from obtaining formal helping services. Although not a policy per se, many community helpers and organizations inadvertently contribute to erecting barriers which exclude battered women from using such services, particularly in rural environments. Suggestions to transform a process of social exclusion to social inclusion for battered women is offered.