Outreach Experience Research Articles

Scientists and Public Outreach: Participation, Motivations, and Impediments

Public funding agencies are increasingly requiring “broader impact” components in research grants. Concurrently, national educational leaders are calling for scientists to partner with educators to reform science education. Through the use of survey and interview data, our study examined the participation of researchers, faculty members, and graduate students from federal research laboratories and a Research I university, who were involved in K-12 and public outreach activities.We found that scientists were often recruited into K-12 outreach activities by local departmental liaisons, colleagues, or professors. Scientists most frequently gave presentations, tutored, and organized or judged science fairs. Outreach participation varied by career stage, job type, and gender. The strongest motivating factors were a desire to contribute and enjoying their outreach experiences. For graduate students and researchers, a third motivating factor was the chance to improve their teaching and communication skills. Scientists of all types, however, viewed outreach as a form of volunteer work that was auxiliary to their other responsibilities. Time constraints due to other, higher priorities, the lower value placed on outreach by departments, and a lack of detailed information about outreach opportunities were significant barriers to participation. Even so, only a few scientists viewed their outreach experiences negatively, mostly due to classroom management, logistical, or organizational problems, or a lack of outreach skills.

Pattern of Eye Diseases in Kaduna State – A rural community outreach experience

Senile cataract and anterior segment eye infection were the two eye diseases most frequently seen in Giwa community. The lack of trachoma seems to indicate that the rural water supplies were relatively clean and safe. The majority of eye problems were age-related, and preventable. Objective: The aim of the study was to establish the pattern of eye diseases presenting at the rural outreach eye clinic in Giwa, Kaduna State in northern Nigeria. Methods: A total of 1,181 new patients were examined over a 27-month period in the Giwa rural outreach eye clinic. This was done after taking the patient's history and checking the visual acuity using a Snellen chart, a simple pen torch examination, and dilated funduscopy. Schiötz tonometry was done in suspected glaucoma cases. Results: The results of this study showed that preventable and curable eye diseases were most common. Age-related ocular conditions, especially senile cataracts (22.9%), formed the main ocular morbidity in the outpatient eye clinic. Anterior segment eye infection (19.1%) was observed with some frequency. However, trachoma eye infection (1.8%) was unexpectedly less common. This observation may indicate an improvement in rural sanitation and water supply. Conclusion: Data analysis showed mostly preventable and curable eye diseases to be in the majority. These in most cases were age-related, i.e., occurring in older patients. It is therefore recommended, that an integrated eye care programme that would target cataract backlog, glaucoma screening and other conditions with sufficient training and education of primary eye-care workers, school teachers, community extension workers and the community at large would benefit the Giwa community. Key words: outreach, eye diseases, pattern, rural community Nigerian Journal of Ophthalmology Vol.12 (1) 2004: 1-5

A response to ‘Impact of an Outreach team on re‐admissions to a critical care unit’, Leary T, Ridley S, Anaesthesia 2003; 58: 328–32.

The study by Leary and Ridley (Anaesthesia 2003; 58: 328–32) found that the introduction of an outreach service had no impact on re-admissions to their critical care unit. Their report does not give any details regarding their outreach service. Outreach can consist of a number of components of which a medical emergency team [1] or equivalent is just one. Did their outreach service include continued support of patients after discharge from intensive care as recommended by the Department of Health review [2]? Leary and Ridley found that 45% of their patients were managed for less than 48 h on a general ward prior to re-admission to critical care. Could systematic follow up of patients after discharge from critical care have had a favourable impact on re-admissions? Leary and Ridley conclude that re-admission rates are not useful for assessing the impact of outreach. It would be a shame to discard a potentially useful measure simply because their experience of outreach had no impact on re-admissions.

Bridging the Gap: Recruitment of African-American Women Into Mental Health Research Studies

To develop a strategy for recruiting African-American women into a research study for pregnant women. With few exceptions, NIH-funded investigators must include women and minorities in clinical research. The authors used the recommendations provided in the Outreach Notebook for the NIH Guidelines on Inclusion of Women and Minorities as Subjects in Clinical Research as a guide to help them reach out to African-American women in the community. The outreach experience led to a conference for African-American women about mental health. On the basis of this experience, the authors formulated a five-pronged approach for recruitment of African-American women into their study. The NIH guidelines were useful for this purpose.

COMMUNITY & COLLABORATION: Under construction: The California Heritage Project’s K-12 outreach experience at the University of California, Berkeley

Projet de partenariat entre l'Universite de Berkeley et des etablissements d'enseignement primaire et secondaire de communautes urbaines defavorisees: consiste a connecter via Internet les salles de classe a la collection California Heritage- collection d'archives sur la culture et l'histoire de la Californie. Cette collection, en provenace de la Bibliotheque Bancroft, est composee de 30000 photographies ou reproductions de manuscrits.

The six thinking hat model — a tool for participation in community development, the experience of an NGO in Cambodia

Abstract This paper documents the experience of a Non Governmental Organisation Christian Outreach, working in Cambodia on a programme of community development. The programme is focused on awareness change, and works with a number of participatory techniques to animate change. The paper draws attention to some of the difficulties of a truly open-ended conversation. It picks up on a simple model for describing thinking, called the “six thinking hat model”, created by Edward De Bono. This model has been widely used in both adult and child education in the USA and Europe, and in management workshops for multinational companies. The paper describes the adoption of the model for community development in Cambodia. It describes the basic model, its use for staff-capacity building, and its use in rural village communities as a framework for open-ended conversations. It concludes that the model is a useful tool for ensuring comprehensive analysis of problems, creating a framework for conversations and preventing c...

A history of black farm operators in Maryland

Since the turn of the century, the number of small-scale farmers in the U.S. and farmlands they owned have declined very sharply (structural change). Although the decrease in number is generally true for both white and Black farm operators, it has been more significant for Blackfarm operators than whites. The declining trend in the number of Blackfarm operators in the country is derived from individual state experiences that resulted from a combination of various political and economic factors. Using the census of agriculture data from 1900 to 1987, this paper gives a brief historical overview of Black farm operators in Maryland. The census data for the study period shows that at their peak number in 1910, there were 6,382 Blackfarmers in the state of Maryland. However, by 1987, only 371 of that number remained, representing a loss of 94 percent since 1910. According to the 1987 census data almost all Black operated farms in Maryland were not only small-scale but also in the lower sales class, less than $20,000 a year. Their household net family income is below that of non-metropolitan median household income. This concentration of Blacks in the lower economic class of farm operators in the state, for the most part, is closely related to their resource endowments, patterns of tenure, type of farm enterprises, and government farm programs and policies. On the average, Blackfarmers in Maryland have less land, capital and management skills than their white counterparts. Government policies and programs had, and continue to have, a devastating effect on Maryland Black farmers because they were tied to productive resources rather than farm income needs. Under conditions of low income, years of neglect by federal and state programs and policies, and limited resources Blackfarmers were unable to adopt capital intensive production practices and expand their farm operations. This resulted in most of them leaving agriculture, in the past and today, at a faster rate than whites. To avert or at least lessen the unfortunate situation of Black farm operators, projections and possible solutions are offered. This includes how the 1890 Land-Grant institutions because of their tradition, expertise and experience of research, teaching and outreach can take the leadership role in shaping the future direction of these farmers and their operations.

From the Benches to the Trenches

The Charleston Area Mental Health Center and the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina have collaborated to form a comprehensive emergency service with mobile capacity. The service is staffed by an interdisciplinary team of professionals from public and academic psychiatry. Psychiatric residents are fully integrated into the service. A description of the program demonstrates how such liaisons can promote improved access to high-quality services, while enriching the training of psychiatrists through outreach experiences.

74 THE CHOOSE PROGRAM: INTEGRATED OUTREACH TO COORDINATE HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES

Eight years of outreach experience for a community children's categorical lead screening program have documented unmet health and social needs in Columbus, Ohio. These needs prevail despite the existence of available public health services including: WIC, Food Stamps, C & Y Clinics, and a variety of other community health services. Outreach workers have observed that many people either are unaware of available local resources or of their own or their family member's needs for such services, or have been frustrated by their own inability to understand the mechanisms required for enrollment for and utilization of services. The CHOOSE (Comprehensive Health Outreach Organized Service Effort) Program has been devised to implement organized preventive health measures, to monitor effectiveness of such programs, and to provide active coordinating and follow through mechanisms. Experienced outreach workers, in step vans, will contact individuals door to door. They will administer a brief questionnaire to determine level of prior health care and involvement with any health delivery system. Workers in the van will screen for adequacy of prior immunizations, nutritional and dental status, and developmental, iron, and lead status. Children with problems will be referred to the nearest facility. Ongoing contact with the facility personnel and the referred child's family will monitor effectiveness and provide consistent follow through. Demonstration of effectiveness of such a comprehensive integrated outreach concept may have significant application for other cities throughout the United States.