Individuals with disabilities experience numerous health disparities compared to their non-disabled peers and face inequities associated with challenges accessing care, stigma, and bias. Health professionals have the opportunity to address health inequities through improved communication, a primary barrier to receiving quality care; however more training is needed. There are limitations to existing tools to measure the skills or self-efficacy of professionals to communicate with individuals with disabilities, and to assess the effectiveness of training programs. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate an instrument to measure health professionals' communication skills and self-efficacy specifically related to working with individuals with disabilities. After a comprehensive review of literature, expert review of proposed scale items, and pilot test, a 19-item survey was administered to 237 healthcare and health and physical education professionals. Construct validity was evaluated by performing an exploratory factor analysis on each subscale and Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to measure internal consistency. For the skills subscale, Cronbach's alpha = .919 and for the self-efficacy subscale Cronbach's alpha = .949 after the removal of one item, resulting in a final 18-item inventory that demonstrates strong validity and reliability.

Students who participate in service-learning courses are given the opportunity to apply the knowledge they develop in the classroom to real-world settings while meeting community needs. This study explores how service-learning pedagogy contributes to interpersonal professional skill development in pre-health undergraduate students attending a small, liberal arts college in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Students were enrolled in a required course within the health and exercise science department and were pursuing health-related careers. They partnered with local organizations where they engaged marginalized community members in physically active games and programs to promote health. Students then participated in reflective assignments that were qualitatively analyzed. In total, 103 essays and 10 focus groups were coded and interpreted. Three themes emerged as pre-health professional skills developed through the course: communication, perspective taking, and motivating others. Students indicated that service-learning experiences helped them improve in these areas or brought awareness to their struggles with these skills. This study describes how service-learning pedagogy can be used to expand the interpersonal skills of undergraduate students necessary to promote health in all related professions.

While schools provide one opportunity to encourage physical activity, caregivers play an exceedingly important role in creating an environment conducive to preschool children’s physical activity. Yet, little is known regarding the perceptions of caregivers, important choice agents for young children’s physical activity behavior after participating in a motor skill program. The purpose of this study was to examine caregivers’ perceptions of facilitators and barriers to children’s physical activity at home among rural, low-income families who participated in a school-based early childhood physical activity program, SKIPping with PALS, designed to increase physical activity and improve motor development. Eleven caregivers consented to participate in a semi-structured interview regarding their perceptions of physical activity and their experience after six months of participation in the program. An inductive, naturalistic evaluation approach was utilized for qualitative data analysis, following the six recursive phases of thematic analysis. A review of the interview transcripts revealed that all caregivers valued physical activity and encouraged their children to be active. Four major facilitators, four major barriers, and an overarching theme of parental support for childhood physical activity were identified. These factors are largely circumstantial and attitudinal and, thus, are difficult to modify but are important to be cognizant of when designing interventions.

College athletes experience high levels of stress and academics is one of the primary causes. This study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of a study skills training workshop designed around the theory of Multiple Intelligences. The pilot-workshop was developed with minimal resources, tailored to college athletes, and focused on helping them adopt personally meaningful active study strategies. An inductive, naturalistic evaluation approach was used to analyze the qualitative responses of 55 athletes who participated in the workshop. Findings showed that those who adopted active study strategies experienced benefits in the areas of decreased stress, perceived effectiveness, perceived efficiency, greater variety of options for how to study, and academic benefits. While benefits to active studying far outnumbered barriers, participants did identify some challenges including time, lack of applicability to all classes, and the challenge of learning something new. The results of this study provide support for utilizing individualized study skills training that empowers students to capitalize on their personal learning strengths. Such programs can be built into the academic support structures delivered by academic advisors and learning specialists, with potential benefits in the areas of both mental health and skill development to support academic success.