Despite endorsement by the Saskatchewan government to apply empirically-based approaches to youth drug prevention services in the province, programs are sometimes delivered prior to the establishment of evidence-informed goals and objectives. This paper shares the 'preptory’ outcomes of our team’s program evaluation of the Prince Albert Parkland Health Region Mental Health and Addiction Services’ Outreach Worker Service (OWS) in eight rural, community schools three years following its implementation. Before our independent evaluation team could assess whether expectations of the OWS were being met, we had to assist with establishing its overarching program goals and objectives and 'at-risk’ student population, alongside its alliance with an empirically-informed theoretical framework.A mixed-methods approach was applied, beginning with in-depth focus groups with the OWS staff to identify the program’s goals and objectives and targeted student population. These were supplemented with OWS and school administrator interviews and focus groups with school staff. Alignment with a theoretical focus was determined though a review of the OWS’s work to date and explored in focus groups between our evaluation team and the OWS staff and validated with the school staff and OWS and school administration.With improved understanding of the OWS’s goals and objectives, our evaluation team and the OWS staff aligned the program with the Positive Youth Development theoretical evidence-base, emphasizing the program’s universality, systems focus, strength base, and promotion of assets. Together we also gained clarity about the OWS’s definition of and engagement with its 'at-risk’ student population.It is important to draw on expert knowledge to develop youth drug prevention programming, but attention must also be paid to aligning professional health care services with a theoretically informed evidence-base for evaluation purposes. If time does not permit for the establishment of evidence-informed goals and objectives at the start-up of a program, obtaining insight and expertise from program personnel and school staff and administrators can bring the program to a point where this can still be achieved and theoretical linkages made after a program has been implemented. This is a necessary foundation for measuring an intervention’s success. Here is an example of a 17 year old with no social supports, we are trying to set him up, he has no modeling at home for budgets, cleanliness, tidiness, meals, etc. He has no family life, and stays in the computer lab after school until it closes. He is waiting when I arrive in the morning. He only eats bagels as apparently this is the only food in his house. So he started in the breakfast program at the school. His caregiver, Grandma, usually spends her time in the local bar. He is not a user [of substances] yet but he needs coping skills. – Prince Albert Parkland Health Region School Principal, Interview #4, 2012.It is well established that individuals who initiate the use of substances earlier in life have a greater likelihood that they will experience adverse consequences later in life, including addiction-3. A comExposure to risk factors alone does not determine youth involvement in drug use and abuse. Increasingly research is showing the benefits of protective factors; community assets and individual resiliency have been identified to mitigate the influence of risk factors,17,22,23Positive youth development (PYD) is a multidisciplinary theory that recognizes the strengths of youth and the communities in which they live-28. The A fourth element of PYD is the promotion of developmental assets, which synthesizes the theory’s systems focussed and strength-based areas into a structured and measurable evidence-base. Exemplified in the Search Institute’s 40 Developmental Assets, the assets are aimed at increasing youth well-being and are often thought of as the 'building blocks’ for healthy child and adolescent development,34. ThisPositive youth development theory and the 40 developmental assets approach both recognize that specific youth populations may derive unique benefits from protective factors. It is well-established in the literature, for example, that violence and trauma, sexual and physical abuse, stigma and discrimination, and social attitudes and pressures differentially impact females and males,37. The In this paper, we share the 'preptory’ outcomes of our team’s program evaluation of the Prince Albert Parkland Health Region Mental Health and Addiction Services’ Outreach Worker Service (OWS) in eight rural, community schools three years following its implementation. In the province of Saskatchewan, the Ministry of Health supports the application of empirically-based approaches to youth drug prevention services to achieve its goal of “targeting the effective use of child and youth mental health and addictions resources toward improved mental health and well-being functioning for children, youth, and their families” . DespitThe paper begins with a brief overview of the OWS program. Next, we detail the establishment of the OWS’s overarching program goals and objectives by our program evaluation alongside the OWS. We did this through in-depth focus groups with the OWS staff, OWS and school administrator interviews, and less intensive focus groups with school staff. With this understanding, we then detail how and why our evaluation team and the OWS staff aligned the program with the Positive Youth Development theoretical evidence-base, emphasizing the program’s universality, systems focus, strength base, and promotion of assets. This included gaining increased clarity about the OWS’s definition of and engagement with its 'at-risk’ student population. The paper concludes with a discussion of how, if time does not permit for the establishment of evidence-informed goals and objectives at the start-up of a program, obtaining insight and expertise from program personnel and school staff and administrators can bring the program to a point where this can be achieved and theoretical linkages made after a program has been implemented. This is a necessary foundation for measuring an intervention’s success.The OWS originated in 1996 in urban high schools in the Prince Albert Parkland Health Region (PAPHR) and was expanded in 2005 into one rural school. PAPHR is located in north central Saskatchewan, and is the third largest of Saskatchewan’s health regions with a population of approximately 80,000, with diversity most prominent by Aboriginal student representation. Motivated by a provincial funding opportunity in 2007, Health Region administrators further expanded the OWS to six rural schools in two PAPHR school divisions in northeastern Saskatchewan that were informally identified as having 'at-risk’ 12–17 year old youth populations. 'At-risk’ was understood as meaning that youth were 'at risk’ both for substance abuse problems and potential co-occurring mental health concerns.The environment of the communities in which the eight participating rural schools are situated have characteristics that could give rise to high levels of drug use. First, many of the communities experience increased levels of poverty. Many of the parents in these communities work outside of the local community, which limits their parental and school involvement. Excessive alcohol use is highly normalized amongst the adult community populations. And there is a lack of extracurricular activities available to youth, coupled with limited accessibility of the activities that exist due to transportation barriers.The initial expectations of the OWS were to screen, assess, and work with students on substance abuse and less severe mental health related issues , act as a triage and referral unit for more severe mental health related issues , and provide standard skills building programming . According to senior PAPHR Administrators with clinical experience in rural schools, this set up two general expectations for the outreach worker positions: (1) they would be the sole resource for substance abuse/addiction related issues at a given school, and (2) they should attempt to build trusting relationships with all members of the school community for meaningful youth engagement.Although minimizing risk was the initial focus of the OWS, the role of protective factors was also acknowledged. This coincides with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Education designation of a community school, of which six of the PAPHR schools are officially designated. “Community Schools are [to be] responsive, inclusive, culturally affirming and academically challenging. The learning program and environment effectively build on strengths to address the needs of the communities they serve” . The Ministry promotes the community school philosophy across the province based on its universal value, while recognizing that it is especially meaningful for 'at-risk’ youth.The eight participating PAPHR schools varied in their access to OWS program staff based on perceived need, with three schools accessing a full time employee, one school accessing one worker four days a week, and four schools accessing one worker approximately one day a week. All of the OWS staff held social work-related skills and competencies to undertake the position. Each school worked in collaboration with the Health Region to set-up its OWS. On the ground, the outreach workers designed their programs based on their school demographics, a strength-based philosophy , and their individualized professional skill sets. All of the initial expectations of the OWS were addressed , and added to during the three years of program implementation: specialty skills-building programming , (5) educational services , (6) policy changes and development , and (7) community development . Limited attention was allotted throughout to the evidence-based theoretical literature.Data collection and analysis for the preptory stage of our team’s program evaluation focused on: (1) establishing the overarching OWS program goals and objectives across the eight schools, (2) defining the targeted youth student population and OWS’s engagement with them, (3) and identifying and then aligning the OWS with the empirically-informed Positive Youth Development (PYD) theoretical framework. Data collection for all stages drew upon multiple sources, utilizing a mixed-methods approach. Others have found mixed methods to be ideally suited for all stages of program evaluation and specifically to evaluate drug abuse programming. Ethics Data were collected in focus group and interview formats, including four in-depth focus groups with the OWS staff (averaged four 180 minutes each), three OWS interviews  (average 90 minutes each) and nine school administrator interviews  (average 60 minutes each), and eight less intensive focus groups with informed school staff . Semi-structured interview and focus group guides were developed specific to each of the populations. The guides were structured to facilitate the collection of background information on the start-up of the OWS in each school, patterns of youth substance use, and the scope and nature of the drug prevention service offerings and needs. Data collected through a questionnaire with OWS staff and analysis of existing OWS program data are not presented in this paper because of their septe focus.All in-depth focus groups and interviews were conducted by the project leads (CAD and CRD) and the less intensive focus groups with the school staff by the research assistants . Notes from the interviews and focus groups were recorded electronically by a note taker, as close to verbatim as possible. The data were analyzed by the project leads using a manual, general inductive approach. The coding process involved recognizing important points/statements, from which categories were developed, and the findings subsequently interpreted. Our choice of an inductive approach allowed the findings to emerge from the objectives of the preptory stage of our program evaluation. We undertook coding consistency checks through independent pllel coding measures and applied stakeholder checks to our interpretations and findings with the OWS staff and administration. A general inductive approach was chosen because it “…provides an easily used and systematic set of procedures for analyzing qualitative data that can produce reliable and valid findings” (237). WA Community-Based Workbook for Evaluating Substance Abuse & Mental Health Programs in Saskatchewan [s]ome torrid history of this within the health region. Parental supervision may be involved in approving alcohol use at an event” .Based on this understanding, four 'at-risk’ student groups were identified by the OWS workers and verified in the follow-up school administration interviews and school staff focus groups (see Outreach Worker Service 'At-risk’ youth). The categories are hierarchically ranked, indicating the OWS staff concentrated their work based on identified need with the 'high-risk’ students, followed by mental health, general prevention and then crisis situations. A school staff member succinctly shared their general insight and support for such a comprehensive definition of 'at-risk’ youth: “The four categories are specific but also broad, and they would include everyone, and no one would fall through the cracks” .1. High risk youth who are not using substances .High risk youth using substancesHigh risk youth abusing substances 2. Mental health issue related youth not using substances Mental health issue related youth using substancesMental health issue related youth abusing substancesMental health issue related youth who specifically have FASD (may or may not be using/abusing substances)3. Low risk at present youth (prevention focus with these youth)This category may also include pre-mental health issue related youth Male and female students were identified by the OWS and school staff and administration as being at equal risk, with acknowledgement that they may face different risk factors. For example, patriarchal gender roles are well established in rural communities and can have a detrimental influence on girls’ lives. Teen pregnancy was identified as an associated concern. Little to no attention was paid to other diversity factors, such as gender identity and sexual orientation. Some attention was paid to cultural diversity, and specifically to Aboriginal youth. Aboriginal youth were identified as a specific 'at-risk’ population, with schools having a higher Aboriginal student population identifying a higher incidence of economic disadvantage, foster care involvement, issues with school attendance and transiency. It was also relayed that there is a general lack of integration between First Nation reserve and non-reserve students. All schools indicated an effort  to include Aboriginal worldviews and cultural practices in their curriculum, with those schools receiving funding as a community-designated school being required to provide Aboriginal contextualized curriculum and to be culturally affirming.Drawing on expert knowledge is important for the development of youth drug prevention programming, but attention must also be paid to aligning and coordinating professional health care services with a theoretically informed evidence-base for evaluation purposes. It is important for mental health and addictions programming to link with theoretical constructs as they are considered essential for measuring intervention success and conducting program evaluation studies. Groundeuniversal element of PYD theory; that is, targeting all youth rather than only 'at-risk’ youth, with the understanding that all youth can benefit from strengthened environments. The OWS targets all youth in the student population, in contrast to only a group of 'at-risk’ or 'at high risk’ youth. As relayed, the OWS identifies all youth on a continuum of risk for substance use and related mental health concerns. For example, youth identified as being at 'low-risk’ are targeted with early prevention efforts. This includes classroom education sessions, life skills programming to develop and strengthen assets, and having access to the OWS worker as an informational and educational resource. As a further example, all students (high and low risk) potentially benefit from the strengthened context of the community and resources available within the school because of the OWS’s presence. Nevertheless, it should be noted that some high-risk classified youth do necessarily receive more specialized services . Also, diversity is acknowledged within the universal framework of PYD and the OWS, for example, it is recognized that some student populations, such as male and female students as well as Aboriginal students, are affected by unique risk factors and therefore these must be addressed in response.The OWS supports the systems view is explicitly supported within the OWS through its focus on the environment and supports surrounding youth, specifically the school and immediate community. PYD proposes that youth development is embedded within many integrated, interactive contexts, including family, school, community, society, culture and history. The OWS is designed on a philosophy of increasing student health while simultaneously increasing school and community well-being, as outlined in the OWS goals and objectives and promotion of the adage that “it takes a village to raise a child”he systematic collection of information on a program’s inputs, activities, and outputs, as well as the program’s context and other key characteristics”. The evaSecond, the data collected in this study is not generalizable beyond the PAPHR in Saskatchewan, Canada. However, the documentation of the research process and content is a significant contribution to the literature and to others undertaking program evaluations; it is necessary to document the difficulties and solutions to doing research in the real-world. SimilarThis paper shared the 'preptory’ outcomes of our team’s process evaluation of the Prince Albert Parkland Health Region Mental Health and Addiction Services’ Outreach Worker Service (OWS) in eight rural, community schools three years following its implementation. It was necessary to begin at this preptory stage because as sometimes happens, programming was delivered prior to the establishment of evidence-informed goals and objectives. Our team helped to establish the overarching program goals and objectives, and its targeted definition and engagement with an 'at-risk’ student population. This, in turn, enabled us to align the OWS with the empirically-informed Positive Youth Development (PYD) theoretical framework, acknowledging the overlap between it and the OWS’s attention to developmental assets. Through this process we concluded that undertaking a process evaluation three years after the OWS’s initial implementation was possible. In fact, this time frame may have allowed the program greater flexibility in its continued development and response to student-identified needs. Nonetheless, this is a necessary foundation for measuring an intervention’s success. This is an important contribution to the literature and for others trying to undertake programming research in the 'real world’.OWS: Outreach Worker Service; PAPHR: Prince Albert Parkland Health Region; PYD: Positive Youth Development.All authors declare they have no competing interests. CM and BE declare they work for the Prince Albert Parkland Health Region.CAD and CRD participated in the design of the study, performed the data analysis, and helped draft the manuscript. CM and BE conceived of the study and participated in the study design. TQ participated in the study coordination and literature review. MB, MS, and HT participated in the data collection and data analysis. AD helped draft the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.


Based on a sample of 24,457 participated students, the present study investigated participants' subjective evaluation of the Tier 2 Program of the Project P.A.T.H.S. in the 2009/2010 academic year. Participants generally held positive views toward the Tier 2 Program and program instructor and perceived the program to be beneficial to their development. Programs involving adolescents alone were evaluated more positively than programs involving parents and/or teachers. Students' grade and program type did not show significant impact on participants' subjective evaluation of the project. Consistent with previous reports, perceived effectiveness of the program was significantly predicted by students' perceptions about the program and program instructor. These findings provide further support that the Tier 2 Program is effective in promoting positive development among adolescents with greater psychosocial needs. The Project P.A.T.H.S. is a large-scale positive youth development program designed for junior secondary school students in Hong Kong. The word “P.A.T.H.S.” denotes Positive Adolescent Training through Holistic Social Programmes. The aims of the project are to promote the holistic development of adolescents through nurturing their abilities, hence enhancing intrapersonal protective factors in them. There are two tiers of programs in the project. The Tier 1 Program adopts a universal prevention strategy targeting at all students joining the program regardless of their risk status. With the use of a structured curriculum-based approach, students learn competencies related to 15 positive youth development constructs including bonding, resilience, social competence, emotional competence, cognitive competence, behavioral competence, moral competence, self-determination, spirituality, self-efficacy, clear and positive identity, beliefs in the future, recognition for positive behavior, prosocial involvement, and prosocial norms [In contrast to the Tier 1 Program, the Tier 2 Program adopts a selective prevention approach which is specifically designed for students with greater psychosocial needs in different psychosocial domains. Students in the Tier 1 Program who are identified by teachers or parents to have greater psychological needs are invited to participate in the Tier 2 Program. In view of the diverse needs of the students and to create more flexibility for the workers, the nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), who assist with the overall coordination and implementation of the project, would design appropriate programs that target the needs of the students based on the 15 positive youth development constructs, goals, and objectives proposed in this project. Several commonly used Tier 2 Program types include mentorship programs, mental health promotion programs, adventure-based counseling, parenting programs, service learning programs, and resilience enhancement programs [As mentioned, school social work organizations have the flexibility to design the program according to different students' needs for the Tier 2 Program. As a result, different programs with varied content and goals were devised and implemented. This creates difficulty for conducting standardized objective evaluation of the Tier 2 Program. Against this background, a subjective outcome evaluation method was employed to examine the implementation and effectiveness of the Tier 2 Program. Subjective evaluation has been widely adopted in the education field, for example, using students' evaluation as a means to measure teaching effectiveness. Students' direct exposure to both the instructor and the instructing methods puts them in the best position to judge whether the instructional methods facilitate their learning . AccordiThere are three purposes of this study. The first purpose of the present study was to assess the effectiveness of the Tier 2 Program based on the subjective evaluation by a large sample of secondary school students in Hong Kong. The second purpose of this study was to identify factors that may affect participants' subjective evaluation of the Tier 2 Program. The first factor under study was program type. Based on previous classification of program content , four maA second factor that might influence perceived effectiveness of the program was the type of participants. Due to various program designs, types of participant involved in different Tier 2 programs were not the same. There are programs designed exclusively for students, programs that involved both parents and students , and programs requiring the participations of students, parents, and teachers. Literature has suggested a positive relationship between the involvement of significant people of adolescents in youth program and program effectiveness. For example, parental involvement has long been suggested as improving the outcomes of youth program . ResultsSuccessful program implementation is also determined by the effectiveness of the instructors . One stuTo sum up, the present study attempted (1) to examine the profiles of subjective outcome evaluation findings of the Tier 2 Program conducted in 2009/10 school year based on a large sample of secondary school students, (2) to investigate the influence of participant type and program type on students' subjective evaluation of the program, and (3) to examine whether students' views on program and instructors predict their perceived effectiveness of the program.In 2009/2010 school year, a total of 42,771 participants from 231 schools joined the Tier 2 Program of the Project P.A.T.H.S., including 15,447 participants from Secondary 1, 13,569 from Secondary 2, and 13,755 from Secondary 3. Among these participants, 26,649 were core participants who were identified as having greater psychosocial needs by teachers, parents, and/or via self-administered questionnaires, and 3,378 were their parents and teachers. The remaining 12,744 participants were students who were not identified as the target participants of the Tier 2 program but also participated in the program, their parents, and teachers. M = 42.39 students per school, ranging from 6 to 289) responded to Form C and the overall response rate was 91.78%. The participating students were invited to respond to the Subjective Outcome Evaluation Form (Form C) immediately after completion of the Tier 2 Program. A total of 24,457 students . Participants responded to all scales in the evaluation form in a self-administration format. Adequate time was provided for the participants to complete the questionnaire. To facilitate the program evaluation, the Research Team developed an evaluation manual with standardized instructions for collecting the subjective outcome evaluation data. In addition, during a 20-hour training workshop, adequate training was provided to the social workers who administered the survey on how to collect and analyze the data collected using the Form C.The Subjective Outcome Evaluation Form (Form C) was used to measure participants' perceptions of Tier 2 Program . There aParticipants' perceptions of the program, such as program design, quality of service, appropriateness of the program, and interaction among the participants (8 items).Participants' perceptions of the workers, such as the preparation of the workers, professional attitude and knowledge, and interaction with the participants (8 items).Participants' perception of the effectiveness of the program, such as promotion of different psychosocial competencies, resilience, and overall personal development (8 items).Things that the participants appreciated most (open-ended question).Opinion about the workers (open-ended question).Things that the participants learnt from the program (open-ended question).Areas that require improvement (open-ended question).The present study focused on findings pertinent to the participants' views on the program, views on the program instructors, and perceived effectiveness of the program. After collecting the data, the social work service providers were requested to input the data in an EXCEL file developed by the Research Team which would automatically compute the frequencies and percentages associated with the different ratings for an item. When the providers submitted the reports, they were also requested to submit the softcopy of the consolidated data sheets. The data from all service providers were then aggregated to “reconstruct” the overall profile by the Research Team. Psychometric properties of the measures on the present sample can be seen in First, descriptive statistics were employed to describe the profiles on the subjective evaluation of the program. Second, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted to investigate whether the subjective evaluation of the program differed by program type and participant type. In the analyses, program type and participant type were independent variables with student grade included to control for its possible effect. Dependent variables were the three outcome evaluation measures, including participants' views about program, views about instructors, and perceived program effectiveness. Third, to examine how participants' views towards the program and the instructor may contribute to their subjective evaluation of program effectiveness, multiple regression analysis was performed, with views on program and instructor treated as the independent variables and perceived program effectiveness treated as the dependent variable.The descriptive profile for the Tier 2 Program implemented in 2009/2010 academic year is summarized in The participants' views towards the program and numbers and percentages of participants who reported positive ratings  on the three outcome evaluation measures are summarized in F = 2.594, P < 0.01), indicating that type of participants involved in the program was significantly related to participants' ratings of the program. Post hoc analyses using Tukey's test were performed to further identify mean differences across groups. For participants' view on the program, programs involving students only were rated more favorably than programs that also involved parents and teachers (P < 0.05). For participants' view on program instructors, instructors were rated more favorably by participants from student-only programs than students from programs that also involved parents (P < 0.05) or both parents and teachers (P < 0.01). For perceived program effectiveness, participants from student-only programs rated the program as more effective than students from programs involving both students and parents (P < 0.05). The results of MANOVA showed that the effects of program type and grade of study were not significant  = 1.30, P = 0.23). This suggests that participants' subjective evaluation of the program did not vary across program types and participant grades. The results of MANOVA showed significant main effect for participant type . In addition, participants' view on program instructor was also a significant predictor of their perceived effectiveness of the program . Together, approximately 83% in variability of participants' perceived effectiveness of the program was associated with their views on the program and program instructor  and volunteer training and service (VTS) were the two most popular programs adopted by program implementers. In the ABC program, participants were placed in a situation of unfamiliarity and were challenged to engage in activities that would lead to successful outcomes . In thisFinally, the present study examined how participants' views on program and instructors were related to perceived effectiveness of the program. Results showed that both students' views on program and on instructors significantly predicted their subjective evaluation of the program effectiveness. Previous theories and reports have consistently shown that quality of program and program implementers are two determinants for program success , 40. In It was also found that students' perceptions about the program appeared to be a stronger predictor of program effectiveness as compared to views towards instructors. Similarly, while perceived usefulness of program was found to be significantly predicted by students' views towards the program, nonsignificant relationship between views on instructors and program success was reported in Shek and Ma's study . They prDespite the positive findings, three limitations of the present study should be noted. First, as the reports were “reconstructed” from the evaluation reports submitted by participating agencies using school as a unit, individual variations were lost in the process. Other evaluations of the Tier 2 Program using individual students as a unit should be carried out so as to understand individual participants' comments and perception of the program. However, previous findings showed that the pictures derived from these two strategies were more or less the same , 43. SecIn conclusion, the present study provided important information on the implementation of the Tier 2 Program of the Project P.A.T.H.S. during the 2009/2010 academic year. Aligned with previous evaluation findings, results of this study suggest that the Tier 2 Program is beneficial to the development of youth with higher psychosocial needs. Taken as a whole, the available findings suggest that the Project P.A.T.H.S. is an effective positive youth development program to promote holistic development of Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong –46.


Young people with first episode psychosis are at an increased risk for a range of poor health outcomes. In contrast to the growing body of evidence that suggests that exercise therapy may benefit the physical and mental health of people diagnosed with schizophrenia, there are no studies to date that have sought to extend the use of exercise therapy among patients with first episode psychosis. The aim of the study is to test the feasibility and acceptability of an exercise program that will be delivered via internet enabled mobile devices and social networking technologies among young people with first episode psychosis.This study is a qualitative pilot study being conducted at Orygen Youth Health Research Centre in Melbourne, Australia. Participants are young people aged 15-24 who are receiving clinical care at a specialist first episode psychosis treatment centre. Participants will also comprise young people from the general population. The exercise intervention is a 9-week running program, designed to gradually build a person's level of fitness to be able to run 5 kilometres (3 miles) towards the end of the program. The program will be delivered via an internet enabled mobile device. Participants will be asked to post messages about their running experiences on the social networking website, and will also be asked to attend three face-to-face interviews.This paper describes the development of a qualitative study to pilot a running program coupled with the use of internet enabled mobile devices among young people with first episode psychosis. If the program is found to be feasible and acceptable to patients, it is hoped that further rigorous evaluations will ultimately lead to the introduction of exercise therapy as part of an evidence-based, multidisciplinary approach in routine clinical care. Young people experiencing their first episode psychosis are at an increased risk of poor health outcomes, such as weight gain , cardiovThe effectiveness of exercise as an adjunct therapy for established psychotic disorders was the subject of a recent critical review that showed good support for the improved mental health among participants following an exercise intervention . While tCouch to 5K (C25K), which may assist in overcoming geographical barriers in attending regular onsite exercise classes [No studies to date however, to the knowledge of the authors, have specifically investigated the physical and mental health benefits of exercise therapy among young people with first episode psychosis. Exercise Interventions in the early course of psychosis may lead to marked gains in health benefits for these young people . Given t classes . The stu classes . Social  classes . These s classes ,21. Pers classes , and mayThe overall aim of this study is to develop a prototype and test services delivered through internet enabled mobile devices and social network technologies that are designed to encourage young people to engage in physical exercise as well as act as an intervention for weight gain. The study will also seek to investigate if the delivery of an exercise program via this medium would be acceptable to young people.The study is a qualitative pilot study that is designed to explore the feasibility and acceptability of using internet enabled mobile devices and social network technologies in promoting exercise among young people. The study has been approved by Melbourne Health Human Research Ethics Committee.Orygen Youth Health (OYH) is a specialist public mental health service for people aged 15-24 years living in the Western and Northern regions of Melbourne. The service treats young people presenting with psychotic and non-psychotic disorders. The catchment area covers a population of approximately one million people. The study will take place in the Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Centre (EPPIC), a clinical program at Orygen Youth Health. EPPIC was established in 1992 with the aim of reducing the delay in detecting and treating psychosis and advocates for timely and comprehensive treatment during the early years following illness onset . All peoInclusion criteria for the study include: (1) being a current client at EPPIC; and, (2) express an interest in participating in a running program, to ensure that they will complete the program and are willing to volunteer their time. It is anticipated that 10 young people will be recruited to the study. Participants will be excluded if they: (1) are not fluent in English, as participants will be asked to communicate their experiences of the running program with other participants; (2) are pregnant women; (3) have significant medical conditions for which they receive regular medical care, as this program will require participants to exercise three times a week, mostly outdoors; (4) have not been medically cleared for participating in a running program by a general practitioner (GP); and, (5) are in the acute phase of a psychotic illness.Participants will also comprise 10 young people from the general population, to ascertain the feasibility of the running program with the use of internet enabled mobile devices among a selected sample of healthy controls. Inclusion criteria will include expressing an interest in participating in the running program. Exclusion criteria included: (1) not being fluent in English; (2) pregnant women; and, (3) having significant medical conditions. Participants will be recruited through friends and acquaintances of the research team.The running program will be delivered via an application implemented on an internet enabled mobile device, an iPod touch. The iPod touch is a product of Apple Inc, which incorporates a portable media player, a mobile Wi-Fi platform and a multi-touch graphical user interface. Two freely available applications will be downloaded onto the iPod touch for participants, the Couch to 5 k (C25K) application and the Nike+ iPod application. The C25K application will be utilised for guiding participants through the running program via audio cues, and will allow participants to listen to a playlist of songs of their choosing while completing their exercise. The Nike+ iPod application will be utilised to measure running activities from the Nike+ running sensor that will be attached to the participant's running shoe. The Nike+ sensor is similar to a pedometer that counts each step a person takes and calculates the distance travelled, duration of each run (time) and pace. Thus, the sensor can also act as a measure of program adherence by noting whether participants complete the scheduled exercises. Participants will also be provided with a sports armband to secure the iPod touch to their arm during the exercise, computer cables and earphones.Participants will also be provided with a number of de-identified usernames and passwords with which they will be able to access the social networking website , their email account, and Nike+ account. De-identified names will be used to ensure participants feel comfortable when writing about their running experiences and to protect their privacy. These will be set up specifically for the purpose of this research.Members of the research team will raise awareness of the running program among EPPIC case managers by attending clinical meetings and distributing study brochures. Case managers will then be invited to refer suitable clients who might be interested in participating in the running program to the research team. Potential participants will meet with a Research Assistant (RA) who will explain all aspects of the study protocol except for one: that there is funding available to those who do not own a suitable pair of running shoes. It was decided not to inform all participants about this at the outset to avoid enticing people into participating for the wrong reasons. However, if a participant indicates that they would like to take part but are unable to because they do not have suitable running shoes, the RA would offer the participant support to purchase a pair of running shoes. Providing a good pair of running shoes to participants was considered important as this would play a significant role in minimising injuries from running and removing barriers to participation.If the young person expresses an interest in taking part, the RA will obtain written consent from participants and their parent/guardian, where appropriate. Participants will also be provided with written information that explains the study details and the contact details of the research team. Mental state and capacity to provide consent will be determined both by the participant's case manager/doctor who are independent of the study and also by clinically experienced members of the research team.Participants will be recruited at approximately the same time to form a virtual, co-located cohort of participants. Having provided their consent, participants will be shown how to use the technological components of the study, will be shown how to jog correctly if this is needed, and how to complete stretches before and after exercise. Given that young people experiencing first episode psychosis often present with significant medical co-morbidities , they wiParticipants will then take part in the 9-week running program (see below). All of the three weekly running sessions will be conducted by participants at home. Participants will be asked to spend approximately 5 minutes after each running session posting a 'blog'  about their running experience to the social networking website, highlighting their successes and struggles during the session. Participants will also be asked to upload their results from the Nike+ sensor to their Nike+ account. Participants will also be advised that they can further interact with others on the social networking website. The information posted on the websites will only be available to participants in the study and members of the research team.® 1.2.6 program for Mac. Consent will be sought from each participant to record the interview, and will be stored electronically using the assigned identification number for each participant.Participants will be asked to attend three face-to-face interviews during the course of the study. The first interview will take place at the beginning of the program, where participants will be queried about their aims for participating in the program, their current fitness habits, barriers and motivators for exercising, and physical health status. Another interview will be conducted at week 4 of the running program, with questions about progress with the program to date and what they like/dislike about the program and the technological components. The third interview will be conducted on completion of the running program at week 9, with questions about whether their aims for participating in the program were met and if they had noticed changes in their health. Interviews will be conducted individually with a member of the research team at a place of convenience for the participant, such as their home or at Orygen Youth Health. Interviews will be approximately 30 minutes in duration, and will be recorded verbatim utilising the AudacityA similar procedure will be applied to the general population participants, except that running shoes will not be offered and neither will they be required to attend an appointment with the GP.The Couch to 5 km program has been designed to get a person of any fitness level from the couch to running 5 kilometres in nine weeks. The Couch to 5 k program is comprised of three sessions per week. Each running session in turn is comprised of 30 minutes of alternating distances of walking and running, starting off with small distances of walking and running, and slowly building up to either running a distance of 5 kilometres (three miles) or a duration of 30 minutes towards the end of the program (See additional file The Couch to 5 k program is a gentle introduction to getting the body moving, and eases people into the running program. The idea of the program is not to rush into running long distances from the start. Rather, the guiding philosophy of the program is to transform a person from being a 'couch potato' to a runner by slowing developing a person's fitness and strength and allowing the body to adjust to running over a 9-week period. Thus, while it may be tempting for people to skip ahead in the program and try and do more if they can, it is important that people keep to the running schedule to gradually build their level of fitness. On the other hand, if people find that the program is too strenuous, weeks can be repeated when needed until the person is comfortable with progressing to the following week. It is also important that the running sessions are spaced out throughout the week to give the body a chance to rest and recover between sessions. Interested readers can visit the Couch to 5 k website .The main outcomes of interest are whether or not the running program is found to be feasible among patients with first episode psychosis, and whether or not the program is found to be acceptable. The feasibility of the running program will be determined by assessing adherence to the structure of the running program, the frequency with which participants make use of the social networking technology, whether or not participants spend some time after each run communicating their experiences with other participants via twitter, and whether or not participants complete the running program. The acceptability of the running program will be determined by assessing what participants like/dislike about the features of the running program and the technological components, and the motivating factors for continuing with the running program as reported by participants in their 'blog' posts on twitter. Secondary outcomes of interest are whether or not participation in the running program leads to higher levels of self-reported fitness, and whether or not there is a relationship between the use of the social networking website and the up-take of the exercise intervention.These outcomes will be assessed via the completed interviews at week 4 and also at week 9. The interviews at both time-points will include a series of questions designed to elicit whether or not participants like or dislike the running program and the use of the social networking technologies, whether any members of the group influenced their participation in the program, participants' motivations and barriers to engaging in the program, and any changes in their perceived health and well-being. Additional questions at week 9 will include whether the goals for participating in the program were met, if there were any other features that participants would have liked to be included in the program, and their thoughts and priorities about engaging in physical activity at the completion of the program.Outcomes will also be assessed via the 'blogs' made to the social network website after each running session, the interactions between participants on the social network website, and also via the uploaded results from the Nike+ sensor.A range of descriptive statistics will be used to characterise the sample in relation to key demographic variables, such as age, gender, employment or educational status, and country of birth. The transcripts from the interviews, the interactions from the social network website and the 'blog' posts on this website will be observed and analysed using grounded theory  to examiThis paper describes the development of a qualitative study to pilot a running program coupled with the use of an internet enabled mobile device among young people experiencing their first episode of psychosis. While there is a growing body of evidence supporting the use of exercise therapy for physical and mental health benefits among people diagnosed with schizophrenia , there iTypically, clients at EPPIC are prescribed medication as part of their mental health treatment plans. However, antipsychotic medications have been recognised for inducing weight gain  and incrIf the research program is found to be feasible and acceptable to patients with first episode psychosis, the research team will seek funding to investigate the health benefits of this running program in a larger sample. Given that young people are increasing their usage of internet enabled mobile devices, and that these devices present new opportunities for the delivery of health services, it is important to rigorously examine how mobile devices might be incorporated and correctly utilised as an adjunct form of mental health intervention. Changing health behaviour for the long term requires maintaining a patient's motivation and interest over a protracted period of time . The effThe authors declare that they have no competing interests.All authors have been involved in conception of the study, made substantial contributions to the study protocol, and drafting or revising the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.The pre-publication history for this paper can be accessed here:http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-244X/11/80/prepubKillackey et al C25k study protocol paper.Click here for file


Objectives: To evaluate the King Saud University Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Program for Family Physicians in relation to the Convenience, Relevance, Individualization, Self-Assessment, Interest, Speculation and Systematic (CRISIS) criteria.Methodology: A descriptive study was conducted at King Saud University (KSU) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The authors used the six strategies of Convenience, Relevance, Individualization, Self-Assessment, Interest, Speculation and Systematic (CRISIS) for evaluation. The program was independently analyzed by the three authors using CRISIS framework. The results were synthesized. The suggestions were discussed and agreed upon and documented.Results: The results indicate that KSU-CPD program meets the CRISIS criteria for effective continuing professional development and offers a useful approach to learning. The course content covers specific areas of practice, but some shortcomings were found that need to be improved like self assessment area and individual learning needs analysis.Conclusion: This program is suitable for Family Physicians, as it is well planned and utilizes most of the principles of CRISIS, but there is still room for improvement. Designing a program for general practitioners using hybrid model that offers a blend of e-learning as well as face-to-face learning opportunities would be an ideal solution. The dynamic nature of health care necessitates that physicians remain competent and up to date through Continuing Professional Development (CPD). The challenge is to develop effective CPD Programs. CRISIS, an acronym , is a practical tool for developing and evaluating CPD programs. Lifelong learning is an essential goal of education as a means to improve the quality of life for an individual, culture or a society.1As professionals, physicians are obliged to remain current about advances and trends in medicine and health care delivery. A medical qualification, provides the knowledge and skills necessary to enter the profession, this is by no means the final step of the educational process for physicians. The constant changes in health care have resulted in the need for physicians to continually seek educational opportunities in order to maintain their competence. This is achieved through participation in a variety of educational activities. Continuing medical education (CME) is not a new concept; its need has been well documented and is now widely accepted.2 Continuing professional development extends beyond traditional CME. In CPD, principles of adult learning are followed.3 It encompasses a range of learning activities through which professionals not only develop, but also maintains their knowledge and skills throughout their careers. In addition to traditional educational themes, it covers subjects like doctor-patient communication, interdisciplinary team skills and risk management, broadly termed as ‘Skills for the New Millennium’.4Many countries are now moving from a ‘knowledge and skills base’ CME system, towards a system that seeks to promote the wide-ranging competencies needed to practice high quality medicine that Continuing professional development (CPD) entails.5 As one academic has put it, ‘CPD is a process that includes continuing medical education (CME) with regards to medical knowledge and skills in addition to subjects such as leadership, communication skills, and whatever skills are needed to be a competent physician.6Although CPD and CME can be, and are frequently used interchangeably, a great majority of literature has now defined CME as being an ingredient of CPD.7 The application of the CRISIS criteria to a CME program will highlight any areas needing improvement. CRISIS model has been applied widely and proved to be effective in various areas.1 Features of the CRISIS criteria are given in 8, but locally, little has been done for its evaluation, particularly using a set of criteria like CRISIS. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a Family Physicians’ CPD Program in relation to these criteria.Evaluation is an essential part of the educational process. The focus of evaluation is quality improvement. All medical organizations require evaluation as part of their quality assurance procedures; the challenge has been how to make it effective. To maintain, encourage and evaluate quality in all forms of CME, a set of educational criteria are available. Harden & Laidlaw (1992) have introduced criteria with the acronym CRISIS, as a means of both developing and evaluating CPD.Context: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is committed to providing quality health care for all. Training of health professionals is an essential prerequisite for achieving this goal. In KSA, longitudinal CPD courses for health professionals are scarce.Description of the CPD Program: The King Saud University (KSU) CPD program for Family Physicians was initiated in KSA, Riyadh in 2009, under the umbrella of Family and Community Medicine Department of College of Medicine, KSU in collaboration with KSU Chair for Medical Education Research and Development. This is an interactive CME/CPD program specifically designed for Family Physicians. The program is in modular format and provides a wide range of timely and challenging topics relevant to the practice of Family Medicine. It covers areas like, Internal Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Surgery, Pediatrics, Emergency Medicine, Psychiatry, Ophthalmology, Orthopedics, Dermatology, ENT and Radiology. The overall goal of the program is to augment physician knowledge, enhance competence and performance in practice, and improve patient outcomes. The content is updated regularly to retain educational integrity. Different types of instructional methods are used in the program including interactive lectures with scenarios and clinical and communication skills development sessions. Pre and post test and mock exams including written and OSCEs are used for formative assessment and feedback.The CRISIS model consists of six strategies which are described in Convenience: Provide “just-in-time” learning to suit the user.Place: King Khalid University Hospital, King Saud University, Riyadh was selected as an ideal place as this is accessible and one of most popular University Hospital known by almost all Physicians.Time: The half day / week course on Thursdays was started as most of the Family Physicians (FPs) are relatively free on this day to attend a course.Pace: The program is divided into a series of modules in which the whole course is given in a series of smaller sessions over a longer period , so that the doctors can choose the ones they find most useful and skip any sessions in between. This choice was given considering it may improve convenience for some.Relevance: “Content used in the day-to-day role of the learner”.Topics covered in CME program are relevant, seen as being of practical importance and dealing with everyday problems. They not only cover theoretical aspects but also other areas of competence required for medical practice in which the family physicians face difficulty. Relevance of the topics is identified, using the wise men approach to cover common and important or serious illnesses amenable to medical care and conditions for which management methods have improved. The content was developed collaboratively by the university academics and family doctors/physicians.Individualization: “Just-for-you” learning.Individuals are given the choice of the subject matter they wish to learn. The needs of the doctors are addressed by keeping into consideration the amount of time they are willing to spend and the preferred learning strategies. The participants are FP’s, either working in an urban or some rural setting. The individual learning needs of participants is identified by their feedback. A course prospectus has been designed to show the contents of the course and schedule. The participants can choose the modules most relevant to their need and of particular interest to them. The CME is designed for both the new FP’s as well as for the experienced ones. It consists of two parts, first addresses what every FP should know, and the second addresses the challenges related to patient management, as well as some more complex material giving the participants a holistic approach in their clinical skills.Self Assessment: “Assessment and feedback integrated with learning”.Self Assessment is done by pre and post session MCQs test on the topics to be covered on that day to help participants identify gaps in their knowledge and to evaluate their learning. The self assessment consists of series of single best multiple choice questions, usually addressing the patient management problems including diagnosis and appropriate investigations and testing the application of knowledge and problem solving skills of the course participants.The feedback is given to the learner in its simplest form of answer key. The explanation of each correct answer is given in a question and answer session towards the end, with explanation along with the references and sources for additional reading material. Approximately, every three to six months a mock MCQ/clinical skills examination is conducted on the topics that are covered by that stage, to assess their progress and evaluate their learning.Interest: A CME to be of interest must gain attention of the user. A few examples of the session in this program are: “Terminal care in Family practice”, “Approach to a patient with hypertension”, etc.These CME sessions are relevant to the needs of patient care. Family Physicians (FP) is usually the first person to be contacted by the patient, so all FP’s attending these sessions get the benefit of learning the appropriate approach and solutions to common clinical problems. To maintain interest and motivation of participants and to cater to different learning styles different interactive instructional modalities, like presentation of scenarios in the form of cases, illustrations, videotape extracts and power point presentations are used.Speculation and Systematic: “Planned program” .An organizing committee with members from Family Medicine Departments of Medical Institutions of Riyadh meets and finalizes the content of the program. The program is comprehensive and includes areas which are not usually covered in routine CME’s. It also focuses on areas which require special skills, such as breaking bad news, dealing with difficult patient, sensitive issues like HIV & AIDS and confidentiality. Workshops are conducted on consultation /communication skills.7, for evaluation of CME, participation is assessed using the registration data, satisfaction is assessed by evaluation forms, learning by pre and post test and performance by the ability to solve patient problems using paper case scenarios and simulated patients.The CME is announced in advance to let the participants know its coverage with a complete description of the topics covered and the time frame. Using model described by DixonEach module feedback is taken from the participants and discussed with the team members to highlight any shortcomings and to implement a strategy to improve it in future.9 The issue of concern related to CME in Saudi Arabia is no longer about quantity but rather quality. Evaluating educational programs is not an easy task.10 Evaluation is an important part of any teaching and learning process and is the cornerstone for effectiveness and quality assurance process of CME.11 At the close of the 20th century, challenges facing CME are enormous. Saudi Arabia is part of this World and is facing similar challenges like any other country.12 Unless CME provision is based on a more secure and evaluated ground and integrated to health care delivery, many resources will continue to be an otiose with doubtful outcomes.13,14 One response to this challenge has been the development of programs appropriate to the needs of the practitioners. Designing good quality CPD courses appropriate to the needs of the different categories of practitioners remains a big challenge.Medical knowledge continues to advance at a burgeoning pace. Maintenance of professional competence remains an exercise of lifelong learning.The result of this study indicates that the current program incorporates many learner centered elements. The curriculum of the program was developed in 2009 through a cooperative effort of the stakeholders of Family and Community Medicine and continues to be updated periodically.15 To keep pace with convenience in terms of time and place we tried to keep it central in the city and on weekend. Studying for long periods is often difficult for doctors. The modules in this program are divided and stand independently and offer spaced learning, which is believed to improve retention more than massed learning.7,16 Time constraints and management are a big issue for physicians. As seen in the past, the most convenient place to learn is domestic and local.17 Relevance is basically the applicability of what is learned to clinical practice. Understanding the principles of adult education, the highest priority should be given to procedural knowledge (“knowing how”) rather than declarative knowledge (“knowing that”)18 and to frequent, important illnesses amenable to care, conditions for which management methods have recently improved and where education can improve previously poor management.19,20Adults learn best if they see the relevance and usefulness of what they are required to learn.relevance of the topics as the most important factor to attend an educational program21,22, this program offers sessions with practical application and dealing with everyday problems rather than just those of academic interest.21,22 The program can be further improved by taking the individual learning needs into account, which implies that the organizers should consider some sort of needs analysis of the participants.Considering, the fact that, most physicians list the Individualization is clearly linked to relevance. Educational interventions are more likely to be successful if they are modeled and catered towards individual learning needs and preferences, and focused on the learning component of education.23 Individuals attending the CPD course have different educational and professional backgrounds, therefore, their needs differ. To cope with their requirements, the program has different modules, a page layout is designed to help the learners find parts of the program that are of particular interest to them and match their needs.Self-assessment is an ideal way of identifying learning needs and assessing whether these have been addressed by the program. A feature that distinguishes a successful program from an unsuccessful program is the incorporation of a self assessment component.10 It encourages physicians to evaluate their competencies and understanding of the topic, and to remedy any gaps identified. Self-assessment is, however, not always valid and involves biases which are both conscious (self-deception) and unconscious (inadequate self-knowledge).24A formative assessment approach is used to measure the progress of learners towards reducing or eliminating the gap. In the current program, pre and post test performance scores and Mock Examinations scores are being used for formative assessment and feedback. However, actual practice in workplace is not being assessed.3, Andragogy is based on how adults learn and their attitude towards it and motivation for learning. Traditional lectures are the least preferred method of any educational program.25 It is now time to shift to the new constructivist model where learners participate actively. This program has incorporated varied learning methods like clinical cases for knowledge application, considering that using multiple methods of instruction is better, of greater use and more interesting for the participants.26,27 It is likely to enhance participant’s activity and a possibility to bring a change in professional attitude and practice.28 Incorporating an independent study module in future will enhance course credibility.As mentioned by Knowles7 The curriculum in this program was designed considering the fact that it should be systematic emphasize on selected topics and recognize grey areas like dealing with angry patient, breaking bad news, HIV etc. Confronting such issues in an educational activity helps the doctor to tackle them in day to day practice. All issues can be discussed openly in a safe and secure environment.In the real world, family practice is full of grey areas where physicians have to deal with controversial issues. Usually, the educational programs concentrate on aspects which are established facts and ignore areas where there is controversy or no single correct answer.speculation. One of the neglected areas in medical education is undoubtedly organized continuing educational programs for the general practitioners. It should address the real needs of the physicians. For evaluating the effectiveness of the program, organizers evaluate the post session feedback of attendees. The feedback is used to determine the educational needs and whether the learner’s objectives were met during the session or not.29 This is a promising program, as it is planned and utilizes the principles for continuing education.The last of the CRISIS dimensions is The curriculum evaluation on CRISIS criteria found that the program fulfilled the CRISIS criteria in a number of ways. However, needs assessment is missing and self assessment requires improvement.In conclusion, this program scores considerably well on all the dimensions of the CRISIS criteria, however, needs assessment of participants is missing and improvement in workplace practice needs to be assessed. Designing a program for general practitioners using hybrid model that offers a blend of e-learning as well as face-to-face learning opportunities would be an ideal solution. We recommend the CRISIS criteria for others developing continuing professional development courses in future as organized educational programs are a significant need that must be met, if we are to continue the advancement of physician learning.


In 2011, the National Cancer Institute launched the Research to Reality (R2R) Pilot Mentorship Program to enhance mentees’ core evidence-based public health (EBPH) competencies. In this article, we describe the program and its evaluation results and the program’s ability to improve participants’ EBPH competencies and appropriateness of program components. Program evaluation consisted of a pre/post program competency questionnaire and interviews with mentees, mentors, mentees’ supervisors, and program staff. Mentees reported the same or higher rating in every competency at end of the program, with average increase of 0.6 points on a 4-point scale; the greatest improvements were seen in policy development/program planning. Mentorship programs are a promising strategy to develop EBPH competencies, provide guidance, and disseminate and adapt evidence-based interventions within real-world context. Significant advancements have been made in understanding, preventing, and treating cancer . HoweverMentorship programs have been effective in disseminating EBIs in medicine ,6 and haThe purpose of this article is to 1) describe the Program and report evaluation results and 2) discuss the Program’s ability to improve participants’ EBPH competencies ,11 and tIn May 2011, NCI issued a call for mentee applications through the R2R website, listserv announcements, and relevant newsletters. Applicant eligibility included 1) full-time employment with an organization that addressed cancer control and prevention, 2) supervisor support to participate, 3) at least a master’s level public health training or 2 to 3 years equivalent training or experience, and 4) experience working with community organizations. Applicants were required to propose a project that was relevant to their current work and that addressed a comprehensive cancer control plan goal. NCI staff scored applications from 1 (noncompetitive) to 7 (excellent) on factors related to appropriateness of the applicant’s training, experience, and feasibility of project in the context of the Program. NCI interviewed the top 8 mentee candidates then selected and matched 6 mentees with mentors.The evaluation included a preprogram and postprogram competency questionnaire, which assessed changes in EBPH competencies. Mentees rated their skills on a 4-point Likert scale  across 6 competency areas: 1) analytic/assessment; 2) policy development/program planning; 3) cultural competency; 4) basic public health science; 5) partnership, collaboration, and community engagement; and 6) advocacy and communication. Additionally, postprogram individual interviews were conducted with mentees, mentors, mentees’ supervisors, and Program staff.Participation and satisfaction data for trainings, webinars, mentor–mentee activities, Web analytics, and mentees’ project deliverables were also reviewed. Because of the small number of participants, most data were qualitative. Mentees rated their preprogram and postprogram EBPH competency level, and changes in ratings were averaged across all mentees. Data for interviews and project deliverables were analyzed through content analysis; coding categories were directly derived from the text data. The codes of the 2 analysts were checked for reliability and consistency. The institutional review board at Westat conducted and approved the evaluation.Mentees entered the Program from different organizations, level of experience, topic interests, and competency development needs . The EBPFor every skill assessed, mentees gave themselves the same or a higher rating at the end of the Program; the greatest change was seen in policy development/program planning . Analytic/assessment skills and partnership, collaboration, and community engagement showed average increases of 0.8 points .All Program components were implemented and well-received by participants. Interviews showed that strong administrative support helped participants maintain focus but also provided some flexibility regarding timelines and deliverables that helped with addressing challenges mentees encountered in planning and conducting their projects. Except for the website, the Program’s main platform, all other Program components were valued by most of the participants. Although participants praised the website’s functionality, they made limited use of it, with lack of time frequently mentioned as a primary cause for underuse. Components mentioned by 2 or more mentees were their mentee–mentor relationship, cohort relationship, trainings, and projects. Mentors valued most the interactions among participants, especially the mentee–mentor pairs, and communication and webinars. Several mentors also mentioned the site visit, project, and trainings. Additionally, all mentees considered the training webinars to be helpful and effective, and all mentees and mentors thought programmatic support was adequate.Mentees reported improved skills and knowledge in project management, building partnerships, navigating politics, adapting EBIs and watching for fidelity, assessment and analytical skills, manuscript writing, and making presentations. All of these accomplishments occurred despite challenges, such as workplace and life changes and loss of project funding.To our knowledge, there are no published studies evaluating mentorship programs as a strategy to improve competencies needed to integrate EBIs into public health practice. This evaluation was intended to describe the Program’s ability to improve participants’ EBPH competencies and the appropriateness of Program components designed to build capacity of cancer control practitioners to navigate “real world” context.Our evaluation resulted in 3 noteworthy findings. First, all Program components were implemented, and most were valued by participants, including the mentor–mentee relationship, training webinars, and site visit. Second, mentees were able to negotiate the “real world” context that affects the conduct of EBIs, including project management, building partnerships, navigating politics, and adapting EBIs despite multiple challenges encountered. However, this growth did not extend to mentees’ organizations. Additional efforts to disseminate mentees’ lessons learned in their organizations should be explored. Finally, mentees reported the same or a higher rating for every EBPH competency assessed at the end of the Program, with an average increase of 0.63 points on a 4-point scale.Although our evaluation was limited in size, the diversity of participants and their related projects indicates that a mentorship program is a feasible strategy across multiple settings, trainings, and contexts. A strength of our pilot program was its ability to remotely integrate evidence-based resources, interactive Web tools and trainings, and mentorship to assist cancer control practitioners with adapting and implementing EBIs to local context. Another strength was the use of multiple data sources and triangulation, which strengthened the evaluation findings. Our findings show that mentorship programs have great promise as an effective means to develop EBPH competencies for cancer control practitioners and provide guidance and technical assistance with adapting EBIs to “real world” local settings. Further research is warranted to replicate these results on a larger scale and in comparison with other strategies.