The rush to do qualitative enquiry in education in the past decade has spawned a variety of methodologies and non-methodologies. The desire for absolute rules and lawlike procedures lingers and the current search is for certain rather than good judgments about educational phenomena. A methodology described as "quasi-historical" is…

Presents a case history of a private clinical treatment of an individual for communication reticence. Focuses on rhetoritherapy which deals with inculcating effective communication skills. Illustrates the kinds of problems and strategies that characterize private treatment. (JMF)

Since the time of Hippocrates, professors in medical schools have been telling their students to listen to patients. Medical students and young doctors all come to realize that the medical history, the patient's account of his or her own illness, is the best source of information with which to make an accurate diagnosis. The physical examination,…

Case coordination is an important social work activity with roots in the earliest objectives and functions of the profession. This article outlines the theoretical framework of case coordination and describes the tasks, skills, and knowledge essential to it. (Author)

Discusses the strengths and weaknesses of administrative databases, issues with their implementation and data analysis, and effective presentation of their data at different levels in child welfare organizations. Focuses on the development and implementation of Washington state's Children's Administration's administrative database, the Case and…

Discusses a record-keeping system for school counselors. Examines objectives in maintaining such a system, such as documenting various counseling contacts, the content of one such system, and the evolution of forms used for gathering information. Provides an evaluation and includes the benefits derived from such a system. (RJM)

Examined implementation of the "Looking After Children" (LAC) materials in 12 local authorities in England. Found that only 10 of 757 case files contained no LAC documentation. Standards of completion varied among local authorities, different forms, area offices, and groups of children. Completion was better for children admitted to the…

Consideration of the relationship between physical and mental health co-morbidities in ageing persons with Down syndrome (DS) and Alzheimer's dementia (AD) is of clinical importance both from a care and resource perspective. To investigate and measure health co-morbidities in ageing persons with Down syndrome with and without AD. Recorded physical…

School nurses and health office staff have an ethical and legal obligation to protect the integrity of electronic student health records. Various sources, both accidental and malicious, can threaten student health data. School nurses must employ regular and reliable methods to back up student health data.

Clinically oriented computer systems require compatibility with the information processing that typifies clinical work. This paper summarizes some of the research that can be applied to such processing and uses the summary to suggest likely errors. Emphasis is placed on decision support systems that integrate human and computer information…

Discusses the underutilization of computerized systems in human services practitioners' work and presents the Graphical Case Record, developed at a child development center in Israel, as a computerized interface congruent with practitioner work style, supportive of professional treatment standards, and easy to use. (Author/LRW)

Oregon's accounting system to identify early school leavers is described in this document. The system provides a uniform process for identifying students in grades 7-12 who leave school prior to completion of a high school degree or equivalent studies. Included are sample forms and instructions for completion, a description of the state Department…

This report describes the opiate maintenance clinic established in Shreveport, Louisiana (1919-1923), whose short existence has recently been questioned by researchers. The authors of this manuscript visited with the original director of the clinic and were given permission to use the medical records of patients of the old clinic and numerous…

Explores the history of the federal Adoption Incentive Program, the first federal child welfare outcome-based incentive program to rely solely on administrative data; discusses the program in the context of other federal child welfare incentive programs. Considers the use of data to project program utilization and costs, set baselines for the…

Describes a child welfare program that used outcome information to support a learning organization to achieve better outcomes for children and their families. Considers factors that facilitate the use of outcome data and which should be included in an outcome orientation to management practice. (JPB)