The Supporting Older Adults & Caregivers: Integrative Service Learning (SOCIAL) partnership trains undergraduate social work students to provide practical home-based support for older adults with chronic illness and their family caregivers, serving as a pipeline for future leaders in older adult care. More than 2 million older adults are…

This paper describes a platform for administering questionnaires on smart-phones and tablets. The project arises from the need of acquiring data for monitoring the outcomes of different homecare interventions. First a model has been defined for representing questionnaires, able to support adaptivity in the dialog with the user and enforce some…

Home-based learning involves juggling many realities to bring out the abilities of medically fragile students. Many homebound learners use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) for self-expression. This article provides a glimpse of what this means.

Community-based frail older adults, burdened with complex medical and social needs, are at great risk for preventable rapid rehospitalizations. Although federal and state regulations are in place to address the care transitions between the hospital and nursing home, no such guidelines exist for the much larger population of community-dwelling…

Fourth-grader Nicholas is a homebound cancer patient who attends Plainview Elementary School in rural Chesterfield County, South Carolina. This year he was provided a laptop and webcam as part of Chesterfield County School District's Student Technology and Education Proficiency (STEP) initiative. Prior to the implementation of the STEP program in…

Gifted students have unique educational needs. Although gifted students are as varied as other students in terms of their learning styles and preferences, all gifted learners have exhibited unusual performance or potential and they have distinctive characteristics, shared by most of these students, which require effective responses from educators.…

The implementation of a multidisciplinary rehabilitation team in providing rehabilitative services to discharged cancer patients in an in-home situation is outlined in this article. The characteristics of effective team coordinators, their functions, the nature of their services, and evaluation results are discussed. (Author)

Describes the Housebound Learners Project, a London-area program using volunteer tutors to bring adult education to homebound persons. Discusses course and topic selection and outreach in minority communities. (SK)

Addresses art therapy for homebound people, giving special attention to the set of needs for this environment; the desired personality traits of the in-home therapist; the structure of the therapeutic relationship; and appropriate art therapy goals. Presents two case studies of home-bound art therapy which demonstrate the complexities and…

The rural Montana Befrienders program pairs homebound older adults with volunteers aged 19-35 for companionship and assistance. Formal and informal evaluation identified benefits for seniors, their families, and volunteers. Most of the elders wanted volunteers to spend more time with them. (SK)

Conducting research in the home setting with homebound older adults presents distinct ethical and practical challenges that require special consideration. This article describes the methodological issues that make studying homebound older adults especially vulnerable to therapeutic misconception and researcher role conflict and offers practical…

The paper describes the Lafayette Parish Homebound Program (Louisiana) for students in grades K-12, with particular emphasis on the program's services for pregnant girls. Procedures for admitting students into the program, objectives for the pregnant girls (12-18 years old), and program components are considered. It is explained that the special…

Describes a books by mail program developed by the San Francisco (California) Public Library to extend free mail service to homebound patrons, including both older users and users with disabilities. Discusses previous library service; planning, including working with the Postal Service; and costs. (LRW)

Current efforts to encourage students to persist are not stemming the tide of drop-outs. Estimates of the high school dropout rate range from 10-30 percent (Hardy 2002). The impact of having no high school diploma causes these students to experience economic and social struggles throughout the time in life that should be their most productive. One…

The increasing need for "friendly visitor" programs for the homebound elderly has led to the development of curricular and training materials provided by "Outreach: Recreation/Exercise for Home-Centered Elderly." The "Outreach" materials are designed to train and guide volunteers who work with older adults. The materials are organized into twelve…