Jori N. Hall

WIC Peer Counselors’ Perceptions of Breastfeeding in African American Women with Lower Incomes

Background: African American women have the lowest breastfeeding rates among all racial/ethnic groups in the United States. Peer counseling is an effective intervention in improving breastfeeding in this population. However, little is known on peer counselors’ perceptions of breastfeeding in African American women. Objective: As part of a larger qualitative study, the goal of this study was to understand the contextual factors influencing breastfeeding decisions of low-income African American women from the perspective of breastfeeding peer counselors (PCs). Methods: Three focus groups were conducted with 23 PCs from the Women, Infants, and Children program in a southeastern state. All focus group discussions were audio-recorded, professionally transcribed, and analyzed using thematic analysis. Bronfenbrenner’s socioecological model was used to group categories into themes. Results: Of the sample, 47.8% were African American, 78.2% were married, and 56.5% had some college education. Five main themes emerged to describe factors at multiple levels influencing breastfeeding in PCs’ low-income African American clients: individual, microsystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem. Novel findings included (1) having breast pumps may give African American women a “sense of security,” (2) cultural pressures to be a “strong black woman” can impede breastfeeding support, and (3) breastfeeding “generational gaps” have resulted from American “slavery” and when formula was “a sign of wealth.” Conclusion: As PCs described, low-income African American women’s breastfeeding decisions are affected by numerous contextual factors. Findings from this study suggest a need to broaden the public health approach to breastfeeding promotion in this population by moving beyond individual characteristics to examining historical and sociocultural factors underlying breastfeeding practices in African American women.

Values Engagement in Evaluation: Ideas, Illustrations, and Implications.

Values-engagement in evaluation involves both describing stakeholder values and prescribing certain values. Describing stakeholder values is common practice in responsive evaluation traditions. Prescribing or advocating particular values is only explicitly part of democratic, culturally responsive, critical, and other openly ideological traditions in evaluation, but we argue that it is implicit in all evaluation approaches and practices. In this article, we discuss various conceptualizations of values-engagement in evaluation. We further present a specific form of values-engaged evaluation that is committed to descriptive and prescriptive valuing, with an emphasis on its prescriptive advancement of the values of inclusion and equity. Examples from field experience illustrate these two countenances and underscore the multiple challenges invoked by intentional engagement with the values dimensions of evaluation. The examples come from evaluations of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educational programs.

Teaching and Learning Science Through Song: Exploring the experiences of students and teachers

This qualitative, multi-case study explored the use of science-content music for teaching and learning in six middle school science classrooms. The researcher sought to understand how teachers made use of content-rich songs for teaching science, how they impacted student engagement and learning, and what the experiences of these teachers and students suggested about using songs for middle school classroom science instruction. Data gathered included three teacher interviews, one classroom observation and a student focus-group discussion from each of six cases. The data from each unit of analysis were examined independently and then synthesized in a multi-case analysis, resulting in a number of merged findings, or assertions, about the experience. The results of this study indicated that teachers used content-rich music to enhance student understanding of concepts in science by developing content-based vocabulary, providing students with alternative examples and explanations of concepts, and as a sense-making experience to help build conceptual understanding. The use of science-content songs engaged students by providing both situational and personal interest, and provided a mnemonic device for remembering key concepts in science. The use of songs has relevance from a constructivist approach as they were used to help students build meaning; from a socio-cultural perspective in terms of student engagement; and from a cognitive viewpoint in that in these cases they helped students make connections in learning. The results of this research have implications for science teachers and the science education community in developing new instructional strategies for the middle school science classroom.

Exploring Alternative Approaches for Presenting Evaluation Results

Evaluators have an obligation to present clearly the results of their evaluative efforts. Traditionally, such presentations showcase formal written and oral reports, with dispassionate language and graphs, tables, quotes, and vignettes. These traditional forms do not reach all audiences nor are they likely to include the most powerful presentation possibilities. In this article, we share our use of alternative presentation formats, undertaken to increase the utility, appeal, and salience of our work. We offer a conceptual rationale for the use of “alternative representational forms” and describe the context for our use of alternative formats, which involved evaluations of various science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educational programs. We present four examples, featuring visual display, performance, multiple program theories, and poetry. The article concludes with reflections on the future of alternative presentation approaches.

The Complexity of Practice Participant Observation and Values Engagement in a Responsive Evaluation of a Professional Development School Partnership

All social and professional practices are historically situated, evolving forms of acting and interacting. Evaluation, as a practice, is shaped by and shapes the practice evaluated. This article contributes to responsive and values-engaged evaluation approaches by reflecting on the space where these two practices intersect. The evaluative task was to document the nature of a partnership between a university and school district and how that partnership was being carried out in the form of a professional development school. The authors focus on the role that participant observation, as an interactive and responsive form of engagement, played in the evaluation. Through two lenses—observing the partners and observing ourselves—the authors critically reflect on their decision-making processes, assessing their accomplishments and shortcomings. The authors conclude by considering how they might further their engagement as values-engaged evaluators in this context in ways that support the development of both the evaluators and the evaluand.

Long-Term Breastfeeding in African American Mothers: A Positive Deviance Inquiry of WIC Participants

Background: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 39.1% of African American infants are breastfed at 6 months. However, few studies have explored the breastfeeding experiences of African American women who successfully breastfeed to 6 months or longer durations. Research aim: The goal of this qualitative study was to explore the long-term breastfeeding experiences of low-income African American women using the positive deviance approach. Methods: African American women with breastfeeding experience were recruited through Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) breastfeeding peer counselors. Eligibility criteria included being age 18 or older, currently participating in WIC, and having breastfed one child for at least 6 months in the past 2 years. Semistructured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 11 participants. Interviews were audio-recorded and professionally transcribed. Transcripts were then analyzed for emerging themes using thematic analysis in NVivo software. Results: Participants had on average three children each, with an average length of breastfeeding of 10.5 months per child. Four main themes developed: (a) deciding to breastfeed, (b) initiating breastfeeding, (c) breastfeeding long-term, and (d) expanding breastfeeding support. Participants offered culturally tailored suggestions to improve breastfeeding support for other African American women: prenatal discussions of breastfeeding with health care providers, African American lactation support personnel and breastfeeding support groups, and African American breastfeeding promotion in print and digital media. Conclusion: Women who participated in this study breastfed for longer durations than the national average for African Americans. Findings can inform practice and research efforts to improve breastfeeding rates in this population using lessons learned from successful women.

Understanding Black Male Student Athletes' Experiences at a Historically Black College/University: A Mixed Methods Approach.

The purpose of this article is to describe how a mixed methods approach was employed to acquire a better understanding of Black male student athletes’ experiences at a historically Black college/university in the southeastern United States. A concurrent triangulation design was incorporated to allow different data sources to be collected and analyzed simultaneously to identify areas of convergence. Quantitative findings served as complementary data to corroborate the emergent qualitative themes. Legitimation strategies were applied in identifying meta-inferences from the analysis of findings, which enabled a more comprehensive understanding of key institutional characteristics that contributed to Black male student athletes’ academic achievement and positive college experiences at a historically Black college/university.

Cross-Continental Reflections on Evaluation Practice: Methods, Use, and Valuing.

The evaluation theory tree typology reflects the following three components of evaluation practice: (a) methods, (b) use, and (c) valuing. The purpose of this study was to explore how evaluation practice is conceived as reflected in articles published in the American Journal of Evaluation (AJE) and Evaluation, a journal supported by the European Evaluation Society. A key finding from this international comparison suggests that evaluation practice as reflected in AJE and Evaluation both emphasize methods, in comparison to use and valuing. This article concludes using Peter Dahler-Larsen’s discussion on evaluation societies, among other sources, to examine the audit society, which might account for the trends in our findings. EvalPartners, a global community of evaluators, has declared 2015 as the international year of evaluation. These findings regarding cross-continental trends in evaluation are relevant for engaging in a global dialogue on evaluation practice.

Mixed Methods Papers in First-Person and Third-Person: Writing Voices in Dialogue:

While writing from a qualitative tradition often occurs in first person and from a quantitative tradition often occurs in third person, the pros and cons of voice in mixed methods research needs consideration. This article argues for more inclusion of the first-person in such writing, particularly as evidence for the researcher’s claims, as a way to triangulate and corroborate perspectives from a Bakhtinian dialogic theoretical framework. This article presents a discussion of the first- and third-person styles in academic writing and the effect of each on the reader. Additionally, there are dialectic and complementary justifications for such use of different perspectives within a mixed methods piece, as each style dialogues with the other, compensating for the other’s shortfalls. Such a style of writing is imperative because it brings both distance and familiarity, presenting a more complete understanding of the mixed methods research and the phenomenon investigated.

Shadowing in Formative Evaluation Making Capacity Building Visible in a Professional Development School

Shadowing is a data collection method that involves following a person, as they carry out those everyday activities relevant to a research study. This article explores the use of shadowing in a formative evaluation of a professional development school (PDS). Specifically, this article discusses how shadowing was used to understand the role of a professor-in-residence (PIR) working with a PDS, and how this role facilitates capacity building at the school. After describing what shadowing is, its uses, and challenges, a brief overview of the PDS model and the role of a PIR, the authors describe their experiences with (1) developing and managing a relationship with the PIR and (2) how validity was established for the study. The article concludes with suggestions for integrating shadowing in formative evaluations.