Students exhibiting behaviours of concern are at increased risk of poor outcomes during their school years. The implementation of school-wide positive behavioural interventions and supports (SWPBIS) has repeatedly been shown to be an effective, evidence-based approach that supports teachers to select and adopt effective practices to meet the social and behavioural needs of all learners. Implementation of SWPBIS within Australian schools is increasing. Although there is considerable evidence supporting the effectiveness and efficacy of SWPBIS as a means to improve the behavioural outcomes of all students, these positive outcomes largely depend on the actions of teachers. To this point, very limited research has been published that explores the experiences of teachers working in Australian schools currently implementing SWPBIS. The current study asked 206 Victorian teachers working in schools implementing SWPBIS two open-ended questions about the factors that they believed were facilitators or barriers to their ability to improve the behavioural outcomes of their students. The most commonly reported facilitators were availability of time, consistency of staff implementation of behaviour support, and adequate training. The most frequently identified barriers were a lack of time and inconsistent implementation. The practical and research implications of these preliminary qualitative findings are discussed.

The effective management of chronic asthma requires long-term adherence to both pharmacotherapy and optimal self-management practices. The use of mobile applications (apps) offer a promising and cost-effective platform to support the self-management of asthma. However, students as consumers may not always be sufficiently knowledgeable to select the best app to link with the management of their condition. If school psychologists become familiar with apps, they may be better positioned to provide guidance to students about app selection and how to identify apps that include appropriate behaviour change techniques (BCT). Accordingly, the overall aim of this study was to present a method by which school psychologists could identify quality apps for the purpose of supporting students who need to self-manage chronic asthma. A directed content analysis was used to evaluate asthma apps, based on behaviour change content and app quality. A systematic selection process yielded a total of 36 apps (26 from iTunes, 12 from Google Play) that were evaluated using two published rating measures. Overall, apps contained limited BCTs and a low level of quality health information. Conversely, apps with higher quality health information utilised a larger range of BCTs than lower quality apps. It was concluded that while apps designed to support the management of asthma appear to be a potentially valuable addition to traditional interventions, the technology is still in its infancy, and school psychologists should be aware of the limited behaviour change content, age appropriateness of apps, and whether the health information provided is evidence-based.

A framework was examined to assist school psychologists and counsellors in recommending quality apps for supporting diabetes self-management. A content analysis was undertaken to assess behaviour change strategies in Apple and Android smartphone apps for the self-management of type 2 diabetes. The Behaviour Change Technique Taxonomy was used to assess the presence of behaviour change strategies, while the Mobile App Rating Scale was used to assess overall app quality. Raters found, on average, 7.13 behaviour change techniques out of a possible 93, indicating few behaviour change techniques in apps for the self-management of Type 2 diabetes. Analysis indicated that apps of a higher overall quality tended to incorporate more behaviour change strategies. It was concluded that mental-health professionals are advantaged if they are able to assess and refine selection tools for matching apps with the needs of students with diabetes.

Reducing the excess nutrient and sediment pollution that is damaging habitat and diminishing recreational experiences in coastal estuaries requires actions by people and communities that are within the boundaries of the watershed but may be far from the resource itself, thus complicating efforts to understand tradeoffs associated with pollution control measures. Such is the case with the Chesapeake Bay, one of the most iconic water resources in the United States. All seven states containing part of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed were required under the Clean Water Act to submit detailed plans to achieve nutrient and sediment pollution reductions. The implementation plans provide information on the location and type of management practices making it possible to project not only water quality improvements in the Chesapeake Bay but also improvements in freshwater lakes throughout the watershed, which provide important ancillary benefits to people bearing the cost of reducing pollution to the Bay but unlikely to benefit directly. This paper reports the results of a benefits study that links the forecasted water quality improvements to ecological endpoints and administers a stated preference survey to estimate use and nonuse value for aesthetic and ecological improvements in the Chesapeake Bay and watershed lakes. Our results show that ancillary benefits and nonuse values account for a substantial proportion of total willingness to pay and would have a significant impact on the net benefits of pollution reduction programs.

Field experiments were conducted in 1997 and 1998 at the Prattville Experiment Field in Prattville, AL and the Wiregrass Substation in Headland, AL to determine if ammonium thiosulfate (ATS) additions to monosodium methanearsonate (MSMA) affects weed control, reduces MSMA-induced cotton injury, lessens the fruiting and maturity delay on cotton caused by MSMA, and lessens MSMA-induced yield reductions in cotton. Treatments were applied before cotton was at the pinhead square stage and the weeds were 5 cm tall. Weeds evaluated were sicklepod, morningglory species, yellow nutsedge, and Texas panicum. ATS additions to MSMA occasionally enhanced control of all weeds 5 to 20%. However, the addition of ATS did not reduce crop injury caused by MSMA, the effects of MSMA on cotton maturity, or yield reductions caused by MSMA.

The aim of this study was to assess the effects of a partially parent-implemented self-management intervention incorporating video-modelling for discrimination training on improving social skills in a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The participant was a 9-year-old girl with ASD. A multiple baseline across behaviour design (no interruption, asking for opinions, and appropriately greeting unfamiliar adults) was used to assess the effects of the intervention. Results showed: (a) the intervention was associated with improvements in all target behaviours in the training setting with a strong overall treatment effect; (b) the behavioural gains were generalised to non-training settings and maintained in both fading and follow-up phases; and (c) social validity measured by the Behavior Intervention Rating Scale — Adapted version (pre- and postintervention) was high. The intervention was effective in improving social skills with this participant, with good generalisation and maintenance effects and high social validity.