▼ The community participation aspect of community planning is often regarded as a time-consuming process with little rewards. Recently community participation has been adopted in school management as a way for parents and community members to be involved in local school decisions that will affect their children and their communities. In this work the author investigates the implementation of local school decision-making committees (LSDMC) at two Cincinnati Public Schools. Through a year long case study the author finds that for the most part the parent and community members on the committees at these schools are not well informed about their roles in decision-making nor are able to guide issues that are on the agenda. Background information includes research on participative decision-making structures implemented in New York, Chicago, and Kentucky. Development of the LSDMC in Cincinnati is also presented. These decision-making structures are compared with Sherry Arnstein’s ladder of community participation. Advisors/Committee Members: Varady, Dr. David.

▼ The objective of this study is to determine if inconsistencies existed in the reporting methodologies of participants in the Mecon-PEERx survey for the University Health System Consortium (UHC) radiation oncology departments and to make recommendations that would serve to clarify appropriate benchmark indicators. Data on reporting costs for equipment repair, brachytherapy sources, medical supplies, and staffing was obtained through a questionnaire that was sent to forty-one UHC participants in the Mecon-PEERx survey. Results show statistically significant differences in the composition of several of the cost elements. This indicates that the data appearing in side-by-side reports could be compared more readily if Mecon's reporting standards in certain categories were clarified. I recommend the incorporation of additional fields and questions into the existing survey. Additional, in-depth process questions need to be asked of our benchmark partners to uncover best practices. Advisors/Committee Members: Auffrey, Christopher.

▼ Rehospitalization for graduates of newborn intensive care units (NICU) is not uncommon. According to Zotkiewicz (1996:355), "a baby born weighing 3 pounds, 5 ounces (1500 grams) has a 30 to 50 percent greater chance of being rehospitalized within the first year of life than does a term infant of normal weight". Respiratory infections are the most frequent cause of rehospitalization for these infants (Zotkiewicz, 1996:356). Other reasons for readmission might include feeding difficulties, more frequent episodes of apnea, inability of parents to provide a prescribed treatment, or vision or hearing impairments (Zotkiewicz, 1996:356). The purpose of this study is to understand mothers' opinions about the issues that led to the rehospitalization of their infant. A convenience sample (n=8) was used for this study. The subjects were mothers of infants who were discharged from the Regional Center for Newborn Intensive Care (RCNIC) on durable medical equipment or home nursing care and were rehospitalized within two months. Data was collected via audiotaped recordings close to or soon after the time of discharge. Data were analyzed using content analysis and found to fit the following categories: the reason for each infant's rehospitalization, home preparation, maternal support and maternal challenges. The findings of this study showed that mother's had enough knowledge to know that their infant was not doing well, the infants were readmitted for worsening medical conditions, mother's felt well-prepared to care for their infant upon discharge from the hospital, mothers were not prepared to have their infant rehospitalized on a unit other than the NICU. In addition, mothers had difficulty accepting an infant with special health care needs and there is an inability to obtain reliable nursing care at home.Practice implications from this study are (1) mother's need to participate in their infant's care early in the hospitalization (2) mother's need to be prepared to have their child readmitted to another unit other than the NICU (3) mothers need emotional support to adjust to caring for an infant with special health care needs, (4) a thorough assessment of the availability of home nursing care should be conducted prior to discharge. Advisors/Committee Members: Edelman, David J.