Thursday, January 19, 9:00 a.m.
Java J's in Abingdon
The Journal Club is for those who want to explore professional journals
as a way to improve our skills and keep current in our fields of practice.
Anyone is invited. We are open to professionals involved in the fields of social work, education,
health care, criminal justice, and mental health. We'll have a special focus on families and children.
Our next meeting will be Thursday, January 19th at 9:00 a.m. We'll meet at the Java J's coffee shop in Abingdon. We normally meet on the third Thursday at the beginning of each quarter (January, April, July, and October).
Past Articles
Effective Wraparound Teamwork (PDF format)
Assessing the Wraparound Process in Family Planning Meetings (PDF format)
Are We Parent-Friendly? (PDF format)
The Critical Role of Treatment Planning (PDF format)
Learning Strength-Based Practice: Challenging Our Personal and Professional Frames (PDF format)
Family Resilience: A Framework for Clinical Practice - Theory and Practice
(Web link, opens a new browser window)
Strength-Based Practice with Children in Trouble (PDF format)
Depressive Symptoms and Health Risk Among Rural Adolescents (PDF format)
Best Practices (PDF format)
Mentoring (PDF format) This is a large file
TIPS ABOUT HOW TO READ A JOURNAL ARTICLE
The Journal Club is an attempt to help professionals serving youth and families improve their
ability to use reports from well-done scientific research. These reports are most often found
as peer-reviewed articles in academic and professional journals. You may find the following steps
helpful in reading the articles.
- Read the abstract and determine if the subject is relevant to your needs.
- Skim the article, spending slightly more time on the discussion and conclusions.
- Now, go back to the beginning and carefully read the literature summary, the hypotheses, the methodology and the findings. Critique each of these in your mind as you read. Ask the following questions:
- Is the authors' approach justified by the literature?
- Are the hypotheses reasonable?
- Are the procedures appropriate?
- If you are familiar with the math, is the statistical analysis correctly applied?
- Are there factors that the authors have overlooked which could affect the study?
- Carefully read the discussion and conclusions. Ask:
- Do the authors interpret the findings appropriately?
- Do the authors discuss the limitations of their work?
- Do the authors acknowledge any alternative interpretations?
- Can you think of plausible alternative interpretations?
- Based on the above steps, decide whether the information in the article can be used in our community. Are there any lessons we can learn?
What does the information say about our current policy and practice?
