Families and Collective Futures: Developing a Program Logic Model for Arts-Based Psychosocial Practice With South African Rural Communities

Aim: This aim of this study is to describe the development of a program logic model to guide arts-based psychosocial practice delivered in rural South African farming communities affected by transgenerational traumas.Background: The rationale for developing a program logic model for arts-based psychosocial practice in South Africa was based on the lack of evidence for effective community arts-based psychosocial interventions for collective trauma, unknown consensus about best practices and the need for developing cogent collective psychosocial practices. Further to this, the aims and benefits of the practice required clarity given the psychosocial complexity of the environment within which the practices for this population are being offered. The logic model offers a valuable resource for practitioners, participants and funders to understand the problem being addressed, how practice is defined, as well as the impact of practice and on intermediate and longer term goals.Methods: The authors used a systematic iterative approach to describe the operationalization of arts-based psychosocial practice. This resulted in the design of the logic model being informed by data from focus groups, an overview of the literature regarding transgerenational trauma in this population, operational policies and organizational documents. The development of the logic model involved actively investigating with practitioners their work with remote farming communities. We thematised practitioners practice constructs to identify salient practice elements and their relationship to perceived benefits and lastly feedback from practitioners and participants following implementation to make adjustments to the logic model.Results: The results were clearly identified in the form of visual mapping using the design of a program logic model. The logic model was divided into 5 parts and was verified by practitioners following implementation. The parts of the program logic model are (Part 1) main presenting problem, (Part 2) operational processes, (Part 3) practice elements, (Part 4) benefits, and impact and (Part 5) review.

Formalizing Statistical Beliefs in Hypothesis Testing Using Program Logic

We propose a new approach to formally describing the requirement for statistical inference and checking whether the statistical method is appropriately used in a program. Specifically, we define belief Hoare logic (BHL) for formalizing and reasoning about the statistical beliefs acquired via hypothesis testing. This logic is equipped with axiom schemas for hypothesis tests and rules for multiple tests that can be instantiated to a variety of concrete tests. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to introduce a program logic with epistemic modal operators that can specify the preconditions for hypothesis tests to be applied appropriately.

Co-designing a methodology for workforce development during the personalisation of allied health service funding for people with disability in Australia

Background Internationally, health and social services are undergoing creative and extensive redesign to meet population demands with rationed budgets. This has critical implications for the health workforces that serve such populations. Within the workforce literature, few approaches are described that enable workforce development for health professions in the service contexts that emerge from large scale service redesign in times of industry shift. We contribute an innovative and robust methodology for workforce development that was co-designed by stakeholders in allied health during the personalisation of disability funding in Australia (the introduction of the National Disability Insurance Scheme). Methods In the context of a broad action research project, we used program logic modelling to identify and enact opportunities for sustainable allied health education and workforce integration amidst the changed service provision context. We engaged with 49 industry stakeholders across 92 research engagements that included interviews (n = 43), a workshop explicitly for model development (n = 8) and a Project Advisory Group (n = 15). Data from these activities were inductively coded, analysed, and triangulated against each other. During the program logic modelling workshop, we worked with involved stakeholders to develop a conceptual model which could be used to guide trial and evaluation of allied health education which was fit-for-purpose to emerging workforce requirements. Results Stakeholder interviews showed that drivers of workforce design during industry shift were that (1) service provision was happening in turbulent times; (2) new concerns around skills and professional engagement were unfolding for AHP in the NDIS; and (3) impacts to AHP education were being experienced. The conceptual model we co-designed directly accounted for these contextual features by highlighting five underpinning principles that should inform methodologies for workforce development and AHP education in the transforming landscape: being (1) pedagogically sound; (2) person- or family-centred; (3) NDIS compliant; (4) informed by evidence and (5) having quality for all. We use a case study to illustrate how the co-designed conceptual model stimulated agility and flexibility in workforce and service redesign. Conclusions Proactive and situated education of the emerging workforce during policy shift is essential to realise future health workforces that can appropriately and effectively service populations under a variety of changing service and funding structures – as well as their transitions. We argue that collaborative program logic modelling in partnership with key stakeholders including existing workforce can be useful for broad purposes of workforce (re)design in diverse contexts.

Strategies for Enhancing Programming in Local Juvenile Courts: Logic Models and Quality Assurance Procedures

The authors provide a case-study related to a recent project using program logic models as a primary component in the implementation of a formal quality assurance process in a local juvenile court. Program logic models illustrate the evolution of court personnel’s thoughts about how best to conceptualize programming. Juvenile court officials are developing and implementing formal “quality assurance” procedures to allow for ongoing planning and program development. The authors argue that quality assurance procedures hold great promise for assuring that juvenile court programming is efficient and effective and serves the needs of local communities.

Methodology of software development for artificial microclimate control systems

The specificity of accelerated software development for microcontrollers is considered. The software development technique for a program-logic controller is presented on the example of an algorithm for controlling the industrial premises microclimate. The method of “dew point” for the control system of industrial air conditioning. The analysis of the functioning of the control system of industrial air conditioning according to the “dew point” method has been carried out and a block diagram of the control system of an artificial microclimate has been proposed. Structurally, the mathematical description of an artificial microclimate system is presented, which takes into account the nonlinearity of mass-exchange processes of air preparation. It can be used by specialists to implement computer-integrated technologies and to analyze and adjust the parameters of the control system of industrial air conditioners.