National Association of School Psychologists

As attacks on Black people have become more visible, key Black organizations have been building a grassroots movement of culturally grounded healing circles. African-centered healing circles address historical and contemporary racial stress experienced by Black people. They privilege culture and function as community-driven medicine, promoting collective healing and protecting against the effects of ongoing racism. The growth of these circles signals a shift away from Western methods of healing and toward indigenous practices. This article describes their growth, underlying theories, common elements, and evidence, and sketches a vision for national and international expansion. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

This paper examines various machine learning methods for assessing risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. To build predictive models, two approaches were used: the extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) algorithm and a convolutional neural network (CNN). The focus is on analyzing the performance of each model in classification and regression tasks, as well as their ability to identify key biomarkers and risk factors such as cholesterol, ferritin, homocysteine and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels. XGBoost parameters have been optimized for working with tabular data, demonstrating high accuracy in risk prediction. The CNN model, despite the initial reduction in error on the training set, showed signs of overfitting when analyzing validation data. Performance evaluation using the metrics of mean squared error (MSE), coefficient of determination (R²), Akaike information criterion (AIC), and Bayesian information criterion (BIC) revealed significant differences between the models. The study results confirm the effectiveness of XGBoost in analyzing tabular data and summarizing risk factor knowledge, while the CNN model needs further optimization to handle sparse data. The work demonstrates the importance of choosing the right model architecture and training parameters to ensure reliable diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases.

Wales is currently proposing to make the defence of reasonable punishment towards children a thing of the past. Early years practitioners have an important role to play in advising parents who may be confused or anxious about the change.

Abstract The school setting represents the most common setting by which youth receive mental and behavioral health (MBH) services (Farmer et al., 2003, Psychiatr Serv, 54, 60–66). Nevertheless, many school psychologists are not providing MBH services despite the high prevalence of need. Additional research is needed to understand factors leading to these deficits, as well as potential solutions to ameliorate these concerns. The current study surveyed 341 school psychologists across seven states and found current ratios are one school psychologist for every 1,500–2,000 students. Study results suggest school psychologists are providing a half to full day of universal, prevention‐oriented MBH services each week whereas more targeted, direct services (e.g., individual or small group counseling) are offered 1–4 hr each week. The school psychologist‐to‐student ratios also demonstrated a statistically significant and inverse association with the provision of targeted MBH services, with higher ratios resulting in fewer MBH services. Respondents provided potential solutions for how to expand the delivery of MBH services within schools, including increased awareness and support among school and district administrators, as well as access to training and professional development related to MBH services.

The National Association of Specialty Pharmacy (NASP) Annual Meeting & Expo is being held from September 9–12 at the Marriott Wardman in Washington, DC. More than 1,200 specialty pharmacy stakehold...

ABSTRACTThe National Association of School Psychologists' Model for Comprehensive and Integrated School Psychological Services (2010a), often referred to as the National Association of School Psychologists' Practice Model, describes the comprehensive range of professional skills and competencies available from school psychologists across 10 domains. The Self-Assessment Tool for School Psychologists is a two-scale, 48-item self-report measure that is based on the Practice Model and designed to have practitioners assess the degree to which they engage in various professional activities (A scale), and the perceived level of importance of those activities to effective service delivery (B scale). The present study aimed to examine the factor structure and psychometric properties of the Self-Assessment Tool for School Psychologists and to evaluate the proposed interpretation regarding school psychologists' professional practices. Participants included a sample of 1,293 practicing school psychologists. Results of EFA and CFA, as well as reliability analyses, supported a seven- and five-factor model for the A and B scales, respectively. Collectively, this study suggests a varying factor structure between the Self-Assessment Tool for School Psychologists and the 10 domains of the Practice Model. Implications for conceptualization of school psychological practice in relation to the National Association of School Psychologists' Practice Model and future development of the Self-Assessment Tool for School Psychologists are discussed.

Approximately 120 thousand tons of various molecular forms of highly toxic arsenic waste are located in mountainous areas of Georgia as an 'inheritance' after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The heavy contamination of soil around crumbling storage areas results in pollution and high exposure of local communities, livestock, poultry and wildlife to arsenic. Relative risks for 13 diseases in adults: skin diseases, pigmentation maculae, cancer; epigenetic, mental and behavioural, endocrine, urogenital disorders; respiratory, neural, gastrointestinal diseases; tumours, allergy, injury and intoxications are reported. Future work involving transdisciplinary research of epigenetic abnormalities and mental disorders in adults and children including methods of psychological testing are discussed.

This article presents the results of a study based on data from a high stakes recruitment process in the UK. The purpose of the study was to explore how improved selection decisions can be made within competency‐based assessments.