Projects Report

This report shows the various collaborative projects between UNO and the community.

Engagement Type: Engaged Research
Activity Type: Faculty Research
Start Semester: Spring
Total UNO Students: 0
Start Academic Year: 2020-21
UNO Student Hours: 0
End Semester: Fall
Total K-12 Students: 0
End Academic Year: 2021-22
K-12 Student Hours: 0
Total Number of Other Participants: 0
Topics:

Description : "This project aims to conduct a formative evaluation and evaluability assessment of Project Harmony, a large child advocacy center (CAC) in Omaha, Nebraska, currently serving children who are victims of alleged child abuse. Project Harmony is one of the largest CACs in the nation. The ultimate goal is to lay the foundation for future CAC outcome evaluation efforts. Over the past 30 years, child advocacy centers (CAC) have proliferated, with goals to improve coordination of child abuse investigations, reduce distress to children, and increase offender prosecutions. Yet there is little empirical research examining the efficacy of the centers, specifically which components are critical to achieving these outcomes. This project will examine five core services within Project Harmony (PH): (1) Forensic interviewing, (2) Advocacy, (3) Medical care, (4) Mental health services, and (5) Multidisciplinary teams. Despite PH being a large urban child advocacy center that serves as a national model for other CACs, these core services have never been evaluated. The School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Nebraska-Omaha (UNO) will partner with PH to complete the project. The project utilizes a mixed-method, two-phased research design. In Phase I, a formative evaluation will include secondary data analysis of agency data and key informant surveys, focus groups, and interviews to assess core service operations. Existing protocols will be compared to National Children’s Alliance (NCA) Accreditation Standards to assess gaps. Qualitative content analysis will identify themes in core service operations. Phase II is an evaluability assessment designed to assess “readiness” for evaluation. The research team will convene a work group of agency stakeholders to review findings from Phase I and conduct qualitative data collection, with the dual purposes of identifying gaps between service goals and operations, and developing a feasible evaluation design that includes evaluation priorities. Data collection tools will build upon the NCA’s Standards for Accredited Members and survey instruments developed by the National Institute of Justice (2004). PH’s electronic case management system will be used for data collection and reporting. UNO will review evaluation instruments, develop instruments for implementation fidelity, and conduct qualitative analyses of data collected. Validity and reliability are strengthened by partnering with UNO to conduct and analyze findings, comparing results to extant literature, and confirming results with participants. The study will result in clear logic models, updated survey instruments, an implementation guide, fidelity tools, a CAC evaluability plan, reports detailing each phase of the study, and corresponding data sets. Results will be disseminated through conferences and publications in peer-reviewed journals to promote empirical analyses of other CACs. ""Note: This project contains a research and/or development component, as defined in applicable law,"" and complies with Part 200 Uniform Requirements - 2 CFR 200.210(a)(14). CA/NCF"
Engagement Type: Engaged Research
Activity Type: Faculty Research
Start Semester: Spring
Total UNO Students: 0
Start Academic Year: 2020-21
UNO Student Hours: 0
End Semester: Summer
Total K-12 Students: 0
End Academic Year: 2021-22
K-12 Student Hours: 0
Total Number of Other Participants: 0
Topics:

Description : "This project proposes a new partnership between the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs, which represents the four tribes of Nebraska: Omaha Tribe, Ponca Tribe, Santee Sioux Tribe, and Winnebago Tribe, as well as other Native persons living on and off tribal lands in Nebraska, and the researchers at the University of Nebraska, Omaha. The research team will conduct a pilot study involving the collection of preliminary data and secondary data analysis on the topics of murdered and/or missing Native women and children. Specifically, the proposed collaboration will include secondary analysis of quantitative data (e.g., law enforcement data [LE], data from the Nebraska’s Missing Persons Database, the Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the Children’s Bureau) as well as collection and analysis of qualitative data from key informants (e.g., tribal leaders and community members; state, local, and tribal LE; tribal and non-tribal victim service providers) to: (1) identify the scope and context of missing American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) women and children in Nebraska, (2) identify the scope and context of murdered AI/AN women and children in Nebraska, (3) identify both challenges and promising practices regarding reporting and investigating missing and/or murdered Native American women and children in Nebraska, and (4) generate data-driven recommendations for developing and strengthening partnerships to increase opportunities for justice and support for Nebraska’s Native women, children, and families. In addition to delivering important, actionable information to Nebraska’s tribal communities, tribal and non-tribal LE, victim service providers, court systems, and legislators, the proposed collaboration will also provide a replicable model for other states to complete their own comparable research to improve responses for what is perceived as a significant public health problem. ""Note: This project contains a research and/or development component, as defined in applicable law,"" and complies with Part 200 Uniform Requirements - 2 CFR 200.210(a)(14). CA/NCF"
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