Schools have an increased focus on implementing schoolwide initiatives (e.g., multi-tiered systems of support; MTSS) to address risk factors related to dropping out. These interventions can involve multiple domains, including academic, behavioural, and social and emotional supports. Although researchers suggest that schoolwide interventions are effective, school staff may need help implementing various content (e.g., academic, behaviour) domains into a cohesive plan. This preliminary study focused on nine schools in the Midwestern United States that implemented schoolwide interventions as part of a statewide technical assistance approach. The research included using survey and extant data for all students to determine the connections between schoolwide interventions, school improvement, and student outcomes. Schools in this study that were higher on both school improvement and MTSS implementation had, in general, better student outcomes associated with predictors of dropping out of school. These findings indicate that school improvement and MTSS may be mutually beneficial enterprises that help school staff address factors related to dropping out.

This study modelled the economic impact of mirtazapine, compared to amitriptyline and fluoxetine, in the management of moderate and severe depression in the UK, as well as the costs related to discontinuation of antidepressant treatment.

Decision models of the management of moderate and severe depression were developed from clinical trial data, resource use obtained from interviews with general practitioners and psychiatrists, and published literature, and were used to estimate the expected direct National Health Service (NHS) costs of managing a patient with moderate or severe depression.

The expected cost of healthcare resource use attributable to managing a patient suffering from moderate or severe depression who discontinues antidepressant treatment, irrespective of the initial treatment, was estimated to be £206 (range £50 to £504) over five months.

Using mirtazapine instead of amitriptyline for seven months increases the proportion of successfully treated patients by 21% (from 19.2 to 23.2%) and reduces the expected direct NHS cost by £35 per patient (from £448 to £413). Using mirtazapine instead of fluoxetine for six months increases the proportion of successfully treated patients by 22% (from 15.6 to 19.1%), albeit for an additional cost to the NHS of £27 per patient (from £394 to £420).

In conclusion, this study suggests that mirtazapine is a cost-effective antidepressant compared to amitriptyline and fluoxetine in the management of moderate and severe depression in the UK.

Objectives: An important question in longitudinal research is whether the individuals who discontinue participation differ in their level of, or their change in, cognitive functioning relative to individuals who return for subsequent occasions. Methods: Performance in five cognitive domains was examined in nearly 5000 participants between 18 and 85 years of age who completed between one and five longitudinal occasions. Results: Little or no differences in cognitive performance were apparent between young adults who did or did not return for subsequent longitudinal occasions. However, among adults above about 45 years of age, returning participants had higher levels of cognitive performance, but approximately similar magnitude of longitudinal change, as participants completing fewer occasions. Conclusions: These results suggest that generalizability of longitudinal comparisons may be restricted to individuals with relatively high levels of cognitive functioning, but that rates of cognitive change are nearly comparable for individuals completing different numbers of longitudinal occasions.

Researchers and citizens alike question the long-term impacts of the shale oil boom on local communities. Studies have considered the boom’s effects on employment, income, mobility, and human capital acquisition. This research specifically builds on research considering shale effects on secondary schooling. Using county-level data from Texas, we investigate two questions: (1) Has the latest oil boom led to a reduction in local high school graduation? (2) Is this effect different for immigrants, a group potentially vulnerable to local wage effects? Findings indicate insignificant overall effects; however, local oil drilling increases immigrant high school dropout rates.

Background: As healthcare services become progressively more stretched, there is increasing discussion of ways in which technological adjuncts may be used to deliver more cost-efficient services. Before widespread implementation, however, the use of these adjuncts requires proper scrutiny of their effects on psychological practice. Aims: This research examined the effectiveness of SMS reminders on client appointment attendance and dropout in a psychological treatment setting. It was predicted that the reminders would result in increased initial appointment attendance, increased total appointment attendance, and decreased client dropout. Method: A randomized controlled trial investigated the impact of SMS appointment reminders (two levels: present or absent) on client attendance (three levels: attended, rescheduled, or did not attend) and dropout (two levels: completed treatment or terminate early). Participants (N = 140) at an outpatient psychology clinic were randomly allocated to either receive an SMS appointment reminder one day before their scheduled appointment, or to receive no reminder. Results: No significant differences were found between the SMS and no SMS conditions in relation to appointment attendance. There were more client dropouts in the SMS compared to the no SMS condition. Conclusions: The SMS appointment reminders were not effective at increasing appointment attendance. The current research suggests that there is more to client non-attendance in psychological settings than the simple forgetting of appointments. Technological adjuncts may be useful in increasing the cost-efficiency of current services; however, this research highlights the importance of understanding the effects of technology before widespread implementation.

Motivational characteristics are influential in shaping adolescents' desire to persist in sport or to discontinue their sport participation. Self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000) was utilized as the theoretical framework for this study. This theory examines whether sustained participatory involvement, defined as continued participation in the sport through the next year, was influenced by individuals' self-determined motivation and by the fulfillment of the three basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Four hundred ninety two soccer players between the ages of 13 and 17 years comprised the sample. Results indicated sport dropout was explained by higher levels of amotivation, external regulation, and introjected regulation and by lower satisfaction of relatedness and autonomy needs. The findings of this study contribute to the knowledge base on sport dropout as they supported many of self-determination theory.

Despite state support for mass education in Turkey, there are many primary school children who do not attend school or who drop out before finishing school. This study is part of a project investigating the problem of school dropout in a district of Istanbul. Factors related to school, such as failure, non-acceptance by teachers and peers, poor attendance, and low levels of involvement, have been associated with increased likelihood of dropout. Modifying the instructional environment, strengthening school membership, and creating alternative schools have been suggested as means to prevent dropout. A questionnaire assessing attitudes toward school was administered to 480 students from 13 elementary schools for the purpose of identifying the characteristics of schools that lead to dropout. Factor analysis results indicated five factors of school-related attitudes, including attitudes toward learning; toward teachers; toward school and school facilities; and students' perceptions of parent-school relationships.

Background: Attrition from mortality is common in longitudinal studies of the elderly. Ignoring the resulting non-response or missing data can bias study results.

Methods: 1260 elderly participants underwent biennial follow-up assessments over 10 years. Many missed one or more assessments over this period. We compared three statistical models to evaluate the impact of missing data on an analysis of depressive symptoms over time. The first analytic model (generalized mixed model) treated non-response as data missing at random. The other two models used shared parameter methods; each had different specifications for dropout but both jointly modeled both outcome and dropout through a common random effect.

Results: The presence of depressive symptoms was associated with being female, having less education, functional impairment, using more prescription drugs, and taking antidepressant drugs. In all three models, the same variables were significantly associated with depression and in the same direction. However, the strength of the associations differed widely between the generalized mixed model and the shared parameter models. Although the two shared parameter models had different assumptions about the dropout process, they yielded similar estimates for the outcome. One model fitted the data better, and the other was computationally faster.

Conclusions: Dropout does not occur randomly in longitudinal studies of the elderly. Thus, simply ignoring it can yield biased results. Shared parameter models are a powerful, flexible, and easily implemented tool for analyzing longitudinal data while minimizing bias due to nonrandom attrition.

The correlates of dropout, efficacy, and adverse events in the tratment of Alzheimer's disease (AD) with acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (ChEI) are unclear. To investigate these issues, a 26-week prospective, randomized, open-labeled trail with donepezil or rivastigmine was undertaken. Sixty-four Korean patients with AD were recruited, and data on sociodemographic and clinical characteristics and several assessment scales were collected. Characteristics of available caregivers were also gathered. Information on adverse events and dropout was recorded. Thirty-five (55%) patients dropped out during treatment with ChEI, for reasons mainly related to financial burden of caregivers. Of the 29 patients who completed the 26-week trial, 16 (55%) were responsive to ChEI. Lower scores on the Clinical Dementia Rating and Blessed Dementia Scale at baseline were associated with the efficacy of ChEI. Of the total participants, 26 (41%) experienced adverse events, although these seemed to be mild and appeared to be associated with the psychological state of patients or coadministration of psychotropic drugs. In conclusion, ChEI seemed to be effective and well tolerated in the treatment of Korean patients with AD, but the use of this drug was limited mainly by the financial burden of caregivers.