1. The CSU Evaluation
Team is beginning another
exciting year of program
evaluation in conjunction
with the Colorado Depart-
ment of Public Health and
Environment (CDPHE) and
the Colorado Department of
Human Services (CDHS).
The Tony Grampsas
Youth Services (TGYS) program is just begin-
ning the first of a 3-year grant cycle with a total
of 30 funded agencies and 30 funded sub-
agencies. Some agencies received TGYS fund-
ing during previous grant cycles, while others
are brand new to the program this year.
This summer our team will analyze data
collected during 2010-2011 to assess partici-
pant change from pre to post on outcomes such
as resilience, self-efficacy, school performance
and bonding, bullying and delinquency, and
positive parenting skills.
In addition, results from 2008-2011 will be
compared in an effort to provide a comprehen-
sive picture of change among participants
across the previous grant cycle. The team will
also be working to kick off evaluation plans for
each new grantee implementing a revised list
of validated measurement tools compiled
through an extensive research effort put into
motion over a year ago.
The evaluation team will also continue to
work with Colorado Works and Statewide Stra-
tegic Use Fund (SSUF) grantees to measure
TANF-eligible participant change due to youth
and family programs offered by 20 diverse
agencies in Colorado for another year. Tempo-
rary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
provides federally funded social services for
individuals who need it.
Our team is working with each agency to
refine measurement objectives and move to-
ward a pre-post measurement
model. We are focusing on
SSUF identified outcomes that
lend themselves to enhanced
self-sufficiency, such as in-
creased work skills and educa-
tional attainment, access to
reliable transportation and
community services supports,
and increased self-efficacy and
parenting skills.
Our team is also wrapping up year 2 of a 3-
year evaluation of Project Safety Net. This pro-
ject evaluates the effectiveness of two suicide
prevention programs. Data will be collected in
the form of 3- and 6-month follow-up surveys.
Data is collected from community gatekeepers
(i.e., individuals trained in suicide prevention)
who completed Question, Persuade, Refer
(QPR), or Applied Suicide Intervention Skills
Training (ASIST). This data collection was final-
ized in mid-June.
Analysis of whether participants increased
intentions to inquire about suicidal feelings when
coming into contact with potentially suicidal in-
dividuals will be conducted during July. The
team will also report how many referrals and di-
rect interventions trainees provided to people
who showed signs of being suicidal, over time.
This valuable information will help Project
Safety Net grantees assess training effectiveness
and develop ideas for enhanced suicide preven-
tion, in conjunction with other PSN projects.
In the next SMART newsletter, the CSU
evaluation team looks forward to reporting the
results produced by the hard work of agencies
that truly value Colorado’s youth and families!
For questions regarding this article,
please contact:
Julie Maertens
jmtgys@lamar.colostate.edu
I N S I D E T H I S
I S S U E :
The Power of
Success Stories
2
Project LeAd 2
Project Safety
Net Sustainabil-
ity Project
3
Melanoma Pro-
ject
4
Injuries Among
Older Con-
struction
5
Spring Brown-
bag Speakers
6
About SMART 7
SMART NEWSLETTERJ U L Y 1 5 , 2 0 1 1V O L U M E 5 , I S S U E 2
SMART Helping Communities Evaluate Success

2. P A G E 2V O L U M E 5 , I S S U E 2
Mechanical in Denver, CO.
Feedback was sought from these individuals and
leadership in the company to revise the program and
make it more appropriate for the population and the pur-
pose. Revisions of the program are currently underway
and further pilot testing will take place in the fall with
Local 208 in Denver, CO and with a construction man-
agement class for senior students at Colorado State Uni-
versity.
If you have any questions or would like to know more
about this project, please contact:
Krista Hoffmeister
hoffmk@rams.colostate.edu
In the past few months, Project LeAD has advanced tre-
mendously. Numerous focus groups were held with construc-
tion workers in various areas of the US, resulting in a collec-
tion of critical incidents about the impact that leaders can have
on safety.
These focus groups along with survey results were used
to create seven modules to include in the LeAD program.
Each module lasts two hours and the program is designed to
run once a week for seven weeks. Each module in the pro-
gram involves a unique combination of group discussion, role
plays, self-assessment, feedback, and skill building in a par-
ticular area.
In order to make the program more relatable, individuals
in the construction industry were filmed telling their stories
about leaders to include in each of the modules. This spring,
LeAD was successfully piloted with nine individuals at RK
Project LeAD - Success Stories Shape Modules
The Power of Success Stories
RK Mechanical
trainees (from left to
right): Brian Bunfield,
Kevin Lemas, Nate
Trail, Derek Miller,
Chris Christensen,
James Carr, and trainer
Alyssa Gibbons watch
a video of other train-
ees role playing in or-
der to give feedback to
peers.
The next three articles describes the power that success stories
can play across another of domains. In each of these articles, success
stories were utilized to motivate and educate a variety of individuals.
In the first article, success stories inspired the modules that were de-
veloped for Project LeAD. In the second article, success stories were
used to encourage suicide prevention trainees to apply their skills after
training. Lastly, in the last article success stories were found to encour-
age sun safety behaviors for college students. In each of these articles,
success stories were applied to improve a follow-up program or inter-
vention. The question becomes, how successful were such success
stories and how might you or your organization utilize this approach to
improve training outcomes?

3. P A G E 3V O L U M E 5 , I S S U E 2
Suicide is a major public health concern and is the 11th leading cause
of death in our nation. To improve the long-term effect of suicide prevention
training programs, SMART through Project Safety Net (PSN) has been working
with the Office of Suicide Prevention to develop two post-training interven-
tions. The purpose of these interventions is to increase trainees’ confidence in
their suicide prevention skills after training. Both interventions use success sto-
ries to empower trainees. Preliminary analysis (N=49) suggests that these inter-
ventions are trending in the right direction (i.e., increasing trainees’ confi-
dence). We look forward to sharing more detailed findings after our 3-month
follow-up.
PSN Sustainability Project - Success Stories
Boost Trainee Confidence
Melanoma Project - Success Stories Boost
Sun Safety Intentions
Over the past three dec-
ades, the prevalence of skin can-
cer in North America, Europe
and Australia has dramatically
increased (Roberts & Black,
2009). At present, it is estimated that an astonishing one in
five Americans will develop some type of skin cancer dur-
ing his or her lifetime (Bedell et al. 1999). In addition, the
rates of melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, have
more than doubled, and non-melanoma skin cancer rates
have surpassed those of all other cancers combined
(Roberts & Black, 2009). Although exposure to ultraviolet
(UV) light is considered to be the leading behavioral cause
of skin cancer, and most people are aware of the link be-
tween unprotected sun exposure and increased risk of skin
cancer, many still neglect to adequately protect themselves
from the sun.
The CSU evaluation team aimed to examine the effec-
tiveness of a new, narrative/ affective-based intervention
strategy, known as digital storytelling, paired with an infor-
mational component in influencing intentions and behav-
iors related to sun safety. Digital stories have been de-
scribed as “3-5 minute visual narratives that synthesize
images, video, audio recordings of voice and music, and
text to create compelling accounts of experi-
ence” (Gubrium, 2009). The digital story was created
based on a series of interviews with local melanoma survi-
vors, and the informational component was based on infor-
mation from the American Cancer Society regarding the
risks and protective measures related to sun exposure.
Previous research has found both informational/logical
as well as narrative/affective communications to be effec-
tive interventions. However, no studies to date have tested
the combination of narrative/affective and informational/
logical messages related to sun protection.
The intervention was piloted on 200 undergraduate stu-
dents at Colorado State University to examine its effec-
tiveness in influencing intentions and behaviors related to
sun protection. Intentions to sun protect were found to be
significantly higher in the treatment condition versus the
control condition immediately after viewing the interven-
tion and at the 3-month follow-up.
The results of this study provide useful information for
future prevention efforts by examining the effectiveness of
a previously untested intervention strategy, digital story-
telling, paired with an informational component, as a po-
tential vehicle for skin cancer prevention messages. The
team is now exploring possible future directions. Since
adolescents are the primary target population of interest,
immediate next steps include conducting focus groups
with this age group to get their reactions to the digital
story and to investigate adolescent social norms related to
sun protection.
For questions regarding this article, please contact:
Lauren Menger
lauren.menger@colostate.edu
For questions regarding this article,
please contact:
Annette Shtivelband
annette.shtivelband@gmail.com

4. P A G E 4
S M A R T N E W S L E T T E R
As the first of the baby boomer gen-
eration turns 65 this year, understanding the
health and safety needs of an aging workforce
will be critical. In physically demanding in-
dustries like construction the impact of the
aging process on a worker’s ability to perform
physical work can be significant. In order to
understand older construction worker’s inju-
ries, SMART members analyzed approxi-
mately 107,000 workers’ compensation claims
that were related to Colorado construction
worker’s claims from 1998 to 2008.
Our results indicated the older work-
ers filed fewer claims than younger workers
but when they did file a claim they incurred
significantly more costs. Falls, slips and trips
were the most common causes of injuries
among workers over the age of 65. Falls to
the same level or on ice or snow were particu-
larly more frequent among workers 55 years
and older. Workers aged 35-64 were injured
most frequently by strains. Yet regardless of
the type of cause of injury or the type of in-
jury sustained, older workers incurred more
workers’ compensation costs than their
younger counterparts. For each year increase
in age, the indemnity cost of a workers’ com-
pensation claim increased by
3.5% but medical costs only
increased by 1.1%. Thus,
the increase in costs among
older workers was driven by
costs related to lost work
time, limitations, disability, etc. (i.e. indem-
nity costs) rather than costs related to medical
care.
Promoting the work ability of older con-
struction workers will be critical as the num-
ber of workers continuing to work later in life
increases. Special attention should be paid to
walking surfaces to prevent falls, slips and
trips as well as to the physical tasks of con-
struction work that put stress on the muscu-
loskeletal system. Our research, in conjunc-
tion with findings from previous research,
suggest that return to work programs, ergo-
nomic programs and job accommodations may
be necessary to prevent and manage older con-
struction workers injuries. SMART plans to
continue this work by characterizing older
construction workers injuries by trade in order
to better focus injury prevention efforts.
For questions regarding this article, please
contact:
Natalie Schwatka
nvschwatka@gmail.com
Occupational Injuries Among Older Construction Workers

5. Spring 2011 OHP Brownbags
It has been another busy semester for the Occupational Health Psychology brownbag series at
CSU! This semester we had three exciting presenters: Dr. Lorann Stallones, Dr. Kim Henry, and Dr.
Thomas Bernard.
Dr. Lorann Stallones is a Professor of Epidemiology in the Department of
Psychology, the Director of the Colorado Injury Control Research Center and of
the Institute of Applied Prevention Research, and also the Director of the CSU
Graduate Degree Program in Public Health. Dr. Stallones spoke to our students in
March, delivering a presentation on agriculture and childhood health injuries en-
titled, “Enhancing data collection systems for childhood agricultural injuries and
disease”. While there is a need in the field to better understand the injuries that
may occur on the farm – something interesting that emerged from the presenta-
tion was how should childhood labor be defined? How do researchers make the
distinction between kids who do chores around the farm and get
hurt versus those that get hurt on the job? Can such a distinction
be made?
In early April, Dr. Kim Henry, an Assistant Professor in the Applied Social Psy-
chology Department at CSU, gave a talk entitled, “The use of propensity score models
to assess treatment effects in observational studies”. Propensity score modeling allows
researchers to examine the “treatment effects”
of observational studies (e.g., occupational exposure) Dr. Henry has taught many sta-
tistics courses in the psychology department (e.g., regression analysis, multi-level sta-
tistics), and this presentation brought all of our attention to this
new trending topic in psychology research.
Our final speaker of the semester was Dr. Thomas Bernard, who is currently a
Professor at the University of South Florida College of Public Health and chair of
the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. As a big contributor to
the heat stress assessment and strain research areas, Dr. Bernard delivered a talk
entitled, “Heat stress assessment: Rationale for Wet-Bulb Globe Temperature
(WBGT) methods”. For more information on Dr. Bernard’s research refer to the
following website: http://personal.health.usf.edu/tbernard/.
A big thanks to Drs. Lorann Stallones, Kim Henry, and Thomas Bernard for
helping make this semester of the OHP brownbag series a success once again! We have been lucky to
have so many great opportunities to listen to, learn from, and interact with, Professors who are making
a difference in the field of occupational health.
For questions regarding this article, please contact:
Stefanie Putter
stefanie.putter@gmail.com
S M A R T N E W S L E T T E R
P A G E 5V O L U M E 5 , I S S U E 2
View the presentations online at: http://lamar.colostate.edu/~chenp/

6. The Safety Management Applied Research Team (SMART) refers to a team of faculty and stu-
dents at Colorado State University who are working on applied research projects that enhance the
management of workplace safety and health issues. SMART is comprised of more than just people in
one area of study. We collaborate with all those who play a part in keeping work safe and healthy;
this includes Ergonomics, Human Resources, Industrial/Organizational Psychology, Applied Social
Psychology, and many more. The SMART approach focuses on important human and psychological
factors in the promotion of workplace safety and health. This approach complements existing
physical and regulatory facets of safety management.
P A G E 6
(Left to right): Krista
Hoffmeister, Julie
Sampson, Stefanie
Putter, Lauren Menger,
Julie Maertens, Annette
Shtivelband
For comments or questions on the newsletter,
please contact the Editor:
Annette Shtivelband
annette.shtivelband@gmail.com
Colorado State University
Psychology Department
1876 Campus Delivery
Fort Collins, CO 80521
SMART Team Members