A Brighter Future: Enhancing Educational Outcomes for Students with Medical and Mental Health Needs

The Hospital Educator and Academic Liaison (HEAL) Association is offering a professional conference to address the educational needs of pediatric patients.  HEAL invites the submission of presentation proposals for this virtual conference. The theme of this school year and the conference is “A Brighter Future: Enhancing Educational Outcomes for Students with Medical and Mental Health Needs.”

Objectives include:

• Promoting collaboration among professionals serving students with medical and mental health needs
• Developing advocacy skills, knowledge and methods for intervention with students who manage medical and mental conditions

General Guidelines

Abstracts must reflect issues relevant to the educational issues and needs of children with medical and mental health conditions. An emphasis on practical application and implementation is appreciated by our attendees, as indicated in past conference feedback. Presenters are limited to two proposal submissions per conference.  For proposals reporting research activities, research must be completed at the time of submission for all formats except poster presentations. With the acceptance of a submission, it is expected that any presenter that attends additional sessions will register for and attend the conference. Speakers will register at a discounted rate. Please specify if you have additional authors to your work who will not be presenting at the conference. Presenters are responsible for all registration fees. Speakers who only present and do not attend other sessions will not be expected to register.

One presenter from each presentation should be designated as the primary contact person who will be responsible for all correspondence pertaining to proposal submission.  Email will be the preferred method of communication. Please submit abstract via online submission form. Submissions via fax or email will not be considered.

Information presented should be relevant to attendees from institutions of varying sizes (e.g., large pediatric centers to one-person programs to community settings). Audience size may range from 25-150.  Presenters shall not sell or promote any particular product at any time during the presentation.

** Proposal submissions will be accepted via the online submission process until Friday, November 22, 2024.

Presentation Format

Abstracts must be presented in one of the following presentation formats:

 *  Live Lecture:  45 minute presentation plus 15 minutes for discussion (three speaker limit)

 *  Recorded Lecture:  45-60 minute pre-recorded presentation (three speaker limit)

 *  Poster Presentation:  A visual display of an innovative program, clinical case study, or research relevant to school re-entry or addressing the educational issues of pediatric patients with medical or mental health needs.  Research projects presented in this format do not have to represent completed research; these presentations may include research proposals and research in progress.  There will be a 60 minute live Poster Session when all Poster Presenters will have an opportunity to participate in a Q & A with virtual conference attendees.  Each Poster Presenter should have a 10-15 minute prepared presentation and expect to repeat it as attendees enter and exit your breakout room. (three speaker limit)

Review Process

The Conference Call for Presentations is designed to elicit information necessary to review content and organization of proposed presentations.  Submitters will receive confirmation of receipt via email.  Members of the Conference Committee review the submissions and make recommendations on selections. Each proposal is rated according to:

• Quality of Content – Evaluation of purpose and objectives; relevance to addressing the educational needs of children with chronic medical conditions; creative use of skills; integrated analysis of data and strength of authors’ background to present topic.

• Quality of Proposal Organization – Evaluation of how clear and well thought out the information in the proposal is presented; in conformity with standard grammatical rules; and how well it adheres to the proposal format described above.

HEAL uses a blind review process.  Authors and institutions must NOT be identified in the title, objectives, summary, and proposal. The use of institution letterhead is not permitted.  Please use “this author”, “this program”, etc. to avoid naming yourself or your program in your submission. Proposals should be written in the third person and must not be an attempt to promote or sell any service or product. Please adhere to APA (American Psychological Association) guidelines for in-text citations and reference lists.

The lead presenter/speaker will be notified in writing via email of the Conference Committee’s recommendation or declination of each proposal submission by December 13, 2024. Individuals from accepted proposals must sign a contractual agreement with HEAL that indicates each individual’s commitment to attend and share the content of the session as accepted by the Committee by December 20, 2024. In order to create a balanced overall conference program, the Committee may request changes to accepted proposals; the contractual agreement would indicate any such changes.

Submission Criteria

Submit your proposal by completing the online proposal submission form. You will be asked to include:

• Title: A direct yet descriptive title that is a clear reflection of the topic.
• Summary: This should be 75 words or less describing the content of your presentation. If accepted, this summary may appear in conference publications to describe the session.
• Learning Objectives: State 3-4 objectives would you like attendees to know at the conclusion of your presentation.
• Proposal:  Your proposal submission should be between 200-500 words (excluding learning objectives and reference list). Please complete each subsection separately, but it should be written so it creates a complete and logical account of your presentation. Subsections include:
  • Introduction: Describe explanation of why your research, project/program, or the introduction of a new theory/approach was initiated.
  • Description: Include details of research methods and design, project/program, or how a new theory or approach was introduced within your practice.
  • Outcome: Explain results of your project, research study, program, or the contribution of the new theory/approach to your practice in the field.
  • Relevance to the field: Describe by this presentation is important to those who work for the educational needs of students with medical and mental conditions.
• References (if appropriate): All citations (in-text and reference list) should be in APA format.
• Presentation Format: (see descriptions above)
  • Lecture (60 minutes)
  • Poster Presentation (60 minute Q & A session)
  • Roundtable Discussion (15 minute presentation with 45 interactive discussion)
  • Panel Discussion (15 minute presentation with 30-45 minutes panel discussion 

• Presenter Biographical Information (this will not be shared during the review process). For each presenter, please include:
  • Full name
  • Credentials
  • Position Title/Organization Affiliation
  • Mailing Address
  • Telephone
  • Email
  • Professional Presentation Experience:
    • Previous HEAL presenter
    • First time presenter
    • Previous presenter at other conferences (Please list).
  • Presentation role
    • I am a speaker/poster presenter who will attend the conference
    • I am an author/contributor and will not attend the conference

• Designation of Primary Contact Person:  All communication regarding proposal submission and review will be sent to the primary contact. Again, this will not be provided during the review process.