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Mothers' mental health or substance use disorders impact the behaviours of their children both short‐term and long‐term. There is increased concern for mothers with mental health or substance use disorders to effectively handle parenting challenges. Children of these mothers are at risk for emotional and behavioural adjustment problems as well as poor academic performances. Parenting self‐agency refers to parents' perceptions of their confidence and ability to overcome barriers and manage issues in parenting. Examining the factors that predict parenting self‐agency aids in understanding how nurses can assist mothers and families. The purpose of this study was to explore predictors of parenting self‐agency among mothers who are impacted by mental health or substance use disorders. A secondary analysis was conducted using the baseline assessment data of a randomized trial that examined the efficacy of a nurse‐led family‐strengthening home‐health intervention. The data were obtained from 172 mothers who were receiving outpatient treatment for substance use or other mental health disorders and had children under 18. A multivariate linear regression analysis was conducted to find predictors of parenting self‐agency among participating mothers. The authors found that increased children's externalizing problems and intensity of hassle predicted lower parenting self‐agency, and family cohesion predicted higher parenting self‐agency. The authors conclude that treatments need to address family as a whole to increase mothers' parenting self‐agency, thus assisting these mothers in raising their children in the best possible environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose This report describes the development and dissemination of a library of English measures, with Spanish translations, on constructs relevant to social determinants of health and behavioral health outcomes. The El Centro Measures Library is a product of the Center of Excellence for Health Disparities Research: El Centro, a program funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the U.S. National Institutes of Health. The library is aimed at enhancing capacity for minority health and health disparities research, particularly for Hispanics living in the United States and abroad. Design The open-access library of measures (available through ) contains brief descriptions of each measure, scoring information (where available), links to related peer-reviewed articles, and measure items in both languages. Links to measure websites where commercially available measures can be purchased are included, as is contact information for measures that require author permission. Links to several other measures libraries are hosted on the library website. Other researchers may contribute to the library. Methods El Centro investigators began the library by electing to use a common set of measures across studies to assess demographic information, culture-related variables, proximal outcomes of interest, and major outcomes. The collection was expanded to include other health disparity research studies. In 2012, a formal process was developed to organize, expand, and centralize the library in preparation for a gradual process of dissemination to the national and international community of researchers. Findings The library currently contains 61 measures encompassing 12 categories of constructs. Thus far, the library has been accessed 8,883 times (unique page views as generated by Google Analytics), and responses from constituencies of users and measure authors have been favorable. Clinical Relevance With the paucity of availability and accessibility of translated measures, behavioral nursing research focused on reducing health disparities can benefit from repositories of research instruments such as the El Centro Measures Library. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Family Process is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Family Process is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study examined the relationship between alliance and retention in family therapy. Alliance was examined at the individual (parent, adolescent) and family level (within-family differences) for families that either dropped out or completed family therapy. Participants were 31 Hispanic adolescents and their family members who received brief strategic family therapy for the treatment of adolescent drug use. Videotapes of first sessions were rated to identify parent and adolescent alliances with the therapist. Results demonstrated that Completer cases had significantly higher levels of alliance across all family members than Dropout cases, and Dropout cases had significantly higher unbalanced alliances than Completer cases. Clinical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clinically derived hypotheses regarding treatment engagement of families of lowincome, HIV-positive, African American mothers are tested using univariate and multivariate logistic regression models. Predictors are baseline family relational factors (family support, mother's desire for involvement with family, and family hassles) and mother's history of substance dependence. The study examines a subsample of 49 mothers enrolled in a clinical trial testing the efficacy of Structural Ecosystems Therapy (SET). SET is a familybased intervention intended to relieve and prevent psychosocial distress associated with HIV/AIDS. Participants in the subsample were randomly assigned to SET and attended at least two therapy sessions. Findings reveal that family relational factors predicted family treatment engagement (family support, p <. 004; mother's desire for involvement with family, p<.008; family hassles, p <. 027). Family support predicted family treatment engagement beyond the prediction provided by the other relational factors and the mother's own treatment engagement (p <. 016). History of substance dependence was neither associated with family treatment engagement nor family support. Post hoc analyses revealed that family hassles (p <. 003)and mother's desire for involvement with family (p <. 018) were differentially related to family treatment engagement in low- versus high-support families. Implications for clinical practice and future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brief Strategic/Structural Family Therapy was implemented as an indicated prevention intervention to reduce the likelihood that African American and Hispanic youth initiated drug use. The intervention was designed to impact two important risk factors for initiation, namely behavior problems and poor family functioning. One hundred twenty-two youth, 12–14 years of age and exhibiting behavior problems, were assigned within a basic one-group pretest/posttest/follow-up design. The first important finding was that the prevention intervention was effective in significantly modifying both high-risk factors, reducing behavior problems [F(2, 120) × 32.92; p < .000] and improving family functioning [F(1, 121) × 41.8; p < .000]. A second important finding was that both high-risk variables targeted were statistically significant predictors of initiation nine months later. A third important finding was that for a small subset of youth who entered the program already using, overall use was significantly decreased [t(22) × 2.11, p < .05]. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes a theoretically based structural family assessment procedure designed for use in evaluating therapy outcome. The standardized procedure for eliciting family interaction consists of the administration of three family tasks. The family's interactional patterns on the tasks are evaluated along six dimensions of structural family functioning: Structure, Flexibility, Resonance, Developmental Stage, Identified Patienthood, and Conflict Resolution. A manual has been developed for standardizing ratings for research applications. The measure demonstrated good interrater and internal consistency reliability. Available evidence for the content, factor, and construct validity of the measure is presented. Clinical outcome research studies conducted with the measure provide evidence that the measure is sensitive to different types of structural family intervention modalities and that it discriminates between a structural family intervention versus a no treatment/wait list control condition as well as between a structural family intervention versus an individual psychotherapy treatment modality. Finally, the measure has been demonstrated to be nonreactive under both treatment and wait list conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study that discusses the extended parent-child separations, and the impact on substance-abusing Hispanic adolescents in the U.S. The purposes of this study are to explore some of the clinical characteristics that appear to be associated with these separations and to discuss some of the important clinical implications for nurses as well as other healthcare disciplines.