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In the past 2 decades, social work education has increasingly advocated for inclusion of trauma-related content in educational programming. Yet, to date, little is known about the current state of trauma education and training in social work programs. The aim of this study is to describe trauma education and training in accredited, North American social work programs. The data are from an online survey of 192 social work educators from 165 universities with accredited social work programs in the United States (n=151) and Canada (n=14). Participants were asked whether trauma-specific education is offered, and if so, to provide the formats used to deliver the content, the type of curriculum used, and evaluation efforts. Most programs (67.9%) reported integrating trauma education into existing courses, with 61.4% of BSW programs and 65.4% of MSW programs offering some form of trauma education. Results suggest that social work educators are recognizing the importance of including trauma education in their programming. However, more evaluation is needed to identify specific trauma content being presented.

To contribute to best practices in educating social work students on environmental justice, we report the results of a study evaluating a module that was incorporated into the course Human Behavior and the Social Environment (HBSE). A mixed-methods design was used to examine student attitudes toward environmental justice. Participants were 61 Master of Social Work students from three cohorts. The students provided pre- and posttest responses to the Climate Change Attitude Survey. Students also offered 33 comments in response to an open-ended question about views on climate change. Overall, findings revealed increases in beliefs that climate change is negatively affecting the environment and that this change has a disproportionately negative effect on populations served by social workers. Feedback indicated students viewed the module as contributing to their learning. Results suggest that integrating environmental justice content into core courses like HBSE is a promising approach to strengthening environmental justice education in social work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Lack of engagement in child welfare services is a salient issue impeding client outcomes. Research findings indicate that providing incentives may be a promising strategy for enhancing client engagement. Objective: In response to low youth engagement and repeated re-entry into care, a Southeastern child welfare agency developed an incentive program aimed at increasing youths' participation and success in meeting treatment goals. This mixed methods study examined elements of effective implementation and the effectiveness of the incentive program piloted in a group home serving adolescent boys (n = 16). Method: A semi-structured focus group with service providers (n = 7) was used to inform the development of the pilot incentive program. We used a time-series design to measure youth perceptions of the therapeutic alliance with their therapists and weekly goal attainment. Baseline data was collected for 6 weeks (phase one) followed by 6 weeks of the incentive program (phase two). Results: Results of qualitative analyses revealed four themes related to therapeutic engagement, and two themes related to intervention implementation. Providers emphasized the importance of youth-driven care and building a strong therapeutic alliance. Findings also suggest that staff buy-in is critical to the success of intervention implementation. These results, along with suggested strategies for effective implementation, informed the development of the piloted incentive program. Results of simulation modeling analyses of time series data showed significant increases in therapeutic alliances and goal attainment following the incentive program. Conclusions: This study provides preliminary support for the use of incentive programs to facilitate youth engagement in residential programs.

We examined the Life Model of residential care for trauma-affected foster youth with life-skill deficits. Staff interviews described implementation. The Community-Oriented Programs Environment Scale, completed by youth and staff, assessed the care environment. The Child Assessment of Needs and Strengths, the Life Assessment, and discharge data were available for 42 youth. Results from the COPES indicated moderate-high scores on relationship, personal growth, and system maintenance. Paired-samples t-tests showed improvements in functioning, behavioral/emotional needs, and strengths. RMANOVAs of the Life Assessment showed youth experienced growth in spirituality/culture, education, vocation, and overall development. Most youth discharged to family-based placements or independent living. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a trauma-informed approach that was adapted for psychiatric residential treatment (PRT) for children aged 5-17. Methods: Data were extracted from case files of 100 youths who received traditional PRT and 105 youths who received trauma-informed PRT (TI-PRT). Outcome measures included change in functional impairment, physical restraints and locked seclusion room incidents, length of time in care, and discharge placement type. Results: Results of a repeated measures analysis of variance demonstrated that youth who received TI-PRT experienced greater improvements in functional impairment. Results of a zero-inflated Poisson showed that youth in TI-PRT had fewer seclusion room incidents. Finally, the average length of time in care was significantly shorter for the TI-PRT group. Discussion: The results support trauma-informed PRT as a promising approach for helping youth achieve greater stability in functioning and for addressing issues of long-standing concern in residential care settings.

Although most youth served in residential group care are adolescents, empirical theories indicate that youth needs vary at different stages of adolescent development. These differences likely impact adolescents' experiences and, ultimately, responses to treatment; a neglected research topic that may have implications for residential placement and services. This study explored youth experiences in residential care at different stages of adolescence. A descriptive qualitative content analysis from a sample of 103 youths was used to classify open-ended text into categories among early, middle, and late adolescents. Comments showed similarities and differences across developmental stages in six categories—general views on placement, relationships, needs and supports, safety, autonomy and control, and growth and development. Youth in late adolescents were more contemplative about their time in residential care, with comments reflecting a need for more autonomy, while expressing how residential care has helped with future endeavors and goal planning. Middle and early adolescents' experiences were more varied. Early adolescents focused on relationships outside of care and discussed support needs differently, compared to middle and late adolescents. Our findings suggest that experiences in residential placements differ in important ways across stages of adolescent development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent federal legislation strengthens children's and families' rights to family-centered practice by increasing the responsibility of child welfare agencies to identify and engage extended family members in providing care and support to children placed out of the home. Preliminary results from an experimental study of a federally funded family finding project found greater involvement of family, kin, and informal supports and a higher likelihood of reunification or relative placement compared with standard child welfare services. (Contains 4 tables.)

Objectives: To identify classes of heart failure (HF) caregivers based upon indicators of coping resources and stress, and then, to examine the relationships between the identified caregiver classes and depression, caregiver burden, and life changes. Methods: Cross-sectional data from 530 HF caregivers were analyzed in this secondary analysis using a three-step latent class mixture model to classify caregivers based on level of resources and examine the relationship between the identified classes and depression, caregiver burden, and life changes. Using an online survey, caregivers reported on social support, problem-solving, family function, depression, caregiver burden, and life changes. Results: Caregivers were 41.39 (± 10.38) years of age, 49.1% women, 78.3% white, 77.6% urban-dwelling, and 61.7% college/postgraduate educated. Three classes of caregivers (42.3% Adequately Resourced, 25.1% At Risk for Decompensation, 32.6% Inadequately Resourced) were identified. Inadequately Resourced caregivers had the lowest levels of social support, problem-solving, and family function and the highest levels of depression and caregiver burden. Caregivers At Risk for Decompensation had the best family function and reported the most positive perceptions of life changes despite low levels of social support and problem-solving. Conclusion: Social support, problem-solving, and family function are modifiable coping resources which may buffer stress and influence stress indicators. Caregivers with few coping resources may experience higher degrees of depression and burden, and less positive perceptions of life changes. More research is needed to examine the influence of these coping resources on caregiver adaptation to facilitate the development of targeted interventions which support caregiver mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parenting characteristics can have a significant influence on how children are affected by family violence. The purpose of this study was to explore the role women's parenting stress plays in the relationship between exposure to physical and psychological intimate partner violence (IPV) and children's externalizing and internalizing behavior problems. Data for this study were taken from three waves of the Illinois Families Study. The final sample included 1,653 children from 805 families. Structural equation modeling analyses were conducted across two developmental stages in order to better understand the unique relationships based on child development. For children ages 6-12 years, parenting stress mediated the relationship between exposure to psychological IPV and internalizing behaviors. No direct or indirect pathways between exposure to IPV and children's behavior problems were found among adolescents ages 13-17. Implications for social service interventions with children and families exposed to violence are included. Keywords Physical victimization * Psychological victimization * Maternal stress * Externalizing behavior * Internalizing behavior * Family violence, Despite increasing awareness over several decades, intimate partner violence (IPV) continues to be a significant societal problem with devastating consequences for women and children (El-Mouelhy 2004; Wood 2005). Compared to [...]

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsat.2009.03.007 Byline: Douglas C. Smith (a), Shamra Boel-Studt (b), Leah Cleeland (a) Keywords: Parental consent; Drug abuse; Alcohol abuse; Clinical trials; Adolescents Abstract: No systematic review has focused on parental consenting procedures used in adolescent substance abuse treatment outcomes research. To address this gap, we examined parental consenting procedures in adolescent outcome studies (n = 34) published between 1980 and 2007. Although parental consent was required in 89% of adolescent treatment outcome studies we reviewed, consenting procedures were not routinely reported. We argue that parental consenting procedures should be routinely reported as a methodological feature of adolescent treatment outcome studies and, given concerns about sample bias in adolescent risk behavior research when parental consent is required, encourage outcomes researchers in this area to prospectively study the impact of consenting procedures on both the study participation rates and substance use reporting. Author Affiliation: (a) University of Illinois, IL, USA (b) University of Iowa, IA, USA Article History: Received 20 November 2008; Revised 6 February 2009; Accepted 2 March 2009

Behavioral health issues are prevalent among child welfare-involved parents. Despite associations with parenting challenges and maltreatment, parents' behavioral health conditions often go untreated. In this study, we explore challenges with addressing behavioral health needs of parents involved in the child welfare system. Focus groups with child welfare and behavioral health providers were conducted to explore gaps and opportunities to enhance behavioral health care for child-welfare involved parents. Three themes were identified: parental motivation and buy-in, behavioral health assessments and screenings, and communication and service coordination. Implications for policy and practice include increased training on measurement-based care and effective cross-system collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known about heart failure (HF) caregiver self-care. This article reports a secondary analysis of data from a cross-sectional, descriptive study involving 530 HF caregivers. A three-step latent class mixture model identified HF caregiver classes at risk for poor self-care and examined the relationship between the identified self-care classes and caregiver burden and depression. Caregivers completed online surveys on self-care, caregiver burden, depression, problem-solving, social support, and family function. Caregivers were 41.39 (±10.38) years old, 78.3% Caucasian, and 50.9% men. Three classes of HF caregivers (24% Low-Risk, 24.9% Moderate-Risk, 51.1% High-Risk) were identified. High-Risk caregivers had the worst self-care and the lowest levels of social support, problem-solving, and family function. Moderate-Risk caregivers were the most experienced and had the best self-care yet had the most comorbidities. High-Risk caregivers reported more caregiver burden and depression. "At-risk" caregivers may benefit from self-care and support programs, but more research is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to introduce the Family Resilience Inventory (FRI) and present findings on initial efforts to validate this measure. The FRI is designed to assess family resilience in one's current family and in one's family of origin, enabling the assessment of family protective factors across these generations. The development of the FRI was the result of many years of ethnographic research with Southeastern Native American tribes; yet, we believe that this scale is applicable to families of various backgrounds. Items for the FRI were derived directly from thematic analysis of qualitative data with 436 participants, resulting in two 20‐item scales. Due to missing data, eight cases were removed from the 127 participants across two tribes, resulting in an analytic sample size of 119. Conceptually, the FRI is comprised of two factors or scales measuring distinct dimensions of family resilience (i.e., resilience in one's current family and resilience in one's family of origin). The results of the confirmatory factor analysis supported the hypothesized two‐factor structure (X2(644) = 814.14, p =.03, X2/df = 1.10, RMSEA =.03, CFI =.97, TLI =.96). Both the subscales and the total FRI scale (α =.92) demonstrated excellent reliability. The results also provided preliminary evidence of convergent and discriminant validity. This measure fills a gap in the absence of community‐based, culturally grounded, and empirical measures of family resilience. The examination of family resilience, which may occur across generations, is an exciting new contribution of the FRI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increased emphasis on accountability at the federal and state levels, efforts to identify and address issues impacting the quality and effectiveness of residential care programs are needed. Establishing quality practice standards with measurable performance indicators is a useful means for promoting and evaluating the quality of care in residential programs and informing a process of continuous quality improvement. In this article, we describe a state-wide initiative to enhance the quality of residential group care in Florida. Specifically, we describe efforts to establish a set of quality standards for residential programs and to operationalize the standards by developing and piloting an assessment designed to measure the extent to which group home practices align with the standards. In addition to describing steps taken, we highlight important conceptual and practical considerations for translating standards generated from extant research, best practices, and field experts into clearly defined domains and measurable standards that can be meaningfully transported into a complex practice setting. Finally, we discuss lessons learned and recommendations that may guide similar efforts beyond the state of Florida. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]