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Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of a gender-specific intervention targeted to adolescent males to reduce sexual risks. Method This study used a randomized clinical trial comparing a broad-based male empowerment curriculum with a no-treatment control group. The sample ( N = 580) was recruited from schools and was implemented in community-based settings mostly in an after-school context. Assessments were conducted at baseline, postintervention, and 3 months follow-up time periods. Results There were significant differences between the two groups favoring the intervention group on several of the outcome indicators, including condom technical skills, attitudes toward women, social skills, peer assertiveness, and attitudes toward consent. Quality of implementation was rated high, and qualitative data suggest themes that reflect key lessons emphasized in the curriculum. Conclusions Gender-specific programs for adolescent males can help reduce indicators that are related to sexual risk reduction. More long-term follow-up is needed to assess impact on sexual behaviors. Efforts directed at male populations should continue to be researched for potential in reducing sexual risks.

Purpose: Studies have found that writing with self-compassion about a stressful event helps promote mental health in college students and nonclinical populations. Using a randomized controlled trial, this study investigated whether a self-compassion writing intervention would lead to increases in self-compassion and proactive coping and reductions in mental health symptoms in a sample of individuals with mental illness. Method: Individuals with mental disorders were recruited and randomly assigned to a treatment condition in which participants wrote with self-compassion or a control condition where participants wrote about how they spent their time. Outcome measures were administered at pretest, after the 3-day intervention, and 1 month later. Results: Both the treatment and control groups showed significant improvements in self-compassion, proactive coping, mental health, and physical health. Discussion: Overall, the results suggest both self-compassion writing and writing about how one spends one’s time may be beneficial for individuals with mental illness.

The time from conception to young childhood is crucial in terms of brain-, social-, emotional-, and cognitive-development. Given the impact that parenting has on child developmental outcomes, home-visiting programs may be a viable means of improving parenting and thus increasing positive child developmental outcomes. Parents as Teachers (PAT) is a home visitation program that promotes parenting skills and abilities to improve parenting skills and child development outcomes. The current study used a matched comparison group quasi-experimental design and assessed three years of academic and school disciplinary data from a school district in Arizona to determine the impact of PAT on student reading, math, and English Language skills as well as absence rates and school suspension rates relative to a non-PAT group of students. Further, the study examined whether the program influenced parenting behavior. Findings indicated that compared to the non-PAT control group, the PAT student group performed better in terms of reading and math achievement and had a significantly lower rate of absenteeism, in-school-suspensions, and out-of-school-suspension. Further, PAT parents showed increased scores on parenting measures at post-test relative to pre-test. Taken together, findings indicate that participation in the PAT program is a viable means for improving child academic outcomes and school behavior and improving parenting behavior. Implications for future research are discussed.

Home visitation has the potential to improve parent, child, and maternal outcomes and has become a widely implemented prevention program across the United States. The purpose of this research was to use a randomized controlled trial to assess the short-term effectiveness of the Arizona Healthy Families program across a range of outcomes. Two hundred and forty-five families were randomly assigned to the experimental group (Healthy Families) or control group (Child Development assessment only). Results revealed significant findings across four domains including safety and resources, parenting attitudes and behaviors, health and maternal outcomes, and mental health and coping. These results were further corroborated with an analysis of qualitative findings that analyzed linguistic differences between how the treatment and control group described their parenting. These results add to the existing literature on the effectiveness of the Healthy Families model of home visitation.

Background The public view of the social problem of child abuse and neglect plays a key role in determining individuals’ willingness to report cases of child maltreatment. The present study focuses on examining current public knowledge and opinions on child maltreatment reporting. Our research also explores the factors that the public find most important in affecting and preventing child maltreatment. Objective A public opinion survey of a diverse population of Americans regarding their knowledge, understanding, and perspectives about child maltreatment and the best methods to address this social problem. Participants and methods: The study included a convenience sample of 1080 respondents from across the United States. Surveys were administered using an online crowdsourcing platform. Results The public demonstrated they were generally well-informed about many aspects of child maltreatment, yet they have many concerns about reporting child maltreatment. Conclusions It was evident that society believes social programs can impact child maltreatment; a majority of the sample indicated that child maltreatment can be prevented and would be in favor of making a tax donation toward child abuse prevention. The results showpublic support for more services as an opportunity to take preventative action against child abuse.

Home visitation research remains on the forefront as policy makers look to evidence for programs they believe are worthy of investment, particularly in terms of child abuse prevention. A randomized controlled trial (N = 245) of the Healthy Families Arizona home visitation program was conducted. Outcomes were assessed across several key domains related to child abuse and neglect: safety and resources, parenting attitudes and behaviors, health and maternal outcomes, and mental health and coping. Findings revealed significant differences between the groups at both 6-month and 1-year follow-up assessments on use of resources, mobilizing resources, home environment, subsequent pregnancy, positive affect, and problem solving favoring the Healthy Families group. A significant difference was also found between the groups on total violence measured at the 1-year follow-up favoring the Healthy Families group. A qualitative linguistic inquiry and word count analysis was conducted of parent’s descriptions of their children and their parenting experiences. Results again revealed significant differences between the groups in narrative descriptions that favored the Healthy Families group. Implications of these findings are discussed in light of the existing evidence for home visitation programs.

Logic models have become a critical feature of program planning and evaluation. Using a logic model framework provides a visual summary that shows the relationship between the program’s resources, activities, outputs, and outcomes. The logic model is a tool that helps individuals see the interrelationships between the different components of a program. By using logic models, program planners and evaluators can more effectively examine a program’s theory and logic. The logic model tool highlights the program’s underlying theory, the service activities, and the organizational structure for accomplishing program outcomes. The process of developing a logic model assists developers and evaluators and other stakeholders in understanding a program’s assumptions and evaluating the logical links between what programs are doing and the outcomes they hope to achieve. Because of their utility logic, models have become widely used in social service programs.

The authors discuss the role of acculturation in communication between Hispanic American parents and their teenage children regarding sexual health. They mention the levels of acculturation affecting the amount and content of communication, the desire of teenagers to avoid conflict or discomfort in talking to their parents, and the importance of considering acculturation levels going forward.

Purpose. Adolescent females continue to face health consequences associated with risky sexual behaviors such as unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of a gender-specific intervention targeted to early adolescent females. Method. This study used an intent to treat randomized clinical trial comparing a broad-based female empowerment curriculum with a dose-matched science and technology female leadership curriculum. The sample ( N = 801) was recruited from schools and was implemented in community-based settings mostly in an after school context. Assessments were conducted at baseline, postintervention, 6-, and 18-month follow-up time periods. Results. Both groups in the study obtained good implementation and engagement. The average attendance rate was 81% of program sessions. There were significant differences between the two groups favoring the intervention group on measures of sexually transmitted disease knowledge and condom technical skills. On a measure of condom self-efficacy, there was a significant trend. At the postassessment, there was a significant difference on the intentions to reduce sexual risk behaviors. Both the intervention and control groups made gains on the self-assertive behavior scale. Conclusions. Gender-specific programs for early adolescent females can help reduce indicators that are related to sexual risk reduction. More long-term follow-up is needed to assess impact on sexual behaviors. Efforts directed at a younger population of females should continue to be researched for potential in reducing sexual risks.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to evaluate breastfeeding practices of teen mothers in a pre- and postnatal education and support program. Study design and methods We studied breastfeeding practices of primarily Hispanic and non-Hispanic White teen mothers who participated in the Teen Outreach Pregnancy Services (TOPS) program, which promoted breastfeeding through prenatal programming and postpartum support. Analyses identified the most common reasons participants had not breastfed and, for those who initiated breastfeeding, the most common reasons they stopped. Results Participants (g = 314) reported on whether and for how long they breastfed. Nearly all participants reported initiating breastfeeding but few breastfed to 6 months. For the most part, reasons they reported stopping breastfeeding paralleled those previously reported for adult mothers across the first several months of motherhood. Clinical implications We found that teen mothers can initiate breastfeeding at high rates. Results highlight areas in which teen mothers' knowledge and skills can be supported to promote breastfeeding duration, including pain management and better recognizing infant cues. Our findings expand limited previous research investigating reasons that teen mothers who initiate breastfeeding stop before 6 months.

Changes in the mechanisms of communication and advances in brain imaging technology shape understanding and interpretation of the manner in which adolescents process and respond to information and relate to others. Knowledge about how trends in adolescent development should inform practice with adolescents is limited, and yet emerging trends and new discoveries have implications for adolescent relationships, behavior, and well-being. Our purpose was to critically examine the influence of major technological innovations on adolescent development and the impacts on research and practice with vulnerable adolescent populations. We discuss strategies for researchers and practitioners.

Social work practice emerges from research conducted with outcome studies that attempt to capture the “change” that social work services are designed to influence. However, it is unclear the extent to which social workers are prioritizing, and thereby producing, publications that investigate this change. We find that both the number and the percentage (relative to other methods) of outcome studies published in core social work journals show a strong positive upward trend from 2000 to 2004 and then a downward trend from 2004 to 2011; both of these publication trends were lower in 2010 and 2011 than they were in 2001. Some journals publish significantly more outcome studies than other journals. The social work profession is most interested in results that can be readily used by social work practitioners; thus, the profession should focus on increasing the rate of outcome studies being published in social work journals.

Research has shown groups are an efficient and effective modality for interventions with school-aged children. Psychoeducational and psychotherapeutic groups are frequently used to guide children in areas such as skills training, emotional regulation, violence prevention, and grief. There are key developmental questions to consider when working with children that take into consideration factors such as cognitive development and emotional maturity. Overall, groups can be an efficient and effective intervention in the school setting for use by school social workers.

This study explores the American public's knowledge and perception of both the foster care system and foster parents, while examining the public's opinion of the foster care system's importance relative to other national social issues. Using random digit dialing techniques, this study asked 301 nationally representative respondents to complete a survey seeking their general knowledge and perception of the foster care system. Respondents revealed a largely positive attitude toward the foster care system, but the majority also believed that the system needed change and reform. Additionally, the results of this study reflected respondents' positive opinions regarding the motivations of foster parents while acknowledging some concern regarding the idea of financial compensation for foster parents. Respondents indicated a larger body of knowledge regarding the foster care system than was initially expected. However, when comparing the foster care system to other national social issues, respondents consistently placed the foster care system as less important and less serious than other social issues.

The Healthy Families Parenting Inventory (HFPI) is a 63-item outcome measure that was designed to examine change in nine parenting-related domains. The HFPI was developed to respond to the need for an outcome measure for home visitation programs that is relevant to the intervention, sensitive to change, and appropriate with a diverse participant base, and would produce data that are immediately useful in practice. The authors detail the steps in the development and initial validation of the HFPI. The pattern of inter-item and item-to-subscale correlations as well as an exploratory factor analysis and sensitivity to change analysis support the nine-factor model of the HFPI.

article i nfo Article history: The purpose of this paper was to examine the effectiveness of home visiting as a means of improving parental, child, and maternal outcomes and preventing child abuse and neglect. A randomized controlled trial was conducted in a large southwestern metropolitan area. One hundred and ninety-five women were randomly assigned to the Healthy Families Arizona experimental or control conditions. Significant results favoring the experimental group in contrast to the control group were found on some measures in each of five domains including violent parenting behavior, parenting attitudes and practices, parenting support, mental health and coping, and maternal outcomes.

The field of home visitation to prevent child abuse and neglect provides a good example of issues in outcome measurement that have not undergone sufficient critique. Some frequently used measures being used as outcome assessments have not been specifically designed for outcome measurement and therefore have limitations. In particular, some of these measures are not well equipped to document changes that are intended to result from intervention programs. Outcome measurement in home visitation can be improved with more attention to measurement issues.

This article addresses efforts to build social work research in a manner consistent with good science and research. A critical perspective is applied to examine what does not work in building knowledge and how social work research can address factors that limit knowledge building. A critical perspective is imperative to social work knowledge building but this perspective has not been adequately understood and applied to the research enterprise. Research is a difficult enterprise and building knowledge— knowledge that has an impact—is especially difficult. Rather than discuss what "works" in building social work research, my aim in this article is to focus on what does not work— failures in building research capacity, research thinking, and research training that effectively builds knowledge. The notion that we can effectively build social work research and capacity, which has an impact on knowledge building, is an ambitious assumption. Much can be learned from a better understanding of the limitations in attempting to achieve this goal and from a critique that will provide better ways to conceptualize and design social work research for effective knowledge building.

Although some academic scholars have called for adoption of evidence-based practice (EBP) as a unifying model for social work education and practice, controversies with the EBP approach for the social work profession still need to be examined. Some of the limitations of EBP to be recognized and addressed before recommending broad changes within social work education are described. Conceptual and definitional limitations include following a medical model, privileging certain types of evidence, and downplaying the importance of theory. Implementation and feasibility limitations include sorting the complexity of research information and providing necessary practice grounding and supervision to facilitate knowledge application. Dialogue on the role of EBP in social work education must continue.

This qualitative study of 46 randomly selected participants of a home visitation program explores current participants' perceptions of the intake process, the program's purpose, and the relationship between the home visitor and the participant. The findings reveal that the participant and home visitor relationship is a central feature of the program. Not only do participants relate their personal achievements to the quality of their relationship with their home visitor, but through a positive relationship with the mother, the home visitor is able to address parenting behaviors that are harmful to the child. These findings are important in that prior research has questioned the ability of strength-based home visitation programs to address major risk factors for child maltreatment. Recommendations are made for improving the intake process so that fewer parents will experience initially negative reactions to home visitation.

Statistical methods are the hallmark of quantitative research. Examining whether a result is statistically significant is standard content in social work research statistics courses. In all of social science, statistical significance testing has been the accepted procedure for examining results. Despite ongoing efforts aimed at encouraging researchers to report some index of magnitude that is not directly affected by sample size--for example, effect size statistical significance testing appears to remain the standard. In 1994, the APA Publication Manual provided "encouragement" to authors to report effect sizes with little impact (see for example Keselman et al., 1998; Kirk, 1996; Thompson & Snyder, 1998). The current Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (2001) states that "it is almost always necessary to include some index of effect size or strength of relationship" (p. 25). This position was influenced by the APA Task Force on Statistical Methods that recommended researchers report alpha levels and effect sizes (Wilkinson T Vacha-Haase & Thompson, 2004). Indeed, some journal editors, especially in psychology, now require authors to report effect size measures (Harris, 2003; Snyder, 2000; Trusty, Thompson, & Petrocelli, 2004). The reporting of effect size measures is also increasing in social work journals, however, it is still common to find studies void of effect size indices (for example, Claiborne, 2006; Engelhardt, Toseland, Goa, & Banks, 2006; Padgett, Gulcur, & Tsemberis, 2006; Perry, 2006). There do not appear to be any social work journals that require effect size reporting. Whereas many researchers are familiar with the use of effect size measures for power estimation and sample size determination, they are less familiar with using such measures to interpret their findings. Many researchers fail to understand that there are different types of effect size measures with different methods of calculation within each type and that the interpretation of effect size varies depending on the measure used. The purpose of this column is to further the basic understanding of effect size measures: what they mean, how they differ, and to suggest one way of presenting outcome data for easier interpretation. It is because effect sizes are becoming part and parcel of the social science research enterprise that they must be clearly understood. In particular, this column is focused on the use of effect size measures when presenting the results of intervention research. THE BASICS Measures of effect size provide critically different information than alpha levels. This is because effect size addresses the practical importance of the results as assessed by the magnitude of the effect. It is well known that one can obtain a statistically significant result that is not practically significant. One basic misunderstanding in statistical analysis is thinking that an observed p value that is considered highly significant, for example p = .0001, also reflects a large effect. The p value simply represents the likelihood that a finding is due to chance or sampling error and reveals nothing about the size of the effect. One important reason to use effect size measures is that they can help the researcher consider the importance of his or her findings apart from statistical significance. This degree of analysis is too often neglected, as reflected in comments by Abelson (1995), who noted that statistical significance tests should be used for "guidance rather than sanctification" (p. 9). Rosenthal and colleagues (2000) demonstrated how effect sizes can be used in conjunction with significance levels to arrive at an inference. …

Guided by an integrated theory of parent participation, this study examines the role community characteristics play in influencing a parent's decision to use voluntary child abuse prevention programs. Multiple regression techniques were used to determine if different community characteristics, such as neighborhood distress and the community's ratio of caregivers to those in need of care, predict service utilization levels in a widely available home visiting program. Our findings suggest that certain community characteristics are significant predictors of the extent to which families utilize voluntary family supports over and above the proportion of variance explained by personal characteristics and program experiences. Contrary to our initial assumptions, however, new parents living in the most disorganized communities received more home visits than program participants living in more organized communities. The article concludes with recommendations on how community capacity building might be used to improve participant retention.

This exploratory study examined gender differences in the patterns of drug offers among a sample of 71 American Indian middle school students. Participants responded to an inventory of drug-related problem situations specific to the cultural contexts of Southwestern American Indian youth. They were asked to consider the frequency of drug offers from specific groups in their social networks and the difficulty associated with refusing drugs from various offerers. The results indicated that female and male American Indian youth differ in the degree of exposure to drug offers and the degree of perceived difficulty in handling such offers. Even after controlling for differences in age, grade level, socioeconomic status, family structure, and residence on a reservation, girls reported significantly more drug offers from friends, cousins, and other peers than did boys. Compared to boys, girls also reported a significantly higher sense of difficulty in dealing with drug offers from all sources.

To better understand the potential impacts of federal Abstinence-Only Education (AOE) funds in preventing teen pregnancy, the current study measured the specific content of Title V AOE programs, and the relationships between program content and adolescents’ pretest to posttest changes for 11 outcome indicators. Program content areas were coded for number of minutes spent on each of 71 specific topics (e.g., what it means to be a parent, dating behavior, sexual refusal skills) that were collapsed to 14 more general content areas. Both personal characteristics and program elements were significant predictors of participants’ changes from pretest to posttest on the outcome scales. However, personal characteristics accounted for substantially more variability than program elements. Overall, females were more responsive to the variability in AOE program messages than males.

Objective: The primary purpose of this study was to use an ecological assessment model to obtain a better understanding of difficult situations that home visitors confront when implementing home visitation services. Method: A mixed method study was used which included conducting focus groups to identify specific situations faced by home visitors who implement the Healthy Families America model of child abuse and neglect prevention. The results of the focus groups were used to design a survey. The survey had 91 Healthy Families home visitors rate situations according to frequency and difficulty. Results: The results revealed that situations that were ranked most difficult included working with families where there are limited resources, where family mental illness is present (e.g., threatening suicide), where there is substance use in the home, and where families are unmotivated. A factor analysis of the situations produced five factors that reflect the difficulty of doing home visitation: having a lack of clinical skill, addressing family difficulties, addressing parenting difficulties, resolving personal difficulties, and having a lack of experience. Conclusion: The situations identified in this study can assist in developing the competencies needed by home visitors. The factor analysis results can be conceptualized into an inventory for staff supervision, with workers completing the inventory to identify individual areas of training needs.

This article describes the process of building an effective primary prevention program using existing knowledge about developmental processes of adolescent girls. While many programs are described as ‘‘empirically based,’’ the process of developing an empirically based program often goes unreported. Using a primary prevention program for early adolescent girls, this article describes the cumulative results over time. Results are presented for three phases of program development: pilot testing, quasi-experimental design, and randomized design. Each phase contributed to the next development of the program. Results from the pilot testing enhanced the program’s design and delivery. Results from the quasi-experimental design established some preliminary results on selected measures. Finally, the randomized study documented change on various outcome measures that improved upon the previous quasi-experimental design. Results revealed significant improvement in the treatment group and significant differences between the treatment and control groups on the key outcome measures. The study suggests that a primary or universal prevention program can produce meaningful effects. [Brief Treatment and Crisis Intervention 5:75–84 (2005)]

This article is an evaluation of a preventive intervention developed for early adolescent girls. The 12-session curriculum was designed to address developmental tasks considered critical for the healthy psychosocial development of early adolescent girls in contemporary society. The program content included the following units: being a girl in today’s society, establishing a positive self image, establishing independence, making and keeping friends, learning to obtain help and find access to resources, and planning for the future. A total of 118 participants were recruited from middle schools and randomly assigned to a treatment (N = 59 )o r control group (N = 59) condition. The effects of the intervention were assessed using eight different measures such as body image, self efficacy, and attitude toward attractiveness. Results revealed significant improvement in the treatment group and significant differences between the treatment and control group on the key outcome measures. The study suggests that a “universal” prevention program can produce meaningful effects. Editors’ Strategic Implications: This paper details a strategy that shows promise. The author builds an argument for a developmentally appropriate prevention program that is broadly focused on positive development for early adolescent girls. Using an ethnically diverse sample and an experimental, pre-post design, short-term changes in some domains (e.g., self efficacy, body image) emerged for the experimental group. This prevention program awaits comparisons with other health promotion programs for girls and further validation with psychometrically established measures, larger samples across sites, and tests of longer-term impact on behavior and functioning.

This study examined difficult situations related to drug and alcohol use as identified by American Indian youth in the South-west. Sixty-two contextually based items were developed from focus group data, and were administered to 71 American Indian youth. The items measured the frequency in which youth experienced specific drug-related situations, as well as the perceived difficulty in resisting drug use offers in those situations: The results indicated that the most frequent and difficult drug and alcohol situations occurred primarily with friends or cousins at their homes or after school. Implications for culturally specific assessment, prevention, and treatment are discussed.

Social work is still a relatively young profession. In the years since the founding of Hull House and the work done by social work s earliest pioneers, things have changed in this society. Although the current problems of today's disenfranchised people continue to have much in common with the problems of early immigrants settling in large urban areas where modern social work began, much else is different. Today, the areas of practice encompassed by social work are broader. It is possible to find social workers in all segments of the private and public sectors. Only a few decades ago, it would have been the exception to find a social worker in private practice of working in industry; now these are frequent phenomena. Also, other factors have changed the environment in which this practice is carried out. Managed care and sweeping changes to the welfare system have introduced elements into social work that could not have been imagined 20 years ago. Moreover, modern representations of social work and social workers in the popular media often do not compliment or support the profession. A critical consequence of these changes over the past several decades is that they have influenced how the public perceives and understands social work as a profession. Why is this influence critical, and why is it so important to know what the public thinks of social work? Social workers have shown concern for their public image since the very beginnings of professionalism (Lubov, 1965) and have had good reason for doing so. Historically, social workers have been guardians of the vulnerable and disenfranchised members of society. Social work has exemplified the value of caring for those less fortunate. Thus, if the general public is confused, uninformed, or even hostile toward social work, the profession is less able to fulfill its mission of helping those in need. According to Vogt (1994), people are motivated to make changes on a group's behalf only if they like and approve of the group. Mere tolerance is not enough to motivate people toward change; rather, change demands public approval. Adding to this notion, it has been pointed out that as long as stigmatized groups (like social workers and their clients) are viewed negatively in this society, people will not attempt to change discriminatory practices or oppressive policies that are detrimental to these groups (Allport, 1935; Linton, 1945). When the public's approval of social work wanes, recruitment into the profession suffers, as does the professional credibility of social workers in both the public eye and in the eyes of other professionals. Finally, given that the public is the primary consumer of services that social workers offer, how it views social work is vital to its acceptance of social work services, as well as the policy positions supported by social workers. For all of these reasons, it is important to examine what the public thinks of social work today so that we might influence social work's image and the public's opinion tomorrow. In 1978 a survey was conducted that examined how the public viewed social work (Condie, Hanson, Lang, Moss, & Kane, 1978). The researchers pointed out that earlier studies of public opinion conducted in the 1950s had concluded that the public was unclear about what social workers did (Weinberger, 1967). Thus, the researchers endeavored to find out if public opinion had changed since that time. Four U.S. communities were surveyed to determine the level of public knowledge about social work, including whether the public was aware of newer as well as traditional social work roles and if certain demographic and other variables were associated with a specific response pattern. Results indicated that in the 1970s the public had a greater awareness of social work roles than it did in the 1950s, with more respondents being aware that social workers function in a variety of roles. However, given that the percentage identifying erroneous roles (such as legal advisor) did not differ significantly from the percentage identifying correct roles (such as group therapist) and because the stereotyped image of the social worker as "child protector" continued to predominate, the researchers concluded that the public was only marginally able to accurately identify social work roles. …

An increase in the number of juveniles entering the juvenile justice system in the past 10 years has heightened the demand for rehabilitation services. Because the demand for rehabilitative services is greater than resources allow, efforts are underway to predict who is a high risk for recidivism so that services may be focused on these juveniles, while reducing efforts to those who are low-risk. In addition, statistical risk prediction is intended to infuse the decision-making process with greater equity and objectivity because the same factors are considered for every juvenile. This article describes the use of statistical risk prediction for first-time juvenile offenders. Suggestions for implementation are provided based on lessons learned from this research.

A recidivism risk instrument was developed and validated on a sample of juvenile offenders (N = 1,987) based on the need to classify juveniles by their likelihood of re-offense. Female recidivism (R(2) = 27%) was predicted by younger age at first expulsion from school, history of parent incarceration, gang involvement, felony class offense, and firearm use. Male recidivism (R(2) = 12%) was predicted by younger age at first adjudication, referrals, school suspensions, history of maternal incarceration, firearm use, running away, gang involvement, and destroying property/stealing. Cross-validation analyses indicated that high-risk offenders recidivated at more than five times the rate of low-risk offenders.

While adolescent substance use has been the focus of extensive research over the last few decades, Hispanic adolescent substance use has received only limited attention. Studies exploring predictors of Hispanic adolescent substance use have failed to adequately explore the contribution of the family on substance use. The present study examined the relative influence of family, school and peer influences, perceived student substance use, family substance use, and acculturation on a sample of Mexican-American early adolescents using structural equations modeling. The findings varied for males and females. Family functioning and family use directly influenced substance use for males. Family functioning influenced school and peer variables, however, these were unrelated to use. For females, family use and student use directly influenced substance use. Family functioning influenced family use and school and peer attachments. School and peer attachment predicted perceived student use. These findings suggest that family functioning has a primary role in Hispanic adolescent substance use.

This paper describes the development of The Seriously Emotionally Disturbed Adolescent Social Competence Inventory (SEDASCI). The goal is to provide an instrument which can be used in the design of social skills programs targeting the social problems of seriously emotionally disturbed youth. A Behavior-Analytic Model was used in which empirically-based problematic life tasks were systematically identified and subsequently written into problem situations. These situations were evaluated by a second sample of seriously emotionally disturbed adolescents according to their perceived frequency, difficulty, and importance. A range of responses to the problem situations were solicited from a third sample of seriously emotionally disturbed adolescents, and their responses were evaluated by persons who assess social competence in the natural environment of these youth. Finally, an inventory was created that provides the problem statements, examples of responses ranging from competent to incompetent, and o...

problem requiring immediate action from multiple sources, including social workers.1 The prevalence of severe emotional disturbance in children is estimated at 5% (Stroul & Friedman, 1986). Mental disorders occur in more than 7.5 million, or more than 12%, of children (National Institute Mental Health [NIMH], 1990a). NIMH reported that fewer than 20% of these children will receive appropriate treatment.

This paper presents an overview of eight approaches in juvenile parole policy for terminating, extending, and discharging youths from juvenile parole or aftercare. These types were derived from the results of a national survey of juvenile parole policy in the United States. This survey was sent to the departments of correction, youth service bureaus, and legislative service agencies for the 50 states. The survey sought comparative data on trends in substantive and procedural approaches for handling parole duration and discharge issues for juvenile offenders. These trends are evaluated in relation to movements toward formalism in corrections, recent reforms in juvenile sentencing, standards promulgated by various standard-setting groups, and recent shifts in juvenile justice philosophy in the United States.

This study examined predictors of substance use and negative activity involvement among a diverse sample of European American, African American, Hispanic, Native American, and multiracial early adolescents ( n = 749) living in a large urban city in the Southwest United States. This study investigated a broad set of predictor variables that tap sociodemographic, peer, family, community, and school influences. Overall, findings from this study confirm that lifetime substance use remains high among youth of color. Of particular concern is this study's finding that multiracial adolescents are at elevated risk to use substances and engage in negative activities. The implications of this study for understanding how risk factors are influenced by race and other variables on different measures of problem behavior are discussed.

An examination of the way in which social workers use knowledge suggests an instrumental approach to knowledge use. This approach has important implications for moving the profession toward greater accountability in the practice of social work. Unless educators can motivate practitioners to change the way in which they ask questions and make predictions, it is unlikely that practitioners will use scientific information in their problem-solving processes.

The feasibility of adopting the use of single-system designs for evaluating practice has become an important topic in the field of social work. This study addresses this issue by examining the extent to which behavior therapists, who espouse empirical methods as part of their practice, use various single-system designs in their practice. In addition, the study examined what practitioner characteristics influence single-system design use. Result revealed that practitioners are not making much use of inferential single-system designs but do use the more flexible evaluative designs (such as B only or AB). The results of this study suggest that social work educators should spend more time teaching evaluative designs and not overemphasize single-system designs that are unlikely to be used in practice.

Adolescents face significant risks in today's society and it is estimated that one in five adolescents suffers from a current developmental, emotional, or behavioral problem. This chapter reviews current problems facing adolescents and examines prevention and intervention programs designed to improve adolescent mental health and well-being. Developmental considerations when conducting assessments with adolescents is presented as well as prevalence rates for selected behavior problems and disorders. Promising models of prevention and intervention are identified and described, including programs that focus on substance abuse prevention, pregnancy, STD, and HIV prevention, adolescent depression, and conduct disorder. Treatment strategies reviewed include multisystemic therapy, functional family therapy, and problem-solving and social skills training. Lastly, additional issues involved in ongoing treatment and case management, service delivery, and commonly used treatment manuals are discussed. Keywords: adolescent treatment; adolescent therapy; evidence-based treatment with adolescents; mental health and adolescents; service delivery with adolescents

This chapter reviews the history of small group practice and theory. The contemporary issues, including the multiple purposes of group work and the dual focus of group work, are introduced. Systems theory, psychoanalytic theory, and social learning theory are reviewed and demonstrated how they have been applied to small group work through Systems Centered Therapy Groups, Interpersonal Learning Groups, Cognitive Behavioral Models, and Mutual Aid Models. The theoretical orientation of small groups is explored and how theory impacts decisions, including group purpose, role of the practitioner, assessment and intervention strategies. The goodness of fit between different theoretical approaches and various cultural groups is discussed. Finally, existing research is examined regarding the effectiveness of group work and theoretical approaches. Keywords: small group theory; small group models; working in small groups; groups; group therapy