The Mentoring FAN: A Promising Approach to Enhancing Attunement within the Mentoring System

ABSTRACT

Youth mentoring is a popular tool in positive youth development, with most programs utilizing a model through which youth and non-parental adults are “matched.” Using an adaptation of the Facilitating Attuned Interactions framework, this study sought to explore the effectiveness of the Mentoring FAN in enhancing interpersonal attunement among mentoring staff at two youth mentoring programs in the U.S. Upon completion of the Mentoring FAN training, quantitative (n = 28) and qualitative (n = 15) data were collected from program staff at both sites. Open-ended data from a subset of mentors (n = 27) was also gathered. Results revealed that mentoring staff experienced significant increases in empathy following the Mentoring FAN intervention. Participant interviews revealed increased attunement, increased listening ability, and increased collaboration in the supervisory relationship. Findings support the continued delivery and rigorous testing of Mentoring FAN training, with great promise for enhancing attunement across the mentoring system as a means of strengthening the relationships so critical to this intervention. The study also has important implications for the development of mentor support practices within mentoring organizations, as well as policies designed to meet the needs of youth served by mentoring programs in the U.S.     

Senior Centers

Abstract

This article explores the degree of influence of the racial and linguistic characteristics of staff and the availability of culturally diverse programs on the level of minority elder participation in senior centers. Two hundred twenty senior centers, recreation clubs, nutrition sites, and local Area Agencies of Aging in New York State were surveyed and comprise the study population. The impact of factors such as the racial/ethnic backgrounds of the senior center staff, linguistic abilities of the staff/administrators, and the availability of culturally specific programs on the level of participation among non-Caucasian elderly were evaluated. The study found that increasing the representation of minority staff and diverse programming, increases the level of participation of minority elders in senior centers. These findings provide the framework for recommendations to increase the representation of non-Caucasian staff in senior centers. Doing so will lead to a greater diversity of senior center consumers and allow senior centers to reach out to traditionally under-served populations.     

Serving Former Foster Youth and Homeless Students in College

ABSTRACT

Many universities have developed campus support programs for former foster youth and homeless college students; however, there are no studies focusing on long-term programs in the college-setting with a mentoring component that focuses on developing relationships with supportive adults. To address the gap, this study examined both mentors' and program staff's experience with providing services to students in a campus support program. The authors collected qualitative data from one success coach (i.e. program staff) and eight mentors through focus group meetings and interviews. Results indicated that the success coach reported the students in the program improved their overall academic performance, while most mentors did not know their mentees' grades. The success coach coordinated most services of the program, assigned financial and academic support, and made service referrals. Mentors helped their mentees to improve academic and independent living skills. However, mentors reported that they received limited support, especially when working with mentees with mental health problems. Recommendations to improve the program include: using a multidisciplinary team for students with mental health problems and adopting systematic approaches to better support mentors' services. Future studies should go beyond program staff and mentors to include students' perspectives regarding their experiences with receiving mentoring services.     

Service Process and Quality in Therapeutic Foster Care: An Exploratory Study of One County System

ABSTRACT

This study assesses the quality of services in the therapeutic foster care programs used by one county in the Midwest. Using a consultative quality assurance review methodology, evaluators examined 67 randomly sampled cases across seven agencies to assess the service quality issues experienced by children. Following interviews with staff, foster parents, and children, and a review of case records, reviewers observed failures in service and in adherence to national program model standards and state regulations. The research indicates the need for consistent monitoring of child-placing agencies and the need for additional research linking service quality with foster care outcomes.     

Experiences of Caregivers in a Dementia Simulation Program

Abstract

Objectives: Simulation-based training has been used in health care to increase clinical knowledge and skills and understanding the experience of others. There is a lack of research in exploring experiences of caregivers of people with dementia in a dementia simulation program and its potential benefits on caregivers. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore experiences of caregivers of people with dementia who participated in a dementia simulation program, called Dementia Live?.

Methods: Fourteen caregivers were interviewed after participation in DL, and thematic analysis using NVivo 11 software was used.

Results: Three themes emerged, including: (i) the Dementia Live? as an eye-opening experience; (ii) the perceived benefits of the Dementia Live? on themselves; and (iii) recommendation of the Dementia Live? to other caregivers.

Conclusions: Dementia simulation programs such as the Dementia Live? may help caregivers to have more empathy, understand better about the behaviors and feelings of people with dementia, and to use strategies that can help when working with people with dementia. Further experimental research is needed to examine effectiveness of the dementia simulation program on caregivers and people with dementia.     

Reflective Debriefing: A Social Work Intervention Addressing Moral Distress among ICU Nurses

ABSTRACT

Health-care workers may experience moral distress when they are unable to act as they believe is ethically appropriate in their clinical work. A social worker-facilitated protocol called Reflective Debriefing was developed and tested for alleviating moral distress through regular debriefings with nursing staff on an intensive care unit (ICU). Forty-two ICU nurses completed a Moral Distress Scale-Revised (MDS-R) at the beginning and end of a 6-month period, during which time regular debriefings were offered. The overall level of moral distress on the ICU surveyed was found to be low to moderate. The top three most frequent situations causing moral distress reported by most nurses in this study were related to the provision of nonbeneficial care in the ICU. Participants reported gaining the most benefit from feeling empowered to constructively confront other staff members about truth-telling in giving a prognosis. Nurses’ overall response to the intervention was positive, with 100% of participants requesting to continue the Reflective Debriefing sessions either on a monthly or on an as-needed basis. The response to the intervention emphasized the importance of interprofessional collaboration to successfully combat moral distress among health-care workers and may protect them from burnout, detachment, and even quitting their profession.     

Using Community-Based Participatory Research to Develop a Series of Core Competency Trainings Within a Developmental Disability Program

ABSTRACT

The New York State Talent Development Consortium at the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) mandated developmental disability programs to train and evaluate direct service providers (DSPs) on seven core competencies. Utilizing community-based participatory research (CPBR) – an approach where clients, providers, and researchers share their knowledge and experience to identify study areas, formulate research questions, and use results to improve practice – a needs assessment was conducted by a New York-based developmental disability program to inform a training curriculum. Six focus groups were conducted from a purposive sample of 14 DSPs, and 19 managers/supervisors. Staff identified skills that corresponded with six out of seven competencies. Staff recommended hands-on training on: appropriate communication to deal with individuals with severe disabilities; professionalism; person-centered care; and education on terminology in behavioral health plans, medication, and mental health illnesses. Empowering DSPs through CBPR allows for a training curriculum catered toward staff needs, which may be well-received and utilized. The CBPR process employed may be beneficial to other agencies within the intellectual and developmental disabilities field, particularly at a time when the demand for nonlicensure providers such as DSPs is increasing, and there is a need to train them to render quality and effective services.     

The Impact of Prison Hospice

Abstract

This study reports on a qualitative national telephone survey with coordinators of 14 prison hospice programs in 11 states. The rationale behind the survey was to learn about interdisciplinary collaboration between social work and criminal justice, using prison hospice as an exemplar of this collaboration. In addition to learning that all prison hospices in the study operate using an interdisciplinary team model and that most report high quality collaboration on the hospice team, the following additional five themes emerged: administrators and wardens are very supportive while correctional staff provides mixed support to team and program; greater collaboration with those outside prison hospice is critical; collaboration through prison hospice has a positive impact on dying prisoners; collaboration through prison hospice has a positive impact on prisoner volunteers; and, collaboration through prison hospice has a positive impact on the entire culture of the prison.     

A Different Kind of Holding Environment: A Case Study of Group Work with Pediatric Staff

ABSTRACT

This paper reports a nearly two-year intervention with staff at a major urban pediatric facility. The authors worked as trainers and consultants for two groups–the Emergency Department (ED) and Chronic Care units (CC). Following two days of training about grief and loss, highlighting skill building for work with traumatized and grieving children and parents, the consultants worked to develop teams which could provide a Winnicottian holding environment for staff. The efficacy of this staff training is analyzed and support needs of staff members are identified. Findings include varied willingness to make use of group support. Chronic care participants are more likely to express willingness to engage in on-going support for one another, while ED staff members seem to prefer structured, educational training and episodic support. The holding environment of the processing groups must be adapted to fit the needs of the medical sub-culture.     

Implementation of a responsible conduct of research education program at Duke University School of Medicine

Academic medical centers rarely require all of their research faculty and staff to participate in educational programs on the responsible conduct of research (RCR). There is also little published evidence of RCR programs addressing high-profile, internal cases of misconduct as a way of promoting deliberation and learning. In the wake of major research misconduct, Duke University School of Medicine (DUSoM) expanded its RCR education activities to include all DUSoM faculty and staff engaged in research. The program included formal deliberation of the Translational Omics misconduct case, which occurred at Duke. Over 5,000 DUSoM faculty and staff participated in the first phase of this new program, with a 100% completion rate. The article reports on the program’s development, challenges and successes, and future directions. This experience at Duke University illustrates that, although challenging and resource intensive, engagement with RCR activities can be integrated into programs for all research faculty and staff. Formal, participatory deliberation of recent cases of internal misconduct can add a novel dimension of reflection and openness to RCR educational activities.     

Intergroup Contact: Using Storytelling to Increase Awareness of Lesbian and Gay Older Adults in Long-Term Care Settings

ABSTRACT

Due to societally imposed stigmatization, lesbian and gay (LG) older adults fear and prolong accessing long-term care (LTC) even though they need LTC at higher rates. Interventions that decrease negative attitudes toward LG older adults among LTC staff are a first step in addressing this problem. In this study, the influence of intergroup contact (IGC) on LTC staff members’ attitudes toward LG was explored through the use of storytelling as a training mechanism. An embedded mixed-method approach was employed to collect and analyze responses of 60 LTC staff who participated in a storytelling event. Participants completed pretests, posttests, and participated in audio-recorded group discussions. The findings showed that storytelling had a significant (p =0.001) and positive effect (d =0.57) on participants attitudes toward LG. Qualitative analysis revealed 90 codes, 13 process codes, and 4 themes: making meaning of stories, seeking understanding, application to LTC setting, and debating. When guided by IGC theory, storytelling has potential for positively influencing attitudes of LTC staff members toward LG older adults. There is a need for longitudinal work to further test this model.     

Creating Supportive Environments for LGBT Older Adults: An Efficacy Evaluation of Staff Training in a Senior Living Facility

ABSTRACT

Supportive housing later in life tends to be a key concern for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) elders. Most senior care providers are un(der)prepared to meet the needs of older LGBT adults. This study evaluated the efficacy of a 4 hours, face-to-face, research-based, LGBT-diversity training designed to improve senior housing facility staff’s cultural competency regarding the needs of LGBT elders. Findings from this study found a significant increase in LGBT content knowledge between pre- and post-intervention assessments and a significant decrease in perceived preparedness when working with LGBT elders. These effects remained significant after controlling for staff designation, religion, educational attainment, and training session. Findings suggest that staff’s cultural competence affected their perceived readiness to address LGBT elders’ needs. Implications are related to the concept of cultural humility or the lifelong process of understanding others’ experiences based on the recognition of lack of un(der)preparedness to create a culturally supportive residential environment.     

The Impact of a Mandatory Employment Program on Welfare Terminations

ABSTRACT

This longitudinal study analyzes the impact of one of the most ambitious employment and training programs in the nation, California's Greater Avenue for Independence (GAIN), on welfare terminations. The study isolates the effects of GAIN from other effects by controlling for AFDC program characteristics and labor market conditions. The findings suggest that, all else constant, GAIN increased terminations in a modest fashion. The paper discusses the difficulties future welfare-to-work programs are likely to have in substantially increasing terminations even with stringent mandatory work requirements.     

The practice of deliberative policy analysis in the context of political and cultural challenges: lessons from Thailand

ABSTRACT

This article draws upon insight from a study of those involved in introducing deliberative policy analysis in Thailand at the city scale and presents lessons for both policy practitioners and scholars. The design of each deliberative forum differed, depending on lessons learned from previous forums and the consensus that emerged as a result of deliberation amongst forum facilitators. The underlying principle of this kind of deliberative design is to make deliberative processes authentic, by avoiding coercion, inclusive, by engaging stakeholders who bring forth different ideas, and impactful. To make these forums more exciting, deliberative practices are often linked to other attractive discourses, such as those surrounding smart cities, creative spaces and inclusive development. The case of Thailand sheds light on emerging challenges involved in the practice of deliberative policy analysis in the context of both national political regimes that are not democracies and those in the East.     

Administrative Buy-in for User Participation in Managing Social Services

Abstract

This paper reports the findings of a study conducted in Hong Kong on the value position of the social service providers regarding user participation in service management. Using a survey instrument to collect data from 642 service providers in an elderly service organization, the study explored whether or not the value position had an effect on the views of the service providers on the structural set-up for user participation, and whether the value position of the professional staff was significantly different from that of the non-professional staff. Exploratory factor analyses (EFA), confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were applied in the analysis. The findings identify that administrative buy-in needed to support shared decision-making with the welfare service users has not been achieved in the studied organization, owing to the absence of value commitment to the user participation cause. As the professional staff was more supportive of values favoring user participation, the paper calls for an acculturation process that would be stimulated and led by professionals to develop a participatory culture. The paper also recommends conducting similar study on a larger scale and qualitative inquiry into factors influencing the formation of values about user participation in future research.     

‘We’re Civil Servants’: The Status of Trauma-Informed Care in the Community

ABSTRACT

Trauma-informed care (TIC) in social service organizations means that the organizations operate with the understanding that everyone involved has possibly experienced trauma in their lifetime. This qualitative study examined local service organizations’ usage of the 5 main principles of TIC: safety, trustworthiness, collaboration, empowerment, and choice (as developed by Fallot & Harris, 2006). Ten focus groups (n = 69) and 6 individual interviews (n = 6) with employees from administration through management were interviewed such that almost all facets of each agency were represented. The participants were asked about their agencies’ policies and practices for utilizing the 5 principles of TIC. The results suggest that the vast majority of organizations in this study implemented many of the principles of TIC with clients, though they had not labeled their practices as “trauma-informed.” However, although clients were receiving TIC, some of the principles were neglected as they pertain to staff, such as choice and empowerment. The findings of this study suggest that agencies are unaware of the relevance of TIC as it relates to staff. It is recommended that future research examine whether the use of TIC in agencies prevents “burnout,” high turnover rates, and vicarious traumatization of staff.     

妇联系统社会工作专业能力建设——基于项目的个案研究

由加拿大国际开发署赞助,中华女子学院与加拿大马尼托巴大学社会工作学院合作从2004年起,开展了“中国农村基础妇联干部社会工作能力建设”项目。本项目选择在内蒙古赤峰、山东济阳、四川罗江和西昌四个地区进行,以妇联工作为平台。通过对基层妇联工作人员进行社会工作能力建设培训,提升妇联工作人员的社会工作专业水平和服务质量,从而更好地满足农村妇女的需要,提升她们的生活质量以及增强她们的生活和工作能力。本文将根据对本项目的培训的评估,总结了如何将社会工作专业培训与妇联工作结合起来的实践,探讨了开展社会工作专业培训中遇到的问题,并从项目经验出发,分享了收获和经验,为推动社会工作专业化,特别是妇联系统社会工作专业化建设提供了启发。     

Complexity Science: Understanding Research Processes and Improving Research Practice

ABSTRACT

Reflecting on experiences of coresearching with young people aged 13 to 15 in evaluating a government-funded initiative within their own communities, the author explores both some of the consequences of this endeavor and learnings from reflections on research processes therein. Reflections upon lessons learned are analyzed through applying some key concepts from complexity science to the research. It is argued that complexity science assists in reflection and in reaching more in-depth understandings of research processes. The author outlines how these concepts could be applied in research more generally and concludes that learnings from this experience are relevant to researchers everywhere.     

The Third Time Was the Charm

Abstract

A therapist's three experiences as a recipient of psychotherapy have led her to appreciate the ways in which one therapy informs another. She examines what may be learned from a less than successful therapy. She reflects on several lessons she has learned from her own therapieslessons that have shaped her as a clinician. In particular, she notes that when the therapist and patient are remarkably similar in their values and strengths, the therapist needs to take great care that key issues are not glossed over or mishandled.