Exploring the role of natural helpers in efforts to address disparities for children with conduct problems

The incorporation of natural helpers into services has been suggested as an innovative strategy to address disparities for historically underserved children with conduct problems. In order to inform incorporation efforts, this study examined the perceptions of natural helpers serving one U.S. Latina/o community regarding need for services for children with conduct problems, their reactions to a specific parent training intervention, and the training and support needed to deliver this intervention successfully. Participants identified a need for culturally-responsive services for children with conduct problems, and felt that parent training would be appropriate for the families they serve. Participants further identified specific training and support that they would require in order to deliver parent training with fidelity and effectiveness. Findings support the suggestion that natural helpers have the potential to address service disparities among Latina/o children with conduct problems. Recommendations from natural helpers should guide the development of culturally-adapted preventive interventions that help address existing service disparities.     

The development and evaluation of a natural helpers' training program to increase the engagement of urban,Latina/o families in parent-child interaction therapy

Latina/o immigrant children are at increased risk for developing conduct disorders, and are simultaneously less likely to access services. Natural helpers are uniquely positioned to promote effective parent training programs to address service disparities in these communities. This study describes one effort to train natural helpers to increase engagement in parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT), an evidence-based parent training program. An academic-community partnership prompted the development and evaluation of this natural helpers training program. Five natural helpers were trained to recruit Latina/o families into PCIT, address barriers to treatment, and support parents' skill development. Over the course of training, natural helpers increased their knowledge of PCIT and their ability to use and model treatment targeted parenting skills. Additional consultation was necessary to improve the natural helpers' abilities to conduct behavioral observations of parent skill use and provide feedback on these skills. Natural helpers expressed overall satisfaction with PCIT and the training program. Suggestions for incorporating natural helpers into PCIT services are discussed based on the strengths and challenges identified from the evaluation of this training program.     

Help seeking among addicted and nonaddicted women of low socioeconomic status

Concern with the provision of health and welfare services to underserved or inappropriately served groups has led to numerous studies of patterns of service utilization. This article focuses on the help-seeking patterns of heroin-addicted and nonaddicted women of lower socioeconomic status. The results suggest addicts generally experience more problems than nonaddicts; those with few problems are less likely to use formal support systems; and black respondents, both addicts and nonaddicts, are less likely to use formal support systems. The evidence indicates that while addicts tend to use natural support systems less frequently than nonaddicts, addiction per se does not explain help seeking when race and number of problems are taken into account. The heavy reliance of both addicts and nonaddicts on informal helpers supports the value of professional efforts designed to facilitate or enhance these networks.     

„Einfach mal zuhören.” — Alltägliche Helferinnen im System Hochschule

Women traditionally work in public health and welfare, often without public notice and recognition. “To be feminine” is accepted as a most important resource of support especially if it is given in voluntary, additional work and without pay. The dominance of women as “natural helpers” is featured in professional help too. Non-academics (e.g. secretaries) at universities are important and powerful groups of natural helpers. They have lots of contact with people in need (e.g. students), because they work in functions with intense social communications. The results of extensive research at the Technische Universität Dresden demonstrated for the first time which important role non-academic women play as natural helpers for students with mental and/or social problems. The research has examined the interaction between helpers and students, the dimensions of problems and conditions, forms, extent and subjective reflections on help giving.     

The “Helper” controversy in the construction industry

Helpers, whose role is to assist craftsmen, have been a subject of controversy in the construction industry for nearly a century. The AFL-CIO construction unions have attempted in various ways to control the work of helpers so that helpers cannot “pick up” the trade and then compete with craftsmen for jobs. With the help of the U.S. Department of Labor’s administration of the Davis-Bacon Act, these unions succeeded in almost eliminating the use of helpers on government-financed construction and most union jobs. This has meant that much unskilled and semiskilled work has been done by journeymen at skilled labor wages. The result has hurt union members and unionized contractors by aiding open-shop contractors, who use helpers extensively, to underbid their competitors and win increasing market share. This article examines the ramifications of the helper issue and related training problems from the turn of the century to the present, discusses various union policies, court decisions, and legislation affecting the issues, and concludes that the economies of utilizing helpers are sufficient to cast doubt on the efficacy or future success of current union attempts to limit narrowly the training and use of helpers. Professor Emeritus of Management; formerly, Director, Industrial Research Unit, and Chairman, Labor Relations Counsel.     

Recognizing experiential knowledge in the process of qualification of peer helpers: an analysis of an educational program for service users in France

ABSTRACT

This article analyzes an innovative training program enabling the qualification of peer carers, working within the sector of ‘social inclusion’. Since the French national debate on social work conducted within the ‘Estates General’ of 2015, peer workers have become key players in training programs in virtue of their experiential knowledge and their understanding of issues related to the process of social exclusion. This article addresses the role of peer helpers’ experiential knowledge in the training process. Because of their ‘experiential’ and ‘empirical’ knowledge about questions linked to the process of exclusion, peer helpers have become key players in social work teams and within social institutions, thus contributing to new methods of socio-educational intervention. What impact will this recognition of peer helpers’ and service users’ experiential knowledge have on education in social work? This article gives an account of an 8-month training program for peer helpers examined on the methodological level through a process of Participant observation, and based on data from comprehensive interviews carried out with a panel of peer helpers.     

Relationships Between Parenting Environment and Children's Mental Health Among African American and European American Mothers and Children

This study examined the relationship between aspects of the parenting environment and children's conduct problems and anxious symptoms among socioeconomically comparable samples of African American and European American mothers and their kindergarten children. Ethnic differences in parenting may lead to differences in the relationship between parenting and child outcomes. Thus, the moderating role of ethnicity for the relationships between parenting and children's mental health was tested. African American and European American parents were similar in their parenting practices. European American children reported a higher number of anxious symptoms, however. Parenting and family interaction patterns were associated with children's anxious symptoms and conduct problems. Although many relationships were similar across ethnic groups, there were ethnic differences in the relationships between maternal parenting efficacy and anxiety and between hostile control and conduct problems. These similarities and differences are discussed in light of theory and familial, cultural, and environmental niches.     

Risk factors for attrition from an evidence-based parenting program: Findings from the Netherlands

Parent management training programs for the treatment of childhood conduct problems are increasingly being transported from their country of origin to international settings. Family interactions, however, may be influenced by different cultural expectations and children's mental health problems may be addressed within different systems. Demonstrating reductions in symptoms within the new population is insufficient to support the wide-scale transport of a treatment model. Implementation outcomes such as the rates of treatment retention and factors related to treatment attrition must also be considered. We explored predictors of attrition in families from the Netherlands referred to the evidence-based parenting program Parent–Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT). Participants included 40 children with conduct problems (2–7 years; 68% boys) and their caregivers. Attrition (40%) was somewhat lower than findings with similar community samples in the US. Significant predictors of attrition were child age and maternal levels of internalizing symptoms. Low parental demandingness and high child compliance before start of treatment were related to early attrition within twelve treatment sessions. Meeting the needs of families at risk for attrition is an important goal for parent management training programs within and outside the US if families in need of services are to benefit from them.     

Testing rent sharing using individualized measures of rent: evidence from domestic helpers

The market for resident domestic helpers offers a rare opportunity where the surplus from employment relationship can be quantitatively measured for each individual employee. Using the difference between employer's cost of time and employee's wage as a measure of rent, it is found that wages for domestic helpers are positively related to rent. However the apparent sharing of rent is better explained by matching than by efficiency wage models. Rent sharing is observed even in households where monitoring or turnover costs are low. Rent sharing is not observed among newly arrived foreign domestic helpers, whose ability remains to be revealed.     

Social work with children in Israel

Israel is a child-centered culture. Social work with children predates the existence of the State of Israel. There is a rich array of services for children. In the last 10 years, the emphasis has changed from using child placement as a panacea for children's problems, to treating the child as part of the family system. Placement of children in agricultural collectives, boarding schools, and youth villages has historically been on option for all children, and social workers used this plan as well. Implications of the change to family treatment is discussed as are various areas in which social workers offer direct treatment to children.     

A family ecological analysis of child care use in Hong Kong

This study examines the views on and use of day care for young children among white‐collar working women from a family ecological perspective. Discrepancies between perceived ideal and actual choice of child care were observed. Care provided by family kin was an ideal used with reservation, the employment of foreign domestic helpers was a reluctant choice, while the use of formal care was largely unexplored. The findings of this study demonstrate how individual families' child‐rearing goals are supported and constrained by contextual factors within the ecology. Implications for policies on child care in Hong Kong are discussed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Why do children placed out-of-home because of parental substance abuse have less mental health problems than children placed for other reasons?

The purpose of this paper was to compare children placed out-of-home because of parental substance abuse (PSA) with children placed for other reasons (NPSA), and to explore the association between PSA and mental health problems in a Norwegian sample of 6- to 12-year-old children in out-of-home care (N = 109). Several group differences were found related to the children themselves, their families and the Child Welfare case. The PSA children had less total difficulties, conduct problems and emotional problems than the NPSA children assessed by the teachers on the Revised Rutter Scale. However, both groups had far more mental health problems than children in general. The most important variable explaining the group difference in all subgroups of mental health problems was the extent of prosocial behavior in the children, but being placed for behavioral problems also explained a significant part of total difficulties and conduct problems. Variables like gender, discipline problems and socioeconomic conditions did not have a significant effect. The conclusion of the study was that prosocial behavior might be regarded as an important protective factor against mental health problems, which is an argument for investing in programs focusing on enhancing the placed children's mastering strategies.     

The Relationship of Welfare Receipt to Child Outcomes

Welfare receipt often is correlated negatively with children's cognitive and behavioral outcomes. Yet, virtually all children in households that receive public assistance are poor, prompting the question of whether poor outcomes are an effect of welfare, a spurious relationship between welfare and child outcomes, or a result of welfare selection. Using the NLSY-CS, these possibilities are examined by controlling for poverty and for selection into welfare. Controlling for child and maternal characteristics accounts for the majority of bivariate associations between welfare and outcomes among Black children. Controlling for poverty does little to change the relationship between welfare and outcomes for Black or White children. Controlling for selection into welfare further reduces the relationship between welfare receipt and outcomes among White children and has little discernible effect among Black children.     

Study and analysis of occupational risk factors for ergonomic design of construction worksystems

Manual material handling (MMH) is unavoidable because of the nature of jobs or tasks as and man-machine interfaces in a construction worksystem. Data were collected from six strata of workers viz., masons, mason helpers, carpenters, welders, gas cutters and ground-level helpers (259 out of 700 workers) from a construction site of a steel plant located in India to analyze different types of occupational risk factors, such as awkward posture, repetitive movements and others associated with MMH activities to assess their impact on musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). It is essential that these risk factors are required to be under control through application of ergonomics-based design approaches for construction worksystem. In this context, multinomial logistic regression analyses were used to identify the significant risk factors among the workers. The results shows that masons, mason helpers, carpenters, welders/gas cutters and ground-level helpers are greatly affected by static body posture, type of tools used, excessive stress due to repetition, awkward postures and extreme climate, respectively. Appropriate preventive and corrective measures are suggested for minimization of risks associated with such jobs/tasks to improve health and performance of the workers.     

When Home Is Still Unsafe: From Family Reunification to Foster Care Reentry

Reuniting children with their families is the preferred outcome of foster care, yet many children reunited with their families reenter foster care. This study examined how parental substance abuse and mental health problems, and the time allotted for reunification, are associated with reentry risk. We used a complete cohort of children who entered the Texas foster care system in fiscal years 2008 and 2009 to identify the risk of foster care reentry within 5 years of reunification using selection‐adjusted multilevel survival analysis. Approximately 16% of reunified children reentered care within 5 years. Substance abuse and mental health problems predicted higher rates of reentry. Reunification after 12 months was associated with increased reentry risk overall, but not among children commonly exempted from federal permanency timelines. Permanency guidelines that restrict the length of time to achieve reunification may have the unintended consequence of pushing reunification before maltreatment risks have been resolved.     

Conduct problems in children. Characteristics of families recruited for a clinical outcome trial as compared to families in an implementation study

The implementation of empirically supported treatments (EST) is recommended as a way to transfer knowledge from research to clinical practice and to improve service quality. One area of concern has been client representativeness, that is to which degree participants in EST studies resembles the target group in usual care settings. For children with conduct problems the recommended ESTs have been parent training or parent mediated programs. The aim of this article is to explore and describe central parent and family characteristics of families with conduct disordered children recruited from ordinary clinical practice in connection with the evaluation of the Parent Management Training — Oregon (PMTO) model in Norway, and to see whether the families recruited to a randomized control trial (RCT) differ from families recruited to a large scale implementation study in routine practice. Data from 376 families indicated that there were few differences between the two samples and thus that the parent and family characteristics found in the RCT study were representative of help-seeking families with conduct disordered children in Norway.Perhaps an even better treatment result could be achieved by tailoring PMTO to better suit the characteristics of Norwegian parents and families. Mothers (regardless of marital status) seem to be especially vulnerable to caregiver strain and suggested interventions should take this into consideration.     

The impact of involuntary job loss on those disabled by society: a pilot study to encourage effective participation

Over half of the people who become disabled whilst employed are thought to be pressured into leaving their job. This study investigates the experience of involuntary retirement/redundancy due to disability. Three researchers who had all experienced such involuntary job loss were trained to conduct the research. Semi-structured interviews were designed and conducted by disabled researchers. The training of the researchers enabled them to successfully conduct a research project. The results of the project show the impact of involuntary job loss due to disability to be considerable. This study would suggest that government reforms to create new opportunities for disabled people of a working age are well overdue. Although there were some problems experienced with the amount of training required and the lack of objectivity, training disabled researchers to conduct research proved to be a valuable experience for both the researchers and the facilitators.     

Abused children and foster care—the need for specialist resources

Estimates vary on how many abused and neglected children are admitted to care and how many children in care are there because of abuse and neglect. Nevertheless, it is important to examine their special needs and the problems they present to carers. Although research findings are difficult to interpret, there is enough evidence to show that abused and neglected children in care have special needs in three particular areas: education, health and social behaviour. The evidence is available from research into children in care and research into child maltreatment. Children in care run the risk of disrupted educational careers; abused and neglected children have additional problems in school. Many children in care have a patchy and neglected medical history; abused and neglected children are seriously at risk of further ill-health. Abused and neglected children have been shown to have behaviour problems that jeopardize their relationships with peers and adults; they run the risk of placement breakdown. Foster care of abused and neglected children is a specialist and demanding task, requiring knowledge of, and sensitivity to special needs. Because many abused and neglected children return to their parents, foster carers also need to include the natural family in their task. High expectations of these foster carers, however, should not lead to exploitation but rather an enhancing of fostering assessment, preparation, support and training.     

Trauma-informed care training in a child welfare system: Moving it to the front line

The use of trauma-informed practices in the child welfare system is critically important to prevent system-induced trauma and encourage timely assessment, triage and referral for care when indicated. Ultimately, such measures have the potential over time to decrease the risk for mental health problems in children exposed to a trauma. This study evaluates an initiative in Arkansas to train child welfare front-line staff members in trauma-informed care practices. We evaluated the impact of the training on knowledge and use of trauma-informed care practices among three types of child welfare staff (Caseworkers, Program Assistants and Other front-line staff). Results suggest that this training process was highly successful in improving knowledge of trauma-informed care practices, especially among staff with the least formal education and training. We also found a significant increase in staff use of trauma-informed care practices at the three-month follow-up with little difference observed across staff groups. Barriers that may prevent staff from full implementation of training concepts are described and strategies to address barriers are proposed.