Using Resilience to Reconceptualise Child Protection Workforce Capacity

Abstract

Current approaches to managing and supporting staff and addressing turnover in child protection predominantly rely on deficit-based models that focus on limitations, shortcomings, and psychopathology. This article explores an alternative approach, drawing on models of resilience, which is an emerging field linked to trauma and adversity. To date, the concept of resilience has seen limited application to staff and employment issues. In child protection, staff typically face a range of adverse and traumatic experiences that have flow-on implications, creating difficulties for staff recruitment and retention and reduced service quality. This article commences with discussion of the multifactorial influences of the troubled state of contemporary child protection systems on staffing problems. Links between these and difficulties with the predominant deficit models are then considered. The article concludes with a discussion of the relevance and utility of resilience models in developing alternative approaches to child protection staffing issues.     

Changing cultural stigma: A pilot study of LGBT and mental illness organizations

This study examines how an LGBT advocacy organization and a mental illness advocacy organization influence cultural byproducts that result in stereotypes. Burke's (1989) redemption ritual is adapted as a framework for conceptualizing the process that occurs when an advocacy organization expresses discontent with a cultural producer's byproducts.     

Psychotherapy Quality Assessment

Abstract

In the first section of this paper, Dr. Whitaker argues that there are both practical and heuristic reasons for developing a systematic method for assessing the quality of psychotherapy in a university mental health service. He maintains that, though the task of psychotherapy quality assessment is a complex undertaking, it is possible to take steps toward its accomplishment in a responsible way while still keeping the task within manageable proportions.

In the second section, Dr. Sarnat describes one in a series of efforts at quality assessment at the Mental Health Division of the University of Massachusetts Health Services. She describes the development of a new method of recordkeeping and record review, and the results of a review of three different samples of records. She concludes that the method is feasible, useful, and meaningful for quality assessment in that setting, although the method is admittedly limited in what it can measure.

In the final section, Dr. Arnstein comments on the above, adding a note of caution about both the feasibility and the wisdom of embarking on a program of quality assessment of psychotherapy. He elaborates some of the difficulties that may prevent one from arriving at a valid assessment.     

Assessing University Students’ Self-efficacy to Employ Alcohol-Related Harm Reduction Strategies

Abstract

Objective: Develop and evaluate key psychometric properties of a self-report questionnaire specifically designed to assess student drinkers’ self-confidence to employ a variety of strategies intended to reduce unhealthy consequences of high-risk drinking. Methods: Four hundred ninety-eight participants rated their confidence (from “not at all confident” to “completely confident”) to employ 17 harm reduction strategies when drinking. Results: Factor analysis and internal consistency reliability analyses indicated that the 17 items constitute a single scale with good test–retest reliability. Consistent with other research examining previous use of such strategies, women in our sample reported significantly higher harm reduction self-efficacy than did men. Harm reduction self-efficacy was also associated with reported number of high-risk drinking episodes in the previous 2 weeks. Conclusion: This brief and easily administered questionnaire holds promise as a clinical tool to identify individuals with low harm reduction self-efficacy and as an outcome measure for health promotion and educational interventions.     

Letter to the Editor

Competency-based assessment required by the Council on Social Work Education was an impetus for the development of a practice evaluation design for use by clinical practice students in their field practicum. The standards-based comparison design was developed by the author as an alternative to single-system design. Student exemplars illustrate the application of this model.     

Social Density of Gambling and Its Association with Gambling Problems: An Initial Investigation

The role of social factors in pathological gambling has received relatively little systematic research. The goal of the current study was to examine the relationship between a target individual’s gambling behavior and the gambling behavior among that individual’s parents, siblings and five closest friends. The specific aims were, first, to apply a novel brief assessment to study the social density of factors relating to pathological gambling; second, to replicate previously observed findings involving the social aggregation of alcohol and tobacco use; and third, to examine social density findings among the three domains. Participants were 128 frequent gamblers from the Athens, Georgia area, 79.7 % male with a mean age of 34.2 (SD = 11.7). Participants were assessed using the Diagnostic Interview for Gambling Severity for gambling severity, the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test for alcohol abuse, the Fagerstrom Test of Nicotine Dependence for tobacco use, and the novel Brief Social Density of Gambling, Alcohol, and Tobacco Assessment. Significant relationships were observed between participants’ and friends’ activity within all domains: gambling (ps = .001), alcohol use (p < .001) and tobacco use (p < .001). Relationships with friends’ activity across domains were less strong. Distinct patterns of associations with parents and siblings were not observed. Thus, social aggregation was observed across the three domains of potentially addictive behaviors, generally with specificity within domains and with friends, not biological relatives. Methodological considerations and potential applications of these findings are discussed.     

Assessment of the Familial Relationships of Young Adult Children of Separated Parents

The aim of this work was the psychometric study of six scales designed to assess the familial relationships of young adult children of separated parents. The analyzed constructs are interparental conflict, loyalty conflict, coalition, parentification, children's perceptions of the parent–child relationships, and young adult perception of the separation–individuation process. Internal consistency and factorial validity was studied through a sample of 535 Spanish young adults from disrupted and nondisrupted families who were between 20 and 30 years old. The confirmatory factor analyses showed a certain acceptability of the original structures of all scales, with Bentler–Bonett Nonnormed Fit Index, Bentler–Bonett Normed Fit Index, and comparative fit indexes above .90 in all cases, and root mean square error of approximation below .05 in the multifactorial scales and slightly higher in the unifactorial ones. The internal consistency values were between .89 and .94 in the unifactorial scales, and between .70 and .92 in the multifactorial ones. The estimations found for the factor saturation supported the acceptability of the original structures. It is concluded that all the scales within this set present acceptable properties, in terms of dimensionality and internal consistency. The limitations are pointed out.     

The Seven Pillars of Quality Care in a Statewide Pediatric Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Program

This article describes a systematic approach used by a statewide pediatric sexual assault nurse examiner program to ensure the quality of forensic medical examinations it provides in child sexual abuse investigations. Seven strategies for enhancing quality are described: (a) hiring experienced professionals, (b) effective training, (c) comprehensive protocols, (d) ample support for pediatric sexual assault nurses, (e) management oversight, (f) a clinical coordinator to provide ongoing training and technical assistance, and (g) a quality assurance process in which expert child abuse pediatricians review each statewide pediatric sexual assault nurse examination. To show the evolution of quality care over time, the program's experience from 2004 to 2010 is reviewed, and quality assurance data are analyzed.     

A Bioethics Approach to Social Work Practice With Transgender Clients

Increased advocacy for the informed consent model of transgender health care specifies that patients should be in control of access to receiving medical interventions such as hormone therapy or surgery. However, in practice, mental health clinicians, including clinical social workers, are increasingly called upon by medical providers to serve as gatekeepers for these processes. It is frequently the role of social workers to assess transgender clients’ baseline mental health and their understanding of the consequences of treatment, and to forward recommendations to medical providers regarding the readiness of patients to transition. Therefore, social workers assisting transgender clients must be aware of the ethical standards that are particularly pertinent to their work with this marginalized and oppressed population. They must also be prepared to address unique ethical dilemmas that may be especially challenging to resolve. In this article we apply the most commonly utilized bioethical framework known as Principlism to describe the ethical standards and values that are particularly important to consider when working with transgender clients, namely autonomy; beneficence; nonmaleficence; and social justice. Because clinical social workers are frequently in the position of balancing client self-determination with their role as gatekeepers, a framework for resolving resulting ethical dilemmas is described (I CARE) and applied to three case examples.     

The development of synchronous text-based instant messaging as an online interviewing tool

The article reports the development of a synchronous text-based online interviewing tool with a continuity of private discussion that is not achieved in open-ended questionnaires, email interviews and online discussion boards. The participants were women who had undergone a surgical or natural menopause, who in a pilot interview highlighted the potential sensitivity of this subject and inspired the implementation of this method. The overall feedback was positive with the main advantages centred on feelings of anonymity, convenience and a more comfortable interview environment. Disadvantages included lack of body language and technical issues with computers. This technique ensures a degree of confidentiality while still obtaining depth of enquiry, where other qualitative methods potentially risk invading a participant’s privacy. It can be offered both alongside other interviewing techniques to allow participant choice and on its own when exploring sensitive and personal topics or when extra participant anonymity is appropriate.