Beyond termination: length of stay and predictors of permanency for legally free children

Despite growing awareness of the complex needs of legally free children in child welfare care, relatively little empirical investigation has been done of these children and their experiences. This article reports the results of a study of length of stay and predictors of permanency in a sample of 1,366 legally free children in state custody in Washington state. A Cox proportional-hazards event history model was developed to explore the effects of gender, race, and ethnicity, and age at initial placement, on the likelihood of achieving legalized adoption or guardianship. Results indicate that older children, boys, and African American children were all significantly less likely to achieve a permanent outcome than were Caucasian children. Hispanic children, in the other hand, were significantly more likely to achieve a permanent outcome. The implications of these findings for permanency planning practice and policy development are discussed.     

Physical exercise and improvements in mental health

1. Walking groups provide activity and support for their members. 2. Exercise competes with anxiety and depression and may diminish these negative affects. 3. Most YMCAs provide financial aid by reducing fees for people with disabilities.     

Voice and Identity in a Bicultural/Bilingual Environment

Researchers have noted that with the onset of adolescence, girls' voices become muted and school achievement drops. Girls learn that the expression of strong feelings leads to distance from others, and that full use of their bodies and minds cause others discomfort. Self-esteem suffers and girls become at risk for destructive behaviors. Most studies have been done with middle class Caucasian girls. Those few studies done with young girls of color speak of girls on the margin who seem to resist losing their voices and their self-esteem. This article describes a study involving 5th–8th grade girls participating in an Advisory group program at a grammar school in a predominantly Mexican community of a large city. Group sessions were taped and analyzed for common themes including voice and self-esteem. Focus was directed to the influence of the bicultural/bilingual environment in analysis of group content. Implications for practice are included.     

Illinois's child welfare research agenda: an approach to building consensus for practice-based research

This article presents a consensus-building initiative to develop a statewide research agenda that responds to the needs of Illinois's child welfare community. Researchers conducted this process through a university-community partnership to engage those interested in child welfare services. The process and findings resulted in a living document that will guide child welfare research throughout the state. Findings of the inquiry suggest that the development of best practice models may be one of the most important contributions research can make to practice.     

The joint contribution of experiencing and witnessing violence during childhood on child abuse in the parent role

This article examines adult respondents' abuse of children as a consequence of their own childhood experiences of abuse, both direct experiences of childhood violence (hitting) and exposure to interparental violence (witnessing). In particular, the study examines the extent to which these factors function interactively: Are both experience and exposure necessary or is either sufficient to increase disproportionately the probability of child abuse? Using data from the Second National Family Violence Survey, results of a logistic regression analysis show that either or both factors produced higher than average and relatively similar rates of child abuse. Only respondents with neither form of family violence reported lower than average rates of abuse of their own children. The analysis controlled for gender, race, family income, and family structure; race was the only control variable to be significantly associated with child abuse. Finally, no control variable modified the interaction between the family violence variables.     

PRN medication use in inpatient psychiatry

1. Administration of p.r.n. medications occurs frequently for staff nurses in inpatient psychiatry. 2. The appropriate use of p.r.n. medications is not well addressed in nursing textbooks or hospital policies and procedures. 3. Thorough assessment of patients is an essential step in the safe administration of p.r.n. medications. 4. Concise, accurate clinical evaluations may be the most successful way to determine the best dose of medication for each patient.     

A Cross‐Cultural Examination of the Disjuncture Between Aspirations and Expectations/Perceived Outcomes: Strain and Academic Deviance in the United States and Japan

Using comparable self‐reported survey data collected among college students in the United States (n = 502) and Japan (n = 441), this study examines a paradox of higher academic deviance among otherwise more conforming Japanese youth while revisiting the debate concerning the disjuncture between aspirations and expectations/perceived outcomes in Agnew's general strain theory (GST). Confirming the paradox, our results indicate that Japanese students are significantly more deviant academically than American students. However, contrary to the expectation of GST, but in support of past empirical studies, the higher academic deviance among the Japanese, as compared to Americans, is explained by their lower aspirations, irrespective of the levels of expectations/perceived outcomes     

The Savvy Caregiver Program: Impact of an Evidence-Based Intervention on the Well-Being of Ethnically Diverse Caregivers

This article reports on the impact of the Savvy Caregiver Program (SCP) on English-speaking caregivers of Hispanic, Black/African American, and Asian/Pacific Islander descent. Caregivers completed a questionnaire prior to study enrollment, at 6 and 12 months postenrollment. Caregivers in all 3 ethnic groups showed more caregiver competence, reduced depression, greater tolerance for care recipients’ memory problems, better management of their overall situation, and improved perception of that situation 6 months and 12 months post-enrollment. The study demonstrates that in the sample studied the SCP was as effective in helping ethnically diverse caregivers as it has shown to be with Caucasian caregivers.