Recruitment and Retention in a Parenting Intervention: A Case Study with Parents Aging Out of the Child Welfare System

ABSTRACT

Parenting interventions are efficacious in reducing child maltreatment and negative child behaviors, yet the recruitment and retention of parents, especially vulnerable parents, in such interventions can be challenging. Prior research identifies several ways to improve recruitment and retention including laying the foundation for the intervention, fostering relationships with parents, ensuring fit of the intervention with the intended population, and identifying barriers to parents’ participation. This case study presents a process of recruiting and retaining a vulnerable group of parents, specifically parenting youth aging out of the child welfare system. In addition to outlining the strategies used, lessons learned are highlighted. Parents expressed interest in the parenting intervention, experienced significant needs, negotiated great instability in their lives, and valued the social connections facilitated by the group intervention. Despite the research team following best practices and investing significant time and resources, recruitment and retention remained challenging. Implications for future work in this area are presented.     

关系收益对顾客保持的影响研究——承诺和信任的中间媒介效应

文章以关系收益和顾客保持为切入点,旨在研究关系营销投入与产出的关系,将关系收益分为经济收益、社会收益和心理收益,并构建了以关系收益为前因、承诺和信任为媒介、顾客保持为结果的结构方程模型。针对消费者市场的实证数据分析结果表明,经济收益对承诺影响显著,社会收益对信任影响显著,心理收益对承诺和信任影响均比较显著。另外,承诺和信任对顾客保持以及信任对承诺都有显著的影响。最后,根据理论框架和研究结果提出相关建议和未来研究方向。     

基于CRM的大规模定制服务业顾客保留动态模型

以大规模定制和顾客保留理论为基础,结合客户关系管理和顾客情感理论,构建了CE-CRM二维结构模型,将动态的客户关系管理与顾客消费情感以及顾客忠诚相结合构建三维结构模型。并据此对大规模定制下服务业顾客保留动态模型进行研究,分析在客户关系管理的不同阶段顾客价值与顾客消费情感的不同特点和影响因素,阐释了该模型的运作机理。     

The Impact of Service Quality and Service Characteristics on Customer Retention: Small Businesses and their Banks in the UK1

The recent developments in relationship marketing have increasingly focused attention on the beneficial effects of customer retention. The notion of building relationships and delivering quality service in order to encourage loyalty is perhaps of particular importance in the service sector where it is often argued that customer attraction costs are significantly higher than retention costs. Central to the idea of investment in the development of service quality and customer relationships is the belief that such investments will enhance loyalty, retention and profitability. Empirical evidence on the extent to which such links exist is still partial. This paper explores the relationship between service qualitylcustomer relationships and customer loyalty and retention using evidence from the UK banking sector and its small business customers.     

Parental Divorce and First-Year College Students’ Persistence and Academic Achievement

The purpose of this article was to examine the relationships between parental divorce and first-year college students’ persistence and academic achievement at a large public university. Using data from the 2007–2008 Cooperative Institutional Research Program survey of first-year students, the results of a logistic regression analysis suggest that students whose parents were divorced were significantly less likely to persist into their second year of study than their peers. Students whose parents were divorced also had significantly lower cumulative grade point averages. These findings held when controlling for demographic variables, precollege academic indicators, college experiences, and academic motivation.     

Differential Models of Social Work Groups with Family Violence

This paper examines the research literature on multiple forms of family violence and proposes three social work group models to apply to this widespread phenomenon. The models proposed are group work with wife abusers, groups of reciprocated violent marital dyads and multiple violent family unit groups. The theoretical approach of each model is discussed as well as group composition, goals, tasks, structure, relational-interactional systems, worker role and means of service delivery. Important problems in group development of each model are identified and suggestions for worker intervention are outlined.     

Predictors of Child Welfare Worker Retention and Performance

Abstract

Using administrative records, this paper tracks for up to four years using Cox survival methods the retention of 839 public child welfare workers who began child welfare work in 1999. It also examines, using ordinal logistic regression, supervisory performance evaluations of 382 of these workers. Participation in a IV-E-funded social work educational program predicted better retention. In particular, risk of termination decreased by 52% during the mandated contractual employment period in which the educational stipend was “worked off”. Other predictors of longer retention included prior non-child welfare employment at the public agency and working in the state office setting. Temporary job classification predicted higher risk of termination. With temporary classifications excluded, female gender predicted better retention. In exploratory Cox frailty regressions, neither county of employment nor supervisor explained significant variance in retention. Involvement with the IV-E funded social work program was not associated significantly with supervisory ratings. Regression analyses revealed an association between an ethnic group's representation in the population of child welfare workers and supervisory evaluation; the greater that representation, the higher the overall evaluation for the group.     

Predicting Retention in Three Substance Abuse Treatment Modalities Among Anglo,African American,and Mexican American Juvenile Offenders

Abstract

Many of the same factors that predict delinquent behavior also predict adolescent drug use. This study examined factors that predict, and interventions that maximize, substance abuse treatment retention in three modalities among high-risk Anglo, Mexican American, and African American juvenile offenders. The study sample includes youth (N = 211) who were discharged from probation supervision and who received substance abuse services through a CSAT-funded federal demonstration project. The key predictors examined included the stage-of-change (i.e., precontemplation, contemplation, preparation) in which a juvenile fell, various dimensions captured by the Comprehensive Addiction Severity Index for Adolescents, and other intervention status (probation, case management, and mental health treatment). The research questions were addressed using statistical models known as survival analysis that treated time from entry into substance abuse treatment to exit from substance abuse treatment as the outcomes. Among key findings were that females were 73% more likely to leave day treatment relative to males; for each additional family problem ever experienced, Mexican American adolescents were 15% more likely to leave residential treatment compared with African American adolescents; and African American and Mexican American adolescents in the contemplation stage-of-change were 50% less likely to leave day treatment compared with Anglo adolescents. Applications for practice and research with this population are discussed.     

Examining Passive and Active Recruitment Methods for Low-Income Couples in Relationship Education

One of the most difficult aspects of studying low-income couples is the effective implementation of recruitment and retention strategies. Low-income couples face environmental stressors that make participation difficult, and research has yet to identify efficacious methods of recruiting and retaining low-income couples into funded studies. Researchers and practitioners targeting low-income participants rely on a “learn-as-they-go” approach. Therefore, we examined passive and active recruitment strategies for 394 married participants with children under age 18 and reporting a total household income within 200% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines who participated in a federally funded couples and relationship education program. Univariate ANOVAs indicated significant differences between recruitment method and total time spent in couples and relationship education workshops for both women and men. Further, results indicated a relationship exists between recruitment method and the number of follow-up contacts required before participants attended the initial intake appointment. Implications for practice and research are discussed.