123 research outputs found
Parenting intervention effects on reunification: A randomized trial of PMTO in foster care
Evidence-supported parenting interventions (ESPIs) have expanded into child welfare because a
growing research base has demonstrated positive results among children with serious emotional
and behavioral problems. Despite a clear federal policy emphasis on reunification, few randomized
trials have tested ESPIs with biological families of children in foster care; even fewer
studies have investigated the distal outcomes of ESPIs. The aim of the current study was to
examine the effects of Parent Management Training, Oregon (PMTO) model on reunification.
Children in foster care with emotional and behavioral problems were randomized to in-home
PMTO (n=461) or services as usual (SAU) (n=457). Cox regression models tested whether
children in the PMTO group achieved higher rates of reunification. We applied life tables data for
integrals calculations to estimate days saved in foster care. Analyses were conducted as intent-totreat
(ITT), and per protocol analysis (PPA). ITT results showed reunification rates were 6.9%
higher for the PMTO group (62.7%) than the SAU group (55.8%) with 151 days saved per typical
child. PPA indicated that intervention completion strengthened effects as PMTO completers’
reunification rates (69.5%) were 13.7% higher than the SAU group (55.8%), and were 15.3%
higher than non-completers (54.2%). Days saved were also greater for completers as compared to
the SAU group (299 days) and non-completers (358 days). Overall, findings suggest that an inhome
parenting intervention positively affected reunification as delivered to biological parents of
children and youth in foster care with serious emotional and behavioral problems. Implications
and future considerations for research are discussed.U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, under grant number 90-CT-0152
A Future of Strength: The Strengths Perspective and Developing Social Workers
In the 30 years since the birth of the strengths perspective, it has experienced con- tinued celebration and been marked as a pivotal approach for promoting effective engagement with people in a variety of contexts. From parenting to leadership, human resources to education, and therapy to case management; the strengths per- spective has been studied and incorporated into professional practices both within and outside of the social work discipline (Aguinis, Gottfredson, & Joo, 2012; Lopez & Louis, 2009; Marty, Rapp, & Carlson, 2001; Sheely-Moore & Bratton, 2010). Howev- er, social workers initiated the genesis of the perspective (Rapp, 1998; Weick, Rapp, Sullivan, & Kisthardt, 1989) and, therefore, bear the mantle of the legacy, institu- tionalization, and continuation of practicing strengths-based work. Despite wide- spread adoption of the ideology of the strengths perspective, attention is needed to ensure its ongoing use and relevant application to social work.
In 2018, more than 700,000 social workers were employed in the United States (Bu- reau of Labor Statistics, 2018). Job growth is steady for the profession and projected to increase by 11 percent by 2028 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2018). As the number of social work professionals increases, understanding and meeting the needs of developing social workers is paramount to the sustainment of strengths-based social work. The projected expansion of the profession also suggests that the methods and strategies for incorporating the strengths perspective into the education and practice of developing social work students may need rethinking. Strengths-based work is not business as usual. Saleebey (2013) explained that it is a direct departure from traditional social work practices, such as those that focus on psychopathol- ogy and deficit-driven treatment. Likewise, ensuring the passing of the torch may require a direct departure from traditional social work education. In aligning with the strengths perspective, social work professionals and educators have a respon- sibility to consciously collaborate in their efforts to assist developing social workers in establishing competencies, capabilities and confidence that will enable them to build their career upon a strengths-based foundation
“I Ran to Make a Point”: Predicting and Preventing Youth Runaway from Foster Care
Youth who run away from foster care experience danger to health and safety and increased risk of adverse child welfare outcomes. By applying a concurrent mixed-methods approach, this study aimed to develop a deeper understanding of runaway risk that used a person-centered lens and amplified youth voices. Collectively, this approach can inform service innovations to support youth placed in out-of-home care. Working with a foster care agency in Kansas, data sources comprised administrative data for youth ages 12 + in care, and interview data with 20 youth, 12 + in care. Quantitative analyses involved latent class analysis followed by multinomial logistic regression to investigate whether the population of youth in care was comprised of subpopulations with differential runaway risk and whether subpopulations would predict runaway behaviors. Qualitative analyses applied modified analytic inductive thematic analysis to explore critical life experiences that may act as risk or protective factors of running away from care. Results revealed four sub-populations which were characterized by their previous family and system experiences. Additionally, class membership, gender, number of siblings, and age were statistically significant predictors of runway behaviors. Youth interviews revealed five key themes on life experiences that mitigate or exacerbate youths’ runaway behaviors. Recommendations resulting from this study were provided in three key areas: (1) improving family visitation and maintaining youth connections with self-identified family and non-relative kin; (2) supporting service approaches for youth that honor and amplify their voices, choices, and family connections; and (3) improving placement quality and individualization of services
Students' difficulties, conceptions and attitudes towards learning algebra : an intervention study to improve teaching and learning
The skills necessary to identify and analyse errors and misconceptions made by students are needed by teachers of all levels especially at the lower secondary school level in Malaysia. If students are to be successful in tackling mathematical problems later in their schooling, the one prerequisite is the mastery of basic concepts in algebra. Despite the best efforts of the teachers, students still develop algebra misconceptions. Is it possible to reduce or eliminate these misconceptions? The research involved a survey of 14 year-old students in Form 2 (Grade 8) in the Penampang district of Sabah, East Malaysia. The focus of this study lies in students’ difficulties, conceptions and attitudes towards learning algebra in the framework of conceptual change. A possible way to help students overcome their learning difficulties and misconceptions is by implementing diagnostic teaching involving conflict to foster conceptual change. The study involved evaluating the efficacy of a conceptual change instructional programme involving cognitive conflict in (1) facilitating Form 2 students’ understanding of algebra concepts, and (2) assessing changes in students’ attitudes towards learning mathematics, in a mixed quantitativequalitative research design.A 24-item Algebra Diagnostic Test and a 20-item Test of Mathematics-Related Attitudes (TOMRA) questionnaire were administered as a pretest and a posttest to 39 students in each of a heterogeneous high-achieving class and a below-average achieving class. In addition 9 students were purposefully selected to participate in the interview.The results of the study indicated that students’ difficulties and misconceptions from both classes fell into five broad areas: (1) basic understanding of letters and their place in mathematics, (2) manipulation of these letters or variables, (3) use of rules of manipulation to solve equations, (4) use of knowledge of algebraic structure and syntax to form equations, and (5) generalisation of rule for repetitive patterns or sequences of shapes.The results also showed that there was significant improvement in students’ achievement in mathematics. Further, students’ attitude towards inquiry of mathematics lessons showed significant positive improvement. Enjoyment remained high even though enjoyment of mathematics lesson showed no change. Also, changes in students’ understanding (from unintelligible to intelligible, intelligible to plausible, plausible to fruitful) illustrated the extent of changes in their conceptions.Different pedagogies can affect how conceptual change and challenge of misconceptions occurs. Therefore, knowledge of the origin of different types of misconceptions can be useful in selecting more effective pedagogical techniques for challenging particular misconceptions. Also, for teachers to create an effective learning experience they should be aware of and acknowledge students’ prior knowledge acquired from academic settings and from everyday previous personal experiences. Since all learning involves transfer from prior knowledge and previous experiences, an awareness and understanding of a student’s initial conceptual framework and/or topic can be used to formulate more effective teaching strategies. If this idea is taken a step further, it could be said that, because misconceptions comprise part of a conceptual framework, then understanding origins of misconceptions would further facilitate development of effective teaching strategies.Further research is needed to help teachers to understand how students experience conflict, how students feel when they experience conflict, and how these experiences are related to their final responses because cognitive conflict has both constructive and destructive potential. Thus, by being able to interpret, recognise and manage cognitive conflict, a teacher can then successfully interpret his/her students’ cognitive conflict and be able to make conceptual change more likely or help students to have meaningful learning experiences in secondary school algebra
Field-enlarging transformations and chiral theories
A field-enlarging transformation in the chiral electrodynamics is performed.
This introduces an additional gauge symmetry to the model that is unitary and
anomaly-free and allows for comparison of different models discussed in the
literature. The problem of superfluous degrees of freedom and their influence
on quantization is discussed. Several "mysteries" are explained from this point
of view.Comment: 14 pages, LaTeX-file, BI-TP 93/0
Constraint structure of O(3) nonlinear sigma model revisited
We study the constraint structure of the O(3) nonlinear sigma model in the
framework of the Lagrangian, symplectic, Hamilton-Jacobi as well as the
Batalin-Fradkin-Tyutin embedding procedure.Comment: 17 page
Symplectic quantization of self-dual master Lagrangian
We consider the master Lagrangian of Deser and Jackiw, interpolating between
the self-dual and the Maxwell-Chern-Simons Lagrangian, and quantize it
following the symplectic approach, as well as the traditional Dirac scheme. We
demonstrate the equivalence of these procedures in the subspace of the
second-class constraints. We then proceed to embed this mixed first- and
second-class system into an extended first-class system within the framework of
both approaches, and construct the corresponding generator for this extended
gauge symmetry in both formulations.Comment: 27 page
Cálculo retrospectivo del coeficiente de balasto horizontal a partir de mediciones de desplazamientos en pantallas del Metro de Sevilla
Manual / Issue 12 / On Further Review
Manual, a journal about art and its making. On Further Review. This issue uncovers narratives once central to objects’ histories but that now have been systematically obscured, inadvertently overlooked, or otherwise lost. Softcover, 96 pages. Published 2019 by the RISD Museum.(On Further Review) contributors include Anita N. Bateman, Laurie Anne Brewer, Becci Davis, Jamie Gabbarelli, Bethany Johns, Elon Cook Lee, Kevin McBride, Walker Mettling, Jessica Rosner, Suzanne Scanlan, Nell Painter, Allison Pappas, Pamela A. Parmal, Shiyanthi Thavapalan, and Nick White.https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/risdmuseum_journals/1038/thumbnail.jp
Young People's Attitudes to Religious Diversity: Socialising Agents and Factors Emerging from Qualitative and Quantitative Data of a Nation-Wide Project in the UK
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