Person-Centredness In the Workplace: An Examination of Person-Centred Skills, Processes and Workplace Factors Among Medicaid Waiver Providers In the United States

Background: Existing research supports the effectiveness of person-centred practices in working with persons with physical, intellectual and developmental disabilities, but less clear is the influence of workplace factors on the implementation and quality of person-centred practices. Aims: This article explores the influence of workplace factors on job satisfaction and on the implementation and quality of person-centred practices in healthcare agencies that provide home- and community-based services through a Medicaid waiver in Mississippi, a state in the southeastern United States. Methods: Purposive sampling was used to collect data via online surveys to explore the interrelationships among person-centred workplaces, job satisfaction and person-centred practices. Results: Path analysis reveals that a person-centred workplace influences both skill implementation and person-centred processes. Job satisfaction was significantly correlated to skill implementation and person-centred processes in bivariate analysis but was not detected in the path model. Conclusion: This study suggests that organisations may improve the provision of person-centred practices by investing in policies that create a person-centred workplace

Perceptions of Evidence-Based Practice Among Juvenile Justice Workers From a Detention Facility Located In the Rural Deep South

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine how often evidence-based practices (EBPs) were used in a detention facility in the rural Deep South and to examine barriers that might interfere with their implementation. Methods: Mixed methods were used including an anonymous online survey and three in-depth interviews with juvenile justice workers. Results: Findings showed inconsistencies among workers regarding their reported use of EBPs, specifically regarding mental health, substance abuse treatment and parental involvement. Qualitative findings using thematic analysis indicated that the major barriers were limited resources and lack of family engagement. Discussion: The varied responses regarding the types and frequency of EBPs were surprising given that only one facility was examined. Qualitative findings demonstrated some inconsistencies with prior research regarding the challenging nature of implementing EBPs. Conclusion: This study highlighted a gap between evidence-informed research and practice in a rural justice system in the Deep South

The Role of Mood in the Self-Care Activities of Primary Care Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

This study investigated the impact of anxiety and depression on self-care activities among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) using a longitudinal, ex-post-facto design. Concepts from the Theory of Reasoned Action, the Theory of Planned Behavior, and Albert Bandura’s work exploring self-efficacy were used to inform this study. Data were collected from primary care clinics providing social work-led integrated care to adults with T2DM. Results showed significant improvements in anxiety, depression, and self-care from the first to the third clinic visits. Findings indicated a significant relationship between anxiety and general diet scores, but anxiety did not have a statistically significant impact on any other self-care activities. No significant relationships were observed between depression and self-care, which was surprising given previous research. Findings have implications for working with adults with T2DM and provide directions for future research in understanding the relationship between mood and self-care among patients with T2DM

Variations In Juvenile Offending in Louisiana: Demographic, Behavioral, Geographic, and School-Related Predictors

This study examines the relative impacts of demographic, behavioral, and school-related factors on juvenile justice contact of varying magnitudes (felony, misdemeanor, and status offenses) across a large, and non-selective sample of youths. The sample includes Deep South public school students examined from 1996 to 2012 (N =615,515). Data were obtained through state administrative databases. Noteworthy findings are that school expulsion, male gender, prior Louisiana Office of Juvenile Justice (LOJJ) contact, and grade failure are major predictors, though their relative impact varies based on the severity of offense. Further, being African American loses much of its practical significance in all models once other factors are taken into account. Implications for policy and subsequent research efforts are discussed

Examining the Influence of Risk Factors Across Rural and Urban Communities

Objective: Juvenile offending persists as a problem across geographic contexts, yet policymakers and social work practitioners have traditionally relied solely on urban research due to the lack of literature on rural delinquency. The purpose of this study is to examine the differential influence of demographic, behavioral, and school-related factors on juvenile offending in rural and urban settings. Method: The sample included kindergarten through 12th grade students (N = 615,297) who attended Louisiana public schools between 1996 and 2012. Data were obtained from state-wide administrative databases. Contact with the juvenile justice system, offense severity, and offending trajectory comparisons between youth in rural and urban environments were examined using multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression models and average adjusted predictive margins. Results: Factors that significantly increased the odds of juvenile justice contact in all models were African American race, male gender, grade retention, receiving free lunch (a proxy for poverty), birth year (cohort control), average yearly absences from school, and previous juvenile justice contact. The relative influences of these variables were similar across rural and urban contexts. In the overall model, odds were greater that rural students would encounter the juvenile justice system than urban students would. Conclusions: The increased odds of juvenile justice contact among rural youth contradicts much of the existing literature. Researchers must direct more attention to youth crime across geographic contexts to understand trends in rural areas and adapt interventions accordingly

Examining the Influence of Risk Factors Across Rural and Urban Communities

Objective: Juvenile offending persists as a problem across geographic contexts, yet policymakers and social work practitioners have traditionally relied solely on urban research due to the lack of literature on rural delinquency. The purpose of this study is to examine the differential influence of demographic, behavioral, and school-related factors on juvenile offending in rural and urban settings. Method: The sample included kindergarten through 12th grade students (N = 615,297) who attended Louisiana public schools between 1996 and 2012. Data were obtained from state-wide administrative databases. Contact with the juvenile justice system, offense severity, and offending trajectory comparisons between youth in rural and urban environments were examined using multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression models and average adjusted predictive margins. Results: Factors that significantly increased the odds of juvenile justice contact in all models were African American race, male gender, grade retention, receiving free lunch (a proxy for poverty), birth year (cohort control), average yearly absences from school, and previous juvenile justice contact. The relative influences of these variables were similar across rural and urban contexts. In the overall model, odds were greater that rural students would encounter the juvenile justice system than urban students would. Conclusions: The increased odds of juvenile justice contact among rural youth contradicts much of the existing literature. Researchers must direct more attention to youth crime across geographic contexts to understand trends in rural areas and adapt interventions accordingly

Correlates of Educational Success: Predictors of School Dropout and Graduation for Urban Students in the Deep South

This study examined a sample of primary and secondary school students with alternate school outcomes of high school graduation and school dropout. Using secondary administrative data from a state department of education and a state department of juvenile justice, two models are examined in the current study. Utilizing hierarchical mixed-effects logistic regression models, the relative impacts of demographic characteristics (race, gender, birth year), school-related factors (grade failure, free lunch status, average number of days missed per year, expulsions) and juvenile justice involvement were examined on graduation and dropout outcomes. Across models, juvenile justice contact and school expulsion were the best predictors of negative school outcomes; The findings also demonstrate that race was not as predictive of dropout as were other factors. Findings suggest that interventions, practices, and policies in schools that may prevent negative behavior and subsequent consequences (expulsion and/or juvenile justice contact) may impact the more distal outcomes of high school graduation and dropout

An Exploration of Posttraumatic Growth, Loneliness, Depression, Resilience, and Social Capital Among Survivors of Hurricane Katrina and the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

The aim of this study was to examine the relationships among posttraumatic growth (PTG), loneliness, depression, psychological resilience, and social capital among survivors of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. The survey was administered to a spatially stratified, random sample of households in the three coastal counties of Mississippi. A total of 216 participants were included in this study who lived in close proximity to the Gulf of Mexico coastline during both disasters. Results from structural equation modeling analyses indicated that there was a significant and inverse relationship between PTG and loneliness. Conversely, a direct relationship was not found between PTG and depressive symptoms; instead, the results revealed an indirect relationship between PTG and depressive symptoms through loneliness. Social capital was related to loneliness only indirectly through PTG, while psychological resilience was related to loneliness both directly and indirectly through PTG. Understanding the relationships among these factors, particularly the importance of PTG, can provide insight into the long‐term adaptation among those who have survived multiple disasters. Further, these findings may lead to nuanced methods for behavioral health practitioners in assessing and treating individuals with symptoms of depression in disaster‐prone communities

Adapting to Life after Hurricane Katrina and the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: An Examination of Psychological Resilience and Depression on the Mississippi Gulf Coast

The purpose of this study was to examine relationships among depression, psychological resilience, and other sociodemographic factors of individuals who were highly exposed to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in 2010. A spatially stratified random sample of 294 Mississippi Gulf Coast residents living in close proximity to the Gulf of Mexico were surveyed. Findings indicated that low education attainment, financial hardship, and disaster-related damages increased the likelihood of depression, whereas psychological resilience and having health insurance reduced the odds of depression. Implications for enhancing psychological resilience and increasing access to health insurance are discussed

Community Resilience, Psychological Resilience, and Depressive Symptoms: An Examination of the Mississippi Gulf Coast 10 Years After Hurricane Katrina and 5 Years After the Deepwater Horizon Spill

Objective: This study examined the role of community resilience and psychological resilience on depressive symptoms in areas on the Mississippi Gulf Coast that have experienced multiple disasters. Methods: Survey administration took place in the spring of 2015 to a spatially stratified, random sample of households. This analysis included a total of 294 subjects who lived in 1 of the 3 counties of the Mississippi Gulf Coast at the time of both Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. The survey included the Communities Advancing Resilience Toolkit (CART) scale, the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC 10), and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Results: There was a significant inverse relationship between psychological resilience and depressive symptoms and a significant positive relationship between community resilience and psychological resilience. The results also revealed that community resilience was indirectly related to depressive symptoms through the mediating variable of psychological resilience. Conclusions: These findings highlight the importance of psychological resilience in long-term disaster recovery and imply that long-term recovery efforts should address factors associated with both psychological and community resilience to improve mental health outcomes. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018;12:241–248