Implementation of a solution based approach for child protection: a professionals' perspective

A child protection system is not just about minimizing child abuse but also maximizing welfare (Munro, 2008). Therefore, the new Youth Act in the Netherlands promotes empowerment in child protection (Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport & Ministry of Security and Justice, 2014). The last decade, empowering child protection services was dominated by the Signs of Safety (SoS) approach of Andrew Turnell and Steve Edwards (1999), a strength-based method with a strong client focused perspective. The current study evaluates a multilevel implementation process of a SoS approach within a Child Protection Service (CPS) in the Netherlands as pe

Integrating Family Strengths in Child Protection Goals

Over the last decades, child protection workers (CPWs) have largely focused on improving their work with a strength-based approach in order to empower families. This study investigates to what extent CPWs draw on families' strengths, that is, by promoting autonomy and competencies and by involving their informal networks in goal formulation. This quantitative study analysed the goals, as stated in case files, formulated by CPWs for 177 families within a single Dutch child protection service. 48.6% of CPWs prioritise promoting families' autonomy in goal formulation. With regard to competencies, only 40.1% of the goals refer to the families' competencies. In addition, the support system that the goals call upon tends to be dominated by formal rather than informal networks (in 71.2% of cases). While it is true that child protection cases can benefit from the support of a formal networks, CPWs overwhelmingly failed to encourage support from existing informal networks (in 95.5% of cases). There were no relationships between these percentages and the nature of the family problems or the question of whether or to what extent the CPWs identified the specific strengths of families. These findings show that half of the CPWs had integrated a strength-based approach in their daily practice to some extent, and therefore improvements are needed in order to more successfully encourage families to change.</p

Implementation of a solution based approach for child protection: A professionals’ perspective

A child protection system is not just about minimizing child abuse but also maximizing welfare (Munro, 2008). Therefore, the new Youth Act in the Netherlands promotes empowerment in child protection (Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport & Ministry of Security and Justice, 2014). The last decade, empowering child protection services was dominated by the Signs of Safety (SoS) approach of Andrew Turnell and Steve Edwards (1999), a strength-based method with a strong client focused perspective. The current study evaluates a multilevel implementation process of a SoS approach within a Child Protection Service (CPS) in the Netherlands as pe

The role of team climate in improving the quality of chronic care delivery: A longitudinal study among professionals working with chronically ill adolescents in transitional care programmes

__Abstract__ The role of team climate in improving the quality of chronic care delivery: A longitudinal study among professionals working with chronically ill adolescents in transitional care programme

The importance of general self-efficacy for the quality of life of adolescents with diabetes or juvenile rheumatoid arthritis over time: a longitudinal study among adolescents and parents

Purpose: To (i) investigate the influence of general self-efficacy on quality of life outcomesover time among adolescents with type I diabetes or juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA), (ii)investigate parents’ perceptions of general self-efficacy and quality of life of adolescentswith diabetes or JRA over time, and (iii) identify possible differences in the evaluations ofadolescents and parents. Methods: This study included adolescents aged 12–25 years with type I diabetes or JRAand their parents. At T1, 171/573 (30% response rate) adolescents with diabetes or JRAand 229/563 (41% response rate) parents completed the questionnaire. At T2, 230/551(42% response rate) adolescents and 220/559 (39% response rate) parents still participat-ing in the study completed the questionnaire. A total of 112 adolescents and 143 parentsfilled in the questionnaires at both T1 and T2. Results: Adolescents perceived significant improvement in their general self-efficacy and reduced quality of life over time, whereas parents’ perceptions did not change. Accordingto adolescents and parents, physical functioning was better among adolescents with dia-betes than among those with JRA. Regression analyses of adolescents’ data showed thatgeneral self-efficacy at T1 (bD0.13;p0.10) and changes in general self-efficacy (bD0.22;p0.01) predicted quality of life at T2. Parents’ responses revealed that adolescents’ gen-eral self-efficacy at T1 (bD0.16;p0.05) and changes in adolescents’ general self-efficacy(bD0.18;p0.05) predicted adolescents’ quality of life at T2. Conclusion:General self-efficacy and changes therein positively affected quality of life inadolescents with diabetes or JRA over time, as perceived by adolescents and parents.These findings emphasize the need for the implementation of interventions aiming to improve general self-efficacy in these population

Validation of the Caregivers’ Satisfaction with Stroke Care Questionnaire: C-SASC hospital scale

To date, researchers have lacked a validated instrument to measure stroke caregivers’ satisfaction with hospital care. We adjusted a validated patient version of satisfaction with hospital care for stroke caregivers and tested the 11-item caregivers’ satisfaction with hospital care (C-SASC hospital scale) on caregivers of stroke patients admitted to nine stroke service facilities in the Netherlands. Stroke patients were identified through the stroke service facilities; caregivers were identified through the patients. We collected admission demographic data from the caregivers and gave them the C-SASC hospital scale. We tested the instrument by means of structural equation modeling and examined its validity and reliability. After the elimination of three items, the confirmatory factor analyses revealed good indices of fit with the resulting eight-item C-SASC hospital scale. Cronbach’s α was high (0.85) and correlations with general satisfaction items with hospital care ranged from 0.594 to 0.594 (convergent validity). No significant relations were found with health and quality of life (divergent validity). Such results indicate strong construct validity. We conclude that the C-SASC hospital scale is a promising instrument for measuring stroke caregivers’ satisfaction with hospital stroke care