An Examination of the Contextual Environment of Families with Sexually Abused Adolescents

This study examined the impact of the contextual environment of the family on post abuse adjustment of sexually abused adolescents. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory was used to investigate how the external influences of the family impact the capacity of families to foster the recovery of sexually abused adolescents. The results from this secondary analysis of data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being Wave I (NSCAW, Dowd et al., 2002) support contextually sensitive treatment planning for sexually abused adolescents and their families

Conselheiros de Proteção à s Famílias em Situação de Violação:: A Importância das Funções Críticas do Trabalho

Child advocacy centers across the United States intervened in more than 250,000 child abuse cases in 2011(National Children’s Alliance, 2012). Understanding the work of family victim advocates is imperative to helping children and families in child abuse cases. In this exploratory study, we surveyed advocates and program directors from child advocacy centers (CACs) across the United States to compare their perceptions of the critical job duties of family victim advocates. Data analysis revealed that CAC directors rated the importance of these duties significantly higher than family victim advocates. Results suggest the need for additional training to ensure that family victim advocates understand the importance of critical job duties to meet the needs of children and families in child abuse casesOs centros de proteção e defesa da criança interviram em mais de 250 mil casos de abuso infantil em todos os Estados Unidos em 2011 (National Children’s Alliance, 2012). Compreender o trabalho de profissionais de proteção e defesa de famílias em situação de violação é imprescindível para ajudar crianças e famílias em casos de abuso infantil. Neste estudo exploratório, realizamos uma pesquisa com os profissionais de proteção e defesa e com os diretores de programa dos centros de proteção e defesa da criança (CPDC) nos Estados Unidos para comparar suas percepções sobre as atividades fundamentais dos profissionais que realizam ações de proteção e defesa de famílias em situação de violação. A análise dos dados revelou que os diretores dos CPDC avaliaram de forma significativamente mais alta a importância do trabalho do que os próprios profissionais de defesa e proteção das famílias em situação de violência. Os resultados sugerem a necessidade melhorar a formação para garantir que os profissionais de defesa e proteção das famílias em situação de violência possam compreender a importância das funções de trabalho que são críticas e essenciais para atender às necessidades de crianças e famílias em casos de abuso infantil

Treatment of sexual dysfunctions: What social workers need to know

This article examines the role of social work professionals in the assessment, treatment, and research of sexual dysfunction, specifically dysfunctions of desire and arousal. Diagnostic categories of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) are reviewed briefly. Relationship and intimacy issues are described as amenable to psychosocial intervention, and research pertinent to assessment and treatment is examined. The special topic of sexual dysfunction of gay men is explored. The importance of supporting social workers in their continued involvement in the treatment of sexual dysfunctions is highlighted. © 1998 Sage Publications, Inc

Family victim advocates: the importance of critical job duties

Child advocacy centers across the United States intervened in more than 250,000 child abuse cases in 2011(National Children's Alliance, 2012). Understanding the work of family victim advocates is imperative to helping children and families in child abuse cases. In this exploratory study, we surveyed advocates and program directors from child advocacy centers (CACs) across the United States to compare their perceptions of the critical job duties of family victim advocates. Data analysis revealed that CAC directors rated the importance of these duties significantly higher than family victim advocates. Results suggest the need for additional training to ensure that family victim advocates understand the importance of critical job duties to meet the needs of children and families in child abuse cases

Partnering With Parents: Reviewing the Evidence for Motivational Interviewing in Child Welfare

Child welfare workers (CWWs) face challenges to engaging families, including initial parental resistance, service plan noncompliance and other barriers. Adopting a motivational interviewing (MI) framework may improve engagement and collaboration between CWWs and parents, thereby leading to better child welfare (CW) outcomes. This comprehensive narrative review identifies the use of MI in CW, the outcomes of MI use and the gaps in the literature. Of the 16 articles that met inclusion criteria for our search, 12 suggested MI’s value in parenting skills, parent/child mental health, retention in services, substance use, and CW recidivism. Four of these studies specifically focused on CWW. Future studies should examine specific CW outcomes such as reunification, parent/child relationships, recidivism and parent/child mental health

Callous-unemotional traits and emotion in a detained adolescent sample: a mixed methods approach

Callous-Unemotional (CU) traits have been found to be useful in identifying youth who display more stable, severe and aggressive behavior and who are at increased risk for early-onset delinquency and later antisocial and delinquent behavior (Frick & Dickens, 2006; Frick & White,2008). Some studies devoted to understanding how youth with CU traits perceive emotional stimuli have found that youth with these traits have deficits in processing fear and distress in others (Frick and White, 2008). However, there is a paucity of research examining the detailed emotional experiences of youth with CU traits. Thus, the current study aimed to provide a richer understanding of the emotional experiences and perceptions of juvenile delinquents with high CU traits by examining how their emotional reactions and experiences may differ from those with low CU traits. Qualitative and quantitative data analyses were conducted to achieve these aims. It was found that a lower proportion of high CU youth, as compared to low CU youth, were able to identify the scared emotion of the photographed individual. No differences were found between groups on their ability to cite an experience for each emotion, or in their perceived emotional intensity for their experiences. High CU youth were more likely to make plans to evoke negative emotions in others for self-enhancement or to reach a specific goal, more so than low CU participants. A higher number of high CU youth reported that they found emotions hard to express, but perceived anger as easy to express, compared to low CU youth. High CU youth also controlled their fear to a greater extent compared to low CU youth. These findings are important as they shed new light on the relation between CU traits and emotion, and suggest that detained adolescents with CU traits may experience emotions such as guilt and fear, but they may prefer to contain their negative emotions from others. (Published By University of Alabama Libraries

An examination of the direct and indirect associations between adult psychopathy and childhood maltreatment

Psychopathy is a constellation of maladaptive personality traits such as callousness, dominance, pathological lying, a lack of empathy, and manipulativeness (Cleckley, 1942; Hare, 2003), which has been associated with both genetic and environmental etiological factors (e.g., Blair, Peschardt, Budhani, Mitchell, & Pine, 2006). One such environmental factor is childhood maltreatment, which has been previously found to predict psychopathy (e.g., Verona et al., 2005). The overall aim of this study was to examine the associations between four childhood maltreatment (sexual abuse, physical abuse, psychological abuse, and neglect) predictor variables and two psychopathy facets (affective-interpersonal and social deviance). I also investigated the possibility of behavioral disconstraint and negative emotionality as mediators, and gender and the affective-interpersonal facet as moderators in these and variants of these associations. The findings suggest that sexual abuse, physical abuse, and neglect directly and/or indirectly predict psychopathy. The results also indicate that behavioral disconstraint and specific negative emotions mediate these associations, and that gender and the affective-interpersonal facet serves as moderators. These findings are important as they shed light on the etiology of psychopathy, as well as offer implications regarding differences in gender and the affective-interpersonal facet in these associations. (Published By University of Alabama Libraries

Agreement in perceptions of care by older care recipients and their caregivers

Problem. Based on Time 1 data from the Family Relationships in Late Life (FRILL 2) Project, information was collected at research sites in Pittsburgh, PA, Athens, GA, and Tuscaloosa, AL from over 400 caregiver (CG) and care recipient (CR) dyads. One objective of the study is to obtain a profile of the quality of care given to older persons by their informal CGs. Approach. Analysis of interview data from both CRs and their CGs investigated agreement on identical measures regarding the nature and quality of care given to CRs. Summary of Findings. Substantial disagreement was evident in correlational analyses. In contrast to CG responses, CRs perceived themselves to be in better overall health, able to perform more ADLs, to need less medical care, to be more socially isolated, and to experience more financial exploitation and potentially harmful behaviors. Although CGs perceived more physical neglect, CGs believed that they offered better care than did CRs. Conclusions. Explanations will be offered for the low level of agreement in information provided by CRs and their CGs.Poster Presentatio