Fathers Caring for Children with Special Health Care Needs: Experiences of Work-Life Fit

Research about employed fathers of children with special health care needs (SHCN) is still limited, leaving fathers without the necessary workplace and community supports to better integrate work and life. Caregivers with exceptional caregiving responsibilities report greater levels of work-family conflict and considerable caregiver strain, as well as negative employment and financial consequences related to their caregiving responsibilities. These caregivers often struggle to access community supports such as childcare, after-school care, and support from friends and neighbors. This study provides insights into the types of job, home, and community resources that are relevant for fathers of children with SHCN in order to better integrate work and family. The exploratory cross-sectional design employed an online survey to collect the data, with 122 fathers meeting the study criteria of living at least part-time with a child with SHCN under the age of 18 and being employed at least part-time. The fathers had a mean age of 42 and most of them identified as Non-Hispanic White. The majority stated holding a college degree and over 90% reported being married or partnered. Fathers indicated having on average two children and Autism Spectrum Disorder was the most cited diagnosis for the child with SHCN. Regression analyses were conducted to analyze the study\u27s research questions. Access and use of workplace flexibility were significant job resource measures predicting difficulty combining work and family, and spillover. Family flexibility to handle work issues was a significant predictor across all dimensions of positive and negative spillover. The availability of community services was found significantly related to negative family to work spillover and support from friends/neighbors was a significant predictor for both difficulty combining work and family, and spillover. Regression analyses with interaction terms of job and home resources showed buffering effects of resource ecologies on spillover. The study\u27s findings illustrate that, fathers of children with SHCN struggle to integrate work and family even if they are not considered primary caregivers. Community, home, and job resources were salient for these fathers to mitigate a lack of resources across ecologies. This lack of resources tended to reinforce traditional gender norms for both mother and father. Resources within and across the three different ecologies were found to have direct and compensatory effects. Community resources were identified as the most important resources for both positive and negative spillover. The study also highlights the positive spillover effects related to employment and family care for fathers of children with SHCN. Organizations are called to reduce flexibility stigma and decrease barriers to using workplace flexibility to improve work-life fit for fathers caring for children with SHCN. Social services like childcare, or after school care, and social support are of critical relevance and need to better support these fathers and families. Considerations for future research are presented

Transition Mental Health Service Provider Core Competencies

From 2010 through 2012, the Pathways Transition Training Collaborative (PTTC) worked collaboratively to identify core competencies for service providers working in mental health services with young adults of transition age. Since then, the Pathways Transition Training Partnership (PTTP) has collaborated with partners to update and clarify the core competencies. Competencies include the values, attitudes, knowledge, and skills needed to engage youth and young adults and provide effective services and supports to young people and families. Each of the 15 core competencies is defined, followed by the attitudes, knowledge and skills needed to demonstrate it, and an example of the competency in practice. We note that these competencies are based on a set of values that include respect for the worth and self-determination of young people, a commitment to respecting youths’ cultures and strengths, and a belief in the importance of relationships and supports to promote well-being

Integrating Work and Family Responsibilities: Experiences of Fathers of Children With Special Health Care Needs

ObjectivesFathers face increasing demands to engage with family responsibilities without changes to workplace expectations. Research about these changes at home and in the workplace for employed fathers of children with special health care needs (SHCN) is limited, leaving fathers without necessary workplace, family, and community resources to better integrate work and family.MethodsAn online survey collected data from 122 fathers who lived at least part-time with a child with SHCN under the age of 18 and were employed at least part-time. This study investigated the effects of workplace, family, and community resources on positive and negative work family and family work spillover.ResultsLinear regression analyses revealed that access to workplace flexibility was positively correlated with negative work family spillover, and that use of workplace flexibility was positively correlated with negative family work spillover. Support from friends/neighbors was a significant predictor of negative family work and work family, and positive family work spillover.ConclusionsThe study’s findings illustrate that fathers of children with SHCN struggle to integrate work and family. Resources in the three micro systems of workplace, family, and community, are utilized by fathers to meet work and family demands. The study also highlights the positive spillover effects related to employment and family care for fathers of children with SHCN

Making Disability Visible in Social Work Education

The role of social work education is to prepare students to work with individuals, families, and communities, many of whom have one or more disabilities. Yet most social work programs include limited disability-specific content in their programs, and with a deficit-model focus. Recent changes in the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics and the Council on Social Work Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards moves the profession from a disability toward an ability framework; yet disability is still often invisible in curricular content and in the ways social work education recognizes and responds to disabled students, faculty, and staff. This article discusses frameworks for ways social work education can proactively and intentionally address disability within ableist institutional practices

Is Online Training an Effective Workforce Development Strategy for Transition Service Providers? Results of a Comparative Study

Service providers working with transition-aged young people with mental health disorders require specialized research-based training to better meet their needs. A 10-module interactive online training program, Promoting Positive Pathways to Adulthood (PPPA), was developed to build service provider competencies to improve outcomes for the youth with whom they work. In total, 19 organizations participated in a longitudinal quasi-experimental study that compared training outcomes for participants receiving PPPA online training only (Group 1) with those receiving PPPA online training with team-based practice activities (Group 2). Most of the 63 service providers participating in the training were females, below 40 years, had at least one college degree, and were non-Hispanic White. Both groups made significant gains in their transition-related knowledge, and their self-efficacy to provide transition services. Group 2 with additional practice activities achieved significantly higher knowledge scores than Group 1 receiving online-only training. Team-based activities evaluated by Group 2 participants as more engaging and culturally relevant were also rated as more likely to help improve practice. Future research is needed to track youth outcomes after service provider training, and to examine the organizational supports necessary to promote knowledge translation for transition service providers