D. Collins, C. Jordan, & H. Coleman: An Introduction to Family Social Work

Developing Self Compassion as a Resource for Coping with Hardship: Exploring the Potential of Compassion Focused Therapy Abstract This article explores the potential of compassion focused therapy for developing self compassion as a resource for young people coping with hardship. Theoretical and research perspectives that point to the therapeutic potential of compassion, in particular self compassion, are presented. Compassion focused therapy (CFT) is introduced as a well delineated and empirically supported approach that may facilitate the development of self compassion. An illustration is offered which demonstrates the contribution of compassion focused-therapy based interventions to the coping of a 15 year old boy experiencing post-divorce paternal disengagement. The complexity related to practitioner readiness to utilize CFT is discussed, as well as that associated with the utilization of compassion promoting interventions with children and adolescents.

Young Adolescents’ Help Seeking Behaviors and Attitudes: An Examination of an Underserved Community Abstract Young adolescents’ endorsement of help-seeking and reported levels of connectedness are vital for culturally-tailored prevention initiatives. There is a dearth of information on how younger adolescents attending middle schools (ages 11–15) obtain help from trusted adults, especially among Hispanics. This is problematic as Hispanics, especially female high school students, have consistently reported higher rates of depression and suicidal behaviors for over 30 years. This pilot study included 72 young adolescents (86% Hispanic) in Central Texas. Surprisingly, although there were significant gender and age differences, no group strongly endorsed seeking help during times of distress. Yet, females were more likely to report that they would talk to a counselor or other adult at school when distressed compared to males. While no gender differences were found endorsing trusted adults as helpful, younger female adolescents held higher beliefs these individuals could help during times of distress. What is most pivotal is that this study suggests that changes in help seeking attitudes can occur from one grade to another. Therefore, early adolescence, instead of the more common period of high school, might be a critical time to offer upstream mental health prevention approaches.

Provider Perspectives of Services Addressing the Mental Health Needs of Resettled Refugee Youth Abstract A range of services are provided to assist resettled refugees with meeting their basic needs and supporting their integration in the United States. The inability to adequately assess and address the mental health needs among youth in this population is a concern raised by service providers who work with resettled refugees. The current study aimed to gain the perspectives of those who serve this population about the strengths and barriers to mental health services addressing the needs of resettled refugee youth. We conducted individual interviews and applied inductive qualitative methods to identify themes. Supplemental survey data were collected as well; descriptive findings are integrated into the themes. Analysis resulted in six themes. Refugee youth service providers observe high levels of resilience and positive development among youth who engage in programs, in addition to concerns that many refugee youth might not be thriving nor accessing adequate services. Providers’ recommendations for best practices focus mainly on cultural competence and engagement with youth in the context of their families, communities, and groups, and less on individual counseling. A depth of nuance and complexity regarding language and cultural barriers. Results contribute greater understanding and credence to the importance for improving the capacity to recognize and intervene in refugee youth mental health needs. Offers important insight for assessment of refugee youth programs and well-being, enhancing youth services, and approaching further research.

Resilience Beyond Risk: Youth Re-defining Resilience Through Collective Art-Making Abstract There is a strong parallel between the discursive construction of youth and the definition of resilience, with shared characterizations of deficit, risk and adversity. The purpose of this study was to explore the possibility of redefining resilience by incorporating youth’s own conceptualizations and experiences through collaborative art-making. Twenty-three youth (16–29 years old) participated in art-making workshops guided by six youth researchers, who also assisted with data collection. While youth participants were strongly impacted by external forces imposing a normative assumption of ‘successful youthhood,’ they actively sought out both unique subjectivity and solidarity to counter the negative forces threatening their well-being. The findings suggest that these young people perceive resilience as a crucial component of identity management. Acknowledging youth perceptions of resilience as an intersubjective process of identity negotiation, rather than a personality trait or a buildable capacity for coping, may provide valuable guidance to social work professionals.

Pregnant and Parenting Youth in Care and Their Children: A Literature Review Abstract While general U.S. rates of adolescent pregnancy and childbirth have declined over the past four decades, the rate among adolescents in foster care has not reflected this same drop. Decades of research has indicated negative outcomes for both parenting adolescents and their children compared to their non-parenting peers, however, less is understood about the risks, outcomes and needs specific to adolescents who give birth while in foster care. This comprehensive literature review adds to the knowledge of pregnant and parenting mothers in foster care and their children by identifying and summarizing all relevant studies published between 2011 and 2017. Findings indicate that youth in care have high rates of pregnancy and childbirth, experience multiple risks and negative outcomes, and are in need of various supportive services. Implications for research, practice and policy (need to reduce unintended pregnancy and improve circumstances, identifying successful interventions, expanding knowledge of these youth and their children, and developing two-generation interventions) were also explored.

Psychotropic Medication Use and Perceptions of Medication Effects Among Transition-Age Foster Youth Abstract The prevalence of psychotropic medication use among children and adolescents in foster care has received increasing attention from policymakers and scholars and led to responses from government. Most research has focused on school-age foster children; less is known about psychotropic medication use among foster youth transitioning to adulthood from care. Using data from a longitudinal study of transition-age foster youth (n = 611), this study examines the prevalence of psychotropic medication use over time, evaluates youths’ perceptions of the benefits of medication, and assesses associations between medication use and behavioral health problems. The overall rate of psychotropic medication use dropped from age 17 to age 19. Among youth with at least one behavioral health problem, rates of psychotropic medication use also declined over time. Decreases in psychotropic medication use between age 17 and 19 were found among youth with the following disorders: mania, an alcohol use disorder, and a non-alcohol drug use disorder. Behavioral health status and youths’ living arrangements were associated with the likelihood of psychotropic medication use at age 17, whereas only behavioral health status was associated with the likelihood of psychotropic medication use at age 19. Most youth reported either a positive or neutral view of the relative benefits of using medications. Among youths who had used medications, those in relative foster homes were less likely than those in non-relative foster homes to report negative views of their medications. The findings have implications for child welfare and health care professionals and policymakers.

Adolescent Maltreatment and Risk Behaviors: A Comparison of Child Protective Service Reports and Youth Self-reports Abstract Adolescence is a critical period in the development of close peer-relationships and identity formation. The degree of harm experienced by the maltreatment can be amplified by the subjective meaning the adolescent victim ascribes. Assessing maltreatment experience on adolescent victims’ perspective is critical to understand their subsequent risk behaviors in addition to Child Protective Service (CPS) reports. The current study explores how youth risk behaviors are predicted by maltreatment experiences which occurred between the ages of 12 and 16 by two different maltreatment informants, adolescent self-report and CPS reports. The study included 694 adolescents who completed self-report of maltreatment questions and also had available CPS records from Longitudinal Study of Child Abuse and Neglect. The findings of the study suggest that there are significant differences in predicting youth risk behaviors between CPS reports and youth self-reports. Adolescents’ subjective appraisals of their maltreatment experiences independently contributed to the prediction of their risk behaviors. Addressing youth’s perception of maltreatment experiences through self-reports in addition to CPS reports has significant implication for understanding their risk behaviors and working with them in practice settings.

The Relationship of Child Temperament, Maternal Parenting Stress, Maternal Child Interaction and Child Health Rating Abstract Considering the relationship between maternal and child factors that influence child health is key to understanding child wellbeing. Several studies have considered the contributions of familial and environmental factors on child health outcomes. Expanding on this research, this study examines child temperament, maternal parenting stress, and maternal–child interaction as predictors of child health, while controlling for poverty, parental relationship status, and the number of children in the household factors known to impact health. Multinomial regression analysis of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study year one data set, n = 3712, was conducted to test three hypotheses: higher child emotionality will be predictive of lower child health rating, higher parenting stress will be predictive of lower child health ratings, and, higher levels of maternal–child interaction will be predictive of higher child health ratings. Findings indicated that all study variables were significant predictors of child health ratings [− 2 Log likelihood = 6657.40, χ2 215.661, p < .001, Nagelkerke R2 .067], demonstrating the importance of temperament, parenting stress, and maternal–child interaction when considering child health. Social workers working with children and families in a variety of settings may want to target these factors to improve health outcomes of children.

Peer Support in the Homeless Youth Context: Requirements, Design, and Outcomes Abstract Peer support has a lengthy history in health and community services with particular prominence in areas such as addictions and mental health services. This growth in emphasis and evidence has not been mirrored in the area of youth peer support broadly nor peer support among homeless youth specifically. This situation has persisted despite the growing emphasis on youth lived experience engagement—including peer support. This paucity of literature framed the rationale for the present paper that provides a description of the structure, processes, and preliminary outcomes of an intentional peer support program delivered in the context of tertiary prevention of youth homelessness in a large Canadian urban setting. Pre-post findings for a cohort of 28 youth are reported in key mental health and community engagement domains and qualitative data from interviews with participants, peer supports, and staff are presented. These findings suggest that peer support would seem to be both a feasible and potentially impactful part of the repertoire of interventions from service to policy levels that are needed to address the complex and persistent global problem of youth homelessness. While promising, our work also suggests that peer support cannot be an afterthought-type element of programming but must be robust in process and structure to facilitate improvement for service recipients, the wellness of the peers, and the benefits for the team as a whole that results from effective peer engagement.