Child & Youth Care Forum最新文献

Background: Given that high levels of stress during adolescence are associated with negative consequences, it is important that adolescents with psychological needs are supported at an early stage, for instance with interventions at school. However, knowledge about the potential of school-based programs targeting adolescents with psychological needs, aimed at reducing school or social stress, is lacking.

Objective: The current study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of two targeted school-based skills-training programs, addressing either skills to deal with performance anxiety or social skills.

Methods: Two randomized controlled trials were performed with participants who self-selected to one of the programs. The sample comprised of N = 361 adolescents (M _age = 13.99 years, SD = 0.83) from various educational levels and ethnic identity backgrounds. The performance anxiety program included N = 196 participants (N = 95 in the experimental group), while the social skills program included N = 165 participants (N = 86 in the experimental group). MANCOVA's were performed.

Results: The performance anxiety program had a small effect on reducing adolescents' test anxiety. Furthermore, for adolescents who attended more than half of the sessions, the program had small effects on reducing test anxiety and fear of failure. The program did not improve adolescents' coping skills or mental health. The social skills program was not effective in improving social skills, social anxiety, and mental health.

Conclusions: A relatively short, targeted program addressing skills to deal with performance anxiety can have the potential to reduce adolescents' performance anxiety.

Trial registration: International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (Netherlands Trial Register, number NTR7680). Registered 12 December 2018. Study protocol van Loon et al., (2019).

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10566-023-09736-x.

Background: Previous research suggests that interactions between preschool teachers and children in early care and educational contexts can contribute to the child's positive attachment development and socioemotional adjustment.

Objective: Investigate how the transition process to preschool is organized and whether various ways of organizing it may differently influence family-teacher relationship-building and child adjustment.

Methods: Conducted a mixed methods study of quantitative and qualitative survey data from Swedish preschool professionals (N = 535).

Results: Preschool introduction varied across preschools in several structural aspects such as introduction length and intensity, timing for first child-parent separation, and number of children and teachers involved in the introduction process. Results moreover suggested that different introduction models were associated with different ways of engaging the parent, where the "parent-active" model was characterized by a high level of parental participation during the introductory activities. This was perceived by preschool professionals as positively influencing the family-teacher relational formation.

Conclusion: Findings suggest that inviting parents to participate actively in preschool transition may help better engage them in the introduction process, which in turn may positively influence family-teacher relationship-building. Future research should focus in more detail on how child-teacher and parent-teacher interactions, respectively, influence family-teacher relationship-building and child adjustment during, and after, the introduction period.

Background: Exposure therapy ("exposure") for youth anxiety is highly underutilized in clinical practice. Asynchronous, online implementation strategies such as online toolkits hold promise as pragmatic approaches for extending the sustainability of evidence-based interventions, but their long-term usage, perceived utility, and impact are rarely studied.

Objective: This study presents three-year preliminary implementation outcomes for a free, online toolkit to support exposure therapy use with youth: the Resource for Exposure for Anxiety Disordered Youth (READY; www.bravepracticeforkids.com). Implementation outcomes of interest included READY usage statistics, adoption, perceived utility, and clinician exposure use.

Methods: Web analytics characterized usage patterns. A survey of READY users (N = 49; M age = 34.2, 82.9% female, 71% White) assessed adoption, perceived utility, clinician exposure use, and persistent barriers to exposure use.

Results: In its first three years, READY had 13,543 page views across 1,731 unique users; 442 (25.6%) registered as a site user to access specialized content. Survey data suggested variability in usage and perceived utility across toolkit components. Qualitative analyses highlighted persistent exposure barriers that pointed to potential READY refinements.

Conculsions: Overall, READY has been accessed by hundreds of clinicians, but its impact was limited by low return to the site. This study highlights strengths and limitations of standalone online implementation supports and identifies additional steps needed to optimally support clinicians to deliver exposure to youth in need.

Background: To support student mental health, school staff must have knowledge of evidence-based practices and the capacity to implement them. One approach used to address this challenge is a group-based telementoring model called Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO). In other applications (e.g., healthcare settings), ECHO has been shown to increase healthcare professionals' self-efficacy and knowledge of evidence-based practices leading to improved patient outcomes.

Objectives: This study examined the potential for ECHO to be used as a method for increasing school staff engagement and knowledge of evidence-based school mental health practices.

Methods: Using a quasi-experimental design, this study compared outcomes across two professional development experiences aimed at promoting school staff ability to provide evidence-based mental health services. School staff from four school districts participated in a school mental health training initiative. All participants (N = 57) had access to asynchronous, online mental health modules. A sub-sample (n = 33) was also offered monthly ECHO sessions.

Results: Tests of group difference in outcomes revealed significant increases in engagement with online learning (d = 0.58) and satisfaction (d = 0.82) for those who participated in ECHO as compared to those who did not. Knowledge about evidence-based practices was not significantly different between groups.

Conclusions: Results suggest that group-based telementoring may be a promising approach for improving engagement and satisfaction with training initiatives aimed at promoting evidence-based school mental health practices. However, further study of ProjectECHO using experimental designs is needed to make causal inferences about its effect on provider outcomes.

Background: Technology and its use within mental health services has advanced dramatically over recent years. Opportunities for mental health services to utilise technology to introduce novel, effective, and more efficient means of delivering assessment, and treatment are increasing.

Objective: The current rapid-evidence paper reviews evidence regarding the introduction of novel technology to support young people's mental health and psychological well-being.

Methods: A rapid evidence review was conducted. PSYCHINFO and CINAHL were searched for research articles between 2016 and 2021 that were specific to young people, mental health, and technology developments within this domain. N = 27 studies which explored the introduction, feasibility, and value of technology for mental health purposes were included in a narrative synthesis. Quality or risk of bias analyses were not completed.

Results: Overall, technological advancements in young people's care were considered positive and engaging for young people. Factors including resources, efficiency of care, engagement, therapeutic effectiveness, ethical considerations, therapeutic alliance, and flexibility were considered within this review. Nevertheless, potential barriers include clinician concerns, socioeconomic factors, and motivation.

Conclusion: Effective and sustained use of technology within young people's mental health services will depend on the technology's usability, efficiency, and ability to engage young people. This paper expands on existing research by reviewing a broader range of technology proposed to support young people's mental health and well-being. This will assist in the application of novel technological advancements by indicating effectiveness, preferences, potential barriers, and recommendations for the feasibility and efficacy of introducing technology into young people's services.

Background: Italy was one of the first European countries to be affected by Covid-19. Due to the severity of the pandemic, the Italian government imposed a nationwide lockdown which had a great impact on the population, especially adolescents. Distance-learning, moving restrictions and pandemic-related concerns, resulted in a particularly stressful situation.

Objective: This cross-sectional study aims to analyse substance consumption and its associated factors during the Covid-19 lockdown imposed by the Italian government.

Methods: ESPAD is a questionnaire that is administered yearly in Italian high schools. In 2020, it was administered online during dedicated hours of distance learning, collecting data from 6027 Italian students (52.4% were male) aged 15-19. Data collected from the 2020 questionnaire was matched with that collected in 2019, in order to make them comparable.

Results: The prevalence of consumption of each substance decreased during the restriction period, and the most used substance during the lockdown period was alcohol (43.1%). There were some changes in factors associated with psychoactive substance use, especially painkillers and non-prescription drugs. For instance, unlike what was observed in the 2019 model, in 2020 spending money without parental control was associated with painkillers and non-prescription drug use while risk perception was not.

Conclusions: The restrictions and the increased difficulties in obtaining psychoactive substances did not prevent their consumption, and students with particular risk factors continued to use them, possibly changing the substance type of substance. This information is useful in order to better understand adolescents' substance use during the ongoing pandemic.