Journal of evidence-informed social work最新文献

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the 18-month effectiveness of the Parent and Child Enhancement (PACE) program through an 18-month follow-up of the participants.

Methods: Participants included parents and children who participated in the PACE program in 2013-2014, where they were randomized into intervention (n = 76) and control (n = 73) groups. At the 18-month follow-up, participating parents completed questionnaires on their children's learning and behavior, and their own parenting. Children were individually assessed on their preschool concepts. There were 44 intervention group and 11 control group participants with complete data.

Results: The results suggested that the intervention group participants were able to maintain their program gains at 18-month follow-up in children's learning, behavior and parents' own parenting, while there were no significant differences across the three time points for the control group participants.

Conclusion: The results provided some initial evidence on the sustainability of the PACE program.

This paper (a) examines the evidence base around rehabilitation of victims of trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation (CSE), (b) identifies the extent that India's proposed 2016 Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection, and Rehabilitation) Bill reflects scientific and experiential evidence, and (c) discusses how gaps in the proposed bill can be informed by evidence. A rapid review of empirical studies on policies and interventions addressing rehabilitation of CSE victims was conducted. Although evidence is lacking, research suggests that cross-sectoral collaboration, training and monitoring law enforcement, psychotherapeutic interventions and care provided by short-term shelters, reintegration, and recognizing victims' rights improve the success of rehabilitative efforts. The proposed legislation does not sufficiently reflect evidence around successful rehabilitation efforts and suggests that implementing the bill as it currently stands would change little of the existing structures to support victims in receiving adequate services or successfully reintegrating into society.

Social work practice is an industry based mostly on therapist intuition and gut feelings. There are virtually no real-time, reliable data showing the performance of any patient outcomes or on therapists providing treatment services. In this paper a new system is recommended, performance-based practice. In the future, the New Social Work proposed will not operate as a system in which patients enter community facilities to sit in waiting rooms and interact with a randomly assigned therapist for one hour a few times weekly. Social service building will transform into technology centers where therapists use tools to measure and intervene with patients in real-time. The New Social Work will finally understand that people do not recover or learn how to recover in therapist's offices-but in their own communities-with assistance from high-performance professional therapists interacting in the moment.

This study explored both how changes are made and what encourages the maintenance of change after psychotherapy, from the perspective of a sample of former clients, using a mixed methods sequential design. Wampold & Imel's (2015) contextual model was used as a conceptual framework. Using secondary data analysis, quantitative analysis was used to explore the degree to which clients made and maintained progress from pretest to post test and 12 to 18 month follow-up. Fourteen interviews were used to hear from former clients about their impressions of what supported their efforts at change and how they maintained these gains post treatment. The findings of the quantitative strand demonstrated clinically meaningful change from pretest to follow-up, using a 1 x 3 repeated measures ANOVA. Qualitative themes emerged in response to questions asking about: what facilitates change, what participants do to maintain changes, and what characterized clinical relationships that did and did not go well.

Objective: The efficacy of heal-change group (HCG) intervention-brief trauma-recovery group intervention applying a gender-specific cognitive behavioral approach-for Chinese-abused women in refuge centers was examined in a pretest-posttest comparison study.

Methods: A total of 100 women at three refuge centers in Hong Kong participated. Among them, 50 women from two centers joined the HCG and 50 women from the remaining center participated in a comparison mutual support group. Participants and interviewers were blinded to the group assignment. Both groups were six sessions long. Linear regression analyses were performed using the intention-to-treat framework.

Results: Significant improvements in PTSD symptoms (overall mean change of -1.6, p < .001; subdomain scores; p < .001 to < .01) and depressive symptoms (BDI-II mean change; p < .01) were recorded in the intervention group.

Conclusion: The results suggest HCG is beneficial to Chinese-abused women. Further research is needed to determine the intervention's effectiveness in improving longer-term outcomes in these women.

Purpose: Extreme weather events are increasing with climate change. The physical and mental health of people served by social workers may be especially at risk from these hazards. This exploratory study examines if specific types of human, financial, physical, and social capital are associated with health impacts from excessive summer heat and extreme winter weather.

Method: Data from resident surveys (N = 424) in low- and moderate-income areas of a Southeastern US city are analyzed with descriptive statistics and logistic regression.

Results: Key findings are that health status and social cohesion are negatively associated with health impacts of summer heat and winter extremes.

Conclusion: Further study is needed of how specific types of capital may help people cope with a changing climate. Social capital may be a particularly relevant area for social work to address within the pressing issue of climate, weather, and the health of vulnerable groups.

Purpose: This study assessed the critical aspect of individual staff attitudes and readiness for change within staff at a non-profit human service organization in Anchorage, Alaska, committed to adopting trauma-informed care (TIC). Organizational research has highlighted that staff attitudes and readiness impact the success of change efforts.

Method: An online survey was used to measure staff knowledge about trauma, attitudes toward TIC, and readiness for change.

Results: A significant finding was that attitudes favorable toward TIC were positively associated with higher readiness for change.

Discussion: Human service organizations have sought to become more responsive to the needs of clients that have experienced trauma by adopting TIC. Prior to change efforts, it is critical that organizations consider staff readiness.

Conclusion: As awareness about the prevalence and impact of trauma is increasing, these significant findings have implications for other agencies adopting TIC.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to establish the prevalence of Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) among victim advocates and to determine if risk factors (for the development of STS) that have been cited in the literature (with other populations) are applicable to victim advocates.

Methods: Data was collected from 135 victim advocates using an online survey.

Results: The prevalence rate of STS among victim advocates is approximately 50% and risk factors include number of hours worked per week, direct service hours, and working with adult survivors of child sexual abuse.

Discussion: Our results suggest that cumulative trauma exposure acts as risk factors to the development of STS among victim advocates.

Conclusion: Intervention efforts for this population are sorely needed and the information gained from this study can be used to guide these intervention efforts.