Eileen M. Brennan

Child Care and Employed Parents of Children With Emotional or Behavioral Disorders

Lack of appropriate child care is frequently reported by parents of children with disabilities as a major obstacle to finding and maintaining their employment. Care for children with emotional or behavioral disorders is particularly difficult to locate because child care providers often lack adequate training. Findings are presented from interviews with 60 parents employed a minimum of 30 hr per week and caring for at least one school-age child with an emotional or behavioral disorder. Child care arrangements were varied and complex, with parents often making adjustments daily to design suitable care plans for all children in the family. Parental stress levels and work limitations because of child care were associated with levels of work—family fit, flexibility, child care difficulty, and child care satisfaction. We suggest that availability and access to child care options and supports specific to the needs of their children may be essential for employed parents of children with emotional or behavioral disorders to reduce stress and promote work—life integration.

Participation in the Paid Labor Force by Caregivers of Children With Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

We explored the relationship between school-age childrens emotional and behavioral symptoms and workforce participation of their family caregivers using structural equation modeling. Secondary analysis of data from the national evaluation of the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families Program was performed with a subsample of 2,585 caregivers. Findings from structural equation modeling indicated that higher levels of internalizing and externalizing symptoms were significant predictors of more frequent school absences, less adequate childcare, and greater caregiver strain related to missing work. In turn, more adequate childcare and greater caregiver strain from missed work were associated with lower likelihood of workforce participation. Further research on labor force participation and increased family support is necessary to improve work—life integration for caregivers of children with emotional and behavioral disorders. Future investigations should examine caregiver employment as a standard family outcome.

The Evidence Base for Mental Health Consultation in Early Childhood Settings: A Research Synthesis Addressing Children's Behavioral Outcomes

Research Findings: Early childhood mental health consultation aims to reduce problem behaviors and improve social skills in young children primarily through changes in the classroom environment and teacher practices. We conducted a systematic review of the literature and identified 14 rigorous studies that reported on child-level outcomes. These studies had at least one of the following characteristics: publication in a peer-reviewed journal, use of a randomized control trial design, or inclusion of a comparison group. Across these studies, there was variation in the approaches to consultation, qualifications of the consultants, and intensity of the services provided. Overall, early childhood mental health consultation services were consistently associated with reductions in teacher-reported externalizing behaviors. Findings related to reductions in internalizing behaviors were mixed. Teacher ratings of prosocial behaviors were improved in the majority of the studies that reported on this domain. Practice or Policy: This research synthesis underscores the importance of documenting the specific approaches to early childhood mental health consultation that are being implemented to allow for replication of effective models. Areas for future research improvement include increasing rigor through studies that contain independent assessments of childrens behaviors, isolating key components of effective consultation, and identifying consultant qualifications and characteristics that lead to child behavior changes.

The African American Adolescent Respect Scale: A Measure of a Prosocial Attitude.

Objectives: The respect that African American youth feel promotes psychological wellness and social identity; conversely, a lack of respect compromises their identities and is viewed as a threat to safety. This article describes the development, psychometric analysis, and validation of the African American Respect Scale, a 20-item instrument measuring prosocial attitudes held by male adolescents. Method: The scale was administered to 200 African American male youth age 14 to 18 years; 100 were incarcerated in juvenile corrections facilities, 100 resided in the community. Results: After acceptable reliability was established, factor analysis revealed three principal components labeled societal, family, and peer subscales. The subscales correlated with racial socialization and predicted the use of violence. Nonincarcerated youth scored significantly higher on all three subscales than incarcerated youth. Conclusions: Suggestions for social work practice with African American youth include assessing their attitudes toward respect, and assisting them to handle disrespect without resorting to violence.

Racial respect and racial socialization as protective factors for African American male youth

African American adolescents must negotiate the transition to adulthood in a society that makes the achievement of positive cultural identity and self-respect difficult. Frequently, young men turn to violence in an attempt to achieve respect in their communities. This article explores factors that predict the use of violence among African American male youth. Adolescents from 14 through 18 years of age who completed a written survey in group settings in Oregon included 100 youth who were detained in the juvenile justice system and 100 who were members of a community youth development program. A history of witnessing violence strongly predicted the intensity of violent behavior of study youth; however, endorsing positive attitudes toward racial respect significantly moderated the effects of chronic exposure to violence. Additionally, racial socialization was negatively correlated to violence intensity and was marginally significant in moderating the effects of witnessing violence. Implications for practice with male African American youth are highlighted.

Employed Parents of Children With Mental Health Disorders: Achieving Work-Family Fit, Flexibility, and Role Quality

Extensive interviews with 60 employed parents of school-age children treated for mental health problems explored work-family fit, flexibility, family support, and work-life strategies in relation to role quality. Role quality was measured as employment and parenting rewards and concerns. Work-family fit was positively related to family flexibility but not work flexibility. Higher flexibility in work and family predicted lower job concerns, and work flexibility and work-family fit were predictors of job rewards. Parental concerns were dependent on flexibility and work-family strategies. Single parents had significantly fewer sources of family support and used fewer work-family strategies than caregivers with partners. Human services providers should collaborate with families by jointly exploring new flexibility and support strategies in work and family domains.Research on services for families of children with emotional and behavioral disorders has identified family psychoeducation as a promising modality for service delivery. The current paper reports the results of pilot testing two multi-family psychoeducation groups in a school setting. Parents of 15 children receiving school services for emotional and behavioral disorders participated in two psychoeducation groups. Families completed surveys pre- and post-intervention on family-level and child-level outcomes. Among outcome variables, attention-related problems demonstrated significant improvement and a substantial effect size. Other outcomes were positive, with effect sizes generally in the moderate range. Despite the small sample size and limited measurements, these results offer further support for the promise of psychoeducation for parents of children with emotional and behavioral disorders.

Balancing the Responsibilities of Work and Family Life: Results of the Family Caregiver Survey.

This article describes patterns of work and family balance that were examined for employed parents who give family care to children with serious emotional disorders. A secondary analysis of data from the Family Caregiver Survey was performed for a subsample of 184 caregivers employed outside the home or having a partner employed full time. Families having different work structures (patterns of part- or full-time employment and of parenting arrangements) reported significantly different levels of job stress, pleasure in work and intimate relationships, work used as coping, and satisfaction handling home responsibilities. Although reported child behaviors were significantly related to stress attributed to children and family, the behaviors were not related to work structure, job stress, or support service use.

Effectiveness of Rural Natural Helpers

The authors studied the perceived effectiveness of 200 natural helpers in two geographic regions of the United States. Results indicated that helper effectiveness was associated with helper gender, age, relationships, problem type, and helping style. Clinicians and helpers agreed that the help was effective.

Women and Work: Toward a New Developmental Model

Womens adult development has been explained by means of research and theory that are either individualistic (based on work and achievements) or relational (based on relationships and caring). The author proposes a model that conceptualizes womens growth in self-understanding as being attained through both work and relationships in key life domains. The model is examined as a guide for developmentally based practice with adult women.

Introduction to the Special Issue: Empirically-based Interventions for Emerging Adults with Serious Mental Health Conditions

Introduction to the Special Issue... Young people in late adolescence and early adulthood have higher rates of serious mental health conditions (SMHCs) than any other age cohort in the U.S. population, yet they are also the age group least likely to engage in services. Research evidence developed over the past decade and a half has amply documented the poor outcomes and difficult life trajectories experienced by older adolescents and young adults with SMHCs; however, only recently has attention been turned to developing interventions that respond to their unique needs and preferences. This special issue of the Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research highlights new research that contributes to knowledge about interventions and programs that are successful in improving outcomes for emerging adults, older adolescents and young adults between the ages of about 17 and 25, who experience serious mental health conditions. The papers that comprise this special issue describe research that is grounded in what can be described as a “positive developmental” approach to working with emerging adults with SMHCs. The lead article1 for the issue describes this positive developmental approach in terms of a set of core features that are shared across a number of interventions and programs that have empirical evidence of effectiveness for the population. The article points out that, despite the apparent success and growing popularity of interventions and programs that incorporate these shared features, there has not been any clear theoretical description of why or how interventions built around the features should “work” to produce desired outcomes. The article draws on existing research and a blend of theories, including theories of positive development, self-determination, ecological systems and social capital, to propose a general theory of change for positive developmental approaches to improving outcomes for emerging adults with SMHCs. The paper argues that a clearer theoretical specification can contribute to the creation of efficient strategies for building the research base and for training providers to work more effectively with the population. The subsequent papers included in this special issue reflect the diversity of strategies that are being used to develop and evaluate interventions that include features of the positive developmental approach and that are designed specifically to improve outcomes for emerging adults with SMHCs. Several of the papers focus on efforts to adapt interventions that have evidence of success with other populations,2-4 while another paper focuses on an intervention originally developed specifically for emerging adults with SMHCs.5 An additional paper describes research on a culturally grounded intervention approach focused on supporting positive Introduction to the Special Issue: Empirically-based Interventions for Emerging Adults with Serious Mental Health Conditions