Julie A. Steen

Measurement in abstinence education. Critique and recommendations.

The purpose of this article is to identify, assess, and offer solutions to common measurement errors found in sexual abstinence education evaluation. A critical review of the methodology of adolescent sexuality research was performed. “Gold standards” of their measurement strategy were derived and applied against 14 selected studies. Many of the articles reviewed had substantial limitations in their measurement strategies. However, several articles demonstrated excellence and serve as models for future efforts. Sexual abstinence education evaluation is plagued by the inherent weaknesses of self-report and health outcome measures. However, with careful adherence to the gold standards proposed, it is possible to limit the threat from these weaknesses, maximizing the benefit of self-report surveys and county-level health indicators.

Entryway into the child protection system: The impacts of child maltreatment reporting policies and reporting system structures

This study was designed to assess the impacts of maltreatment reporting policies and reporting system structures on four aspects of entry into the child protection system (the maltreatment referral rate, the percentage of referrals screened in for investigation, the screened-in report rate and the substantiated report rate). Using secondary data from several sources, eight multiple linear regression models were created and analyzed. Results from a sample of 44 states indicated significant effects for system structure but no effects for reporting policies. Specifically, states with decentralized reporting system structures were significantly more restrictive in access than other states. These results have implications for child welfare administrators and policymakers seeking to maximize access for maltreated children and their families.

Correlates of Multiple Placements in Foster Care: A Study of Placement Instability in Five States

In order to assess the consistency of correlates of multiple placements, secondary data from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) were examined for five states. The relationships between multiple placements and age, disability, and maltreatment type were consistent across the states studied. On the other hand, gender, race, and foster care system size were inconsistently related to multiple placements in terms of direction and/or strength. These results point to the importance of considering not only the strength and direction of these relationships, but also the enduring or shifting nature of these relationships across environments.

An Exploratory Study of the Relationship Between Child Protection System Stressors and Case Outputs

This article presents an exploratory study of the relationship between organizational stressors and organizational outputs in the child protection field. A secondary data analysis was conducted with a sample of 65 counties in Florida. Multiple regression models were created using two independent variables representing caseload and turnover. While these organizational stressors were not significantly related to the percent of child abuse and neglect cases that were verified, they were significantly related to the percent of non-judicial cases closed within a specified time frame. These results point to the relevance of organizational characteristics in child protective services.

The Perceived Impact of a Child Maltreatment Report From the Perspective of the Domestic Violence Shelter Worker

The purpose of this study is to examine domestic violence shelter workers’ perceptions of child maltreatment reporting. A sample of 82 professionals from domestic violence shelters across the United States participated in a survey focusing on a variety of different types of reports and the frequency of both positive and negative outcomes arising from these reports. Possible outcomes included in the study are damage to the relationship between the worker and the battered woman, disempowerment of the battered woman, discouragement from seeking further help, protection of the child, further traumatization of the child, further disruption to the family, and damage to the woman’s likelihood of maintaining custody. Significant differences in perceived impact are found based on identity of abuser (spousal batterer vs. battered woman) and nature of report (child as witness to domestic violence vs. child as victim of abuse). These results point to the complexity of perceptions regarding the impact of reporting.

The Human Rights Philosophy: Support and Opposition among Undergraduate Social Work Students.

ABSTRACT In response to the rising importance of human rights, social work student attitudes toward human rights and the effect of human rights course content on these attitudes were assessed. Descriptive results from a sample of 77 students pointed to a few areas of low support for the human rights philosophy, specifically rights related to mental illness, juvenile justice, asylum seeking, same-sex marriage, and the death penalty. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests suggest that human rights content infusion was successful in fostering higher levels of support for some but not all human rights.

The Human Rights Philosophy as a Values Framework for the Human Behavior Course: Integration of Human Rights Concepts in the Person-in-Environment Perspective

The human behavior course is an ideal venue for delivery of human rights content, since the human rights philosophy and the person-in-environment perspective align with each other. With the goal of supporting efforts to meet the human rights competency in the most recent version of accreditation standards, this manuscript describes the three core concepts of the human rights philosophy and their relevance for the micro, mezzo, and macrolevels of the person-in-environment perspective. Further, the benefits and challenges of integrating these three concepts in the human behavior course are discussed.

A Multilevel Study of the Role of Environment in Adolescent Substance Use

The purpose of this study is to assess the relationships between county-level characteristics and adolescent use of alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana. The study consisted of a hierarchical generalized linear analysis of secondary data from the Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey. Variables on the county level included the percent of adolescents in the county reporting the presence of a Boys & Girls Club, neighbors available to adolescents needing to talk, abandoned buildings, and easy access to the substance. The easy access variable explained a majority of the variance in the county-level log odds of use. The results provide support for policies that restrict access to alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana.

Human Rights and the Social Work Curriculum: Integrating Human Rights into Skill-Based Education Regarding Policy Practice Behaviors

This article provides a model for social work educators seeking to integrate human rights content in the policy course. Each of the four policy-related practice behaviors (e.g., policy formulation, policy analysis, policy advocacy, and collaboration in policy practice) is examined with respect to the traditional methods used in social welfare policy courses and the ways in which these methods can be expanded to include human rights content. Available literature and multimedia resources are noted and practical human rights applications are presented with the goal of supporting efforts to achieve this integration.

Attitudes of Domestic Violence Shelter Workers Toward Mandated Reporter Laws: A Study of Policy Support and Policy Impact

In order to examine attitudes in the field of domestic violence toward mandated reporter laws, a survey was administered to domestic violence shelter workers. The respondents overwhelmingly supported the mandate to report abuse of a child. However, a mandate to report child witnessing of domestic violence was opposed by a slight majority. When compared with the group opposing the mandate, the group in support perceived more frequent occurrence of a reports positive impact and less frequent occurrence of a reports negative impacts. These results have implications for advocacy efforts that are focused on mandated reporter laws.