Shauna Rienks

Longitudinal associations between sibling relationship quality, parental differential treatment, and children's adjustment.

This study examined associations between changes in sibling relationships and changes in parental differential treatment and corresponding changes in childrens adjustment. One hundred thirty-three families were assessed at 3 time points. Parents rated childrens externalizing problems, and children reported on sibling relationship quality, parental differential treatment, and depressive symptoms. On average, older siblings were 10, 12, and 16 years old, and younger siblings were 8, 10, and 14 years old at Waves 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Results from hierarchical linear modeling indicated that as sibling relationships improved over time, childrens depressive symptoms decreased over time. In addition, as children were less favored over their siblings over time, childrens externalizing problems increased over time. Findings highlight the developmental interplay between the sibling context and childrens adjustment.

Preliminary Efficacy of an Intervention to Reduce Psychosocial Stress and Improve Coping in Low-Income Families

This article reports pre–post intervention results from a randomized controlled trial evaluating the initial efficacy of a couples-based intervention aimed at teaching skills for coping with stress and improving relationship skills in a sample of 173 ethnically diverse low-income co-resident mothers and fathers who were raising at least one child together. Couples were randomly assigned to one of three interventions or to an assessment-only control condition. The Fatherhood, Relationship, and Marriage Education (FRAME) intervention is a 14-h psychoeducation intervention developed specifically to strengthen the ability of low-income mothers and fathers to reduce conflict, cope with stress, and co-parent effectively. Three versions of FRAME were assessed: a men-only group, a women-only group, and a couple’s group. The pre-post intervention analyses revealed reductions in financial stress, disengagement coping, and involuntary disengagement responses, as well as improvements in problem solving. These pre–post changes on stress and coping variables were both statistically significant and reliable as assessed by the Reliable Change Index (Jacobson and Truax 1991). Results were particularly strong for the couples’ and women’s groups. In addition, positive pre-post changes on stress and coping variables were associated with pre-post reductions on symptoms of depression for participants assigned to an intervention. The results demonstrate that participants in FRAME acquire some of the key skills taught in the intervention, and skills acquisition appears to translate into symptom reduction. In addition, this study highlights the value of an intervention aiming to improve the capacity of parents with economic hardship to cope effectively with stress.

NCWWI Traineeships: A National Cross-Site Evaluation of Child Welfare Stipend Programs for Ethnically Diverse Students

The task of recruiting and retaining ethnically diverse, qualified, and committed social workers in child welfare is challenging. Federal funding supporting BSW and MSW education has been a catalyst for university–agency partnerships across the country. An important goal of these partnerships is to prepare social work students with the knowledge, skills, and competencies for effective child welfare practice. The National Child Welfare Workforce Institute’s innovative child welfare traineeships program prepares students from 12 social work programs around the country. This study focused on diversity, competency attainment, and readiness for the job. Results showed that programs recruited ethnically diverse students, and after receiving child welfare–specific content and hands-on experiences in the field, students felt competent and prepared for child welfare work.

Complex health concerns among child welfare populations and the benefit of pediatric medical homes

Children referred to child welfare have higher-than-average rates of physical, mental, and developmental health conditions, yet coordinating medical care to address their complex needs is challenging. This study investigates complex health characteristics of child welfare-involved children to inform evolving patient-centered medical homes that incorporate multidisciplinary care and social health determinants. Study questions include: (1) To what degree do child welfare-involved children present with complex physical, behavioral, and developmental conditions? (2) How does the clustering of complex health concerns vary according to developmental stage? (3) What demographic factors relate to complex health concerns? Data are from 5873 children (birth to 18) who participated in the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being II. Latent class analyses were conducted for children in four developmental groups (infants, preschool-age, elementary school-age, and adolescents), including up to 11 indicators from standardized health measures. For all developmental groups, the best fitting model indicated a complex health concern class and a class with fewer health concerns. Multivariate logistic regressions revealed that membership in the complex health concerns class was associated with: increased age, poverty, poor caregiver health, out-of-home placement, gender, and race/ethnicity; although some developmental differences in predictors were observed. Results suggest that for younger children, preventive approaches and integration of developmental specialists in primary care is needed, while school-age children and adolescents demonstrate greater need for integrated behavioral health. All developmental groups would benefit from multidisciplinary teams that address complex health issues related to environmental risks common among children involved in child welfare.

A Deeper Look at Burnout in the Child Welfare Workforce

ABSTRACT Child welfare workers experience high levels of burnout, contributing to poor job performance and turnover. Using a sample of 2,302 child welfare case workers and supervisors from three states, this study (1) validates the use of the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory with child welfare workers and (2) examines sources and consequences of burnout in that population. Compared to client-related burnout, staff experienced higher levels of burnout related to agency-level factors. Work-related burnout was also more strongly associated with job stress, job dissatisfaction, and intent to leave than was client-related burnout. Suggestions are offered to help improve staff retention and reduce burnout.

Examining internal and external job resources in child welfare: Protecting against caseworker burnout

Given intense job demands, it is not surprising that job burnout is a consistent threat to the well-being and retention of the child welfare workforce. Guided by central postulates of the Job Demands and Resources (JD-R) model which suggests that job burnout develops because of experiences of high work demands coupled with low resources in the workplace, we applied a conceptual model of job burnout (client and work related) that accounts for both internal and external resources available to child welfare workers. Findings among child welfare caseworkers from three states (N = 1917) indicate that job demands (stress and time pressure) were positively related to client- and work-related burnout. Additionally, both internal and external resources moderated the relationships between job demands and client- and work-related burnout. Study findings have workforce management implications in the child welfare sector, including the role resources might play in mitigating the negative impact of job demands on burnout in the child welfare workforce.

Measuring the impact of public perceptions on child welfare workers

ABSTRACT The Public Perceptions of Child Welfare Scale measures how the social environment influences child welfare workers, including their job satisfaction and intent to leave. Psychometric studies have validated the scale for private child welfare workers, but there are no validation studies with public agency staff. This study fills that gap, showing stigma and respect are important constructs that also predict worker intent to leave. This research found an additional construct, blame, which was not present in private worker validation studies. The scale provides an important tool for the field as we continue to build evidence for effective recruitment and retention.

Adverse childhood experiences and complex health concerns among child welfare-involved children

ABSTRACT Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) contribute to public health concerns, as they have been linked to chronic diseases in adulthood. From the seminal ACEs study in the mid-1990s (Felitti et al., 1998) to today, the Centers for Disease Control (2016) reports well over 50 studies that link ACEs to adult health conditions such as cancer, heart disease, lung disease, and mental illness. This preponderance of evidence has prompted widespread attention to the possibility that preventing and successfully treating ACE-associated traumatic stress would greatly reduce our country’s incidence of chronic disease and the associated public health burden and cost (Danese et al., 2009). To illustrate, one study suggests that child abuse and neglect alone costs the United States

The co-occurrence of adverse childhood experiences among children investigated for child maltreatment: A latent class analysis

124 billion annually, with individual lifetime costs that are higher than or equal to the economic burden of diabetes and stroke (Fang, Brown, Florence, & Mercy, 2012). That child maltreatment is just one category of 10 total ACEs suggests that the total financial impact of ACEs in the United States is likely much greater and that some populations, such as children involved in child welfare, may be disproportionately affected by the negative effects of adverse childhood experiences.

Father Involvement in Urban Low-Income Fathers: Baseline Associations and Changes Resulting From Preventive Intervention

Children investigated for maltreatment are particularly vulnerable to experiencing multiple adversities. Few studies have examined the extent to which experiences of adversity and different types of maltreatment co-occur in this most vulnerable population of children. Understanding the complex nature of childhood adversity may inform the enhanced tailoring of practices to better meet the needs of maltreated children. Using cross-sectional data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being II (N=5870), this study employed latent class analysis to identify subgroups of children who had experienced multiple forms of maltreatment and associated adversities among four developmental stages: birth to 23 months (infants), 2-5 (preschool age), 6-10 (school age), and 11-18 years-old (adolescents). Three latent classes were identified for infants, preschool-aged children, and adolescents, and four latent classes were identified for school-aged children. Among infants, the groups were characterized by experiences of (1) physical neglect/emotional abuse/caregiver treated violently, (2) physical neglect/household dysfunction, and (3) caregiver divorce. For preschool-aged children, the groups included (1) physical neglect/emotional abuse/caregiver treated violently, (2) physical neglect/household dysfunction, and (3) emotional abuse. Children in the school-age group clustered based on experiencing (1) physical neglect/emotional neglect and abuse/caregiver treated violently, (2) physical neglect/household dysfunction, (3) emotional abuse, and (4) emotional abuse/caregiver divorce. Finally, adolescents were grouped based on (1) physical neglect/emotional abuse/household dysfunction, (2) physical abuse/emotional abuse/household dysfunction, and (3) emotional abuse/caregiver divorce. The results indicate distinct classes of adversity experienced among children investigated for child maltreatment, with both stability across developmental periods and unique age-related vulnerabilities. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.