Digital Commons Network^™

The State Of The Child In Tennessee 2025, Tennessee. Commission On Children And Youth.

The State of the Child in Tennessee

No abstract provided.

Reducing Rates Of Child Abuse And Neglect: An Analysis Of Three Potential Solutions, Lauren C. Heil

The Mid-Southern Journal of Criminal Justice

Child abuse and neglect are prevalent problems, affecting an estimated one million children worldwide each year. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate and analyze three potential solutions to reduce the rates of child abuse and neglect. The three programs that were suggested were: improving overall access to healthcare, therapy and counseling, and other support services for children and families who need them, implementing more Nurse-Family Partnerships across the United States for first time mothers with visits from a registered nurse, and increasing parent’s access to economic resources and improving families overall financial security. These programs were researched extensively, …

Longitudinal Association Between Sleep Disturbance And Disordered Eating In Adolescents: The Mediating Role Of Emotion Dysregulation, Antonia Louise Hamilton

Theses - ALL

Accruing evidence suggests a significant relationship between sleep disturbances and disordered eating. Early adolescence is a period of heightened vulnerability for sleep disturbances and disordered eating. However, the longitudinal relationship between sleep disturbance and disordered eating remains unclear in early adolescent samples. The current study aims to examine if sleep disturbance longitudinally predicts disordered eating in early adolescents three years later, how the odds of having clinically significant disordered eating change per each unit increase in sleep disturbance, and if emotion dysregulation mediates these relationships. It is hypothesized that baseline sleep disturbance will predict greater disordered eating at follow-up, and …

Family Functioning And Adolescent Outcomes In Wilderness Therapy: A Quanitative Analysis Of Change And Predictive Relationships, Elizabeth Santone

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the impact of wilderness therapy on adolescent and family functioning using archival data from a licensed outdoor behavioral healthcare program. The purpose of this research was to examine both individual and systemic changes over the course of treatment and to explore whether improvements in family functioning were associated with youth outcomes. The final sample included 1,293 adolescents who completed the Youth Outcome Questionnaire (Y-OQ 2.01) at intake and discharge. A subset of 454 adolescents and their caregivers also completed the Family Assessment Device (FAD) at both time points. Paired-sample t-tests revealed statistically significant improvements in both adolescent …

Ceen 2025 Impact Report, Niki Elliott Ph.D.

Annual Impact Reports

The 2025 year has been one of meaningful impact, shaped by dedicated partnerships, bold conversations, and an unwavering commitment to creating neuroinclusive spaces for learning and living. From our immersive trainings to our pioneering programs, we’ve seen the ripple effects of this work transform classrooms, communities, and systems that serve neurodiverse youth and families.

We have compiled a comprehensive look at our center’s collective reach and accomplishments.

The Impact Of Absent Parents And Harsh Parenting In Forensic Mental Health Settings, Jamcelia M. Jackson

Master of Arts in Human Services

This capstone paper explores the impact of absent parents and harsh parenting practices on children and adolescents within forensic mental health settings. Informed by recent peer-reviewed studies on trauma-informed, attachment-based, and resilience frameworks, this paper synthesizes evidence linking disrupted caregiving, inconsistent discipline, and punitive practices with emotion dysregulation, externalizing behaviors, and justice involvement. Special attention is given to the interaction of family processes with factors such as poverty, racism, service access, that shape risk and protection across development. Key findings suggest that early adversity is associated with delinquency, substance use, and poorer mental health, whereas supportive relationships, culturally responsive parenting …

How Do Childhood Experiences Influence Risk-Taking Behavior In Adolescence?, Sidney Zimmerman

Psychology Student Publications

This paper explores how positive and adverse childhood experiences influence adolescents’ risk-taking behaviors. It explains that positive experiences often lead to healthy, growth-promoting risks, while adverse experiences can increase impulsivity and unhealthy risk-taking. Overall, it emphasizes that early life experiences shape how young people approach challenges and make decisions during adolescence.

Building Belonging: Designing A Training Program To Foster Inclusion In Children's Ministry, Amanda J. Lemieux

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The strategic problem aims to address how to train volunteer children’s ministry workers to feel more confident and well-equipped to handle children with diverse needs. Paul wrote in Romans that one should be accepting of all people just as Jesus accepted (Rom. 15:5-7). Humanity is created in the very image of God, the Creator. It is essential to recognize that everyone is created in God’s image and, therefore, deserves to be treated as such (Gen. 1:27). A healthy children’s ministry should ensure that all children are not only welcome within the classroom but also taught in a way that they …

Las Voices: The Impact On Black Young Males In A Critical Mentorship Program In The Las Vegas Valley, Sean C. Tory

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In America, Black young males face an enormous amount of pressure regarding their social and racial identity. They battle with racial macro/microaggressions, stereotypes, racism, and socialization from various industries and systems. The community organization, King of Jewels, has been able to adopt effective strategies to help Black young males navigate these issues through critical mentorship. This paper will first demonstrate the importance of critical mentorship, Black Racial Identity Development, and will then outline the steps necessary to fill the gaps found in mentorship and Black Racial Identity Development literature. This qualitative study investigates the use of critical mentorship (CM) and …

Prevalence Of Abuse-Specific Injuries In Infants With Prior Injury Evaluated For Abuse., Nara Cho, Kristin G. Crichton, Sara Helwig, Krista K. Wheeler, Rachel M. Stanley, Megan M. Letson, Kristine A. Campbell, Angela N. Bachim, Colleen J. Bressler, Carmen M. Coombs, Lori Frasier, Nicole Johnson, Sara Kilbride, Jan Leonard, Daniel M. Lindberg, Noelle Tran, Joanne N. Wood, Farah W. Brink

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Physical abuse is a common cause of morbidity in infants but is often missed in those with medically minor injuries, increasing the risk for escalating violence. Our objective was to compare the prevalence of abuse-specific injuries among infants with and without prior injuries.

METHODS: This is a retrospective, multicenter study of infants (aged < 12 months) undergoing child abuse pediatrics provider (CAP) consultation for suspected physical abuse between 2/2021 and 12/2022 at 10 participating US centers. Encounters were dichotomized into those with and without history of prior injury. The groups were compared for rates of diagnostic screening and prevalence of abuse-specific injuries. The association of prior injuries with identification of abuse-specific injury was assessed using logistic regression controlling for demographics and presence of prior injury.

RESULTS: We identified 2352 eligible encounters (median age: 4.2 months), of which 13% had a history of prior injury. In infants who underwent diagnostic testing, injury identification was significantly higher in those with prior injury (45% vs 22%,

CONCLUSION: Infants with prior injury undergoing …

Learning, Becoming, And Practicing: My Msw Portfolio, Mario G. Colucci

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

Bridging The Rural Justice Gap: A Scalable Solution Rooted In Clinical Legal Education, Michelle Paxton

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

The rural justice gap significantly impacts child welfare legal representation, exacerbating the challenges families face when navigating juvenile courts in rural America. Attorneys in these communities frequently encounter geographic isolation, limited access to specialized training, professional burnout, and inadequate resources, all of which hinder effective advocacy for vulnerable children and families.

This article argues that clinical legal education, when paired with structured post-graduate training and multidisciplinary consultation, offers a replicable model for addressing the rural attorney shortages in juvenile court advocacy. The Nebraska Children’s Justice and Legal Advocacy Center (NCJC) illustrates how this model can be designed and scaled to …

Suicide Among Youth And Young Adults In Canada: Bereaved Parents’ Perspectives On The Systems Of Care, Toula Kourgiantakis, Deborah Cooper, David Cooper, Shelley Craig, Eunjung Lee, Jori Jones, Carrie K.Y. Lau, Romy Naïma Tousignant, Jonathan B. Singer, Marjorie Johnstone, Juveria Zaheer

Social Work: School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Other Works

Background: Suicide is the second leading cause of death among youth and young adults aged 15–24 in Canada. Emergency departments often serve as the first point of contact for identifying suicide risk, particularly for youth and young adults, partly due to the inaccessibility and unavailability of community mental health services. Almost half of the youth who die by suicide visit an emergency department in the year preceding their death, and up to 90% have untreated mental health and substance use concerns. Studies have found that parents describe youth mental health services as harmful, fragmented, inaccessible, and inadequate in meeting their …

Lgbtq+ Adolescents With Disabilities’ Experiences Of School Connectedness And Identity Navigation, Lyndsay Loretta Mccabe

Dissertations

In the United States, LGBTQ+ students have recently faced a barrage of school-based anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and policies (American Civil Liberties Union, 2025). Little is known about the effects of such policies and the overall sociopolitical climate on school connectedness and identity navigation for LGBTQ+ adolescents with disabilities. School connectedness, or the degree to which students feel that they belong at their school, is associated with numerous academic, behavioral, and social-emotional benefits (K. Allen et al., 2018; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2022b). Students who are at the intersection of multiple marginalized identities, such as LGBTQ+ adolescents with disabilities, …

Examining The Relations Between Parenting Stress, Harsh Parenting Practices, And Children’S Internalizing And Externalizing Symptoms, Caitlin A. Wharton

Individual, Family, and Community Education ETDs

This study examines: relations between maternal parenting stress in infancy and preschool-aged children’s internalizing and externalizing symptoms; whether verbal and physical harsh parenting practices mediate these relations; and whether these relations are moderated by child gender. Research links maternal parenting stress to harsh parenting, which is a risk factor for children’s internalizing and externalizing symptoms. But limited research has examined how maternal stress in infancy affects preschool-aged children’s outcomes, or how verbal and physical harsh parenting practices independently affect these outcomes. The study data came from the Future of Families & Child Wellbeing Study. Results indicate maternal parenting stress in …

Empowering Families To Support Youth Mental Health In Santa Cruz County, Monica Garcia‐Martinez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Youth mental health challenges have become an increasingly urgent public health concern, particularly among Hispanic and Latino adolescents in Santa Cruz County, California. United Way Santa Cruz County’s Jóvenes Sanos program is a youth-led initiative through the United4Youth Department which aims to reduce stigma surrounding mental health, promote peer-to-peer connectedness, and provide opportunities of growth and leadership skills. However, barriers connected to parent involvement and participation in collaboration of parent-program relationships has limited parental communication about mental wellness, the primary contributing factor for effective youth support, mental health, and overall well being. This capstone project was designed to strengthen parent …

Father Engagement: Play Is The Way, Cristian Mendoza

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This capstone project focuses on enhancing father engagement in family and community life, emphasizing the critical role fathers play in their children's learning and overall development. Implemented through Encompass Community Services, in alignment with Collaborative Health and Human Services, the project targets families with young children, particularly fathers who may face barriers to active involvement. The initiative aims to identify areas that need additional support, recognize existing strengths, and develop strategies that foster meaningful participation in their children's lives. A central component of the project is the planning and execution of a father-focused community event. Responsibilities included organizing engaging activities, …

"I Wished I Could Have Said Bye": Exploring Youth Reactions To Formal Mentoring Relationship Endings, Thomas E. Keller, Martha J. Mccormack, Miriam Miranda-Diaz, Alison L. Drew, Renee Spencer

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Youth mentoring programs strive to create stable, supportive relationships between adult mentors and youth mentees to promote positive youth development. Although these formal relationships always reach a conclusion, little is known about how mentees experience the endings of their relationships. This study elicits the words and perspectives of mentees to investigate the emotional reactions provoked by mentoring relationship terminations. Participants were youth (n = 72) in a prospective study of mentoring relationship development who completed a survey following the official closure of their match. Asked how they felt about the match ending, mentees more often indicated negative rather than positive …

Hispanic Academic Leadership In The Health And Human Services, Gabriela Elizabeth Rangel

Theses and Dissertations

In the United States, there are 63.7 million Hispanics (U.S. Census Bureau, 2023), making them the largest racial or ethnic minority in the country. National data from 2019 indicates that only 6% of tenured faculty in the U.S. were Hispanic, highlighting a significant underrepresentation of leaders in academia (NCES, 2024). This study employed a phenomenological approach with purposeful sampling, utilizing semi-structured interviews with ten participants who had leadership experience in academia within Health and Human Services (H&HS). The interviews served to explore various aspects, such as what were their aspirations to become leaders, their perceptions of the characteristics and qualities …

Proceedings Of The 25th International Symposium On Adapted Physical Activity, Catherine Carty, Gerard Masdeu Yelamos

Publications

This volume presents the Proceedings of the 25th International Symposium of Adapted Physical Activity (ISAPA 2025), hosted by Munster Technological University under the Patronage of UNESCO. It is intended as a permanent scholarly record of the symposium, its themes, and its contributions across research, practice, policy, culture, and inclusion in line with CoARA principles.

Some Conditions Apply: Domesticating Aboriginal Title, Kerry Wilkins

UBC Law Review

No abstract provided.

How Well Can Commonly Used Anxiety Scales Detect Treatment Outcomes In The Context Of Autism?, Huilin Chen, Jeffrey J Wood, Connor M Kerns, Eric A Storch, Philip C Kendall, Gaia Scerif, Cathy Creswell

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Anxiety is one of the most prevalent mental health challenges in autistic children, yet there is limited evidence on effective tools to measure treatment outcomes. Previous research with non-autistic children has found that the Child Anxiety Impact Scale, Parent Version achieved good diagnostic accuracy when measuring treatment outcomes and performed better than a commonly used symptom measure. However, this has not been evaluated for autistic children. The present study examined the psychometric properties of the Child Anxiety Impact Scale, Parent Version in autistic children and compared its utility against other anxiety symptom measures, to detect treatment outcomes as assessed by …

Perceived Parental Relationship Quality And Adolescent Conscious Bias: Important Links Between Affect, Agency, Gender, And Race/Ethnicity, Amanda Terrall, Michael J. Merten, Thulitha Wickrama

General Human Environmental Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Introduction Guided by attachment, social cognitive, and ecological systems theories, this study examined the direct and indirect effects of perceived parent-adolescent relationship quality on youths' conscious bias toward individuals facing socioeconomic or minority-related challenges.Methods Data were collected from 702 U.S. 18-year-olds via Qualtrics online panels. Measures included parent relationship quality, negative affect, human agency, and conscious bias (disregard for minority experiences and blaming attitudes).Results The findings revealed that strong parent-teen bonds indirectly influenced conscious bias through psychosocial wellbeing. However, while negative emotions were universally influential, the impact of human agency varied depending on gender and race/ethnicity.Discussion Study findings underscore the …

Exploring The Recognition Of Internalizing Problems Among Black Students: Delving Into The Youth Mental Health Help-Seeking Pathway, Marketta A. Adams

LSU Master's Theses

The mental health of Black adolescents is a growing concern, with high prevalence rates of internalizing disorders such as anxiety and depression. National studies report that nearly 47% of Black adolescents experience a mental health disorder by age 18, with over 60% reporting moderate to severe depressive symptomology. Despite these alarming rates, Black youth underutilize mental health services, often due to cultural stigma, limited access to culturally competent care, and under-recognition of their mental health needs. This study aimed to explore problem recognition as a key component in the mental health help-seeking pathway for Black adolescents in school settings. Grounded …

Volume 5 November '25 Full Issue, Donna Williams

Journal of the Louisiana Public Health Association

No abstract provided.

Data Driven Policies: An Ideal For Louisiana's Juvenile Justice System, Stephen Phillippi, Sara Juneau, Kelsey Witmeier, Victoria Sacco

Journal of the Louisiana Public Health Association

Background: Data collection and monitoring efforts among juvenile justice agencies have grown exponentially in the United States over the last 50 years. Despite widespread recognition that reliable data is essential to developing strategic evidence-based policies, there are still considerable gaps among the states and locally. In Louisiana, legislators and decision-makers have worked towards advancing juvenile justice policy reforms in recent decades, though the resulting outcomes remain unclear. The goals of the current study were to identify existing data reporting strengths and gaps within the Louisiana juvenile justice system (JJS) and examine how such reports might be better used in data-driven …

Museums In Public Libraries: An Ethnographic Case Study Of The Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library, Yadira Y. Quintero

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Access to information is a human right, and this thesis explores the benefits and challenges of integrating museums into public libraries by conducting an ethnographic case study of the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library. The study's findings highlight the complexities of integration. The biggest benefit is the increased access to museum collections, information, and resources. However, challenges arise from the lack of cohesion within the museum and library disciplines, as well as strained community relations. Engaging the community is crucial for successful collaboration, emphasizing the importance of a bottom-up approach that allows for active participation. Integrating museums into public libraries …

Policy Engagement And Advocacy To Transform Child Health Care Delivery And Improve Child Health, Kristin Hittle Gigli, Ashleigh F. Bowman

Biennial Convention (CONV)

Background: There have been significant advancements in health care and science over the last century. However, these changes have not adequately addressed child health needs. Children have increasing health care needs associated with rising rates of mental health conditions, chronic diseases, and violence-related injuries.¹ Further, health care reform has almost exclusively focused on adult populations and cannot be adapted to pediatric populations.² Over a three-year period, two committees were convened by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) to examine opportunities for innovation within policy and the health care system to improve child health and …

Book Review: Evangelism In An Age Of Despair: Hope Beyond The Failed Promise Of Happiness By Andrew Root, Mark Teasdale

Witness

No abstract provided.

The Perceptions Of Foster Care Alumni Who Are Recipients Of Pandemic Aid, Ashley Robinson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The COVID-19 pandemic heightened challenges for young adults transitioning from foster care to independence. Research shows that foster care alumni faced barriers in education, employment, housing, and health due to limited support networks. Yet, little is known about how emergency policies, such as the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) of 2021, affected them. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the perceptions and experiences of foster care alumni who received financial aid through the Act. The research question: What were the experiences and perceptions of foster care alumni (aged 18-26) who received funds via the CAA of 2021 during …