Social Work Commons^™

African American Families' Expectations And Intentions For Mental Health Services, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Richard Thompson, Barbara L. Dancy, Tisha R. A. Wiley, Sylvia P. Perry, Jason Wallis, Yara Mekawi, Kathleen Knafl

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

A cross-sectional qualitative descriptive design was used to examine the links among expectations about, experiences with, and intentions toward mental health services. Individual face-to-face interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 32 African American youth/mothers dyads. Content analysis revealed that positive expectations were linked to positive experiences and intentions, that negative expectations were not consistently linked to negative experiences or intentions, nor were ambivalent expectations linked to ambivalent experiences or intentions. Youth were concerned about privacy breeches and mothers about the harmfulness of psychotropic medication. Addressing these concerns may promote African Americans’ engagement in mental health services.

Correlates Of Problem Recognition And Intentions To Change Among Caregivers Of Abused And Neglected Children, Julia H. Littell, Heather Girvin

Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research Faculty Research and Scholarship

Objective

To identify individual, family, and caseworker characteristics associated with problem recognition (PR) and intentions to change (ITC) in a sample of caregivers who received in-home child welfare services following substantiated reports of child abuse or neglect.

Methods

Caregivers were interviewed at 4 weeks, 16 weeks, and 1 year after referral for in-home services. In these interviews, the University of Rhode Island Change Assessment scale assessed PR and ITC in relation to caregiving practices. Additional data were obtained from administrative records and surveys of in-home services caseworkers. We used growth models to identify caregiver, family, and caseworker characteristics associated with …

Caregivers' Readiness For Change: Predictive Validity In A Child Welfare Sample, Julia H. Littell, Heather Girvin

Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research Faculty Research and Scholarship

Objective:

To assess the predictive validity of continuous measures of problem recognition (PR), intentions to change (ITC), and overall readiness for change (RFC) among primary caregivers who received in-home services following substantiated reports of child abuse or neglect.

Method:

A modified version of the University of Rhode Island Change Assessment scale was included in interviews with a sample of 353 primary caregivers at 4 weeks, 16 weeks, and 1 year after referral for in-home services. Additional data were obtained from administrative records and caseworker surveys. Hierarchical linear and nonlinear models were used to assess relationships between PR, ITC, RFC and …