#89

Stress Reduction Interventions for Parents as Treatment Enhancement
(December 2003)

This article describes a clinical trial examining the effectiveness of an evidence-
based treatment enhancement developed to reduce stress in parents of children referred or aggressive and antisocial behaviors. Results suggest that such an enhancement can improve therapeutic outcomes for children, parents, and families.

#88

Barriers and Supports to Family Participation in Out-of-Home Treatment
(December 2003)

Despite growing attention to the importance of family participation in children's mental health treatment, factors affecting participation are not fully understood. This article reports findings of a national survey of family caregivers' perceptions of their participation in their children's out-of-home treatment and the barriers and supports affecting their participation.

#87

Promoting Social, Emotional, and Academic Learning in Schools
(November 2003)

In this paper, the authors make the case for a comprehensive system of school-based prevention programming that integrates social, emotional and academic learning for children all ages, from preschool to high school. They review what is known about effective programs, and discuss challenges and future directions for this approach.

#86

Community Interventions and Effective Prevention
(November 2003)

This paper reviews recent research on community level interventions to address complex problems including substance abuse and mental illness. Some of the characteristics associated with effective programs are identified and the authors discuss an approach to improving the effectiveness of community intervention.

#85

Culture-Centered Practice in Services for Children
(October 2003)

Children of color are over-represented in the child welfare system. The authors of this paper discuss some of the factors that contribute to this inequity. They also outline ways of promoting change and developing culture-centered practice in services for children.

#84

Working Relationships across Diverse Communities
(October 2003)

The capacity of providers to work effectively across culturally and ethnically diverse groups is important if disparities in both access to mental health services, and mental health outcomes are to be addressed. In these two papers, the authors identify essential learning opportunities for providers and discuss some of the lessons learned about effective strategies for multicultural programs.

#83

Measuring Adherence to Wraparound Principles: The Wraparound Observation Form - Second Version
(September 2003)

Measuring the fidelity of wraparound implementation is the topic of this article, in which the authors describe the degree to which the Wraparound Observation Form - Second Version (WOF-2) reliably assessed adherence to wraparound ideals during family planning meetings.

#82

Family-centered practice: How social workers view parents of children with emotional and behavioral disorders
(September 2003)

Despite advances in the development of family-friendly practice for children and youth, many families do not receive appropriate care. This paper reports a survey of social workers' views of parents. The authors discuss some of the barriers to collaboration that arise from professionals' belief systems, and make recommendations for change.

#81

Explaining the Gap Between Mental Health Need and Service Use
(August 2003)

The authors of this article sought to describe help-seeking among families of children at high risk for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), how help-seeking may differ by children’s gender and ethnicity, and what parents saw as barriers to obtaining services for their children.

#80

Impact of Support on Adolescent Mental Health
(August 2003)

Although a body of research documents the beneficial impact of support generally on children’s mental health, less information is available on the specifics of how differing support providers simultaneously impact particular outcomes in boys and girls. This study is important for its disaggregation of support from different sources, how such support impacts males and females individually, and how different levels of support from different providers impact mental health outcomes.

#79

Family Perspectives on Having a Child with a Disability
(July 2003)

This article reports the results of a qualitative analysis of family perspectives of having a child with a disability in order to provide "a deeper understanding of the experience of families whose children have disabilities and challenging behaviors" (p. 438).

#78

Inclusion in Schools
(July 2003)

Experiences at school have a central role in the lives of children. Although laws protect the rights of children to participate fully and to receive services in the least restricted environment possible, many children do not have the opportunity to learn in an inclusive school environment. These two research papers provide lessons in general and specific principles of change required to make schools more inclusive.

#77

Adolescent Help-Seeking Behavior: Role of the Internet
(June 2003)

With the increased availability of the Internet, many youth may be seeking help online, given the accessibility of information and potential for support from others in chat rooms, newsgroups, or other interactive domains. This article provides an exploratory analysis on the prevalence of adolescents' use of the Internet for help related to emotional problems and how such use may be associated with demographic variables, severity of problems, and use of other resources for help.

#76

Community-Based Interventions for Affective Disorders
(June 2003)

Although more than 20 million Americans experience affective or mood disorders, many individuals do not receive adequate services especially young people, older adults, those with co-occurring medical illnesses, and members of racial and ethnic minority groups.1 In this paper, the authors discuss how community-based interventions might be used to prevent and treat the adverse effects of affective disorders, and thus reduce the burden for individuals, families, communities, and societies.

#75

Evaluating systems of care for youth: Effectiveness, equity and efficiency
(May 2003)

The implementation of the values (e.g. family-centeredness, cultural competence) and principles (e.g. family participation, integrated services) of system of care services for youth with serious emotional difficulties requires reform at practice, program and system levels. Evaluation of the outcomes of these reforms is complex. In this paper, the authors propose that current research on system of care reforms can be usefully extended by applying lessons from health policy analysis, with a particular focus on the concepts of effectiveness, equity and efficiency.

#74

Research and Advocacy for Policy Change
(May 2003)

Noting that "research findings alone rarely stimulate needed policy change" (p. 39), the authors of this article use the custody relinquishment problem as an example of how research can be a powerful tool in the hands of advocates.

#73

Having a Brother with Emotional and/or Behavioral Challenges
(April 2003)

This study explores the experiences of adolescent girls whose brothers have been diagnosed with deficits in attention, motor control, and perception or Asperger Syndrome. The findings indicate that siblings are confronted with dilemmas based on their concerns, the demands they experience, and their attempts to cope with the situation. There is a need for greater effort to include the voice of siblings in the design and delivery of services to families with children who have mental health challenges.

Further information on a national program to support siblings of people with special health needs can be found at http://www.siblingsupport.org/

#72

A Family-Centered Early Adolescent Drug Abuse Prevention Model
(April 2003)

Noting that substance abuse patterns can become established and intransigent in early adolescence, the authors of this article describe the use of the Adolescent Transitions Program (ATP), an ecological, family-centered, school-based program to prevent the adoption of substance use behaviors in sixth grade students.

#71

Family Interventions in Serious Mental Illness
(March 2003)

This edited book discusses the design, implementation, and evaluation of successful psychosocial interventions designed to support individuals with serious mental illness and their families. This international research, drawn from eleven different countries, highlights the importance of understanding the social and cultural context when developing interventions for the treatment of mental illness.

#70

From Incarceration to Community
(March 2003)

Continuing a theme of several recent Data Trends on issues related to children's mental health and juvenile justice, we report on an article researching the transition for juvenile offenders from incarceration to community.

#69

Combining Employment and Caregiving: The Views of Parents of Children with Mental Health Problems
(February 2003)

This article is an in-depth study of parents' experiences of caring for one or more children with a mental health problem, while being in paid employment. Parents face numerous challenges. Suggestions are made for improved support in various settings including school, child care, mental health services, and the workplace.

#68

Prevalence of Psychiatric Disorders in Youth in Juvenile Detention
(February 2003)

The authors seek to add to research on the mental health status of youth involved with juvenile justice, by conducting a comprehensive psychiatric analysis of a large, stratified sample of youth in juvenile detention using a well-validated standardized instrument.

#67

Culture and Families' Experiences of Residential Treatment: Shared and Unique Experiences
(January 2003)

There is a growing recognition of the many ways in which culture can influence mental health, including expression of illness, access to care, use of care, receipt of care, and experience of care. This study explores the unique and shared experiences of African-American and non-African-American families in relation to the residential treatment of their children for emotional disorders.

#66

Preventing Unnecessary Detention of Children in Foster Care Involved with Juvenile Justice
(January 2003)

The authors review Project Confirm, a program operated by the Vera Institute of Justice in New York which aims to increase coordination among city agencies to prevent unwarranted detention of children in foster care who have been arrested.