Matching Items (9)
Description
Families with intellectually disabled caregivers are more likely than families without intellectually disabled caregivers to experience poor child welfare outcomes, including high rates of substantiation. However, little research has examined child maltreatment re-reports among this population. The objectives of this study were to begin to address this gap by examining maltreatment re-report rates, and factors associated with maltreatment re-reports, among child welfare-involved families with intellectually disabled caregivers. Survival analysis was conducted using restricted release data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW) to examine the hazard rate and survival rate of maltreatment re-reports for cases with, and without, intellectually disabled caregivers. Multivariate discrete-time hazard models were run using logistic regression to examine the relationship between various predictors and the hazard of maltreatment re-reports. Results revealed that child protection cases involving caregivers with intellectual disabilities were no more likely than cases without intellectually disabled caregivers to experience maltreatment re-reports. Predictors of maltreatment re-reports varied based on whether or not a case involved a caregiver with an intellectual disability. Child gender, child disability, and child race/ethnicity were significant predictors for cases involving caregivers with intellectual disabilities, whereas prior involvement with CPS, caretaker drug problems, and initial allegation substantiation were significant predictors for cases not involving caregivers with intellectual disabilities. These preliminary findings suggest that prevention, screening, and intervention strategies should consider variability of predictive factors based on caregiver intellectual disability status.
ContributorsJames, Stephen (Author) / Shafer, Michael S (Thesis advisor) / Krysik, Judy (Committee member) / Ayón, Cecilia (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
ABSTRACT The experience of grief and loss is a process that can be extremely distressing to anyone, regardless of age. This may be especially true for youth. This study was designed and conducted to determine the effects of a therapy dog as a therapeutic adjunct in Child Life interventions with adolescents experiencing grief and loss. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of two groups. The intervention consisted of 3 sessions with a Certified Child Life Specialist (CCLS) to address grief. Group 1 (N=14) was the control group, meeting only with the CCLS. Group 2 (N=13) was the experimental group and met with the CCLS with a therapy dog present during the sessions. Participants completed a pre-test and post-test of the Children's Mood Questionnaire. At the end of each session, subjects completed a Therapeutic Engagement Questionnaire. The pet therapy group experienced a significant improvement in mood scores on the Children's Mood Questionnaire following the intervention. However, there were no significant differences between groups on the Therapeutic Engagement Questionnaire during any of the 3 sessions. The data collected from this study indicate that the addition of a therapy dog in grief interventions with adolescents may improve mood outcomes.
ContributorsTeso, Jenna (Author) / Lecroy, Craig (Thesis advisor) / Holschuh, Jane (Committee member) / De Dios-Goodwin, Jannice (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
This study utilized ecological theory and social exchange theory to examine how father involvement effects the human capital accumulation of young mothers. This study used data from a sub-sample of young mothers taken from the Healthy Families Arizona longitudinal evaluation (N = 84). The participants in the sub-sample were between 13 and 21 years of age. Using a random effects regression model, it was found that father involvement negatively affects a young mother's school attendance over time. The probability of a mother attending school when the father is involved decreases by 12%. It was also found that for the average age mother (19 years of age), the probability of attending school decreases by 59% every additional year. Furthermore, for a mother with an average number of children (one child), every additional child she has decreases the probability of attending school by 24%. In addition it was found that for the average age mother (19 years of age) every additional year, the likelihood of being employed increases 2.9 times, and for a mother with an average number of children (one child) every additional child decreases the likelihood of employment by .88 times.
ContributorsRojas, Rose (Author) / Krysik, Judy (Thesis advisor) / Shapiro, Alyson (Committee member) / Lecroy, Craig (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Health care in the United States has been undergoing significant changes since the 2010 passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. One of the outcomes of this policy was an attempt to bring physical health care and behavioral health care together in an effort to provide more coordinated care for patients. This change created an opportunity to improve the quality of care for patients, and as a result reduce high cost emergency service that could be prevented through better maintenance of chronic conditions. Three studies were conducted to examine challenges behavioral health agencies face in implementing two models of coordinated care (co-located and fully integrated), staff and organization capacity and needs, and patient service utilization by model of care coordination. The first study used site visits and interviews to capture the challenges faced by agencies. Results from this study indicated that behavioral health agencies faced a number of challenges in providing coordinated care including financial barriers, regulations, information sharing, inadequate technology, and provider training needs. The second study used a staff survey to assess agency and staff capacity and needs in providing coordinated care. The results from this study found differences in capacity based on model of coordination in multiple dimensions related to inter-agency coordination and communication, role clarity, and team cohesion. The third study examined patient service utilization for outpatient visits, inpatient visits, and emergency visits. The results indicated that patients receiving care from co-located agencies were more likely to have at least one encounter in each of the three service utilization categories compared to patients at fully integrated agencies. Overall, the three studies suggest that agencies that have or will implement models of coordinated care face significant barriers that may impact the sustainability or feasibility of such care. Given the findings on patient service utilization, it seems that coordinated care has great potential for patient level outcomes which makes addressing agency barriers even more critical.
ContributorsJanich, Nicole Kristin (Author) / Shafer, Michael S (Thesis advisor) / Lecroy, Craig (Committee member) / Duffee, David (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Child abuse and neglect is a devastating yet preventable social problem. Currently, early childhood home visitation services are the primary approach to preventing maltreatment and improving child well-being in the United States. However, existing literature suggests that improvement is needed regarding how home visitation professionals identify and respond to risk factors for child abuse and neglect. Although there is substantial multidisciplinary literature that investigates the utility of standardized measures to determine future risk for maltreatment, there has been minimal inquiry into the validity of early childhood home visitation assessment instruments to accurately identify and classify children and their families by their risk for future maltreatment. In response to the dearth in the literature, the purpose of this dissertation was to examine the utility of the Healthy Families Parenting Inventory (HFPI) to predict a family’s risk for future maltreatment. Families enrolled in Healthy Families Arizona, a child abuse and neglect prevention program, were followed for 12 months after the completion of the baseline HFPI to measure if the family had received an investigation of maltreatment from the public child welfare system. Bivariate results indicated that the generated risk classifications of the HFPI and the overall total composite score were related to the occurrence of a future maltreatment investigation. Specifically, the results from the binary logistic regression models provided evidence that as a family’s score increased on the inventory, the likelihood of receiving an investigation of maltreatment decreased. Further, significant relationships were found between a family’s score on several individual items of the HFPI and the occurrence of a maltreatment investigation. This dissertation concludes with a discussion of potential avenues of research on the topic of risk assessment in prevention programs serving at-risk families.
ContributorsKelly, Cara (Author) / Lecroy, Craig (Thesis advisor) / Anthony, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Krysik, Judy (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
In the wake of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, courts and social service systems across the country have begun establishing veterans treatment courts (VTC). The first VTC was created in 2004 and there are now over 300 in at least 35 states. Yet, their underlying assumptions have not been clearly articulated and their functioning and outcomes have not been well tested. These courts aim to reduce rates of incarceration and recidivism among justice-involved veterans and draw heavily on the structure and assumptions of drug and mental health courts. However, VTCs are different in important ways. Unlike other problem solving courts, VTCs actively express gratitude to criminal defendants (for past military service) and have the ability to connect participants to a socially-esteemed identity. Earlier problem solving courts have drawn on Tyler’s theory of procedural justice to predict a path from procedurally fair treatment and social bonds with court personnel through changes in social identity to increased perceptions of legal legitimacy and, ultimately, program completion and reduced recidivism. The present study tested a modified, version of Tyler’s theory that incorporates gratitude and focuses on veteran identity as the mediating construct between fair treatment and perceptions of legal legitimacy. A cross-sectional survey design was used with a convenience sample (N = 188) of participants in two Arizona VTCs. The results indicate that perceptions of procedural justice, perceived social bonds and receipt of gratitude are positively associated with both veteran identity and perceptions of legal legitimacy. Further, veteran identity was found to be a significant mediator between the first three constructs and legal legitimacy. Finally, neither recidivism risk nor race/ethnicity moderated the relationships. The study supports the importance of acknowledging past military service and enhancing the level of veteran identity among VTC participants. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.
ContributorsGallagher, John M (Author) / Ashford, José B. (Thesis advisor) / Spohn, Cassia (Committee member) / Shafer, Michael S (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
LGBTQI people are often victimized by law enforcement and these victimizations often are related to victimizations of domestic violence and hate violence. Because reporting a victimization to the police leads to contact with police, a part of the research question involved herein looked at whether or not reporting a victimization to the police also increases the rate of police violence. Through secondary data analysis, this study investigated the correlation between reporting domestic violence and hate violence to the police, and subsequent victimizations by the police in the form of police violence. Additionally through secondary data analysis, this study investigated whether or not this correlation is stronger with transgender women and people of color. All data analyzed in this study was collected in Tucson, Arizona through the Wingspan Anti-Violence Project (WAVP). All data was analyzed with the permission of the data owner, the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) (see Appendix IV), and with IRB approval from the Arizona State University Office of Research Integrity and Assurance (see Appendix III). The findings demonstrated a positive correlation between the rate of LGBTQI people reporting violent crimes to the police and the rate of police violence against LGBTQI survivors of domestic violence and hate violence. The results further demonstrated the rate of police violence associated with reporting domestic violence or hate violence is greatest for transgender women and people of color.
ContributorsFarr, Patrick (Author) / Lecroy, Craig (Thesis advisor) / Sangalang, Cindy (Committee member) / Brown, Mary Ellen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
This thesis examines the demographic, clinical, and criminal characteristics and discharge dispositions of pre-trial defendants deemed incompetent to stand trial and non-restorable (IST/NR) in Pinal County Arizona. Currently, there is limited research on defendants who are deemed IST/NR and even less so on discharge dispositions. The study utilized comparative descriptive analysis of secondary data collected by the Pinal County Attorney Offices on IST/NR defendants and restored defendants. It employed chi-square analyses to compare key variables between defendant groups. The study found few variations in clinical, legal, and criminal characteristics observed by previous studies and no statistical differences amongst IST/NR and restored defendants. However, it found the re-offense rate of IST/NR defendants in Pinal County was considerably lower than the general prison population. Moreover, it identified a narrow use of civil commitment procedures and guardianship amongst the IST/NR defendants who have a mental illness. Implications for further research and policy for Pinal County and Arizona are made.
ContributorsSnyder, Matthew Mark (Author) / Shafer, Michael S (Thesis advisor) / Fradella, Henry F. (Committee member) / Ashford, José B. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Empathy is a critical component of high-quality healthcare. When present in the clinical encounter, empathy is important to physicians (empathy is correlated with reductions in physician anxiety and burnout) and to patients (empathy is correlated with better medical decision making, enhanced trust, and improved treatment adherence). Unfortunately, there is an empathy gap in healthcare–physicians often miss opportunities to demonstrate empathy to their patients. This leaves patients feeling unheard, less likely to bring up details important to their care, and less likely to follow treatment guidelines from physicians, thus disrupting the physician-patient relationship. Luckily, communicating with empathy is a skill that can be taught and learned. With the right tools, learners can strengthen their empathic muscle and become better prepared for responding in difficult situations. The present thesis aims to validate a new tool for teaching empathy to medical trainees. This tool, an empathic communication guide, is drawn from social work as well as medical expertise. It is catered specifically to how medical trainees are accustomed to learning and provides the actual words to say in order to respond with empathy in difficult situations. A group of 8 palliative care fellows at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas received a copy of this guide and participated in an accompanying communication workshop. To gauge empathic responding ability, fellows completed pre- and post- surveys and patient simulations. These data were analyzed using a combination of novel and established methods for quantifying empathic behaviors. Fellows’ empathic communication skill significantly improved after exposure to the guide opening avenues for future study and application.
ContributorsMeyer, Laura Grace (Author) / Shafer, Michael S (Thesis advisor) / Epner, Daniel E (Committee member) / Beyers, Michelle (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020