Canadian Research in Brief: 19th Edition (April 2010)
The articles listed below can be accessed through the corresponding journal website or accessed at a local library or university.
Canadian Research in Brief: 19th Edition (April 2010)
Preyde, M., Adams, G., Cameron, G. & Frensch, K.
(2009). . Residential
Treatment for Children & Youth, 26(1),
1-20.
Two groups of youth aged 12 to 16 were recruited to examine the
differences in child outcome measures related to type of mental
health service provision. Authors used a sample of seventeen youth
in residential treatment and eighteen youth receiving intensive
at-home services. The authors used quantitative and qualitative
methods to gather information related to symptom severity,
psychosocial and daily functioning, and anxiety management for
youth entering into and exiting programs.
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The authors found that there were significant differences between
the two sample groups. Most residential treatment participants were
under the Children’s Aid Society’s care, where it was much more
likely that their legal guardian was not a parent as compared to
participants receiving at-home services. Residential treatment
participants also scored worse on most outcome measures then the
at-home service group, suggesting that residential treatment is
most often offered to youth whose mental health problems are more
severe compared to those receiving home-base services. The authors
also found youth exiting both home-based and residential programs
showed improvements in standardized measurement scores.
Hélie, S. & Bouchard, C. (2009). .
Child and Youth Services Review, 32(1),
416-422.
Hélie and Bouchard analyze research on child maltreatment
recurrence reporting by reviewing American studies of recurrence
rates by three research teams: Fluke, Yuan and Edwards (1999),
English and Marshall (1999), and Depanfilis and Zuravin
(1999).
The authors draw out themes from related literature on factors that
lead to recurrence in child maltreatment reporting. These include
the passage of time, the age of the child, post-investigation
service provision and the presence of child neglect at the time of
the initial referral. They conclude that there is both consensus
and divergence within literature related to those factors that
predict child maltreatment recurrence; post-investigation service
provision and the presence of child neglect were those factors most
disagreed upon. The authors argue that there are methodological
limitations within much of the child welfare literature on
recurrence rates whereby a significant proportion of studies look
at substantiated maltreatment cases only. They discuss topic areas
that merit further exploration including differences between cases
involving single recurrence of maltreatment versus multiple
maltreatment recurrence, and substantiated versus unsubstantiated
cases.
D’Angiulli, A. & Sullivan, R. (2010). .
Children and Youth Services Review, 32(3),
460-465.
D’Angiulli and Sullivan examine developmental outcomes in substance
exposed infants placed in foster care. The sample was comprised of
twenty-two infants under twenty-four months of age, divided into a
preterm and a full-term group enrolled in the Vancouver Costal Safe
Babies program. The Vancouver Costal Safe Babies program provides
services and special programming for foster parents supporting
children exposed to substances such as drugs and alcohol.
The authors used two types of measurements to examine child
outcomes. First, a salivary cortisol (i.e., stress hormone) test to
compare normal infant cortisol levels to those of the participants.
Second, the Battelle Developmental Inventory (BDI) assessment to
examine developmental outcomes such as cognition, adaptability,
personal-social development, and communication as compared to
normal infant development. The authors found that there was no
evidence of clinically significant differences between children
within the study as compared to the typical range of developmental
outcomes for children within the same age group. For this reason
the authors argue that out-of-home arrangements, when appropriate,
can contribute to a child’s development in positive ways resulting
in average development for children prenatally exposed to
substances.
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