News from the Field Related to Wraparound
Child Mind Institute’s 2017 Children’s Mental Health Report
September 25, 2017
The Child Mind Institute recently published its 2017 Children’s Mental Health Report. This year the report has an emphasis on adolescent brain development and mental health disorders that develop during adolescence and young adulthood.
Research Brief: Benefits of Schools Conducting Assessment of Children’s Mental Health Services
August 28, 2017
AIR (American Institutes for Research) has published a brief on the benefits of having schools assess current mental health programs and services for children. It outlines the recommended steps to conducting an assessment and other resources for schools to consider.
Research: School Exclusion Linked to Long-Term Mental Health Problems
August 23, 2017
A recent article in The Guardian focused on a research study being published in Psychological Medicine, that looked at the impact of school exclusion, or suspension, on long term mental health. Researchers analyzed child and adolescent mental health surveys collected by England’s Department of Health, of more than 5,000 children, their parents and teachers. The study found a “bi-directional association” between psychological distress and exclusion.
Research: School-Based Mental Health Programs Effective
August 21, 2017
A research review published in the September/October 2017 issue of Harvard Review of Psychiatry analyzed school-based mental health programs with data on specific mental health outcomes of large scale implementations. The researchers found that the available research shows “‘moderate to strong’ evidence that these interventions are effective in promoting good mental health and related outcomes”.
Data on Student Homelessness
August 18, 2017
In a recent blog post, the National Center for Education Statistics shared data from two recent reports on student homelessness in urban, rural, and suburban settings. For these reports, homeless students are defined as “children/youth who lack a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence”. In 2014-15, the highest percentage of homeless students was in cities, 578,000 students, 3.7 percent, but the percentage was also 2.0 or higher in suburban, rural and town districts.
How Multi-Sector Health Partnerships Evolve
August 15, 2017
This recent post from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Culture of Health Blog, focuses on how partnerships across sectors – including public health, housing, education, transportation and others – evolve and help create healthy communities. It includes examples of such successful partnerships and links to data on outlining the phases, challenges and opportunities characteristic to these efforts.
Research: Home-Based Parent Child Therapy for Young Traumatized Children Living In Poverty
August 9, 2017
“Home-Based Parent Child Therapy for Young Traumatized Children Living in Poverty: A Randomized Control Trial” published in the Journal for Child & Adolescent Trauma (June 2017) details a randomized control trial that evaluated the effectiveness of a home-based, parent-and-child therapy program specifically developed for toddlers and preschoolers living in poverty with trauma symptoms. The authors conclude that the results support the value of early intervention of children with trauma symptoms.
Research: Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Children with Autism Also Beneficial for Parents
August 4, 2017
In a study recently published in Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, researchers with York University’s Faculty of Health looked at the effect on parents who participate in cognitive therapy for their children with autism. The randomized controlled trial surveyed parents before and after the treatment and found improvements in parent mental health and mindful parenting.
Research on Biological Processes Impacted by Loss of a Father
August 2, 2017
Recent research published in the journal Pediatrics identified biological changes correlated with the absence of a father in a child’s life. While the absence of a father, either due to incarceration, death, separation or divorce, is already understood to have adverse consequences for children, this research connected the loss of a father with a change at the cellular level. The children who lost their fathers had shorter telomeres, the protective nucleoprotein end caps of chromosomes and a core biological indicator of health.
National Home Visiting Yearbook 2017
July 31, 2017
The National Home Visiting Resource Center has published the 2017 Home Visiting Yearbook with key data on early childhood home visiting, a service delivery strategy that connects parents-to-be and parents of young children with a designated support person who guides them through the early stages of raising a family. The report includes a history of home visiting in this country, as well as information on workforce development, research in this evidence-based practice, current practice by state and a calculation of the ROI of these programs.