Transitions Into and Out of Homelessness Among Street-Involved Youth in a Canadian Setting.
Transitions into and out of homelessness among street-involved youth in a Canadian setting.
Health Place. 2013 Jun 22; 23C: 122-127
Cheng T, Wood E, Feng C, Mathias S, Montaner J, Kerr T, Debeck K
The impact of transitions in housing status among street youth have not been well explored. This study uses a generalized linear mixed effects model to identify factors associated with transitions into and out of homelessness among a prospective cohort of 685 drug-using street-involved youth aged 14-26. In multivariate analysis, high intensity substance use, difficulty accessing addiction treatment, incarceration, sex work, and difficulty accessing housing (all p<0.05) either significantly facilitated or hindered housing transitions. Findings highlight the importance of external structural factors in shaping youth's housing status and point to opportunities to improve the housing stability of vulnerable youth. HubMed – addiction
Involvement with child protective services: Is this a useful question in population-based surveys?
Child Abuse Negl. 2013 Jul 6;
Hamilton HA, Boak A, Mann RE
Direct questions on child maltreatment in population-based surveys are often limited by ethical and methodological issues. This restricts the ability of researchers to examine an important aspect of early adversity and its relationship to health and behavior. An alternative to excluding issues of maltreatment entirely in population-based surveys is to include questions on child and family involvement with child protective services (CPS). A school-based adolescent survey that included a question on child and family involvement with CPS yielded results that were generally consistent with other studies relating child maltreatment to health and behavioral outcomes such as psychological distress symptoms, delinquency, aspects of bullying, and health service utilization. Such findings suggest that questions on involvement with CPS may be a reasonable proxy for child maltreatment. Despite the lack of information on the reason for involvement or specific categories of maltreatment, CPS involvement questions highlight the shared familial experience that surrounds CPS involvement and serves as a general reflection of an adverse experience that can be utilized by researchers interested in early experiences. HubMed – addiction
Readiness to change and brain damage in patients with chronic alcoholism.
Psychiatry Res. 2013 Jul 6;
Le Berre AP, Rauchs G, La Joie R, Segobin S, Mézenge F, Boudehent C, Vabret F, Viader F, Eustache F, Pitel AL, Beaunieux H
High motivation to change is a crucial triggering factor to patients’ engagement in clinical treatment. This study investigates whether the low readiness to change observed in some alcoholic inpatients at treatment entry could, at least partially, be linked with macrostructural gray matter abnormalities in critical brain regions. Participants comprised 31 alcoholic patients and 27 controls, who underwent 1.5-T magnetic resonance imaging. The Readiness to Change Questionnaire, designed to assess three stages of motivation to change (precontemplation, contemplation and action stages), was completed by all patients, who were then divided into “Action” (i.e. patients in action stage) and “PreAction” (i.e. patients in precontemplation or in contemplation stage) subgroups. The PreAction subgroup, but not the Action subgroup, had gray matter volume deficits compared with controls. Unlike the patients in the Action subgroup, the PreAction patients had gray matter abnormalities in the cerebellum (Crus I), fusiform gyri and frontal cortex. The low level of motivation to modify drinking behavior observed in some alcoholic patients at treatment entry may be related to macrostructural brain abnormalities in regions subtending cognitive, emotional and social abilities. These brain volume deficits may result in impairment of critical abilities such as decision making, executive functions and social cognition skills. Those abilities may be needed to resolve ambivalence toward alcohol addiction and to apply “processes of change”, which are essential for activating the desire to change problematic behavior. HubMed – addiction
Therapist predictors of treatment delivery fidelity in a community-based trial of 12-step facilitation.
Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse. 2013 Jul 9;
Campbell BK, Buti A, Fussell HE, Srikanth P, McCarty D, Guydish JR
Abstract Background and aims: Therapist characteristics may be associated with variation in consistency, quality and effectiveness of treatment delivery. We examined associations between treatment fidelity and therapist education, experience, treatment orientation and perceived skills in a randomized, multi-site trial of Twelve Step Facilitation (TSF). Methods: Raters scored audio-recorded, TSF sessions (n?=?966; 97% of TSF sessions) from 32 community-based, trained therapists for adherence, competence, empathy and global session performance. Results: Therapists with graduate degrees had significantly higher adherence and global performance fidelity ratings. Therapists reporting more positive attitudes toward 12-Step groups had lower adherence ratings. Being in recovery was associated with lower fidelity in univariate tests, but higher adherence in multivariate analysis. Fidelity was higher for therapists reporting self-efficacy in basic counseling skills and lower for self-efficacy in addiction-specific counseling skills. Fidelity was also superior in group relative to individual TSF sessions. Conclusions: Results have implications for therapist selection, training and supervision in community-based, effectiveness trials and community implementation of evidence-based treatments. To obtain high fidelity and improve outcomes, it may be preferable to choose masters level therapists who are open to learning new treatments and have good, general counseling skills. HubMed – addiction