Evidence-Based Practice in Foster Parent Training and Support ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

EBP in Foster Parent Training and Supportgroups; those who did, did so infrequently. The study did find that foster parentsand foster children use e-mail for communication.Fisher, T., Gibbs, I., Sinclair, I., & Wilson, K.(2000). Sharing the care: the qualitiessought of social workers by foster carers.Child and Family Social Work, 5, 225-233.Population: Family-based foster careLimitations: This study relied on a small sample. Additionally, there was a lowresponse rate initially in the control group for the mailed surveys; therefore resultswere obtained via the phone.Method: This descriptive study examined the views of foster carers about socialworkers, developed a testing measure of foster carer attitudes about socialworkers, identified factors that influence these attitudes, and assessed therelationship between these attitudes and the impact on continuation of fostering.The study was conducted in London, and participants were from seven localauthorities (two London boroughs, two urban unitary authorities, one metropolitanborough, and the remaining two are large and diverse shire counties). A generalquestionnaire, which asked about foster parent support, satisfaction, experience offostering, and attitudes toward fostering, was sent out to every foster carerregistered in the participating authorities in 1997. The survey produced 944 usablequestionnaires (overall response rate of 62%). A follow-up was conducted 17-18months later to see if they were continuing to foster. Those who indicated on thegeneral questionnaire that they were willing to complete further questionnaires on aspecific child (80%) were sent a specific questionnaire. This generated 487 usablequestionnaires (82% of those sent).Findings: The study identified the following as needed for a good social worker: 1)showing an interest in how carers are managing; 2) being easy to contact andresponsive when contacted; 3) doing what they say they are going to do; 4) beingprepared to listen and offer encouragement; 5) taking account of the family’s needsand circumstances; 6) keeping them informed and included in planning; 7) ensuringthat payments, complaints, etc are processed as soon as possible; and 8) attendingto the child’s interests and needs, and involve foster carers in this whereappropriate. The study found that good relationships with the family placementworker influenced decisions to continue fostering. In addition support during timesof crisis played an important role in the attitudes formed by foster parents of socialworkers.Limitations: Since the participants were not randomly sampled the sample maygive a slightly more favorable picture of attitudes toward social workers.Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare (CASCW)University of Minnesota School of Social WorkContact: Kristine N. Piescher, Ph.D. kpiesche@umn.edu 141
EBP in Foster Parent Training and SupportHansell, P. S., Hughes, C. B., Caliandro,G., Russo, P., Budin, W. C., & Hartman, B.et al. (1998). The effect of a social supportboosting intervention on stress, coping andsocial support in caregivers of children withHIV/AIDS. Nursing Research, 47, 79-86.Population: Biological and foster familieswith children who have HIV/AIDSMethod: This exploratory study examined the effect of a social support boostingintervention on levels of stress, coping, and social support among caregivers ofchildren with HIV/AIDS. Participants were recruited from clinics and outreachcenters that provide care to women and children with HIV/AIDS. Participantsneeded to meet the following criteria: identified themselves as the biological parent,blood relative, or foster parent, were legally assigned as the primary caregiver of achild who has symptomatic HIV/AIDS infection, resided in the New York/NewJersey metropolitan area, and could read and write in English or Spanish. Thesample included 70 caregivers (biological parents n= 39, extended family n=12, andfoster parents n=19) who completed all interventions and measures at the sixmonth follow-up.The social support boosting intervention used a modified case managementapproach that was implemented over a 12-month period through monthly contact(30-60 minutes) between and investigator and the caregiver.Findings: Initial findings showed no significant differences between experimentaland control groups on any of the dependant variables (stress, coping and socialsupport). However, when HIV status of the caregiver was controlled, researchersfound that HIV-infected caregivers (biological parents) had significantly greaterstress levels and used fewer coping strategies as compared with HIV negativecaregivers (extended family members and foster parents). The results also suggestthat the intervention resulted in increased levels of social support for extendedfamily and foster parents (in the experimental group).Kramer, L. & Houston, D. (1999). Hope forthe children: A community-based approachto supporting families who adopt childrenwith special needs. Child Welfare, 78, 611-635.Limitations: Attrition was a major concern in the study, most likely due to thedegenerative and progressive nature of HIV/AIDS. Attrition rates were 47% fromstudy entry to the six month follow-up and 68% and the 12 month follow-up.Method: This descriptive study explored the need for and use of support by preadoptivefamilies of children with special needs in the Hope for the Children (HFTC)program. Participants included 12 families (17 parents) with at least one parentfrom each of the families. Each HFTC parent was a licensed foster care providerwho was caring for one or more children (aged 2-17) who lived with them for atleast six months.Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare (CASCW)University of Minnesota School of Social WorkContact: Kristine N. Piescher, Ph.D. kpiesche@umn.edu 142
Page 3:
EBP in Foster Parent Training and S
Page 7 and 8:
Page 9 and 10:
Page 11 and 12:
Page 13 and 14:
Page 15 and 16:
Page 17 and 18:
Page 19 and 20:
Page 21 and 22:
Page 23 and 24:
Page 25 and 26:
Page 27 and 28:
Page 29 and 30:
Page 31 and 32:
Page 33 and 34:
Page 35 and 36:
Page 37 and 38:
Page 39 and 40:
Page 41 and 42:
Page 43 and 44:
Page 45 and 46:
Page 47 and 48:
Page 49 and 50:
Page 51 and 52:
Page 53 and 54:
Page 55 and 56:
Page 57 and 58:
Page 59 and 60:
Page 61 and 62:
Page 63 and 64:
Page 65 and 66:
Page 67 and 68:
Page 69 and 70:
Page 71 and 72:
Page 73 and 74:
Page 75 and 76:
Page 77 and 78:
Page 79 and 80:
Page 81 and 82:
Page 83 and 84:
Page 85 and 86:
Page 87 and 88:
Page 89 and 90:
Page 91 and 92:
Page 93 and 94:
Page 95 and 96:
Page 97 and 98:
Page 99 and 100:
Page 101 and 102:
Page 103 and 104: EBP in Foster Parent Training and S
Page 153: EBP in Foster Parent Training and S
Page 167 and 168: Evidence-Based Practice in Foster P
Page 185: EBP in Foster Parent Training and S
show all

Evidence-Based Practice in Foster Parent Training and Support ...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?