Exploring relationships as mediators of treatment outcomes among commercially sexually exploited youth.

Background: Research indicates that youth exposed to commercial sexual exploitation tend to have extensive histories of trauma, including physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect, which increases their vulnerability to exploitation. Trauma literature finds youth who present to treatment with greater behavioral health needs tend to have higher trauma scores than youth with fewer behavioral health needs (Copeland et al., 2007; Finkelhor et al.

Baseline Characteristics of Dependent Youth Who Have Been Commercially Sexually Exploited: Findings From a Specialized Treatment Program.

Commercial sexual exploitation of children has emerged as a critical issue within child welfare, but little is currently known about this population or effective treatment approaches to address their unique needs. Children in foster care and runaways are reported to be vulnerable to exploitation because they frequently have unmet needs for family relationships, and they have had inadequate supervision and histories of trauma of which traffickers take advantage. The current article presents data on the demographic characteristics, trauma history, mental and behavioral health needs, physical health needs, and strengths collected on a sample of 87 commercially sexually exploited youth.

National Survey of State Children's Mental Health Directors: Current Status and Future Directions.

State agencies play a critical role in addressing the mental health needs of children and youth. Significant changes underway throughout the nation at the federal and state levels have led to questions about the role of state children's mental health (CMH) agencies and the effects of these changes on children's services. The purpose of this study was to examine the current status of state offices for CMH with regard to structure and responsibilities and to identify what state CMH directors express as opportunities and challenges for CMH at the state level.

Behavioral management for children and adolescents: assessing the evidence.

Objective: Behavioral management services for children and adolescents are important components of the mental health service system. Behavioral management is a direct service designed to help develop or maintain prosocial behaviors in the home, school, or community. This review examined evidence for the effectiveness of family-centered, school-based, and integrated interventions.

The use of a participatory approach to develop a framework for assessing quality of care in children's mental health services.

The purpose of this study was to develop a framework for assessing the quality of children's mental health services that reflects the primary concerns and perspectives of diverse stakeholders. A participatory research approach was adopted in order to incorporate caregivers of children with mental health problems, mental health service providers, and managed care administrators in identifying and developing quality of care indicators and methods for assessment. This research occurred in three phases that moved from very qualitative and exploratory to more quantitative as we sought to refine and verify the resulting Quality of Care Framework.