High Interest in Pursuing Trauma-Informed Care in Nursing Home Social Services Directors.

This study explored nursing home social services directors' interest in pursuing trauma-informed care (TIC) training, and individual and organizational characteristics associated with their interest. Data from the 2019 National Nursing Home Social Services Directors Survey, a national cross-sectional survey, were used. Measures sought information on participants' interest in TIC training, sociodemographic characteristics, and characteristics of employing nursing homes.

Functional outcomes of Tai Chi exercise prescription in women with knee osteoarthritis.

Knee Osteoarthritis (KOA) is the most common type of knee joint injury and also a risk factor for multiple health consequences and is prevalent among older women. The updated clinical guidelines for KOA treatment by the American Rheumatism Association recommend Tai Chi exercise. However, a literature review outlined limitations in Tai Chi intervention implementations.

Improving curriculum delivery: Using a results informed quality improvement model for teen behavioral health education.

Adolescence is a critical developmental stage to establish healthy decision-making processes and behavior patterns. Many interventions such as evidence-based curricula have been implemented to guide adolescents to avoid risk-taking behaviors and improve health and medical knowledge and outcomes. This study presents a participatory approach informed by the three-stage (3S) quality improvement process model to improve the quality of curriculum delivery, based on the results indicating outcomes achieved, needs for improvement, and quality assurance for maintaining the expected outcomes of an evidence-based curricula.

Trends in shaken baby syndrome diagnosis codes among young children hospitalized for abuse.

Objective: To investigate national trends of SBS diagnosis codes and how trends varied among patient and hospital characteristics.

Methods: We examined possible SBS, confirmed SBS, and non-SBS abuse diagnosis codes among children age three and younger who were hospitalized for abuse between 1998 and 2014 using a secondary analysis of the National Inpatient Sample, the largest US all-payer inpatient care database (N = 66,854). A baseline category logit model was used based on a quasi-likelihood approach (QIC) with an independent working correlation structure.

Structural Characteristics of Nursing Homes and Social Service Directors that Influence Their Engagement in Disaster Preparedness Processes.

Nursing home residents are an at-risk population during disaster situations, and nursing homes face unique challenges in managing disasters. Nursing home social service departments can support their nursing homes in meeting the needs of residents during disasters, yet there is little research exploring their involvement. To address this gap, we use secondary data from the 2019 National Nursing Home Social Service Directors' study to explore social service directors' and their departments' involvement in disaster preparedness and response, and personal- and nursing home-level characteristics that predict involvement.

Dementia Tops Training Needs of Nursing Home Social Services Directors; Discharge Responsibilities Are Common Core Functions of the Department.

This report address two key questions: what are common core functions of nursing home social services departments and what are top training needs. Cross-sectional survey data collected in 2019 from a nationally representative sample of 924 social services directors reveal 33 responsibilities that at least two-thirds of respondents reported their department was usually or always involved in. We document strong and consistent interest in more training related to dementia and in common mental health and psychosocial challenges residents face.

Social Services Involvement in Care Transitions and Admissions in Nursing Homes.

Care transitions (CT) are critical junctures in the healthcare delivery process. Effective transitions reduce the need for subsequent transfers between healthcare settings, including nursing homes. Understanding social services (SS) involvement in these processes in nursing homes is important from a quality and holistic care perspective.

Building Relationships and Capacity in Rural Lunchrooms: Lessons from a Process Evaluation of a Pilot Behavioral Economics-Based Intervention.

We aimed to describe the successes and challenges of implementing a pilot program by working with students and food service staff in four rural high schools to encourage healthy eating among rural adolescents. The pilot program engaged students and school food service directors (FSDs) in identifying and making changes to the school lunchroom environment based on behavioral economics. As part of a multi-method evaluation, we conducted interviews with FSDs and staff, held focus groups with students, and recorded our observations as researchers.

Defining Core Competencies for Generalist-Level Palliative Social Work.

Context: Care provided to seriously ill patients by frontline social workers is a component of generalist-level palliative care. The core competencies for high-quality generalist-level palliative social work are necessary to promote training curricula and best practices but have not yet been defined in the U.S.

It's okay to talk about death: Exploring the end-of-life wishes of healthy young adults.

Young adults (N = 80) participated in advance care planning (ACP) as part of a death and dying course and submitted reflection papers on their experiences. These papers were analyzed using directed qualitative content analysis methods. Among the findings, participants almost exclusively chose a parent or other family member as a Health Care Agent.

The Temporal Impact of Economic Insecurity on Child Maltreatment: A Systematic Review.

Economically insecure children experience 3-9 times more maltreatment than economically secure children. Although economic insecurity is associated with child physical abuse, neglect, and psychological maltreatment, there have been no systematic reviews dedicated to the relation between familial economic insecurity and child maltreatment. This is problematic because multiple forms of familial economic insecurity-including debt, material hardship, income, unemployment, and income transfers-are related to child maltreatment.

Engaging College Undergraduates in Advance Care Planning.

Advance care planning (ACP) is a critical part of long-term health-care planning, as no one knows when the ability to make personal medical decisions may be impaired. Many assume ACP is only necessary for older adults or those with life-threatening health conditions; however, there are growing discussions about healthy, young adults also engaging in ACP, as they too suffer from unexpected medical events that limit their ability to make medical decisions. The current study examined the reactions of college students following the completion of their advance care plans and then sharing these plans with friends and family.

Motivating rural older residents to prepare for disasters: moving beyond personal benefits.

In the United States of America (USA), older adults in rural areas are at increased risk for adverse outcomes of disasters, partly due to medical needs, limited or long geographic distances from community resources, and less knowledge and motivation about preparedness steps. Older residents and ageing service providers in a rural community in the USA were interviewed regarding their perceptions about disasters and preparedness, and their reactions to the preparedness training programme using the concepts of the Extended Parallel Process Model. Participants generally indicated low motivation to engage in preparedness behaviours despite perceptions of personal risk and beliefs that preparedness behaviours were easy and could improve disaster outcomes.

Detained and Dying: Ethical Issues Surrounding End-of-Life Care in Prison.

Prisons are increasingly being called upon to provide end-of-life (EOL) care within the restrictive correctional environment. Several relatively recent phenomena have brought medical ethics to the forefront of prison EOL care-including aging behind bars, a paradigm shift in prison culture, the increasing rate of in-prison deaths, and the corresponding prison hospice movement. This article examines prominent ethical issues that emerge for prison personnel who are tasked with providing care to terminally ill offenders by presenting three offender composite characters that exemplify dying offenders and emergent ethical issues surrounding their care.

Core functions of nursing home social services departments in the United States.

Objective: To report social services departmental involvement in 52 functions.

Design: Cross-sectional data collected from a nationally representative sample of 1071 nursing home social services directors who were asked to report the extent to which their department was involved in 52 functions (activities). The functions were organized under the framework of the NASW Clinical Indicators for Social Work and Psychosocial Services in Nursing Homes.

Measuring change in disproportionality and disparities: three diagnostic tools.

At present there are few examples of sustained reductions in disproportionate minority contact with the juvenile justice and child welfare systems. This article describes the use of three instruments that have been used to measure levels of racial and ethnic disproportionality and disparities: The Disproportionality Diagnostic Tool, Ecomap and Racial Equity Scorecard. Using a combination of community and public agency data, these tools measure and track change over time on racial and ethnic disproportionality and disparities.

Depression screening in nursing homes: involvement of social services departments.

Objective: To determine the percentage of nursing home (NH) social services (SSs) departments that screen at-risk residents for depression. To report characteristics of SS departments that "usually or always" are involved in depression screening.

Design: Cross-sectional, nationally representative survey.

Comparative analysis of two community-based efforts designed to impact disproportionality.

Children of color are overrepresented in child welfare in Iowa at a rate double their percentage of the population. In 2005 the Iowa Department of Human Services implemented two pilot demonstration projects to address overrepresentation of Native American and African American children in the child welfare system. The projects, called the Minority Youth and Families Initiative (MYFI), included ongoing evaluation.

The emotional context facing nursing home residents' families: a call for role reinforcement strategies from nursing homes and the community.

Objectives: Identify useful concepts related to the emotional context facing family members of nursing home residents. These concepts can be used in future studies to design and test interventions that benefit family caregivers.

Design: Secondary data analyses of qualitative ethnographic data.

Supporting child welfare supervisors to improve worker retention.

Recent child welfare research has identified supervisors as key to retaining qualified and committed workers. This paper describes implementation of a federally funded child welfare training initiative designed to improve worker retention largely through developing, implementing, and evaluating a statewide supervisor training program in a Midwestern state. Unique to this collaborative effort was involving all child welfare supervisors in identifying needed content components, developing competencies, and conducting self-assessments.

Attributing responsibility for child maltreatment when domestic violence is present.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine factors that influence how child welfare workers attribute responsibility for child maltreatment and child safety in cases involving domestic violence.

Methods: The study used a factorial survey approach, combining elements of survey research with an experimental design. Case vignettes were constructed by randomly assigning characteristics to vignettes believed to be related to assessments about responsibility for child maltreatment.