Interagency collaboration between child protection and mental health services: practices, attitudes and barriers

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper is to examine some of the factors that facilitate and hinder interagency collaboration between child protection services and mental health services in cases where there is a parent with a mental illness and there are protection concerns for the child(ren). The paper reports on agency practices, worker attitudes and experiences, and barriers to effective collaboration. METHOD: A self-administered, cross-sectional survey was developed and distributed via direct mail or via line supervisors to workers in statutory child protection services, adult mental health services, child and youth mental health services, and Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect (SCAN) Teams. There were 232 completed questionnaires returned, with an overall response rate of 21%. Thirty-eight percent of respondents were statutory child protection workers, 39% were adult mental health workers, 16% were child and youth mental health workers, and 4% were SCAN Team medical officers (with 3% missing data). RESULTS: Analysis revealed that workers were engaging in a moderate amount of interagency contact, but that they were unhappy with the support provided by their agency. Principle components analysis and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) on items assessing attitudes toward other workers identified four factors, which differed in rates of endorsement: inadequate training, positive regard for child protection workers, positive regard for mental health workers, and mutual mistrust (from highest to lowest level of endorsement). The same procedure identified the relative endorsement of five factors extracted from items about potential barriers: inadequate resources, confidentiality, gaps in interagency processes, unrealistic expectations, and professional knowledge domains and boundaries. CONCLUSIONS: Mental health and child protection professionals believe that collaborative practice is necessary; however, their efforts are hindered by a lack of supportive structures and practices at the organizational level.     

Socioeconomic status and health in adolescents: the role of stress interpretations

The role of psychological interpretations in the relationship between low socioeconomic status (SES) and physiological responses was tested. One hundred high school students (ages 15–19) watched videos of ambiguous and negative life situations, and were interviewed about their interpretations. Lower SES was associated with greater threat interpretations during ambiguous (but not negative) situations and with greater diastolic blood pressure and heart rate reactivity. Threat interpretations partially mediated relationships between SES and reactivity. General life events (e.g., lack of positive life events), rather than specific life events (e.g., exposure to violence), partially explained the relationship between low SES and threat interpretations. Results suggest that the larger social environment helps explain how adolescents approach new social situations, which in turn has implications for adolescent physical health.     

Childcare Educators’ Perceptions of and Solutions to Reducing Sitting Time in Young Children: A Qualitative Study

Young children spend a high proportion of their time at childcare sitting. Reducing sitting time or breaking up prolonged periods of sitting may be positively associated with health outcomes among children. The purpose of this study was to identify childcare educators’ perceptions of what environmental and policy modifications could be made within early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings to reduce sitting time among children during childcare. Eighty-seven educators from 11 ECEC centres participated in 11 focus groups between September 2013 and November 2013. Each focus group was audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. A semi-structured schedule was developed to investigate the educators’ perceptions of the influences on children’s sitting time at childcare. A problem–solution tree was developed to determine potential solutions for reducing total and prolonged sitting time in young children at childcare. Most educators were unaware of the high levels of sitting time among young children. Educators identified that childcare practices, the physical environment and the weather were factors that influenced children’s sitting time. Potential solutions to reduce sitting time were to break-up prolonged sitting time by using movement breaks, standing desks, movement transitions between activities, relocating key facilities around the space to promote movement, and integrating movement during learning activities. Also, educators suggested that posters could be used to increase awareness among educators about the benefits of reducing sitting time. Educators identified key practices that could be modified to reduce young children’s sitting time in childcare. These potential solutions should be evaluated to understand their effectiveness.     

A comparison of the developmental experiences of elite and sub-elite swimmers: similar developmental histories can lead to differences in performance level

In this paper, we draw attention to the profound lack of racial diversity as well as the prevalence of whiteness within Canadian faculties of Kinesiology and Physical Education. In support of our argument that there exists an immediate need for equity programming within physical education in higher education, we present the results from two interconnected studies designed to make transparent: (1) the demographic character of faculties of Kinesiology and Physical Education across Canada; as well as (2) the delivery of content related to race, diversity and whiteness within the curriculum. In the first study, we collected website representations of faculty and staff (i.e. photos) as well as lists of curricular offerings for each of the member institutions of the Canadian Council of University Physical Education and Kinesiology Administrators. Website documents were downloaded, analyzed and organized according to criteria related to race and diversity. The follow-up study consisted of interviews with 40 faculty members across Canada where we asked questions pertaining to their perceptions of the faculty setting (i.e. the demographic make-up of their faculty including faculty, staff and students as well as the culture within the faculty) and the curriculum. As a method of triangulation, interview data was used to confirm and inform our analysis of the initial website data; when combined, the analyses provide a comprehensive picture of the cultures of whiteness that exist within physical education in higher education. In order for physical education to be truly inclusive, we call for the development of greater alliances across disciplines and geographic borders such that the hegemony of whiteness within the (physical education) academy can be disrupted.     

Increasing Educational Attainment and Aspiration in an Underserved Community: The Perspective of Urban-Community Leaders

Latino students are significantly underrepresented in higher education. As the largest and fastest growing racial/ethnic population in the US, this is cause for national concern. Additionally, this rapid population growth is a call for community and school leaders from underserved communities to assess their service areas and focus on interventions to increase the college-going rates of youth. Maywood is a city located in Southeast Los Angeles. Like many other urban areas, Maywood’s largely Latino population is underrepresented in higher education. This research focused on interviewing Maywood’s community and school leaders (n = 24) to gain insight into their perceptions of their role and responsibility to address issues surrounding their community’s low levels of educational attainment. A key theme emerged revealing that leaders understand their community’s educational issues but do not see their role as leaders to directly address this issue to build a college-going culture. Implications for practice in strengthening community partnerships and developing a college-going culture are provided and a series of recommendations for the creation of a college-going culture are discussed.     

Assessment and teaching of science skills: whole of programme perceptions of graduating students

This study reports on science student perceptions of their skills (scientific knowledge, oral communication, scientific writing, quantitative skills, teamwork and ethical thinking) as they approach graduation. The focus is on which teaching activities and assessment tasks over the whole programme of study students thought utilised each of the six nominated skills. In this quantitative study involving two Australian research-intensive universities, the teaching activities identified by students as developing the broadest number of skills were laboratory classes and tutorials. Lectures were only effective for developing scientific knowledge and, to a limited extent, ethical thinking. Assessment tasks that students perceived to utilise the broadest range of skills were assignments and oral presentations. The findings of this study document the students’ perspective about their gains in skill sets, and the teaching activities and assessment tasks that require them to use and thus develop these skills. The findings provide an opportunity to evaluate the constructive alignment of skills development, teaching activities and assessment tasks from a student’s perspective. Further research is required to actually measure the skills that students gain over their whole programme of study.     

Comparing Lectures: Effects of the Technological Context of the Studio

This presentation compares how lectures are being performed in different technological contexts: that of the studio, for taping of videotapes, or in front of a camera for the purpose of videoconferencing, or, for a live presentation. The different contexts will be described according to the communication theory of the German sociologist Niklas Luhmann, and contrasted with findings from contemporary research on lecturing and teacher–student interaction. The comparison between the videotaped lecture and the live lecture reveals important differences as to style of communication. The taped lectures are more stringent and content-oriented, while the live-lectures are time-consuming and more focused on establishing dialogues with students. Videoconference-lecturing contains features that place it between the live- and videotaped lecture. This paper concludes that videoconferencing is problematic with serious problems to handle for students and teachers alike.