Introduction Child welfare (CW) staff are exposed to families in crisis which often leads to secondary traumatic stress symptoms. When compounded with organizational stressors this exposure can negatively impact the CW workforce by lowering their health and well-being and their ability to engage with families, service providers and colleagues. However, CW research suggests high quality and supportive supervision, positive co-worker relationships and resilience in the face of exposure to high levels of trauma can mitigate the deleterious effects of stressors encountered by the CW workforce. In response to the CW workforce crisis, the Children’s Bureau funded the Quality Improvement Center for Workforce Development (QIC-WD) to build evidence of interventions that enhance workforce well-being, reduce turnover, and/or improve child and family outcomes. Method The purpose of this study is to describe the implementation of a multi-level intervention in five counties in a QIC-WD site and to assess fidelity to each part of the multi-level intervention. One part focused on building resilience-skills and the second part focused on building supportive supervision. Both parts built on promising interventions. Results Results suggest fidelity to the supportive supervision training, and the Resilience Alliance intervention was high on all dimensions of dosage, adherence, quality, participant engagement, and likelihood or transfer of learning. Actual transfer of supervision skills was also found to be high. Discussion Use of implementation science in CW settings and future research are discussed.

A large body of evidence indicates that U.S. honor states exhibit higher suicide rates than do dignity states. Research into one potential precipitating factor, depression, has yielded conflicting evidence, with support for an honor–depression association observed by some researchers but not by others. The present research (a) reassessed this association using more robust measures, (b) extended prior work by also examining suicidal ideation, and (c) examined the associations among honor, depression, and suicidal ideation at both the state and individual levels. Study 1 showed that, after controlling for relevant covariates, state-level honor was associated with higher levels of depression (both major depressive episodes and lifetime depression diagnoses), especially among non-Hispanic White adults. Furthermore, we found the strongest evidence for the honor–depression association using the continuous honor index. We also found that the honor–suicidal ideation association was mediated by depression. Study 2 ( N = 4,235) showed that individual-level honor endorsement was positively associated with depression and suicidal ideation, but not anxiety. Moreover, the individual-level honor–suicidal ideation association was also mediated by depression. We discuss the theoretical and clinical implications of these findings.

Objective In this research, a randomized controlled trial (RCT) tested the efficacy of two teen pregnancy prevention (TPP) curricula, Reducing the Risk and Love Notes, compared with a group of adolescents in a control condition, on primary pregnancy prevention among youth at high-risk for teen pregnancy. A secondary purpose was to examine two potential mediators, negative beliefs about teen pregnancy and intentions to follow the sequence of completing education, marrying or establishing a committed relationship, and then having children. Background Teen pregnancy rates for racial/ethnic minority youth in the United States are disproportionately high compared with White youth. Given the positive view of children in these populations and the drive for youth to form peer relationships and explore their sexuality, meeting these cultural and developmental needs within TPP may be critical. Methods The study examined the number of reported pregnancies across the first year after the interventions from a three-arm, cluster RCT engaging 1,448 youth living in poverty between the ages of 14 and 19 years in 23 community-based organizations in a southeastern U.S. city. Results At the 1-year follow-up, youth in Love Notes report significantly fewer pregnancies compared with the control condition (18 pregnancies, 3.51%), F(2, 1,309) = 4.17, p = .02, d = 0.11. There was no significant difference between Reducing the Risk (31 pregnancies, 6.14%) and the control condition (27 pregnancies, 6.49%) in number of pregnancies. Less favorable attitudes about having a child as a teenager and other attitudes were associated with predicted outcomes. Conclusions This study provides additional evidence for the efficacy of Love Notes, which embeds sex education into a larger curriculum on life planning and healthy relationship formation and maintenance. Implications. TPP approaches need to add content on planning and relationships to comprehensive sexual education.

Direct support professionals (DSPs) are essential in the continuum of care for individuals with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities. DSPs provide a wide range of support including services to ensure the safety and welfare of individuals, support in the development of independent living skills and support in community integration. Existing literature has shown that as frontline workers, DSPs face various occupational hazards such as secondary traumatic stress (STS). The present study examined the relationships between STS and various risk and protective factors among members of the DSP workforce. This cross-sectional design used a convenience sampling method to recruit DSPs from 21 state licensed community-based agencies serving individuals with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities. The results from 406 participants indicated that exposure to client trauma, exposure to frequency of client challenging behaviors, and workers' own trauma history served as risk factors, whereas personal resilience and organizational support were protective factors in predicting STS among DSPs. Perceived supervisor support did not significantly impact STS in the regression model. Implications of the results are discussed.

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The introduction to the current issue of Research in Human Development discusses four articles. Using the metaphor of “bridges,” I explain how each submission is a bridge in developmental science. The authors offer ways in which there is connectedness between developmental levels, contexts, and historical time periods. An important contribution of these papers is that the authors remind developmental scientists to critically analyze the extant literature from historical, intersectional, contextual, and systems’ perspectives.

Three studies were conducted to explore the psychological determinants of COVID-deterrent behaviors. In Study 1, using data collected and analyzed both before and after the release of COVID-19 vaccines, mask-wearing, other preventative behaviors like social distancing, and vaccination intentions were positively related to assessments of the Coronavirus Behavioral Health Mindset (CVBHM); belief in the credibility of science; progressive political orientation; less use of repressive and more use of sensitization coping; and the attribution of COVID-19 safety to effort rather than ability, powerful forces, fate, or luck. In Study 2, favorable COVID-19 vaccination intentions were related to greater willingness to work, lower emotional distress, and greater customer experience mindset. Study 3 examined the personality and motives of individuals who volunteered to help deliver COVID-19 inoculations to the local community. The vaccine-giving volunteers, especially those with prosocial motives, had high CVBHM scores, belief in the credibility of science, low use of repressive coping, greater attribution of COVID-19 protection to effort, low likelihood of voting conservative, were older, and had more education than others. The majority of public health volunteers expressed prosocial motives to help people or join a cause (60.7%), but many (39.3%) expressed the personal motives of getting the COVID-19 vaccination for themselves, conveying a public image of compassion, or structuring time. Based on the three research studies, a COVID-19 Mindset Hierarchy model is proposed to integrate the results.

Few studies have examined romantic relationship attitudes and behaviors among ethnic or racial minority youth. The purpose of this study was to compare African American (AA) and mostly African refugee adolescents living in a U.S. city on romantic relationship attitudes and behaviors. A baseline questionnaire was given to 1448 adolescents between the ages of 14 and 19 from 2011 to 2014 as part of a larger study on teen pregnancy prevention (Barbee et al., 2016). The sample included both U.S.-born AA youth and a sample of mostly African refugee youth. Eighty-eight percent of youth were on free and reduced lunch and living in the highest poverty neighborhoods of a southern U.S. city. AAs reported more favorable life history expectations than refugees. In addition, refugee youth were more likely than AAs to see the ecology as dangerous and their lives as likely to be short. Results also found that AA youth were more secure and less avoidant in their attachment styles than refugee youth. Using a measure of romantic motives, refugee youth were more likely to display traits of "parasites" and less likely to be "partners" or "players" than AA youth. Implications for pregnancy outcomes, youth development, and interventions are discussed.

OBJECTIVE:Transmitting trauma narratives is intergenerational by nature. Few studies have taken a qualitative approach to analyzing the most pervasive trauma of the United States: the chattel slavery of Black people. Examining the lived experiences of the formerly enslaved, through their childhood and adult narrative memories of personal and second-hand interactions with White authority figures, is critical to the recognition of today's ongoing impact of policing, generational trauma, and mental health in the African American community. METHOD:Using interviews archived in the Library of Congress from women (N = 19) who were identified as being members of the last living generation of formerly enslaved African Americans, researchers used a feminist-forward grounded theory methodology to understand the following: (a) What are the historical relationships between African Americans and White authority figures? (b) What are the memories associated with the interactions between African Americans and White authority figures? (c) How did these interaction processes come to be? and (d) How did these memories get passed on? RESULTS:The analysis of childhood memories and interactions between enslavers and African Americans close to home (i.e., on the plantation) produced six themes: (a) enmeshment with enslaver, (b) enslaver as good, (c) caretaking by enslaver, (d) enslaver control, (e) violent control by policing figures, and (f) following orders. Theoretical coding led to the formation of a full model of the function of power within the herstorical policing of African Americans close to home. CONCLUSIONS:The themes uncovered highlight the potentially traumatic violence and control that characterized the environment in which enslaved children lived and the systems through which White power was maintained. The herstorical analysis and results confirm the ways police violence has sought to control and harm African Americans for over 400 years and underscores the role that police violence has played in the perpetuation of intergenerational trauma and the maintenance of White power. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Introduction: This paper describes implementation results as part of a larger three-arm, cluster randomized controlled trial that compared two curriculum interventions to prevent teen pregnancy with a control condition. The intervention of focus is an enhanced version of Reducing the Risk to Prevent Pregnancy, STD and HIV (Kirby, Barth, Leland, & Fetro, 1991; Langley et al., 2015), which is a comprehensive sex education program appropriate for youth ages 14-19. Method: In order to standardize the delivery of this teen pregnancy prevention education curriculum to high-risk youth across 39 presentations, in 23 different community-based organizations, by dyads involving 16 facilitators, researchers utilized two implementation frameworks to guide program delivery and developed several fidelity measurement tools to assess adherence, dosage, quality of intervention delivery, participant responsiveness, and program differentiation . Results: These efforts resulted in high fidelity to the curriculum. There also were high levels of youth engagement as indicated both by self-reports and observed by facilitators who created cohesive groups. Results also found that training quality, alliance with facilitators and group cohesion positively impacted attitude change and gains in knowledge. Discussion: Issues related to balancing adherence to evidence-based curricula and being responsive to youth needs are discussed.

Background In pursuit of novel mechanisms underlying persistent low medication adherence rates, we assessed contributions of implicit and explicit attitudes, beyond traditional risk factors, in explaining variation in objective and subjective antihypertensive medication adherence. Methods and Results Implicit and explicit attitudes were assessed using the difference scores from the computer‐based Single Category Implicit Association Test and the Necessity and Concerns subscales of the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire, respectively. Antihypertensive medication adherence was measured using pharmacy refill proportion of days covered (PDC: mean PDC, low PDC <0.8) and the self‐report 4‐item Krousel‐Wood Medication Adherence Scale (K‐Wood‐MAS‐4: mean K‐Wood‐MAS‐4, low adherence via K‐Wood‐MAS‐4 ≥1). Hierarchical logistic and linear regression models controlled for traditional risk factors including social determinants of health, explicit, and implicit attitudes in a stepwise fashion. Community‐dwelling insured participants (n=85: 44.7% female; 20.0% Black; mean age, 62.3 years; 43.5% low PDC, and 31.8% low adherence via K‐Wood‐MAS‐4) had mean (SD) explicit and implicit attitude scores of 7.188 (5.683) and 0.035 (0.334), respectively. Low PDC was inversely associated with more positive explicit (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.87; 95% CI, 0.78–0.98; P =0.022) and implicit (aOR, 0.12; 95% CI, 0.02–0.80; P =0.029) attitudes, which accounted for an additional 8.6% ( P =0.016) and 6.5% ( P =0.029) of variation in low PDC, respectively. Lower mean K‐Wood‐MAS‐4 scores (better adherence) were associated only with more positive explicit attitudes (adjusted β, −0.04; 95% CI, −0.07 to −0.01; P =0.026); explicit attitudes explained an additional 5.6% ( P =0.023) of K‐Wood‐MAS‐4 variance. Conclusions Implicit and explicit attitudes explained significantly more variation in medication adherence beyond traditional risk factors, including social determinants of health, and should be explored as potential mechanisms underlying adherence behavior.

Abstract The COVID-19 Behavioral Health Mindset inventory (CVBHM) was designed to protect consumers and workers by assessing biosafety risk through acceptance of responsibility for the protection of oneself and others, social distancing, and adhering to prevention measures. The 30-item inventory was evaluated in two surveys of 1,455 (Time 1) and 431 respondents (Time 2). The CVBHM has strong internal consistency (T1 α = .90, T2 α = .88), test-retest reliability (r = .84) and predictive validity with the criterion of wearing a facemask (T1 β = .64, T2 β= .60). The CVBHM was a stronger predictor of safe behavior than other individual differences, although employment status, vocational interest, personality, and demographics were related. There was a drop in CVBHM scores over the study period, with predictable exceptions.

Advances in digital technology have led to new forms of employee crime and organizational risk. Employee collusion with external criminals engaged in theft is increasing in the digital age. Digital storage of company and customer information puts both at risk of hacking, which may be aided, or accidentally facilitated, by insiders. Both negligent and risk‐taking employees may cause cyber‐safety violations, leading to accidents whose scope is multiplied by digital interconnectivity. Prospective employees can use digital software and social media sites to misrepresent their identities while creating bogus credentials and the misleading appearance of a work history. Disgruntled employees can engage in cyber‐sabotage of the organization, and cyber‐harassment of co‐workers. To address these emergent threats, new forms of personnel risk assessment can be developed and deployed. One such measure is the Reid Background Check Plus (RBCP). A meta‐analysis of 39 studies supporting the five dimensions of the new RBCP produced encouraging construct and criterion‐related validity evidence.

Objective: To understand how family members view the ways Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and other first responders interact with distressed family members during an intervention involving a recent or impending pediatric death. Methods: In depth interviews with 11 grieving parents of young children and survey results from 4 additional grieving parents of adult children were conducted as part of a larger study on effective ways for EMS providers to interact with distressed family members during a pediatric death in the field. The responses were analyzed using qualitative content analyses. Results: Family reactions to the crisis and the professional response by first responders were critical to family coping and getting necessary support. There were several critical competencies identified to help the family cope including: (1) that first responders provide excellent and expeditious care with seamless coordination, (2) allowing family to witness the resuscitation including the attempts to save the child's life, and (3) providing ongoing communication. Whether the child is removed from the scene or not, keeping the family apprised of what is happening and why is critical. Giving tangible forms of support by calling friends, family, and clergy, along with allowing the family time with the child after death, giving emotional support, and follow-up gestures all help families cope. Conclusion: The study generated hypothetical ways for first responders to interact with distressed family members during an OOH pediatric death.

The purpose of the study is to examine the impact of a state-wide intervention (BSW level Title IV-E Program) on both the workers' intent to leave the job and their actual exit from a state administered public child welfare agency. Employees completed an extensive survey including scales assessing individual, team, and organizational variables that might impact turnover. Results show that more Title IV-E graduates stay with the agency than do regular hires and leave at a slower rate. Different variables impact intent to leave compared to actual exit and vary across type of employee. Implications for the workforce are discussed.

The limited resource model states that self-control is governed by a relatively finite set of inner resources on which people draw when exerting willpower. Once self-control resources have been used up or depleted, they are less available for other self-control tasks, leading to a decrement in subsequent self-control success. The depletion effect has been studied for over 20 years, tested or extended in more than 600 studies, and supported in an independent meta-analysis (Hagger et al., 2010). Meta-analyses are supposed to reduce bias in literature reviews. Carter et al.'s (2015) meta-analysis, by contrast, included a series of questionable decisions involving sampling, methods, and data analysis. We provide quantitative analyses of key sampling issues: exclusion of many of the best depletion studies based on idiosyncratic criteria and the emphasis on mini meta-analyses with low statistical power as opposed to the overall depletion effect. We discuss two key methodological issues: failure to code for research quality, and the quantitative impact of weak studies by novice researchers. We discuss two key data analysis issues: questionable interpretation of the results of trim and fill and Funnel Plot Asymmetry test procedures, and the use and misinterpretation of the untested Precision Effect Test and Precision Effect Estimate with Standard Error (PEESE) procedures. Despite these serious problems, the Carter et al. (2015) meta-analysis results actually indicate that there is a real depletion effect - contrary to their title.

To understand the ways that EMS providers cope with pediatric death in an out-of-hospital setting, eight focus groups were conducted with 98 urban, rural, and suburban EMS providers. Sixty-eight of the participants also completed a short questionnaire about a specific event. In both the focus groups and questionnaire, participants were asked how they individually coped with the death, how they coped as a team, and what coping strategies were most and least helpful. Specific coping strategies were found to be helpful to EMS providers, and could be classified as Solve, Solace, Dismiss, and Escape based on whether they approached or avoided the problem or the emotion.

Objective: To understand effective ways for EMS providers to interact with distressed family members during a field intervention involving a recent or impending out-of-hospital ( OOH) pediatric death. Methods: Eight focus groups with 98 EMS providers were conducted in urban and rural settings between November 2013 and March 2014. Sixty-eight providers also completed a short questionnaire about a specific event including demographics. Seventy-eight percent of providers were males, 13% were either African American or Hispanic, and the average number of years in EMS was 16 years. They were asked how team members managed the family during the response to a dying child, what was most helpful for families whose child suddenly and unexpectedly was dead in the OOH setting, and what follow up efforts with the family were effective. Results: The professional response by the EMS team was critical to family coping and getting necessary support. There were several critical competencies identified to help the family cope including: ( 1) that EMS provide excellent and expeditious care with seamless coordination, ( 2) allowing family to witness the resuscitation including the attempts to save the child's life, and ( 3) providing ongoing communication. Whether the child is removed from the scene or not, keeping the family appraised of what is happening and why is critical. Exclusion of families from the process in cases of suspected child abuse is not warranted. Giving tangible forms of support by calling friends, family, and clergy, along with allowing the family time with the child after death, giving emotional support, and follow-up gestures all help families cope. Conclusion: The study revealed effective ways for EMS providers to interact with distressed family members during an OOH pediatric death