IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/cysrev/v34y2012i4p696-703.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Facilitating mental health service use for caregivers: Referral strategies among child welfare caseworkers

Author

Listed:
  • Bunger, Alicia C.
  • Chuang, Emmeline
  • McBeath, Bowen

Abstract

Unmet needs for mental health care are common among caregivers involved in the child welfare system. Although child welfare caseworkers are well positioned to identify service needs and refer caregivers to treatment, little is known about the types of referral strategies used in practice, or their effectiveness for promoting mental health service use. The current study examined child welfare caseworkers' use of different referral strategies and the extent to which these strategies are associated with caregivers' receipt of mental health services within a national sample of child welfare cases. Analyses of the second cohort of families from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being suggest that child welfare workers more often use informational strategies for referring caregivers, including suggesting treatment or providing information about treatment options. However, social referral strategies such as providing caregivers with direct assistance in completing applications and making and attending appointments were associated with a greater likelihood of caregivers receiving mental health services. Findings support evidence from other service contexts that service use is facilitated by caseworkers' direct support for arranging services. Implications for research and for child welfare managers and administrators are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Bunger, Alicia C. & Chuang, Emmeline & McBeath, Bowen, 2012. "Facilitating mental health service use for caregivers: Referral strategies among child welfare caseworkers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 696-703.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:34:y:2012:i:4:p:696-703
    DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2011.12.014
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740911004579
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.childyouth.2011.12.014?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Leventhal, T. & Brooks-Gunn, J., 2003. "Moving to Oppurtunity: An Experimental Study of Neighborhood Effects on Mental Health," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 93(9), pages 1576-1582.
    2. Fluke, John D. & Oppenheim, Elizabeth, 2010. "Getting a grip on systems of care and child welfare using opposable thumbs," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 41-44, February.
    3. Freisthler, Bridget, 2004. "A spatial analysis of social disorganization, alcohol access, and rates of child maltreatment in neighborhoods," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(9), pages 803-819, September.
    4. Marcenko, Maureen O. & Lyons, Sandra J. & Courtney, Mark, 2011. "Mothers' experiences, resources and needs: The context for reunification," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 431-438, March.
    5. Chow, J.C.-C. & Jaffee, K. & Snowden, L., 2003. "Racial/Ethnic Disparities in the Use of Mental Health Services in Poverty Areas," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 93(5), pages 792-797.
    6. Cora J. M. Maas & Joop J. Hox, 2004. "Robustness issues in multilevel regression analysis," Statistica Neerlandica, Netherlands Society for Statistics and Operations Research, vol. 58(2), pages 127-137, May.
    7. Libby, A.M. & Orton, H.D. & Barth, R.P. & Webb, M.B. & Burns, B.J. & Wood, P. & Spicer, P., 2006. "Alcohol, drug, and mental health specialty treatment services and race/ethnicity: A national study of children and families involved with child welfare," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 96(4), pages 628-631.
    8. Marsh, Jeanne C. & Ryan, Joseph P. & Choi, Sam & Testa, Mark F., 2006. "Integrated services for families with multiple problems: Obstacles to family reunification," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(9), pages 1074-1087, September.
    9. Freisthler, Bridget, 2004. "Corrigendum to "A spatial analysis of social disorganization, alcohol access, and rates of child maltreatment in neighborhoods" [Chilren and Youth Services Review 26 (2004) 803-819]," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(12), pages 1193-1192, December.
    10. Barth, Richard P. & Weigensberg, Elizabeth C. & Fisher, Philip A. & Fetrow, Becky & Green, Rebecca L., 2008. "Reentry of elementary aged children following reunification from foster care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 353-364, April.
    11. Kohl, Patricia L. & Barth, Richard P. & Hazen, Andrea L. & Landsverk, John A., 2005. "Child welfare as a gateway to domestic violence services," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(11), pages 1203-1221, November.
    12. D. Pfeffermann & C. J. Skinner & D. J. Holmes & H. Goldstein & J. Rasbash, 1998. "Weighting for unequal selection probabilities in multilevel models," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 60(1), pages 23-40.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Cheng, Tyrone C. & Lo, Celia C., 2020. "Mental health services receipt among caregivers in the child welfare system: A longitudinal analysis," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    2. McBeath, Bowen & Collins-Camargo, Crystal & Chuang, Emmeline & Wells, Rebecca & Bunger, Alicia C. & Jolles, Mónica Pérez, 2014. "New directions for research on the organizational and institutional context of child welfare agencies: Introduction to the symposium on “The Organizational and Managerial Context of Private Child Welf," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 83-92.
    3. Pullmann, Michael D. & Jacobson, Jedediah & Parker, Elizabeth & Cevasco, Molly & Uomoto, Jacqueline A. & Putnam, Barbara J. & Benshoof, Trishia & Kerns, Suzanne E.U., 2018. "Tracing the pathway from mental health screening to services for children and youth in foster care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 340-354.
    4. Espeleta, Hannah C. & Bakula, Dana M. & Cherry, Amanda S. & Lees, Julie & Shropshire, Deborah & Domm, Kathleen & Ruggiero, Kenneth J. & Mullins, Larry L. & Gillaspy, Stephen R., 2023. "Caregiver perceptions of the pediatric medical home model to address the health services needs of youth in foster care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    5. Cheng, Tyrone C. & Lo, Celia C., 2021. "With their children placed in kinship care, did parents get the services they needed?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Estefan, Lianne Fuino & Coulter, Martha L. & VandeWeerd, Carla L. & Armstrong, Mary & Gorski, Peter, 2012. "Receiving mandated therapeutic services: Experiences of parents involved in the child welfare system," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(12), pages 2353-2360.
    2. Ha, Yoonsook & Collins, Mary Elizabeth & Martino, David, 2015. "Child care burden and the risk of child maltreatment among low-income working families," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 19-27.
    3. Mowbray, Orion & Ryan, Joseph P. & Victor, Bryan G. & Bushman, Gregory & Yochum, Clayton & Perron, Brian E., 2017. "Longitudinal trends in substance use and mental health service needs in child welfare," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 1-8.
    4. Rolock, Nancy & Jantz, Ian & Abner, Kristin, 2015. "Community perceptions and foster care placement: A multi-level analysis," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 186-191.
    5. Sarah W. Craun & Bridget Freisthler, 2008. "Using Tax Parcels to Select a Location-Based Sample," Evaluation Review, , vol. 32(4), pages 315-334, August.
    6. Ben-Arieh, Asher, 2010. "Public expenditure, locality characteristics and child outcomes," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(12), pages 1778-1786, December.
    7. Casanueva, Cecilia & Martin, Sandra L. & Runyan, Desmond K. & Barth, Richard P. & Bradley, Robert H., 2008. "Parenting services for mothers involved with child protective services: Do they change maternal parenting and spanking behaviors with young children?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(8), pages 861-878, August.
    8. Morton, Cory M., 2013. "The moderating effect of substance abuse service accessibility on the relationship between child maltreatment and neighborhood alcohol availability," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 1933-1940.
    9. Sara Markowitz & Alison Cuellar & Ryan Conrad & Michael Grossman, 2014. "Alcohol control and foster care," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 12(4), pages 589-612, December.
    10. van Dijken, M.W. & Stams, G.J.J.M. & de Winter, M., 2016. "Can community-based interventions prevent child maltreatment?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 149-158.
    11. Maguire-Jack, Kathryn & Font, Sarah A., 2017. "Intersections of individual and neighborhood disadvantage: Implications for child maltreatment," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 44-51.
    12. Millett, Lina & Lanier, Paul & Drake, Brett, 2011. "Are economic trends associated with child maltreatment? Preliminary results from the recent recession using state level data," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(7), pages 1280-1287, July.
    13. Chambers, Ruth M. & Brocato, Jo & Fatemi, Maryam & Rodriguez, Angel Y., 2016. "An innovative child welfare pilot initiative: Results and outcomes," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 143-151.
    14. Davidson, Ryan D. & Tomlinson, Claire S. & Beck, Connie J. & Bowen, Anne M., 2019. "The revolving door of families in the child welfare system: Risk and protective factors associated with families returning," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 468-479.
    15. Marcenko, Maureen O. & Lyons, Sandra J. & Courtney, Mark, 2011. "Mothers' experiences, resources and needs: The context for reunification," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 431-438, March.
    16. Yampolskaya, Svetlana & Sharrock, Patty & Armstrong, Mary I. & Strozier, Anne & Swanke, Jayme, 2014. "Profile of children placed in out-of-home care: Association with permanency outcomes," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 195-200.
    17. Karatekin, Canan & Hong, Saahoon & Piescher, Kristine & Uecker, Jill & McDonald, Jeff, 2014. "An evaluation of the effects of an integrated services program for multi-service use families on child welfare and educational outcomes of children," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 16-26.
    18. Ben-Arieh, Asher, 2010. "Localities, social services and child abuse: The role of community characteristics in social services allocation and child abuse reporting," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 536-543, April.
    19. Edwards, Benjamin & Bromfield, Leah M., 2009. "Neighborhood influences on young children's conduct problems and pro-social behavior: Evidence from an Australian national sample," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 317-324, March.
    20. Katz, C. & McLeigh, Jill D. & El szwec, Bat, 2017. "Preschoolers' perceptions of neighborhood environment, safety, and help-seeking," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 197-204.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:34:y:2012:i:4:p:696-703. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.