University of Canterbury Home
    • Admin
    UC Research Repository
    UC Library
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.
    View Item 
    1. UC Home
    2. Library
    3. UC Research Repository
    4. Faculty of Science | Te Kaupeka Pūtaiao
    5. Science: Journal Articles
    6. View Item
    1. UC Home
    2.  > 
    3. Library
    4.  > 
    5. UC Research Repository
    6.  > 
    7. Faculty of Science | Te Kaupeka Pūtaiao
    8.  > 
    9. Science: Journal Articles
    10.  > 
    11. View Item

    Rates of meaningful change in the mental health of children in long-term out-of-home care: A seven- to nine-year prospective study (2017)

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    cics prospective mental health paper child abuse and neglect.pdf (247.5Kb)
    Type of Content
    Journal Article
    UC Permalink
    http://hdl.handle.net/10092/14552
    
    Publisher's DOI/URI
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.07.002
    
    ISSN
    0145-2134
    Collections
    • Science: Journal Articles [1192]
    Authors
    Tarren-Sweeney, Michael cc
    show all
    Abstract

    Children residing in long-term out-of-home care have high rates of clinical-level mental health difficulties. However, the stability of these children’s difficulties throughout their time in care is uncertain. This paper reports estimates of the seven- to nine-year stability of carer-reported scores on the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and Assessment Checklists for Children (ACC) and Adolescents (ACA) for 85 children in long-term foster or kinship care. Prospective score changes on the CBCL total problems and ACC-ACA shared-item scales were assigned to one of four change groups: ‘sustained mental health’; ‘meaningful improvement’; ‘no meaningful change’; and ‘meaningful deterioration’. On each of the two measures, more than 60% of children manifested either sustained mental health or meaningful improvement in their mental health, while less than a quarter showed meaningful deterioration. Mean mental health scores for the aggregate sample did not change over the 7-9 year period. Findings discount the presence of a uniform, population-wide effect – suggesting instead, that children’s mental health follows several distinct trajectories. Rather than asking whether long-term care is generally therapeutic or harmful for the development of previously maltreated children, future investigations should focus on the questions “…what are the systemic and interpersonal characteristics of care that promote and sustain children’s psychological development throughout childhood, and what characteristics are developmentally harmful?” and “…for which children is care therapeutic, and for which children is it not?"

    Citation
    Tarren-Sweeney MJ (2017). Rates of meaningful change in the mental health of children in long-term out-of-home care: A seven- to nine-year prospective study. Child Abuse and Neglect. 72.
    This citation is automatically generated and may be unreliable. Use as a guide only.
    Keywords
    looked after children; out-of-home care; foster care; mental health; long-term stability; prospective design
    ANZSRC Fields of Research
    11 - Medical and Health Sciences::1117 - Public Health and Health Services::111704 - Community Child Health
    11 - Medical and Health Sciences::1117 - Public Health and Health Services::111714 - Mental Health
    Rights
    Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives License

    Related items

    Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

    • A narrative review of stability and change in the mental health of children who grow up in family-based out-of-home care 

      Goemans A; Tarren-Sweeney, Michael (SAGE Publications, 2019)
      The present review sought to address the following questions: What evidence is there that long-term, family-based out-of-home care (OOHC) has a general, population-wide effect on children’s mental health such that it is ...
    • A Sisyphean task: in the endless challenges of working with multi-risk families, what works? 

      Whitcombe-Dobbs S; Tarren-Sweeney, Michael (2018)
    • A narrative review of mental and relational health interventions for children in family-based out-of-home care 

      Tarren-Sweeney, Michael (Wiley, 2021)
      The present article reviews the evidence base for psychosocial interventions provided to children in family-based out-of-home care that seek to improve children’s mental health, felt security, and/or the quality, strength ...
    Advanced Search

    Browse

    All of the RepositoryCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThesis DisciplineThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThesis Discipline

    Statistics

    View Usage Statistics
    • SUBMISSIONS
    • Research Outputs
    • UC Theses
    • CONTACTS
    • Send Feedback
    • +64 3 369 3853
    • ucresearchrepository@canterbury.ac.nz
    • ABOUT
    • UC Research Repository Guide
    • Copyright and Disclaimer
    • SUBMISSIONS
    • Research Outputs
    • UC Theses
    • CONTACTS
    • Send Feedback
    • +64 3 369 3853
    • ucresearchrepository@canterbury.ac.nz
    • ABOUT
    • UC Research Repository Guide
    • Copyright and Disclaimer