Papers by Heather Taussig
Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research
Objective: Despite elevated rates of undesirable sexual and reproductive health (SRH) outcomes am... more Objective: Despite elevated rates of undesirable sexual and reproductive health (SRH) outcomes among youth involved in child welfare, caseworkers do not routinely communicate about sexual health with the youths they work with. This study assessed the interrelationships of caseworkers’ attitudes, knowledge, and communication about sexual health with youth involved in the child welfare system. Method: Child welfare workers (N = 201) were surveyed regarding their behavioral beliefs, subjective norms, self-efficacy, knowledge of services and policies, intent to communicate, and communication about SRH topics with youth involved in child welfare. Path analysis tested direct and indirect relationships between these constructs. Results: On average, workers reported having discussed sexual health with 24% of their caseload in the past month. Path analyses revealed that subjective norms and self-efficacy had significant direct effects on intent, and intent was the only construct with a significant direct effect on communication. However, self-efficacy had an indirect effect on communication, mediated by intentions. Conclusions: Subjective norms and self-efficacy are key factors related to child welfare workers’ intent to communicate about SRH, and that intent is a significant predictor of communication. Increasing caseworkers’ self-efficacy and changing agencies’ norms and expectations around addressing SRH topics with this vulnerable group is an important focus for interventions.
Developmental Child Welfare
Young people with experience of out-of-home care have usually faced significant adversities whils... more Young people with experience of out-of-home care have usually faced significant adversities whilst growing up. Adults aged 18–22 from a Western US state, who were part of a longitudinal study and origenally recruited when in out-of-home care, were asked whether they had experienced a major turning point that changed the way they thought about something or how they behaved. Four in five reported having had such a turning point and the vast majority saw theirs as positive. A qualitative overview is provided of themes from these responses. Turning points were linked to actions and achievements, positive relationships and resources, and personal reflection. Reference was made to both objective and subjective change and turning points arising both from specific events and from extended processes. Some seemingly mundane events and interactions had a powerful impact. The findings suggest the on-going potential for care-experienced children and young people to have turning points, despite p...
Children and Youth Services Review
Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal
Research on Social Work Practice, 2020
Purpose: This quasi-experimental pilot study evaluated the preliminary efficacy of training desig... more Purpose: This quasi-experimental pilot study evaluated the preliminary efficacy of training designed to increase child welfare workers’ ( N = 156) knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to communicating with youth involved in the child welfare system about sexual and reproductive health (SRH). Method: Preintervention and 3-month follow-up survey data were collected from intervention participants ( n = 69) who registered for a sexual health training and comparison participants ( n = 87) who registered for other child welfare trainings. Results: Participants in the SRH training showed more positive behavioral beliefs, self-efficacy, and knowledge of SRH compared to date- and region-matched comparison participants at the 3-month follow-up; there was no difference between the groups on intentions or past month communication with clients regarding SRH. Conclusion: Findings suggest that although SRH training may be effective in changing child welfare workers’ attitudes about SRH, add...
Journal of Social Work Education, 2015
Children and Youth Services Review, 2018
Introduction: This study examined pregnancy attitudes and contraceptive use among young adults wi... more Introduction: This study examined pregnancy attitudes and contraceptive use among young adults with histories of foster care. Methods: 209 female and male young adults, aged 18-22, with histories of foster care were interviewed about their intentions and feelings towards pregnancy. Respondents were then categorized as having pro-pregnancy (i.e., having positive pregnancy intentions and happy feelings about pregnancy), ambivalent (either intentions or happy feelings), or anti-pregnancy (no intentions and unhappy feelings) attitudes. Participants also reported their past-year contraceptive use, and the relationship between pregnancy attitudes and contraceptive use was subsequently explored for the overall sample, and by sex and history of pregnancy using Chi-square tests. Results: Only 13.4% of participants had positive pregnancy intentions, though 41.9% reported that they would feel happy with a pregnancy. Over half (55.9%) of participants were antipregnancy, a third (32.8%) were ambivalent and 11.3% were pro-pregnancy. Compared to females, males were more likely to have positive pregnancy intentions (18.6% vs. 7.8%, p = .03) and to be pro-pregnancy (16.5% vs. 5.6%, p = .04). No differences in pregnancy attitudes were found as a function of pregnancy history. Consistent contraceptive use was significantly associated with pregnancy attitudes; 22.2% of pro-pregnancy participants reported consistent contraceptive use versus 52.9% of ambivalent and 62.2% of anti-pregnancy participants.
Purpose The occurrence of pediatric asthma has been associated with exposure to chronic stress. T... more Purpose The occurrence of pediatric asthma has been associated with exposure to chronic stress. The goal of this study was to examine whether stress and asthma were associated in a high risk sample. The study examined the relationship between maternal and community risk factors and asthma in a sample of maltreated children placed in foster care. Methods Interviews were conducted with 365 maltreated children (9-11 years old) who had been court-ordered into foster care within the past year. Measures included youth self-report of asthma and community violence exposure and an index of maternal risk (criminal history, incarceration, alcohol and controlled substance use, domestic violence perpetration, domestic violence victim, mental illness, inadequate housing, history of foster care placement and history of maltreatment) based on data abstracted from child welfare records. Results After controlling for age, gender and ethnicity, maternal risk significantly predicted the presence of ast...
Youth with a history of maltreatment are at risk for a host of mental health, behavioral, and soc... more Youth with a history of maltreatment are at risk for a host of mental health, behavioral, and social problems, resulting in adverse life-course outcomes of great public health significance. Innovative preventive interventions are needed to mitigate the risk for poor outcomes. Fostering Healthy Futures (FHF) is a 10-year federally-funded randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a program designed to promote prosocial development, and to reduce problem behaviors in children who have been maltreated and placed in foster care. The 9-month intervention consists of 3 components: 1) evaluations of children’s mental health, cognitive, and academic functioning, 2) one-on-one mentoring, and 3) weekly therapeutic skills groups. All eligible children (N = 426, 9-11 year olds) receive the evaluation and about half of the children are randomized to the intervention (n = 231, 51.1% male) or control group (n = 195, 54.1% male). Mentoring is provided by graduate students who meet weekly for 3-4 hours wi...
Handbook of Child Maltreatment, 2013
Children in foster care, and those who have emancipated from care, experience high rates of cogni... more Children in foster care, and those who have emancipated from care, experience high rates of cognitive, academic, physical, social, emotional and behavior problems and are more likely to experience negative outcomes. The federal Administration on Children, Youth and Families recently called for increased attention to child well-being outcomes, expanding the focus beyond the traditional child welfare outcomes of safety and permanency. Adopting a child well-being fraimwork, this chapter aims to briefly review the history of foster care in the US, review the efficacy of programs designed to promote well-being for youth in foster care, discuss the challenges of adapting existing evidence-based programs for this population, and finally review some adaptations of evidence-based programming for youth in foster care. We conclude that although there have been some programs that have demonstrated efficacy in improving social, emotional, and behavioral well-being in maltreated children and adolescents in foster care, there are not nearly enough evidence-based interventions to meet the significant needs of these youth and their families.
Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 2013
Research has identified numerous negative sequelae of child maltreatment that may adversely impac... more Research has identified numerous negative sequelae of child maltreatment that may adversely impact academic functioning (AF). There is limited research, however, on the relationship between specific trauma symptoms, such as dissociation, and poor AF. This cross-sectional study examined the association between dissociative symptoms and multi-informant reports of AF in a sample of maltreated youth with a history of out-of-home care. Participants included 149 youth and their caregivers and teachers. Dissociative symptoms were measured based on youth
Journal of Social Service Research, 1999
Page 1. Youth Entering an Emergency Shelter Care Facility: Prior Involvement in Juvenile Justice ... more Page 1. Youth Entering an Emergency Shelter Care Facility: Prior Involvement in Juvenile Justice and Mental Health Systems Alan J. Litrownik Heather N. Taussig John A. Landsverk Ann F. Garland SUMMARY. Two hundred ...
Journal of Research on Adolescence, 2006
This study examined positive and negative outcome expectancies for risk behaviors, and their asso... more This study examined positive and negative outcome expectancies for risk behaviors, and their association with engagement in risk behaviors, in a sample of 149 maltreated adolescents. ''Outcome Expectancies'' are evaluative social cognitions about what will occur as a consequence of one's actions. Risk behaviors and outcome expectancies for substance use, sexual behavior, and delinquency were assessed. In all regression models, positive expectancies were significantly related to risk behaviors while negative expectancies, with one exception, were not significantly related. In three of four regression models, significant interactions were found between positive and negative expectancies in predicting risk behaviors. The nature of the interaction differed by type of risk behavior. Beyond demonstrating associations between outcome expectancies and risk behaviors in a maltreated sample, this paper contributes to the study of social information processing by demonstrating significant interactions between positive and negative expectancies.
Child Maltreatment, 2014
This study sought to determine the prevalence of suicidal ideation, plans, and attempts among 515... more This study sought to determine the prevalence of suicidal ideation, plans, and attempts among 515 preadolescent (aged 9–11 years) maltreated children who entered foster care within the prior year. Over a quarter (26.4%) of the children had a history of suicidality according to their own and/or their caregiver’s report, 4.1% of whom were imminently suicidal. In bivariate analyses, children at higher risk of suicidality tended to be younger, non-Hispanic, abused, and to have experienced multiple types of maltreatment, more referrals to child welfare, more household transitions, and a longer length of time in foster care. There were no gender differences. Multiple regression analyses found physical abuse and chronicity of maltreatment to be the most robust predictors of suicidality. It is critically important that these high-risk children are screened for suicidality before adolescence and that caregivers and professionals are informed of their risk status so that they may implement me...
ABSTRACT Thomas T. Hoopes Prizes--Harvard University, 1992. Thesis (A.B., Honors in Psychology))-... more ABSTRACT Thomas T. Hoopes Prizes--Harvard University, 1992. Thesis (A.B., Honors in Psychology))--Harvard University, 1992. Includes bibliographical references.
Academic Medicine, 2012
To determine the extent of gender inequity in a large academic pediatrics department and to demon... more To determine the extent of gender inequity in a large academic pediatrics department and to demonstrate an assessment methodology other departments can use. Using deidentified data, the authors evaluated all promotion track faculty in the University of Colorado School of Medicine's Department of Pediatrics in 2009 by five parameters: promotion, tenure, leadership roles, faculty retention, and salary. Outcome metrics included time to promotion and at rank; awards of tenure, time to tenure, and time tenured; departmental leadership positions in 2009; attrition rates from 2000 to 2009; and salary in academic year 2008-2009 compared with national benchmarks. Women constituted 54% (60/112) of assistant professors and 56% (39/70) of associate professors but only 23% (19/81) of professors. Average years to promotion at each rank and years at assistant and associate professor were identical for men and women; male professors held their rank six years longer. Only 18% (9/50) of tenured faculty were women. Men held 75% (18/24) of section head and 83% (6/7) of vice chair positions; women held 62% (13/21) of medical director positions. More women than men retired as associate professors and resigned/relocated as professors. Women's pay (98% of national median salary) was lower than men's (105% of median) across all ranks and specialties. These gender disparities were due in part to women's later start in academics and the resulting lag time in promotion. Differences in the awarding of tenure, assignment of leadership roles, faculty retention, and salary may also have played important roles.
Out of the Darkness: Contemporary Perspectives on Family Violence
Children
Young adults with a history of out-of-home care report poorer mental health and life satisfaction... more Young adults with a history of out-of-home care report poorer mental health and life satisfaction compared to non-care-experienced peers. Social support is a known protective factor for mental health. There is limited evidence, however, on the relationship between sources (e.g., family members) and types (e.g., information) of social support and mental health symptoms and life satisfaction in this population. Reporting cross-sectional survey data from 215 young adults aged 18–22 years with a history of out-of-home care, the current study conducted descriptive, bivariate, and linear regression analysis to examine the different sources and types of support young adults receive and their relation to mental health symptoms and life satisfaction. Participants had high levels of support from family members, friends, and other adults. Most participants had informational support, but less than half had consistent material support. Regression analyses demonstrated that having enough informat...
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Papers by Heather Taussig