This pilot study examined the effectiveness of an intensive, gender specifi c substance abuse treatment program, Holistic Enrichment for At-Risk Teens (HEART), on the psychosocial functioning of 30 incarcerated girls. A single-group multiple repeated measures design method was used to determine the effectiveness of the HEART program in reducing psychosocial problems associated with the behaviors of problem substance use and delinquency. The results showed that participants in the HEART program displayed signifi cant improvement in eight of ten areas of psychosocial functioning: mental health, family relation, peer relations, educational status, vocational, leisure and recreational skills, and decreases in aggressive behaviors. The conclusion is that it is critical for juvenile correctional facilities to become sites where effective, empirically based treatment is provided.

Predicting juvenile court outcomes based on youthful offenders' delin quency risk factors is important for the adolescent social work field as well as the juvenile justice system. Using a random sample of 341 delinquent youth from one Midwestern urban county, this study extends previous research by examining if race, substance abuse, and mental health disorders influence important delinquency outcomes (number of court offenses, felony conviction(s), probation supervision length, detention length, and number of probation services) differently for male and female juvenile offenders. Multivariate analysis findings revealed that race was significant only for males, and having a substance use disorder was a stronger predictor of delinquency outcomes for males; whereas, having a mental health disorder was a stronger predictor of delinquency outcomes for females. Implications for this research include the importance of early disorder identification and sub sequent availability of gender-focused treatment.

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Objective: This study sought to develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of a tool designed to assess social work students' knowledge of and perceptions and attitudes toward human trafficking. To achieve this aim, the Perceptions, Knowledge, and Attitudes toward Human Trafficking Questionnaire (PKA-HTQ) was developed and its psychometric properties were evaluated. Specifically, the factor structure and the internal consistency of the PKA-HTQ were evaluated. Methods: Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and a replication EFA were conducted on two independent samples of university students, an initial validation (n ¼ 325), and cross-validation (n ¼ 212) sample. Findings: The EFA revealed a three-factor structure, that is, self-appraisal of knowledge/skills (a ¼ .89), worldview (a ¼.78), and help-seeking behavior (a ¼.66); this three-factor structure was supported by replication EFA. Conclusion: The PKA-HTQ questionnaire shows promise as a meaningful, potentially reliable and valid measure.

This study, a two-site, cross-sectional survey of university students (n = 321 at site 1; n = 201 at site 2), extends the development and utility of the Perceptions, Knowledge, and Attitudes about Human Trafficking Questionnaire by generating factor-based scales and scores to represent values for its three factors (Self-Appraisal of Knowledge/Skills, Worldview of Human Trafficking, and Help-Seeking Behavior/Personal Beliefs) in order to examine their relationship to background criterion variables and assess differences between social work and non–social work students and between subgroups of social work students. Across both samples, the background variables of human trafficking training and professional responsibilities related to addressing human trafficking were predictive of self-appraisal of knowledge/skills. Additionally, social work students had higher scores than non–social work students on the worldview of human trafficking and help-seeking behavior/personal beliefs factor-based scales, suggesting that social work students perceived human trafficking to be more of a social problem and held fewer misperceptions of the help-seeking behavior of and a greater willingness to provide social services to persons who are trafficked than non–social work students. Implications for social work education, practice, and research are presented.