Context: There is a need to understand population race and ethnicity disparities in the context of sociodemographic risk factors in the US experience of the COVID-19 pandemic. Objective: Determine the association between county-level proportion of non-Hispanic Black (NHB) on county COVID-19 case and death rates and observe how this association was influenced by county sociodemographic and health care infrastructure characteristics. Design and Setting: This was an ecologic analysis of US counties as of September 20, 2020, that employed stepwise construction of linear and negative binomial regression models. The primary independent variable was the proportion of NHB population in the county. Covariates included county demographic composition, proportion uninsured, proportion living in crowded households, proportion living in poverty, population density, state testing rate, Primary Care Health Professional Shortage Area status, and hospital beds per 1000 population. Main Outcome Measures: Outcomes were exponentiated COVID-19 cases per 100 000 population and COVID-19 deaths per 100 000 population. We produced county-level maps of the measures of interest. Results: In total, 3044 of 3142 US counties were included. Bivariate relationships between the proportion of NHB in a county and county COVID-19 case (Exp β = 1.026; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.024-1.028; P < .001) and death rates (rate ratio [RR] = 1.032; 95% CI, 1.029-1.035; P < .001) were not attenuated in fully adjusted models. The adjusted association between the proportion of NHB population in a county and county COVID-19 case was Exp β = 1.025 (95% CI, 1.023-1.027; P < .001) and the association with county death rates was RR = 1.034 (95% CI, 1.031-1.038; P < .001). Conclusions : The proportion of NHB people in a county was positively associated with county COVID-19 case and death rates and did not change in models that accounted for other socioecologic and health care infrastructure characteristics that have been hypothesized to account for the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on racial and ethnic minority populations. Results can inform efforts to mitigate the impact of structural racism of COVID-19.

Background: Most maltreatment, by definition, is a failure of parenting. However, even without maltreatment, poor parenting can lead to a variety of negative outcomes including social, emotional and behavioral problems. Given that parenting plays a key role in child outcomes, one of the foci of interventions are parenting programs. Interventions for parents must be evaluated using standardized assessment tools, which leads to an important question; how can we best assess parenting? Observational methods (observing a parent and child interact) are often regarded as the gold standard in the assessment of parental behaviors but are cumbersome to administer. Self-reports of parenting behaviors are the most commonly used measure due to ease of administration, but their validity may be questioned. The goal of this study is to examine the relationship between three observational measures of parenting and two self-report measures.Methods: Participants (n=133) were either parents who were receiving treatment at Metro-Atlanta drug courts or other caregivers. All participants completed self-report measures of parenting, and videotaped interaction task with a child. Videos were coded for a variety of behaviors, and two of those behaviors (affection and involvement) matched constructs that parents reported on in a self-report battery.Results: Correlations between self-report and observational measures for the constructs affection and involvement for the whole sample ranged from r = -.03 to.06 for affection, and r = -.05 to .08 for involvement, but none were statistically significant. The relationship between self-report and observed parenting by adult type and child age was also examined. However, none of the correlations were statistically significant. Conclusions:Although there were no significant correlations found between self-report and observational measures, existing research suggests that self-reports are not interchangeable with observational methods. In future studies, constructs used to compare self-reports and observational methods should examine how each relates to the outcomes. Furthermore, CAIC (observational tool) should also be examined in further detail.

It is important to understand the impact of implementation of evidence-based practices (EBPs) on the workforce. EBP implementation can increase job demands, stress, and burnout, and may thereby exacerbate turnover. This study examined the effects of implementation of an EBP on turnover among staff at nine child welfare agencies. A total of 102 providers were randomized to either adopt an EBP, SafeCare © , or continue providing services as usual. Participants completed a baseline survey assessing demographics, attitudes toward EBPs, and organizational functioning, and provider turnover was recorded for up to 18 months following implementation. The overall turnover rate was 35%, but did not differ by EBP assignment (odds ratio [OR] = 1.27; 95% confidence interval [0.66, 2.45]).Variables associated with turnover included age (OR = 0.92), years since degree completion (OR = 0.94), prior exposure to EBP (OR = 3.91), believing that adopting an EBP was burdensome (OR = 0.52), and motivation for change (OR = 0.89). EBP assignment moderated two aspects of negative attitudes toward EBP (divergence and monitoring) to predict turnover; those attitudes were only positively related to turnover for individuals assigned to the EBP (OR = 1.46, 1.16). Implications of the findings for implementation are discussed.turnover, implementation, evidence-based practice, child welfare 1 | INTRODUCTION In 2016, there were an estimated 4.1 million reports of child maltreatment made to state and county child welfare departments (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2018). The frontline child welfare workforce that responds to those reports and provides services consists of caseworkers who work for counties or states, and providers who work for private agencies that receive service referrals from local caseworkers. To equip frontline workers with tools necessary to effectively address child abuse and neglect, child welfare systems are increasingly adopting evidence-based practices (EBPs). EBPs typically require a high degree of training and support (Fixsen, Blase, Naoom, & Wallace, 2009) and effort, at least initially, to implement. The labor-intensive nature of EBP implementation may increase job demands and stress, increase job burnout, and increase turnover risk, especially since frontline jobs in the child welfare system have documented high levels of job burnout (Travis, Lizano, & Mor Barak, 2016) and turnover (Kim & Kao, 2014). This paper examined job turnover among frontline child welfare providers who were randomly assigned to implement an EBP (SafeCare © ), or to continue services as usual (SAU) as part of randomized trial. Demographic, attitudinal, and organization functioning measures were collected at baseline, and were examined as predictors of subsequent job turnover, with a focus on whether the assignment to EBP implementation impacted turnover. | Job turnover in child welfareJob turnover is a well-documented problem in child welfare serving agencies. For the purpose of this paper, turnover is defined as when an individ...

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