This paper discusses the antecedents and current progress of an ongoing program of research on the nature, extent, and consequences of children's direct and indirect exposure to violent events and settings. Involvement in such research has sensitized the authors to difficult ethical and methodological challenges that, we believe, merit consideration by mental health scientists and policy markers. Resolution of those challenges has substantive implications for both subsequent research and the application of resultant findings.
Because negative results for Class IV and Class V clients appear early in treatment, therapist and patient variables operative during that period require careful attention. For example, attrition rates and outcome data have been found to relate directly to therapists' attitudes toward treating low-income patients. Dealing with their negative attitudes through educational or supervisory procedures reduces negative outcomes, yet techniques for doing so require more systematic evaluation than is currently available. The course of treatment is also critically shaped by the patients' attitudes and expectations concerning therapy. Despite extensive theorizing about the more inappropriate expectations held by low-income patients, few actual differences among social groups have been observed. All social classes share expectancies about the nature and duration of treatment. Attempts to adjust the goals and the format of therapy to reflect more accurately patient needs, expectations, and reality problems produce marked reductions in attrition rates. Furthermore, behavioral and time-limited procedures serve as useful examples of alternative treatment procedures that can be effectively adjusted to low-income mental health needs.
Format and instructional revisions were made in the TRF, a previously reported school adjustment measure, to extend its diagnostic, prescriptive, and empirical utility. Factor analyses of school adjustment ratings on the revised CARS with a normative sample of "healthy" primary graders demonstrated that while the revisions maintained the scale's original three-factor structure, they increased specific item factor loadings and accounted scale variance. To extend the screening utility of the proposed measure, normative and parametric comparisons are reported describing adjustment ratings for sex, age, and city/country subgroups. Comparisons of children who are or are not referred to a secondary prevention program provide evidence of the CARS discriminative validity and screening potential.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.