Intervening in children's lives: An ecological, family-centered approach to mental health care.

Abstract

Mental health interventions for children and adolescents often fl ow from adult clinical models, which emphasize individual change. Yet, to accomplish long-lasting change for children and adolescents, services need to consider developmental norms, the developmental status of the child or adolescent, and the fact that mental health issues for this population are embedded in family, peer, and sibling relationships. In Intervening in Children's Lives: An Ecological, Family-Centered Approach to Mental Health Care, the authors describe a family-centered approach that engages children, adolescents, and their families, leveraging their motivation to change. Never before has there been a comprehensive, systematic framework for linking empirically supported interventions for this clinical population. Useful as both a preventive checkup and a more intensive intervention, this approach may be delivered in schools and other community settings to have the greatest public health impact. Th e literature reveals promising fi ndings, in that highest-risk youth are more likely to respond well to ecologically based interventions, and this approach is consistent with others showing long-lasting eff ects. 2007. 319 pages. Hardcover.

Conceptualizing Culturally Infused Engagement and Its Measurement for Ethnic Minority and Immigrant Children and Families

“…Thus, the CIE lends itself to the development of flexible engagement approaches by which clinicians can draw from a menu of options, thereby dovetailing the engagement process in treatment to the individualized needs of the ethnic minority and immigrant child and family. Such an approach to intervention, in which a menu of intervention options is provided to clients, is found to be particularly effective in child and family interventions (e.g., Webster-Stratton 1984;Dishion and Stormshak 2007), which suggests promising directions in utilizing the CIE to develop a menu of engagement interventions that are domain specific.…”

Childhood Psychosocial Determinants of Cardiovascular Health

“…Program goals include reducing children's emotional, behavioral and academic problems and improving maternal depression, parental involvement, and positive parenting. The "check-up" refers to a series of three home-visits, often repeated on a yearly basis, consisting of an initial interview, comprehensive assessment of parenting and child behaviors, and feedback including discussion of family strengths and possible areas of change using a motivational interviewing approach [32]. Interventions following the "check-up" are tailored to the family's particular strengths and needs and may include more intensive parenting support designed to enhance parents' skills in positive behavior support, healthy limit-setting, and relationship-building.…”

Incorporating Multifaceted Mental Health Prevention Services in Community Sectors-of-Care

“…This model adaptation incorporates many of the guiding principles and strategies of the Ecological Family Intervention and Therapy Model (EcoFIT; Dishion & Stormshak, 2006). In keeping with this perspective, the intervention is tailored to fit the child and caregiver's mental health needs as determined by an empirically-based needs assessment.…”