Evaluation of a Statewide Implementation of Fathers for Change: a Fathering Intervention for Families Impacted by Partner Violence

Stover, Carla Smith; Beebe, Rebecca; Clough, Meghan; DiVietro, Susie; Madigan, Linda; Grasso, Damion J.

doi:10.1007/s10896-020-00199-5

Cited by 19 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…IPV-FAIR is delivered by mental health community partners and begins with a comprehensive assessment of participating family members. This initial assessment guides clinical and family services, including referral to Fathers for Change, a promising, empirically-supported intervention targeting male offenders and their families (Stover et al, 2020). Utilizing data from these initial assessments, the current study tested several hypotheses regarding the psychometric properties of the STRESS-A.…”

Section: Current Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Structured Trauma-Related Experiences and Symptoms Screener for Adults (STRESS-A): Validation in a child welfare sample of mothers and fathers with active domestic violence.

McGuire¹,

Beebe²,

Stover³

et al. 2023

Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy

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Objective: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with impaired parenting, child mental health problems, and family dysfunction. Public service agencies, such as child welfare, may serve as critical points of entry to services for families impacted by caregiver PTSD; however, assessment of trauma and PTSD among caregivers is not always systematically incorporated into service planning. The Structured Trauma-Related Experiences and Symptoms Screener for Adults (STRESS-A) was developed to address barriers to screening and assessment by providing an easy-to-administer tool for use by clinically and nonclinically trained professionals. The current study evaluated the reliability and validity of the STRESS-A among fathers and mothers (N = 1245) referred by child protective services (CPS) to receive an intervention to reduce domestic violence. Methods: Caregivers enrolled in the intervention completed the STRESS-A, along with measures of co-occurring mental health concerns. Results: The STRESS-A demonstrated satisfactory internal reliability across the full sample and within maternal and paternal subsamples. Construct validity was supported by well-fitting models of the DSM-5 symptom structure. Convergent validity was supported by strong correlations with scores on measures of commonly occurring comorbid symptoms (e.g., depression, anxiety). Measurement invariance testing revealed that PTSD symptom factor loadings may not be equivalent between mothers and fathers when using the DSM-5 four-factor, DSM-IV three-factor, or one-factor models. Conclusion:The study supports the STRESS-A as a reliable and valid tool for measuring PTSD symptoms in caregivers with current domestic violence and CPS involvement. Findings indicate further research investigating symptom structure differences between mothers and fathers. Clinical Impact StatementCaregiver posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is not adequately assessed in families referred to child protective services (CPS) despite associations with parenting, child mental health, and family functioning. The current study evaluated the psychometric properties of the STRESS-A for assessing PTSD among mothers and fathers with current domestic violence and CPS involvement. The STRESS-A demonstrated adequate reliability and validity for both mothers and fathers. Findings support the use of the STRESS-A for measuring trauma and PTSD among caregivers served by CPS.

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Section: Current Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Structured Trauma-Related Experiences and Symptoms Screener for Adults (STRESS-A): Validation in a child welfare sample of mothers and fathers with active domestic violence.

McGuire¹,

Beebe²,

Stover³

et al. 2023

Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy

Self Cite

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“…Parents who are less able to attune to their own mental states and emotions will struggle to understand their children and help support them through emotion coaching. Mentalization-based treatments focus on helping parents mentalize for themselves and for their partners and children, and have been successful for families struggling with a host of adversities including parental substance misuse, domestic violence and child maltreatment (Stob et al, 2020; Stover et al, 2020; Suchman et al, 2010). Clinicians assist parents in understanding their own mental states and emotions and in how to use strategies to manage these emotions and stress to improve interactions with their children.…”

Section: System- Family- and Individual-focused Interventionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fathers for Change, for example, helps fathers with histories of use of family violence and substance misuse identify their feelings of stress and triggers for emotion dysregulation. This is followed by teaching fathers about their stress response system and how breathing and grounding techniques can put them back in charge of their physiology, emotions and behaviors (Stover et al, 2020). And, a new intervention technique called The Family Cycle relies on mentalizing skills to break the intergenerational transmission of trauma (Stob et al, 2020).…”

Section: Wan-ling Tsengmentioning

confidence: 99%

The prefrontal cortex in a pandemic: Restoring functions with system-, family-, and individual-focused interventions.

Arnsten¹,

Condon²,

Dettmer³

et al. 2021

American Psychologist

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The COVID-19 pandemic is an unanticipated and uncontrollable chronic stressor that is detrimental to the mental and behavioral health of children and families, particularly those from disadvantaged and marginalized backgrounds. Chronic stress impairs a myriad of prefrontal cortical functions, important for coping with the COVID-19 pandemic, and has consequences on dyadic parent-child functioning. Informed by neuroscience and clinical evidence, sensitive parenting is a vital avenue of intervention that buffers against the toxic effects of COVID-19 on parent-child mental health. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, we first discuss the neurobiological, psychological, and behavioral mechanisms behind exacerbated mental health risks in families. We then highlight the role of sensitive parenting as a buffer against stressrelated mental health problems, and conclude with recommendations for systemic-, family-, and individual-interventions to most effectively address stress-related mental health problems and their impact on children and families during the COVID-19 pandemic. Public Significance StatementThis review examines the neurobiological mechanisms underlying exacerbated mental health risks in disadvantaged and marginalized families during the COVID-19 pandemic, and potential interventions. The chronic stress of COVID-19 impacts various prefrontal cortical functions that are critical for adaptive emotion regulation, mentalizing, and coping skills in children and their caregivers. These functions can be restored by systemic policies that address long-standing structural racism and mental health inequities, as well as family-and individual-level interventions that aim to reduce stress and promote sensitive caregiving.

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“…There is no nationally agreed upon practice guidance for responding to child maltreatment that involves IPV, and many child welfare workers lack training and education on effective responses in IPV cases (Fusco, 2013). Mothers who experience IPV victimization are often required by child welfare workers to engage in services that have limited evidence of effectiveness (Austin et al, 2019), while fathers are often neglected from child maltreatment and IPV prevention and intervention efforts despite the existence of programs that focus on the co-occurrence of child maltreatment and IPV with demonstrated attitudinal and behavioral changes among male offenders (e.g., Caring Dads: Crooks et al, 2006;McConnell et al, 2016;Fathers for Change: Stover, 2013;Stover et al, 2020;Strong Fathers: Pennell et al, 2014).…”

Section: Ipv and Child Welfarementioning

confidence: 99%

The Co-Occurrence of Child Maltreatment and Intimate Partner Violence: A Commentary on the Special Issue

Renner

2021

Child Maltreat

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Keywordschildhood maltreatment, domestic/intimate partner violence, exposure to domestic violence Historically, child maltreatment and intimate partner violence (IPV) have been treated independently along separate trajectories with respect to research, policy, and service provision. These two forms of family violence, however, routinely overlap, with common risk factors, co-occurrence in the same family system or household, intergenerational effects, and common and compounding adverse effects across the lifespan (Guedes et al., 2016). Years of siloed research have resulted in specialized and narrowly focused areas in the field, where scholars and practitioners have honed in on the risks, effects, and prevention and intervention strategies for specific forms of violence. These efforts have moved the field forward in substantial ways but have somewhat constrained the ability to understand and synthesize the complex etiology of interpersonal violence and develop comprehensive prevention and intervention efforts. Increasingly over the past decade, scholars have called for greater integration of these separate lines of research toward a more comprehensive understanding of interpersonal violence (see Banyard, 2013;Hamby, 2011;Hamby & Grych, 2013;Kazdin, 2011). This will foster a new standard of integration (see Wilkins et al., 2014). The ten articles in this special issue are excellent examples of integration by scholars who are advancing the field through their research on the co-occurrence of child maltreatment and IPV, specifically in the areas of child welfare services, parenting and intergenerational transmission, health-related outcomes, and approaches to polyvictimization.

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Evaluation of a Statewide Implementation of Fathers for Change: a Fathering Intervention for Families Impacted by Partner Violence

Cited by 19 publications

References 62 publications

Structured Trauma-Related Experiences and Symptoms Screener for Adults (STRESS-A): Validation in a child welfare sample of mothers and fathers with active domestic violence.

Structured Trauma-Related Experiences and Symptoms Screener for Adults (STRESS-A): Validation in a child welfare sample of mothers and fathers with active domestic violence.

The prefrontal cortex in a pandemic: Restoring functions with system-, family-, and individual-focused interventions.

The Co-Occurrence of Child Maltreatment and Intimate Partner Violence: A Commentary on the Special Issue

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