Jewish Child Care Association

This three-level meta-analysis examined the effects of post-detention aftercare programs for adolescent and young adult offenders on several types of criminal recidivism (primary outcomes) and dynamic risk and protective factors for criminal behavior (secondary outcomes). A systematic search was conducted in the databases APA PsycInfo, Medline, ERIC, Web of Science Core Collection, SocINDEX, and Google Scholar, resulting in 26 relevant studies that produced 259 effect sizes. The results revealed a small overall effect (g=0.26). Aftercare was effective for both primary (g=0.23) and secondary (g=0.35) outcomes. Smaller effects were found for general offenses (g=0.23) and violent offenses (g=0.26), a somewhat larger effect for minor offenses (g=0.39), and no effect for substance abuse offenses (g=-0.04). Larger effects were found for arrests (g=0.25) compared to convicted offenses (g=0.12). Moderator analyses showed that mentoring and multi-modal interventions were effective, whereas family interventions as well as service and surveillance interventions were not effective. Positive changes in skills, substance abuse, family functioning, externalizing problems, internalizing problems, and general health were associated with larger intervention effects on recidivism, and thus may be considered important levers of change in post-detention aftercare programs. It was concluded that aftercare programs can fulfill a crucial role in deterring youth from re-offending. Future research should focus on refining aftercare programs and identifying program components that contribute to the success of aftercare for young offenders.

In 2010 the Research Committee for the American Association of Children's Residential Centers (AACRC) embarked upon a project to repeat the survey that was originally sent out in 1999, hoping to learn how agencies have adapted as well as what was new in the residential treatment environment. The committee was interested in population changes, length of stay, diagnosis, gender, and race, and whether there had been changes in sources of funding and services funded. The committee was particularly interested in the role of data collection and analysis, and how agencies use data to improve process and evaluate outcomes. The growth and sustainability of residential treatment as a viable service option may depend upon the field's willingness to track results, partner with families and the youth they serve, and to make themselves accountable to all stakeholders in the children's services system.

Many of the diseases plaguing humanity cannot be placed easily in either of the two simple categories of physical and mental illness. In fact, most fall somewhere between the two endpoints of purely physical disease and purely mental or emotional illness. The severity of illness and its expression in any individual are dependent on many factors. These include the person’s genetic and physical predisposition, psychological state at the time, as well as environmental factors. Both the physical and the psychological contribute in varying degrees to almost every illness, ranging from the apparently “pure” physical illness of cancer to the apparently “pure” emotional illness of traumatic stress disorder. Between those two endpoints are the psychosomatic illnesses, the behaviorally manageable physical disorders, and the conversion and somatization disorders. The following discussion focuses on the psychological component in disorders along this spectrum.KeywordsPhysical SymptomPersonality TypeConversion ReactionSomatic SignalPhysical DisorderThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

A report of a unique project in child care describes how strengthening the bonds of familial relationships results in improved parental functioning