Biomedical subjects

Brigitte Manteuffel

Publications and source records attributed to Brigitte Manteuffel.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Use of the family resource scale in children's mental health: reliability and validity among economically diverse samples.

The adequacy of a family's resources has implications for child and family service processes and outcomes. The field needs tools to assess resources in a manner relevant to children's services research. The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability and validity of the FRS among families caring for children who are receiving mental health services and to compare its measurement quality across samples that differ on economic variables. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported similar factor structures across samples, and internal consistency was equivalent. Findings from the regression analyses provided evidence of construct validity for the FRS. Overall, findings indicated that the FRS holds promise as a reliable and valid tool for assessing perceived adequacy of concrete resources among economically diverse families of children with emotional and behavioral disorders. However, the FRS could benefit from some refinements; those recommendations are discussed.

Child↗

PubMed2005

The prevalence and correlates of abuse among children with autism served in comprehensive community-based mental health settings.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the demographic and psychosocial correlates of physical and sexual abuse among children with autism. METHODS: Data collected from 1997 to 2000 through the national evaluation of the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and their Families Program on 156 children with autism were used. Data included a baseline assessment of child and family psychosocial experiences and presenting problems associated with referral into system-of-care service, demographic information, and a clinical record review to obtain psychiatric diagnosis. Binary and multinomial logistic regression was used to determine the association of different characteristics of children who were abused compared with those who were not abused. RESULTS: Caregivers reported that 18.5% of children with autism had been physically abused and 16.6% had been sexually abused. Physically abused children more likely had engaged in sexual acting out or abusive behavior, had made a suicide attempt, or had conduct-related or academic problems. Sexually abused children more likely had engaged in sexual acting out or abusive behavior, suicidal or other self-injurious behavior, had run away from home, or had a psychiatric hospitalization. In adjusted multivariate models, the relationship between sexual abuse and sexual acting out, running away from home and suicidal attempts persisted. CONCLUSION: Based on the prevalence of abuse and its association with various behaviors, clinicians should be as attuned to the psychosocial histories of children with autism as they are for other children, and consider the potential of abuse when these behaviors are observed.

Autistic Disorder↗

PubMed2005

Characteristics of children with autistic spectrum disorders served in comprehensive community-based mental health settings.

This study describes the characteristics of children with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) receiving treatment in community mental health settings. Data from a national community mental health initiative was used to identify children who had received a primary diagnosis of ASD. These children were compared with children with other diagnoses on socio-demographic and psychosocial characteristics, presenting problems and service histories. Regardless of diagnosis, children were most often referred to service because of disruptive behaviors. Children with ASD were less likely to be referred for drug use, truancy or running away, but were more likely to be referred for social interaction difficulties and strange behavior. Many children had family histories of mental illness, substance abuse and domestic violence. Implications of these findings are discussed in detail.

Asperger Syndrome↗

PubMed2003

Female offenders referred for community-based mental health service as compared to other service-referred youth: correlates of conviction.

Data from a large federally supported national evaluation of system-of-care community mental health services were analysed to identify correlates of conviction. Female adolescents with a reported history of criminal conviction (n=88) were compared to three other service-referred youth groups: females without conviction histories (n=664), males with conviction histories (n=199), and males without conviction histories (n=1230) for possible differences in number and type of family, individual, and school-related life challenges. Multinomial regression analyses were first used to compare the quantity of child and family correlates in each conviction group, and then to test specific correlates in the individual, family, and school domains. The conditional odds of reporting a high vs. low number of child correlates was found to be significantly greater for females with a history of conviction compared to all other groups, over and above the number of family risk factors. Further, service-referred females with a conviction history, when compared to other service-referred youth groups, were much more likely to report having experienced a living instability (e.g. history of running away, multiple living arrangements) and personal adverse life events (e.g. history of drug and alcohol use, sexual abuse). Implications for community-based interventions and treatment are discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2003

Three instruments to assess fatigue in children with cancer: the child, parent and staff perspectives.

The purpose of this study was to develop and test three instruments to measure fatigue in children with cancer from the perspectives of the child, parents and staff. The study consisted of three phases: instrument development, content validation, and estimations of psychometric properties of the three fatigue instruments. One hundred forty-nine children between the ages of 7-12 years presently receiving chemotherapy for cancer, 147 parents and 124 staff participated in this study. The instruments demonstrated strong initial validity and reliability estimates. This study is the first to provide valid and reliable instruments to measure fatigue in children with cancer.

Child↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Child functioning in rural and nonrural areas: how does it compare when using the service program site as the level of analysis?

The current study uses data from the national evaluation of the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families Program to examine child functioning in rural (n = 8) as compared to nonrural (n = 18) system-of-care communities across the United States. In this study, the topic of rural versus nonrural differences is approached from a community-level perspective with aggregated functional impairment scores as the dependent variable of interest in weighted least squares regression. The demographic characteristics of children, particularly age, were more important predictors of functional impairment than geographic locale (i.e., rural vs nonrural). Specifically, while children served in nonrural communities were older than those served in rural communities, after controlling for this difference functional impairment levels were similar. It appears from these analyses that youth served in rural and nonrural communities with systems of care were more similar than they were different with regard to their level of functional impairment. This lack of aggregate functional difference between the rural and nonrural sites reminds policymakers and funding agents that youth in rural areas need equity in both access and resource for mental health services. As indicated by the findings in the current investigation youth in rural areas are not immune to the types of mental health challenges often publicized by researchers examining youth in nonrural areas.

Adolescent↗