Advancing Youth Justice: The Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist's Role.

Child and adolescent psychiatrists (CAPs) play a crucial role beyond the provision of clinical care. CAPs are uniquely placed to understand and help patients navigate the fine line among psychiatric care, health and well-being, and the laws and policies supporting or impairing these processes. Focusing on vulnerable populations, such as legal system impacted youth and families, CAPs can contribute to the ongoing development of a more just and equitable world for the children of today and of tomorrow.

Improving adolescent sleep in long-term Juvenile correctional settings: case examples with clinical, research, and policy implications.

Poor sleep during adolescence is a public health concern that may be especially important to address among youth in juvenile correctional facilities, who tend to experience greater mental health challenges, substance use disorders, and traumatic stress exposure. However, evidence for addressing sleep in correctional settings is limited. Using de-identified composite clinical cases, this paper describes challenges and opportunities for addressing sleep disorders (i.e. insomnia) and promoting sleep health (i.e. improving duration, regularity, and behaviors) among adolescents in long-term juvenile correctional facilities. These clinical cases highlight common presenting problems and underscore the need for integrated sleep and mental health interventions as well as adaptations to enhance feasibility and efficacy of behavioral sleep treatment and sleep health promotion in juvenile correctional contexts. We conclude by summarizing clinical, research, and policy implications for addressing adolescent sleep problems and promoting sleep health and well-being in these contexts.

Racial Implicit Associations in Child Psychiatry.

OBJECTIVE: Racial disparities in diagnosis and treatment are prevalent in child psychiatry, including disparate diagnosis rates of internalizing and externalizing disorders in Black and White children. However, limited research has investigated mechanisms that contribute to these disparities. This study examined child racial implicit associations in psychiatric clinicians and medical students to address this gap. METHOD: Psychiatrists and trainees completed an online survey including 2 race Implicit Association Tests (IATs) pairing child faces to words with either positive or negative valence, and words related to internalizing or externalizing behavioral problems. We further investigated psychiatrists' and trainees' demographic predictors of implicit associations. RESULTS: Data were analyzed from 235 psychiatrists and trainees (112 child and adolescent psychiatrists and fellows) who met inclusion criteria. Psychiatrists and trainees demonstrated greater moderate-to-strong association between Black child faces and "bad" words (44.3%) vs "good" words (6.4%), and between externalizing words (41.7%) and internalizing words (7.2%). Psychiatrists' and trainees' demographic characteristics including being female (ß = -0.12; 95% CI = -0.23 to -0.01; p < .05), Black (ß = -0.36; 95% CI = -0.54 to -0.18; p < .001), or an attending physician (ß = -0.26; 95% CI = -0.45 to -0.06; p = .01) were significant predictors of decreased association between Black child faces and negative valence words. Being female was a significant predictor of decreased association between Black child faces and externalizing words (ß = -0.26; 95% CI = -0.45 to -0.06; p = .01). CONCLUSION: Participating psychiatrists and trainees demonstrated bias toward associating Black rather than White child faces with negative words and externalizing behavioral problems. Future research should examine the following: (1) racial implicit associations in a more generalizable sample, (2) the relationship between race IATs and provider behavior, and (3) interventions to reduce racial inequities in psychiatry, including individual and systemic solutions. DIVERSITY & INCLUSION STATEMENT: We worked to ensure sex and gender balance in the recruitment of human participants. We worked to ensure race, ethnic, and/or other types of diversity in the recruitment of human participants. We worked to ensure that the study questionnaires were prepared in an inclusive way. One or more of the authors of this paper self-identifies as a member of one or more historically underrepresented sexual and/or gender groups in science. We actively worked to promote sex and gender balance in our author group. We actively worked to promote inclusion of historically underrepresented racial and/or ethnic groups in science in our author group. One or more of the authors of this paper self-identifies as a member of one or more historically underrepresented racial and/or ethnic groups in science. One or more of the authors of this paper received support from a program designed to increase minority representation in science.

Editorial: Institutional Commitment Is Needed to Promote Antiracist Care of Unaccompanied Immigrant Minors.

Antiracism can be defined as the practice of opposing racism and promoting racial equity and justice. Within health care, antiracism also includes acknowledging and addressing the structural injustices resulting in health inequities. Racism plays a role in how the United States accepts and welcomes refugees and asylum seekers.1 From an intersectional perspective, children are innately in positions of disadvantage, with unaccompanied immigrant minors (UIMs) experiencing an even greater toll due to the lack of direct parental physical care. This editorial discusses antiracist care of UIMs and the need for institutional and structural support to sustain this important clinical work.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy in Juvenile Correctional and Detention Facilities: A Scoping Review.

Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) has shown preliminary success in the treatment of youth in forensic settings. However, the implementation of DBT varies considerably from facility to facility. A scoping review was conducted to detail DBT intervention protocols in juvenile correctional and detention facilities. We described eight works' treatment setting, study design, youth characteristics, staff training, DBT approach, DBT skills modules, and main findings. All works involved DBT skills sessions, but few incorporated other DBT components such as individual therapy or skills coaching. Outcomes included reducing problematic behaviors such as aggression, improving mental health, and largely positive feedback regarding the DBT intervention from youth and staff. Our results consolidate the existing literature regarding DBT intervention in forensic settings for youth and inform future implementation and research of DBT in such facilities.

A Review of Clinical Practice Guidelines in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.

Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) are systematically developed statements to assist practitioner and patient decisions about appropriate health care for specific clinical circumstances. CPGs have evolved during the last 2 decades from general consensus statements by prominent practitioners in the field to highly structured instruments. The Institute of Medicine has laid out specific standards for selecting the experts who develop a CPG and the process by which CPGs are developed. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been the focus of more than 20 CPGs created by governments and professional societies, both in the United States and internationally. There is a good deal of consensus across these CPGs regarding the principles of the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD. Drawing on the rich research base in ADHD, all CPGs emphasize the need for screening, a diagnosis based on history and standardized rating scales, as well as the use of evidence-based psychosocial and pharmacologic treatments. They vary in terms of their emphasis on the role of psychosocial treatment and the degree to which they address comorbid disorders in ADHD. Although limited research has shown ADHG CPGs do change provider practice, there is no research examining if the changes in practice brought about by CPGs impact patient outcomes.

Beyond Children's Mental Health: Cultural Considerations to Foster Latino Child and Family Mental Health.

Clinicians trained to assess and treat child psychopathology are facing an increasing need to expand their clinical expertise outside of traditional frameworks, which have historically focused largely on the child or the child-mother dyad. Clinicians treating children also need to be prepared to assess and address the systems of care that affect a child's mental health, starting with their family. There is a scarcity of Latino mental health providers and limited clinical opportunities or settings that serve this population by incorporating a developmental, cultural, and sociopolitical framework into high quality care of the whole family.

Striving for Equity in Community Mental Health: Opportunities and Challenges for Integrating Care for BIPOC Youth.

Supporting the mental health of youth who identify as Black, Indigenous, or Persons of Color (BIPOC) continues to be a challenge for clinicians and policymakers alike. Children and adolescents are a vulnerable population, and for BIPOC youth, these vulnerabilities are magnified by the effects of structural, interpersonal, and internalized racism. Integration of psychiatric care into other medical settings has emerged as an evidence-based method to improve access to psychiatric care, but to bridge the gap experienced by BIPOC youth, care must extend beyond medical settings to other child-focused sectors, including local governments, education, child welfare, juvenile legal systems, and beyond. Intentional policy decisions are needed to incentivize and support these systems, which typically rely on coordination and collaboration between clinicians and other stakeholders. Clinicians must be trauma-informed and strive for structural competency to successfully navigate and advocate for collaborative systems that benefit BIPOC youth.

Antiracism Work in Schools: Using Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills to Empower South Texas Educators.

OBJECTIVE: Implicit biases within school systems contribute to racist school cultures and policies. Black and Hispanic students are more likely to be over-policed in schools and to be penalized, especially by White teachers. Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) skills can be taught to educators to support antiracist efforts in schools. METHOD: A virtual 2-day Train-the-Trainer antiracism workshop incorporating DBT skills was delivered to South Texas educators. DBT skills were integrated as life skills in antiracism situational role play, small group discussions, and meta-cognitive activities. Participants also received books on antiracism and an educators' toolkit to DBT and antiracism. Descriptive analysis described results from the workshop application, pre/post-workshop survey, and 6-month follow-up survey. RESULTS: Twelve educators completed the workshop application, with 10 educators reporting no history of antiracism trainings at their schools. Nine educators attended the workshop. Workshop feedback was overwhelmingly positive. A pre/post-workshop survey demonstrated growth in both teaching and use of all measured DBT skills and antiracism attitudes. Confidence in teaching and using DBT skills and changes in antiracism attitudes were sustained 6 months later. Five educators reported leading an antiracism initiative in their schools since the attendance of the workshop. CONCLUSION: A DBT-centered Train-the-Trainer antiracism workshop instilled confidence in educators to lead antiracism efforts, which resulted in the initiation of several initiatives in South Texas schools. Training educators, including teachers, counselors, and administrators, encouraged systemic antiracist change in school systems. The virtual training format may facilitate accessibility to educators who lack access to trainings; however, it may also add difficulty in building community among participants.

Black Children and the Pressing Need for Antiracism in Child Psychiatry.

The COVID-19 pandemic abruptly upended American children's lives as schools, libraries, daycare centers, and parks closed to prevent further viral spread. The effects of the pandemic were not distributed equally. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention demonstrated COVID-19's disproportionate impact on Black communities in terms of both infection rates and mortality.1 Further, generations of structural racism in the housing, financial, educational, and occupational systems fueled unequal consequences for the social determinants of mental health.

Inequity and the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on communities of color in the United States: The need for a trauma-informed social justice response.

COVID-19 has had disproportionate contagion and fatality in Black, Latino, and Native American communities and among the poor in the United States. Toxic stress resulting from racial and social inequities have been magnified during the pandemic, with implications for poor physical and mental health and socioeconomic outcomes. It is imperative that our country focus and invest in addressing health inequities and work across sectors to build self-efficacy and long-term capacity within communities and systems of care serving the most disenfranchised, now and in the aftermath of the COVID-19 epidemic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Examining Racial Disparities in Juvenile Justice.

Decades of research have focused on understanding and addressing racial disparities that occur at every stage of processing in the juvenile justice system. Leaders in the field have raised concerns about the differential treatment and selection of youth based on race. Taking into consideration Sussman and colleagues' results regarding the use of manifest injustice in Washington State, we review briefly the legislative changes that have occurred nationally to address the problem of disproportionate minority contact. We also consider data and hypotheses that have increased our understanding of why and how these racial disparities occur.