Caseload factors predictive of family abuse and neglect treatment outcomes.
Child Abuse Negl
; 154: 106887, 2024 Aug.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38981310
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
In child welfare, caseloads are frequently far higher than optimal. Not all cases are created equal; however, little is known about which combination and interaction of factors make caseloads more challenging and impact child and family outcomes.OBJECTIVE:
This study aims to identify which case, provider, and organizational factors most strongly differentiate between families with favorable and less-than-positive treatment outcomes. PARTICIPANTS ANDSETTING:
Participants were 25 family advocacy program providers and 17 supervisors at 11 Department of the Air Force installations.METHODS:
Following informed consent, participants completed demographic and caseload questionnaires, and we collected information about organizational factors. Providers were sent a weekly case update and burnout questionnaire for seven months. We used linear mixed-effects model tree (LMM tree) algorithms to determine the provider, client, and organizational characteristics that best distinguish between favorable vs. unfavorable outcomes.RESULTS:
The LMM tree predicting provider-rated treatment success yielded three significant partitioning variables (a) commander involvement, (b) case complexity, and (c) % of clients in a high-risk field. The LMM predicting client-rated treatment progress yielded seven significant partitioning variables (a) command involvement; (b) ease of reaching tenant unit command; (c) # of high-risk cases; (d) % of clients receiving Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention and Treatment services; (e) ease of reaching command; (f) % of clients with legal involvement; (g) provider age.CONCLUSIONS:
This study is a first step toward developing a dynamic caseload management tool. An intelligent, algorithm-informed approach to case assignment could help child welfare agencies operate in their typically resource-scarce contexts in a manner that improves outcomes.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Child Abuse
Limits:
Adult
/
Child
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
En
Journal:
Child Abuse Negl
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Country of publication:
United kingdom