What Makes Intentional Unidirectional Peer Support for Homeless People Work? An Exploratory Analysis Based on Clients' and Peer Workers' Perceptions.

Homeless people are increasingly supported by peer workers in one-on-one mentorship relations called intentional unidirectional peer support (IUPS). Insight is therefore needed into the application and outcome of IUPS for this vulnerable population. This study examined the outcomes, critical elements, and working mechanisms of IUPS within homeless services from the perspective of both clients receiving IUPS and peer workers providing IUPS. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were held with ten homeless clients and ten peer workers. According to participants, IUPS enhances clients' self-image, advances their personal growth, and results in better engagement with needed services. Rapport and empathy, a trustworthy and empowering relationship, as well as support, guidance, and mediation are what makes IUPS work according to the participants. The inclusion of both perspectives has led to a deeper understanding of what makes IUPS work for homeless people. Implications for practice are discussed.

Critical Time Intervention for People Leaving Shelters in the Netherlands: Assessing Fidelity and Exploring Facilitators and Barriers.

International dissemination of evidence-based interventions calls for rigorous evaluation. As part of an evaluation of critical time intervention (CTI) for homeless people and abused women leaving Dutch shelters, this study assessed fidelity in two service delivery systems and explored factors influencing model adherence. Data collection entailed chart review (n = 70) and two focus groups with CTI workers (n = 11). The intervention obtained an overall score of three out of five (fairly implemented) for compliance fidelity and chart quality combined. Fidelity did not differ significantly between service systems, supporting its suitability for a range of populations. The eight themes that emerged from the focus groups as affecting model adherence provide guidance for future implementation efforts.

[Attachment and Cognitive and Motor Development in the First Years after Adoption: A Review of Studies on Internationally Adopted Children from China]. / Bindung und kognitive sowie motorische Entwicklung in den ersten fünf Jahren nach der Adoption: Ein Review über international adoptierte Kinder aus China.

Due to early-childhood adversity, adopted children often display delays in their cognitive and motor development and have problems developing secure attachment relationships with their adoptive parents. In this review we present the results of all available studies on the attachment and the cognitive and motor development of internationally adopted children from China in the first years after arriving in the adoptive family. Seven pertinent studies were found, based on five samples examined in the USA, Canada, and the Netherlands. Regarding cognitive and motor development (five studies) the adoptees showed a delayed development at arrival in the adoptive family. As soon as six months after arrival the adoptees were, on average, functioning within normal ranges, although their catch-up to non-adopted children was not yet complete. Two years after arrival the catch-up to non-adopted peers appeared to be complete. Regarding attachment (two studies) observations of attachment six and twelve months after adoption showed less secure and more disorganized attachment for the adopted children compared to the normative distribution of non-adopted children. Two years after adoption, observations of attachment confirmed a catch-up in secure attachment, but the adoptees still displayed more insecure disorganized attachment than children in the norm group.

The Link Between Childhood Abuse Experiences and Homeless People's Quality of Life: A Longitudinal Study.

Studies report a relatively high prevalence of childhood abuse experiences (CAE) among adult homeless people. Within homeless populations, people with CAE appear to be worse off than homeless people without such experiences. This study compares a broad set of factors influencing the quality of the daily lives of Dutch homeless people with and without CAE. It also examines the extent to which CAE are predictive of the rate of change in these factors 2.5 years after entering the social relief system. Data were used from an observational longitudinal multi-site cohort study following Dutch homeless people 2.5 years after entering the social relief system. The 4 constitutional conditions of the Social Quality Approach (living conditions, interpersonal embeddedness, societal embeddedness and self-regulation) were used to cluster the factors included in this study. Participants were interviewed twice, at baseline (N = 513) and at follow up (N = 378), using a quantitative questionnaire. At baseline and follow-up participants with CAE were more disadvantaged in each of the 4 conditions of social quality, except for societal embeddedness at follow-up. After 2.5 years, on average, all participants improved more or less at a similar rate on almost all factors, with a few exceptions: Significant differential changes over time were found regarding employment status, quality of relationships with family members and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Findings corroborate the broad, detrimental and persistent impact of CAE on the quality of daily lives of homeless people and the need for homelessness services to apply trauma-informed care.

Infants' responsiveness, attachment, and indiscriminate friendliness after international adoption from institutions or foster care in China: application of Emotional Availability Scales to adoptive families.

In a short-term longitudinal design we investigated maternal sensitivity, child responsiveness, attachment, and indiscriminate friendliness in families with children internationally adopted from institutions or foster care in China. Ninety-two families with 50 postinstitutionalized and 42 formerly fostered girls, aged 11-16 months on arrival, were studied 2 and 6 months after adoption. Maternal sensitivity and child responsiveness were observed with the Emotional Availability Scales, attachment was assessed with the Strange Situation procedure, and mothers reported on children's indiscriminate friendliness. The postinstitutionalized children showed less secure attachment, whereas the former foster children did not differ from the normative distribution of attachment security. However, at both assessments the two groups of adopted children showed more disorganized attachments compared to normative data. Adoptive mothers of postinstitutionalized and former foster children were equally sensitive and their sensitivity did not change over time. Postinstitutionalized and former foster children did not differ on indiscriminate friendliness, but children with more sensitive adoptive mothers showed less indiscriminate friendliness. The former foster children showed a larger increase in responsiveness over time than the postinstitutionalized children, suggesting that children's responsiveness is more sensitive to change than attachment, and that preadoption foster care is more beneficial for the development of children's responsiveness after adoptive placement than preadoption institutional care.

Dutch tenants at risk of eviction: Identifying predictors of eviction orders.

In order to prevent evictions, it is important to gain more insight into factors predicting whether or not tenants receive an eviction order. In this study, ten potential risk factors for evictions were tested. Tenants who were at risk of eviction due to rent arrears in five Dutch cities were interviewed using a structured questionnaire, and six months later their housing associations were asked to provide information about the tenants' current situation. Multiple logistic regression analyses with data on 344 tenants revealed that the amount of rent arrears was a strong predictor for receiving an eviction order. Furthermore, single tenants and tenants who had already been summoned to appear in court were more likely to receive an eviction order. These results can contribute to identifying households at risk of eviction at an early stage, and to develop targeted interventions to prevent evictions.

Subgroups of tenants at risk of eviction due to rent arrears in five Dutch cities: A latent class approach.

This study identifies subgroups of tenants in a sample of 495 tenants at risk of eviction, due to rent arrears, by 16 housing associations in five Dutch municipalities, and examines the attuning of services to the needs of the tenants in these subgroups. Latent class analysis with eight known risk factors for eviction identified five subgroups of tenants, which can be characterised as young immigrants, native Dutch tenants with little support, highly educated native Dutch tenants with much support, depressed tenants with little support and highly educated mentally stable older single tenants. The young immigrants reported the highest number of unmet care needs; the highly educated native Dutch tenants with much support, on the other hand, mentioned the least unmet care needs. This study demonstrates the diversity of a population of tenants at risk of eviction. Together with the differences in care needs, this indicates the necessity to develop targeted and personalised interventions to prevent evictions.

Interventions to prevent tenant evictions: a systematic review.

Tenant evictions are a significant cause of homelessness. As evictions are a traumatic experience for those being evicted and involve high costs, preventing evictions is vital and should be part of local and national policy. In order to develop and implement preventive practices and policies, it is essential to know which interventions are effective in preventing evictions. However, little is known about these interventions. Therefore, a systematic search of the international literature, providing an overview of interventions to prevent evictions published in scientific journals and reporting on their (cost-)effectiveness, was conducted. Nine electronic databases and Google Scholar were searched for peer-reviewed and non-reviewed publications describing research into interventions to prevent tenant evictions published in English between January 1985 and May 2012. Two researchers reviewed titles, abstracts and full-text articles and eventually seven publications describing eight interventions to prevent tenant evictions were analysed. The eight interventions vary widely in terms of their target population, focus, type of support and duration, which makes comparison of results difficult. Only three effect studies on preventive interventions regarding tenant evictions were found; two researchers assessed their quality. One of these studies was of insufficient quality to assess the effectiveness of the intervention described. Legal assistance and debt advice are promising interventions that seem to be effective in decreasing the risk of eviction. The effectiveness of the other five interventions cannot be determined. More methodologically sound research into the prevention of tenant evictions is needed and future research will have to clarify what works for whom, in which context.

Attachment and physiological reactivity to infant crying in young adulthood: dissociation between experiential and physiological arousal in insecure adoptees.

The associations between attachment representations of adopted young adults and their experiential and physiological arousal to infant crying were examined. Attachment representations were assessed with the Attachment Script Assessment (ASA), and the young adults listened to infant cries, during which ratings of cry perception were collected and physiological reactivity was measured. Secure adoptees showed a well-integrated response to infant distress: heart-rate increases and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) withdrawal were coupled with heightened perception of urgency in these individuals. In insecure adoptees RSA withdrawal was absent, and a combination of lowered perceived urgency and heightened sympathetic arousal was found, reflecting a deactivating style of emotional reactivity. Overall, our findings support the idea that internal working models of attachment explain individual differences in the way attachment-related information is processed.

Infants' physical and cognitive development after international adoption from foster care or institutions in China.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the physical, cognitive, and motor development of infants adopted from foster care with infants adopted from institutions. METHOD: Forty-two formerly fostered and 50 post-institutionalized girls adopted from China, aged between 11 and 16 months on arrival, were visited 2 and 6 months after adoption. Children's height, weight, and head circumference were measured. Stress regulation was assessed by diurnal salivary cortisol levels, and cognitive and motor development were assessed using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development-second edition. RESULTS: At both assessments, the (modest) physical growth delays were similar for formerly fostered and post-institutionalized children. For weight and head circumference (but not for height) a catch-up over time was found, with a significant interaction between time and age at arrival, showing a more rapid catch-up for earlier adopted children. The daily cortisol curves of the formerly fostered and post-institutionalized children were similar and did not change over time. At both assessments, the former foster children outperformed the post-institutionalized children on mental and motor skills. Both groups showed a similar catch-up for mental development. For motor development, no catch-up was found. CONCLUSIONS: The influence of pre-adoption foster versus institutional rearing seems more pronounced for cognitive and motor development than for physical development and hormonal stress regulation. Our outcomes suggest that pre-adoption foster care is less detrimental to children's cognitive and motor development than institutional rearing.