THE EFFECTS OF DEMOGRAPHIC AND THERAPEUTIC PROCESS VARIABLES ON OUTCOMES IN TREATMENT FOSTER CARE

Open Access
- Author:
- Stoltzfus, Annette Rose
- Area of Honors:
- Health Policy and Administration
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Dr. Elizabeth Farmer, Thesis Supervisor
Dr. Elizabeth Farmer, Thesis Supervisor
Dr. Rhonda Be Lue, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- Demographic Variables
Therapeutic Process Variables
Treatment Foster Care - Abstract:
- ABSTRACT Treatment Foster Care (TFC) is designed to address the residential and treatment needs of children with serious emotional, behavioral, and/or medical problems. The strategy of the program is to emphasize the role of treatment parents for children who are particularly vulnerable of developing social, emotional, and psychological difficulties. This study focuses on four questions that examine factors that influence behavioral outcomes (functioning and strengths) among children in TFC: 1) Is race related to children’s behavioral outcomes in TFC? 2) Is age related to children’s behavioral outcomes in TFC? 3) Is sex related to children’s behavioral outcomes in TFC? 4) Do factors within the TFC home (e.g., parent/child relationships, monitoring/supervision, and parenting style/discipline) affect the relationship between demographics (i.e., age, race, and sex) and outcomes? The proposed study identifies factors that lead to certain children performing better than others in relation to three chosen demographic characteristics: age, race, and sex. Also, the impact that parent/child relationships, monitoring/supervision, and parenting style/discipline have on the outcomes of TFC and how these factors are related to age, race, sex, and outcomes are investigated. The outcome variables include indicators of functioning and problems across three domains: involvement with the legal system, problems in the TFC home, and youth strengths (measured by the Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale). Significant findings from this analysis include: older children had fewer problems at home; white children had lower levels of strengths, but non-white children had more legal problems; youth with less time unsupervised did better in the program; and a good treatment parent-child relationship was positively related to good outcome.