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Mental Health Interventions for Children in Foster Care: A Systematic Review.

ABSTRACT: Children in foster care have high rates of adverse childhood experiences and are at risk for mental health problems. These problems can be difficult to ameliorate, creating a need for rigorous intervention research. Previous research suggests that intervening with children in foster care can be challenging for several reasons, including the severity and complexity of their mental health problems, and challenges engaging this often transitory population in mental health services. The goal of this article was to systematically review the intervention research that has been conducted with children in foster care, and to identify future research directions. This review was conducted on mental health interventions for children, ages 0 to 12, in foster care, using ERIC, CINAHL, PsycINFO, PubMed, ProQuest's Dissertation and Theses Database, Social Services Abstracts, and Social Work Abstracts. It was restricted to interventions that are at least "possibly efficacious" (i.e., supported by evidence from at least one randomized controlled trial). Studies were evaluated for risk of bias. Ten interventions were identified, with diverse outcomes, including mental health and physiological. Six interventions were developed for children in foster care. Interventions not developed for children in foster care were typically adapted to the foster context. Most interventions have yet to be rigorously evaluated in community-based settings with children in foster care. Little research has been conducted on child and family engagement within these interventions, and there is a need for more research on moderators of intervention outcomes and subgroups that benefit most from these interventions. In addition, there is not consensus regarding how to adapt interventions to this population. Future research should focus on developing and testing more interventions with this population, rigorously evaluating their effectiveness in community-based settings, determining necessary adaptations, and identifying which interventions work best for whom.

SUBMITTER: Hambrick EP

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5421550 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Mental Health Interventions for Children in Foster Care: A Systematic Review.

Hambrick Erin P EP Oppenheim-Weller Shani S N'zi Amanda M AM Taussig Heather N HN

Children and youth services review 20160908

Children in foster care have high rates of adverse childhood experiences and are at risk for mental health problems. These problems can be difficult to ameliorate, creating a need for rigorous intervention research. Previous research suggests that intervening with children in foster care can be challenging for several reasons, including the severity and complexity of their mental health problems, and challenges engaging this often transitory population in mental health services. The goal of this ...[more]

PMID: 28496286

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Project description:IntroductionThe mental health and well-being of children and young people who have been in care (ie, care-experienced) are a priority. There are a range of interventions aimed at addressing these outcomes, but the international evidence-base remains ambiguous. There is a paucity of methodologically robust systematic reviews of intervention effectiveness, with few considering the contextual conditions under which evaluations were conducted. This is important in understanding the potential transferability of the evidence-base across contexts. The present systematic review will adopt a complex systems perspective to synthesise evidence reporting evaluations of mental health and well-being interventions for care-experienced children and young people. It will address impact, equity, cost-effectiveness, context, implementation and acceptability. Stakeholder consultation will prioritise a programme theory, and associated intervention, that may progress to further development and evaluation in the UK.Methods and analysisWe will search 16 bibliographic databases from 1990 to June 2020. Supplementary searching will include citation tracking, author recommendation, and identification of evidence clusters relevant to included evaluations. The eligible population is children and young people (aged ≤25 years) with experience of being in care. Outcomes are (1) mental, behavioural or neurodevelopmental disorders; (2) subjective well-being; (3) self-harm; suicidal ideation; suicide. Study quality will be appraised with methodologically appropriate tools. We will construct a taxonomy of programme theories and intervention types. Thematic synthesis will be used for qualitative data reporting context, implementation and acceptability. If appropriate, meta-analysis will be conducted with outcome and economic data. Convergent synthesis will be used to integrate syntheses of qualitative and quantitative data.Ethics and disseminationWe have a comprehensive strategy for engagement with care-experienced children and young people, carers and social care professionals. Dissemination will include academic and non-academic publications and conference presentations. Ethical approval from Cardiff University's School of Social Sciences REC will be obtained if necessary.Prospero registration numberCRD42020177478.

Project description:BackgroundOver 30% of university students from 8 countries were afflicted with mental distress according to a World Health Organization survey. Undergraduate students in increasing numbers in China have also been reported to suffer from different mental problems. Various psychological distresses significantly impact their academic and daily life, thereby causing role impairments and unsatisfactory academic achievements. While the prevalence of, diverse underlying factors for, and interventions of social support in college students' mental health have extensively been investigated in China, there is no study exclusively focusing on the impact of interventions on their psychological well-being.ObjectiveThe aim of this review was to identify and synthesize the interventions in the mental health concerns of Chinese undergraduate students studying in China reported in the literature to inform educational authorities, college and university management, students' affairs counselors, and mental health providers.MethodsWe performed a systematic review and reported the research findings of previous studies according to the protocol of the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) 2020 statement. First, based on the predefined search strategy, keyword searches were performed in the PubMed and ProQuest databases to retrieve relevant studies. Subsequently, we screened the candidate articles based on predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Finally, we analyzed the included papers for qualitative synthesis.ResultsWe retrieved a total of 675 studies from the PubMed and ProQuest databases using the search strategy on March 15, 2022. Among these candidate studies, 15 that were not written in English, 76 duplicates, and 149 studies of other document types were removed before screening. An additional 313 studies were excluded in the screening process, with 73 articles ruled out for being not relevant to interventions, not related to mental health, or not focused on undergraduate students in the full-text review. As a result, 49 papers were eligible and included in this systematic review. In the qualitative synthesis, we divided the interventions reported in the selected studies into two categories: (1) social support from government authorities, university authorities, students' affairs counselors and teachers, family members, health care authorities and professionals, and the media (various online platforms), and (2) various coping strategies adopted by undergraduate students themselves. We identified further research on mental health interventions that may be delivered by digital medical platforms, conversational agents (eg, chatbots), and researchers.ConclusionsThis was the first systematic review of interventions to address the mental health concerns of Chinese undergraduate students studying in China. The categorization of reported interventions and the identification of new intervention channels can effectively inform stakeholders. Interventions for undergraduate students' mental health is a research topic worth further investigation.

Project description:BACKGROUND:Low levels of physical activity, sedentary behaviour and mental health problems are issues that have received considerable attention in the last decade. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to investigate effects of interventions targeting school-related physical activity or sedentary behaviour on mental health in children and adolescents and to identify the features of effective interventions. METHODS:Scientific articles published between January 2009 and October 2019 fulfilling the following criteria were included: general populations of children and adolescents between age 4 and 19, all types of school-related efforts to promote physical activity or reduce sedentary behaviour. Study selection, data extraction and quality assessment were done by at least two authors independently of each other. Data were analysed with a random effects meta-analysis and by narrative moderator analyses. RESULTS:The literature search resulted in 10265 unique articles. Thirty-one articles, describing 30 interventions, were finally included. Eleven relevant outcomes were identified: health-related quality of life, well-being, self-esteem and self-worth, resilience, positive effect, positive mental health, anxiety, depression, emotional problems, negative effect and internalising mental health problems. There was a significant beneficial effect of school-related physical activity interventions on resilience (Hedges' g = 0.748, 95% CI = 0.326; 1.170, p = 0.001), positive mental health (Hedges' g = 0.405, 95% CI = 0.208; 0.603, p = <?0.001), well-being (Hedges' g = 0.877, 95% CI = 0.356; 1.398, p = <?0.001) and anxiety (Hedges' g = 0.347, 95% CI = 0.072; 0.623, p = 0.013). Heterogeneity was moderate to high (I2 = 59-98%) between studies for all outcomes except positive effect, where heterogeneity was low (I2 = 2%). The narrative moderator analyses of outcomes based on 10 or more studies showed that age of the children moderated the effect of the intervention on internalising mental health problems. Interventions in younger children showed a significantly negative or no effect on internalising mental health problems while those in older children showed a significant positive or no effect. Moreover, studies with a high implementation reach showed a significant negative or no effect while those with a low level of implementation showed no or a positive effect. No signs of effect moderation were found for self-esteem, well-being or positive mental health. Risk of publication bias was evident for several outcomes, but adjustment did not change the results. CONCLUSIONS:School-related physical activity interventions may reduce anxiety, increase resilience, improve well-being and increase positive mental health in children and adolescents. Considering the positive effects of physical activity on health in general, these findings may reinforce school-based initiatives to increase physical activity. However, the studies show considerable heterogeneity. The results should therefore be interpreted with caution. Future studies should report on implementation factors and more clearly describe the activities of the control group and whether the activity is added to or replacing ordinary physical education lessons in order to aid interpretation of results. TRIAL REGISTRATION:PROSPERO, CRD42018086757.

Project description:ObjectiveMental health problems are more prevalent in people with than without intellectual disabilities, yet treatment options have received little attention. The aim of this study was to identify and evaluate the effectiveness of pharmacological and psychological interventions in the treatment of mental health problems in children and adults with severe and profound intellectual disabilities, given their difficulties in accessing standard mental health interventions, particularly talking therapies, and difficulties reporting drug side effects.DesignA systematic review using electronic searches of PsycINFO, PsycTESTS, EMBASE, MEDLINE, CINAHL, ERIC, ASSIA, Science Citation Index, Social Science Citation Index and CENTRAL was conducted to identify eligible intervention studies. Study selection, data extraction and quality appraisal were performed by two independent reviewers.ParticipantsStudy samples included at least 70% children and/or adults with severe or profound intellectual disabilities or reported the outcomes of this subpopulation separate from participants with other levels of intellectual disabilities.InterventionsEligible intervention studies evaluated a psychological or pharmacological intervention using a control condition or pre-post design.OutcomesSymptom severity, frequency or other quantitative dimension (e.g., impact), as assessed with standardised measures of mental health problems.ResultsWe retrieved 41 232 records, reviewed 573 full-text articles and identified five studies eligible for inclusion: three studies evaluating pharmacological interventions, and two studies evaluating psychological interventions. Study designs ranged from double-blind placebo controlled crossover trials to single-case experimental reversal designs. Quality appraisals of this very limited literature base revealed good experimental control, poor reporting standards and a lack of follow-up data.ConclusionsMental ill health requires vigorous treatment, yet the current evidence base is too limited to identify with precision effective treatments specifically for children or adults with severe and profound intellectual disabilities. Clinicians therefore must work on the basis of general population evidence, while researchers work to generate more precise evidence for people with severe and profound intellectual disabilities.Prospero registration numberCRD 42015024469.

Project description:BackgroundConnected mental health, which refers to the use of technology for mental health care and technology-based therapeutic solutions, has become an established field of research. Biofeedback is one of the approaches used in connected mental health solutions, which is mainly based on the analysis of physiological indicators for the assessment and management of the psychological state. Biofeedback is recommended by many therapists and has been used for conditions including depression, insomnia, and anxiety. Anxiety is associated with several physiological symptoms, including muscle tension and breathing issues, which makes the inclusion of biofeedback useful for anxiety detection and management.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to identify interventions using biofeedback as a part of their process for anxiety management and investigate their perceived effectiveness.MethodsA systematic literature review of publications presenting empirically evaluated biofeedback-based interventions for anxiety was conducted. The systematic literature review was based on publications retrieved from IEEE Digital Library, PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Scopus. A preliminary selection of papers was identified, examined, and filtered to include only relevant publications. Studies in the final selection were classified and analyzed to extract the modalities of use of biofeedback in the identified interventions, the types of physiological data that were collected and analyzed and the sensors used to collect them. Processes and outcomes of the empirical evaluations were also extracted.ResultsAfter final selection, 13 publications presenting different interventions were investigated. The interventions addressed either primarily anxiety disorders or anxiety associated with health issues such as migraine, Parkinson disease, and rheumatology. Solutions combined biofeedback with other techniques including virtual reality, music therapy, games, and relaxation practices and used different sensors including cardiovascular belts, wrist sensors, or stretch sensors to collect physiological data such as heart rate, respiration indicators, and movement information. The interventions targeted different cohorts including children, students, and patients. Overall, outcomes from the empirical evaluations yielded positive results and emphasized the effectiveness of connected mental health solutions using biofeedback for anxiety; however, certain unfavorable outcomes, such as interventions not having an effect on anxiety and patients' preferring traditional therapy, were reported in studies addressing patients with specific physical health issues.ConclusionsThe use of biofeedback in connected mental health interventions for the treatment and management of anxiety allows better screening and understanding of both psychological and physiological patient information, as well as of the association between the two. The inclusion of biofeedback could improve the outcome of interventions and boost their effectiveness; however, when used with patients suffering from certain physical health issues, suitability investigations are needed.

Dataset Information

Mental Health Interventions for Children in Foster Care: A Systematic Review.

Publications

Mental Health Interventions for Children in Foster Care: A Systematic Review.

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