The Role of Therapeutic Mentoring in Enhancing Outcomes for Youth in Foster Care.

BEHAVIOR disorders in children; ANALYSIS of covariance; ANALYSIS of variance; CHILD welfare; FAMILY health; FAMILY services; FOSTER children; INTERPERSONAL relations; INTERVIEWING; MENTORING; HEALTH outcome assessment; POST-traumatic stress disorder; RISK-taking behavior; SCALES (Weighing instruments); SOCIAL services; SOCIAL skills; STATISTICS; T-test (Statistics); PROFESSIONAL practice; DATA analysis; FAMILY relations; TREATMENT effectiveness; PRE-tests & post-tests; EARLY medical intervention; EVALUATION of human services programs; DESCRIPTIVE statistics; PREVENTION

Effective service interventions greatly enhance the well-being of foster youth. A study of 262 foster youth examined one such intervention, therapeutic mentoring. Results showed that mentored youth improved significantly in the areas of family and social functioning, school behavior, and recreational activities, as well as in the reduction of expressed symptoms of traumatic stress. Study results suggest that therapeutic mentoring shows promise for enhancing treatment interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Child Welfare is the property of Child Welfare League of America and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)