Engaging Black youth in depression and suicide prevention treatment within urban schools: study protocol for a randomized controlled pilot.

BACKGROUND: Depression continues to be an ongoing threat to adolescent well-being with Black adolescents being particularly vulnerable to greater burdens of depression as well as lower mental health service utilization. Black adolescents are likely to have untreated depression due to social network influences, varied perceptions of services and providers, or self-stigma associated with experiencing depressive symptoms. Furthermore, if or when treatment is initiated, low engagement and early termination are common. To address this gap, a trial is being conducted to preliminarily test the effectiveness of an engagement intervention targeting Black adolescents with depression in school mental health services in New York City. METHODS: A total of 60 Black middle and high school adolescents displaying depressive symptoms are equally randomized (based on school site) to the treatment arms. Both trial arms deliver Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Depressed Adolescents (IPT-A), a time-limited, evidence-based treatment for depression. Additionally, one arm pairs IPT-A with a brief, multi-level engagement intervention, the Making Connections Intervention (MCI), involving adolescents, caregivers, and clinicians. Outcomes of interest are group differences in depression and suicide ideation, adolescent and caregiver engagement, and mental health service use. DISCUSSION: This trial will serve as an efficacy assessment of the MCI among a sample of Black adolescent students with depressive symptoms. Clinical and implementation results will be used to inform future research to further test the MCI intervention in a larger sample. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Registered by ClinicalTrials.gov on May 3, 2019, identifier: NCT03940508.

Mentoring in research-focused doctoral nursing programs and student perceptions of career readiness in the United States.

BACKGROUND: Research-focused doctorate nursing programs are expanding and seek to double the number of doctoral-prepared nurses by 2020. There is little empirical evidence of the contributions of mentoring to doctoral nursing students' readiness for their desired careers. PURPOSE: This study assessed characteristics and practices of nursing PhD students, the mentoring practices of their advisors, and the likelihood of self-reported career readiness. DESIGN: A nationwide descriptive, cross-sectional study of PhD students in the United States was conducted using an electronic survey platform. A sample of 380 PhD students representing 64 schools was surveyed from January to July 2016. METHODS: Descriptive statistics and ordered logistic regression were used to describe the sample and determine likelihood of career readiness by three readiness levels. FINDINGS: Results revealed greater likelihood of career readiness for students that: (1) perceived their proficiency in key scholarly skills as high, (2) were older, (3) worked a larger number of hours per week, (4) had more responsibilities outside of school, (5) had both advising and mentoring support, (6) had a co-advisor, and (7) attended a private university. CONCLUSION: Enrollment targets should be based on a faculty-to-doctoral student ratio that optimizes advising and mentoring and schools should provide mentoring guidelines and training for faculty.

Parents' Executive Functioning and Involvement in Their Child's Education: An Integrated Literature Review.

BACKGROUND: Parents' involvement in their children's education is integral to academic success. Several education-based organizations have identified recommendations for how parents can best support their children's learning. However, executive functioning (EF), a high-ordered cognitive skill set, contributes to the extent to which parents can follow through with these recommendations. METHOD: This integrative review of the literature describes how executive function can affect parents' ability to facilitate and actively participate in their child's education and provides strategies for all school staff to strengthen parent-school partnerships when parents have limitations in EF. RESULTS: EF skills are fluid and influenced by several factors, including parental age, sleep, stress, and mood/affect. Despite possible limitations in parental EF, there are strategies school personnel can employ to strengthen partnership with parents to support their children's academic success. CONCLUSIONS: As reforms in education call for increased customization and collaboration with families, parental EF is an important consideration for school personnel. Awareness and understanding of how parents' EF affects children's learning will help schools better support parents in supporting their children's academic success.

Association of teen mothers' and grandmothers' parenting capacities with child development: A study protocol.

Children born to teen mothers may experience less responsive and supportive parenting and are at heightened risk for a range of social, developmental, and health issues. There is literature to support the positive impact of grandmothers on teen parents and their children. However, what if the teen's mother is also limited in her parenting capacities? How do parenting capacities across these two generations of mothers affect the developing child? In this ongoing study we are examining two important aspects of parenting capacities, attachment quality and executive functioning, in teen mothers (TM) and their biological, co- residing mothers or grandmothers (GM or GGM). Both are essential components of effective parenting, but little is known about their impact on young children's development when raised by two generations of parents. In a cross- sectional, descriptive design, a convenience sample of 50 TM/GM dyads with children 1 to 3 years old is being recruited from two urban teen-tot clinics. Participants complete a paper-and-pencil measure of attachment quality and a computerized measure of multiple aspects of executive function (working memory, inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility). A standardized maternal report measure is used to assess child developmental status. The biggest challenges of the study thus far include recruitment and transience of the study population. Progress to date and experiences from recruitment and data collection are discussed, as well as successful strategies to address challenges.

Pregnant mothers' perceptions of how intimate partner violence affects their unborn children.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the perceptions of pregnant women on the experience of intimate partner violence (IPV) as it affects maternal and fetal health. DESIGN: Secondary qualitative content analysis. SETTING: Individual interviews conducted within three urban obstetric and gynecologic clinics. PARTICIPANTS: Our sample included a subset of eight pregnant women experiencing IPV during the current pregnancy. Participants were selected from a larger parent study that included qualitative data from 13 women. METHODS: We analyzed in-depth individual interview transcripts in which participants discussed how they perceived IPV to affect their health as well as the health of their unborn children. Constant comparative techniques and conventional content analysis methodology were used in analysis. RESULTS: Three themes emerged to illustrate mothers' perceptions of how IPV influenced maternal and fetal outcomes: protection, fetal awareness, and fetal well-being. CONCLUSIONS: This analysis provides important insights into concerns that pregnant women experiencing IPV shared about maternal attachment and fetal well-being. Health care providers can use these findings to better assess the physical and psychological concerns of pregnant women experiencing IPV. Further research is needed to better understand how IPV contributes to adverse neonatal outcomes, particularly from a biological perspective.