Enhancing supports to children of incarcerated parents: Introducing trauma informed training to church mentors.

A child who has a parent incarcerated is likely to experience a number of life challenges including school failure, poverty, substance abuse, and justice system involvement. The negative outcomes associated with having a parent incarcerated disproportionately expose children to adverse childhood events (ACE's) which have been associated with higher morbidity and mortality. However, engagement with caring adults who can provide both practical and spiritual mentorship can increase a child's resilience and buffer the impact of these negative outcomes. Church-based mentors have the capacity to provide support to this population when adequately trained in trauma-informed responses. This study describes Camp Agape California (CAC), a church-based mentoring program for children with an incarcerated parent. Specifically, this study describes the development and implementation of a trauma focused mentorship training purposed to equip church members to better meet the needs of this vulnerable population. Seventy-six volunteer mentors from various churches participated in the training and completed the post-training survey. Results suggest that the trauma informed training was effective at increasing knowledge and self-efficacy and was identified as being relevant to the mentor role. Implications for the utility of church-based mentorship for vulnerable populations are explored.

Prenatal Depressive Symptoms, Self-Rated Health, and Diabetes Self-Efficacy: A Moderated Mediation Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Diabetes leads to risk for pregnant persons and their fetuses and requires behavioral changes that can be compromised by poor mental health. Poor self-rated health (SRH), a reliable predictor of morbidity and mortality, has been associated with depressive symptoms and lower self-efficacy in patients with diabetes. However, it is unclear whether SRH mediates the association between depressive symptoms and self-efficacy in pregnant patients with diabetes and whether the healthcare site moderates the mediation. Thus, we sought to test these associations in a racially and ethnically diverse sample of pregnant individuals diagnosed with diabetes from two clinical settings. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was an observational, cross-sectional study of 137 pregnant individuals diagnosed with diabetes at two clinical study sites. Participants self-administered a demographic questionnaire and measures designed to assess depressive symptoms, SRH in pregnancy, and diabetes self-efficacy. A moderated mediation model tested whether these indirect effects were moderated by the site. RESULTS: The results show that SRH mediated the association between depressive symptoms and diabetes self-efficacy. The results also showed the site moderated the mediating effect of SRH on depressive symptoms and diabetes self-efficacy. CONCLUSIONS: Understanding the role of clinical care settings can help inform when and how SRH mediates that association between prenatal depressive symptoms and self-efficacy in diabetic patients.