International Journal on Child Maltreatment: Research, Policy and Practice
In this study, we look at the decision to provide services following a child protection investiga... more In this study, we look at the decision to provide services following a child protection investigation in Norway. More specifically, we want to look at variability at the case level and at the agency level in order to identify factors that may impact a decision to provide services.The study was designed as a cross-sectional archive study that was carried out retrospectively. Included predictors for service provision were presence of abuse, and risk factors related to child, parental and family function. Agency predictors were referral rate and metropolitan location. Variation in service provision was sectioned into case level (N = 883) variation and agency level (N = 16) variation. Five nested multilevel models were estimated. Service provision for families following a child protection investigation was on average 38.4% in the sample. Among the 16 agencies, it varied between 21.9 and 60.0%. This variation is mostly explained by case variables. The strongest were physical abuse (OR = ...
Studien viser at MultifunC-behandling er kortere enn andre behandlingstiltak på barnevernsinstitu... more Studien viser at MultifunC-behandling er kortere enn andre behandlingstiltak på barnevernsinstitusjoner og at flere av ungdommene var hjemme igjen ett år etter inntak på institusjonene. Tross forskjellen i behandlingstid var det ingen forskjeller i bruk av rusmidler, utagerende og regelbrytende atferd. Det var gunstige reduksjoner i denne typen atferd i begge behandlingstypene som ble sammenlignet. Forekomsten av kriminalitet var fortsatt bekymringsfullt høy og for få hadde fortsatt videregående skolegang til at det kan sluttes at behandlingsresultatene er tilfredsstillende
This study aimed to compare the content of the Norwegian Kvello AF for child welfare investigatio... more This study aimed to compare the content of the Norwegian Kvello AF for child welfare investigations with similar frameworks from Sweden (BBIC) and Denmark (ICS). The comparison was based on detailed descriptions of each framework, retrieved from authorized websites, textbooks, manuals, course material, and, for the Kvello AF, also personal communication with the author. An ecological triangle model similar to the British AF was chosen as a guideline for the comparison, as all three frameworks referred to bio-ecological developmental theory. The content of the frameworks was thus compared along dimensions and categories related to 1) the child's needs and development, 2) the parents' capacity, and 3) environmental factors. The main finding was that the Kvello AF included many of the same elements for gathering information as the other frameworks, but there were some important differences. The Kvello AF seemed to have a narrower perspective on the children's needs and welfare than the other frameworks, implying a stronger focus on the child-parent interaction and a less focus on environmental factors and the child's functioning outside the family.
Supplemental material, Supplementary_tables for Systematic approaches to assessment in child prot... more Supplemental material, Supplementary_tables for Systematic approaches to assessment in child protection investigations: A literature review by Svein Arild Vis, Camilla Lauritzen and Sturla Fossum in International Social Work
There has been a lack of studies on bullying in non-western low-income and middle-income countrie... more There has been a lack of studies on bullying in non-western low-income and middle-income countries. This study reported the prevalence of traditional victimization, cybervictimization, and the combination of these, in 13 European and Asian countries, and explored how psychiatric symptoms were associated with victimization. The data for this cross-sectional, school-based study of 21,688 adolescents aged 13–15 were collected from 2011 to 2017. The main outcomes were traditional and cybervictimization obtained from student self-reports. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire was used to assess psychiatric symptoms. Generalized estimating equation and logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). The mean prevalence of any victimization was 28.9%, of traditional victimization only, this was 17.7%, and for cybervictimization only this was 5.1%. Cybervictimization occurred both independently, and in combination with, tradi...
This study examined whether, and the extent to which, the Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Mana... more This study examined whether, and the extent to which, the Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management program predicted positive development of children's emotional, behavioral, and social adjustment through changes in the child-teacher relationship. Using data from a longitudinal quasi-experimental intervention trial with a matched control condition, including 1,085 children (49.7% girls, mean age = 4.22 years; SD age = 0.88 years), the potential associations were tested by means of multilevel path modeling. The mediation model demonstrated that (1) children in the intervention condition achieved more favorable changes in the child-teacher relationship than the control condition; (2) changes in the child-teacher relationship were associated with changes in the target outcomes; and (3) the intervention effects were mediated via changes in the child-teacher relationship.
There are several studies conducted on parenting stress, and the conclusion in the parenting stre... more There are several studies conducted on parenting stress, and the conclusion in the parenting stress research literature is generally that parenting stress decreases the quality of the parent-child relationship. There are however few studies on parenting stress comparing kinship homes to ordinary types of foster homes. The aims of this study were to measure parenting stress in kinship and non-kinship foster homes and to explore factors that predict parenting stress related to the child and to their role as foster parents. Results show that kinship-foster parents experienced higher stress related to the parent domain i.e. depression and relationship problems with the spouse. This was associated with kinship foster parents being of older age and receiving fewer social support services. Non-kinship foster parents experienced higher parenting stress related to the child domain i.e. child's acceptability and adaptability in the family. This was associated with children in non-kinship foster homes having higher internalizing and externalizing mental health problems. The implications are that different types of support are needed for kinship foster parents and non-kinship foster parents. More differentiated support for foster parents may help prevent parenting problems and increase placement permanency.
Changes in the aggressive behaviour of Norwegian children following parent training This study re... more Changes in the aggressive behaviour of Norwegian children following parent training This study records the change in aggressive behaviour of children participating in a Norwegian study based on the treatment program «The Incredible Years». The «Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory» was used to measure behaviour of children from pre-treatment stage until one-year after treatment. Ninety-seven children from four to eight years old as well as their mothers participated in the study. Chi-square and F-tests were used to determine whether treatment outcomes were moderated by variables such as maternal age, maternal level of education, marital status and contact with the child welfare services. The study found that approximately 63% of children participating in the study experienced promising and lasting improvement in their behaviour. Maternal education moderated treatment outcome and mothers with less education reported less favourable treatment outcomes. The importance of identifying childre...
Videoconferencing may help reduce traveling and may save time and money for patients and the heal... more Videoconferencing may help reduce traveling and may save time and money for patients and the health care system. Despite the fact that studies have found videoconferencing as good as face-to-face interactions for certain therapies, few in northern Norway use this tool routinely for the assessment and treatment of patients. We examined clinicians' experiences with videoconferencing and their attitudes to using this tool for psychiatric consultations, and discussed the findings in light of the Technology Acceptance Model. Obstacles to use and how they may be overcome are discussed.
Betingelsene for samarbeid har blitt tydeligere for ansatte i barnevernet og psykisk helsevern fo... more Betingelsene for samarbeid har blitt tydeligere for ansatte i barnevernet og psykisk helsevern for barn og unge etter rundskrivet i 2015, men de ansatte ser fortsatt store utfordringer i samhandlingen, skriver Camilla Lauritzen og kolleger. TEKST: Camilla Lauritzen, Svein A. M. Vis og Sturla Fossum Det er kjent at samordnete tilbud til barn og unge i barnevernet og i psykisk helsevern for barn og unge ofte er mangelfulle (Fossum, Lauritzen, Vis, Ottosen & Rustad, 2015). Helse-og omsorgstjenesten skal vaere ekstra bevisst på grupper Psychologist, 4, e14.
The aim of the present study was to examine how the cyberbullying status (not involved, cyber-vic... more The aim of the present study was to examine how the cyberbullying status (not involved, cyber-victim only, cyberbully only, cyber-victim and bully) is related to the mental health of the adolescents when controlled for traditional bullying experience. We also examined the potential moderator sex on the relationship between cyberbullying status and mental health. Univariate analyses of variance were conducted to predict mental health problems using the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire total difficulties score and its five scales. The model consisted of five predictors in addition to an interaction term between cyberbully status and sex. Of the 2,117 adolescents, 50% were girls. The vast majority did not have any cyberbullying experience (87%), 9% of the adolescents were cyber-victims only, 1% were cyberbullies only and 3% were both cyber-victims and bullies. Overall, girl's mental health seems to be more compromised when exposed to or involved in cyberbullying than boys mental health. In general, adolescents who are not only cyberbullies and cyber-victims, but also cyber-victims only had a worse mental health compared to adolescents without cyberbullying experience. Being exposed to cyberbullying is a unique contributor to mental health problems. Preventing cyberbullying is therefore important. Especially girl's mental health seems to be negatively affected when exposed to cyberbullying.
Scandinavian Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology
Background: Help-seeking is considered a constructive coping style. However, the threshold at whi... more Background: Help-seeking is considered a constructive coping style. However, the threshold at which many adolescents seek help is relatively high, and the outcomes are not necessarily always positive. Objective: The main aim of this study was to examine if bullying and cyberbullying victimization predicted help-seeking behavior among Norwegian adolescents. Method: Help-seeking behavior was predicted using three different Generalized Linear Mixed Models. In addition to demographic characteristics and mental health, these models controlled for bullying and cyberbullying, respectively. Results: 2054 adolescents answered questions on help-seeking behavior and if they had felt the need to seek outside help with their problems, feelings, behavior, or emotional troubles within the past 6 months. Two hundred (9.7%) reported seeking outside help. Being exposed to bullying increased the likelihood of help-seeking behavior, while being exposed to cyberbullying did not. Only when forms of bullying or cyberbullying, respectively, were added to the models, did the threat of having rumors spread, both in real life and online, increase the likelihood for seeking help. Conclusions: Many factors affect whether adolescents seek help for a problem. The fact that adolescents exposed to bullying seek help more often than those not exposed may be considered a success, as this behavior is encouraged by many adults, mental health professionals, and anti-bullying interventions. However, adolescents exposed to cyberbullying did not seem to seek help. Future studies should identify factors that lead to more and successful help-seeking among bullied and cyberbullied adolescents.
Betingelsene for samarbeid har blitt tydeligere for ansatte i barnevernet og psykisk helsevern fo... more Betingelsene for samarbeid har blitt tydeligere for ansatte i barnevernet og psykisk helsevern for barn og unge etter rundskrivet i 2015, men de ansatte ser fortsatt store utfordringer i samhandlingen, skriver Camilla Lauritzen og kolleger. TEKST: Camilla Lauritzen, Svein A. M. Vis og Sturla Fossum Det er kjent at samordnete tilbud til barn og unge i barnevernet og i psykisk helsevern for barn og unge ofte er mangelfulle (Fossum, Lauritzen, Vis, Ottosen & Rustad, 2015). Helse-og omsorgstjenesten skal vaere ekstra bevisst på grupper Psychologist, 4, e14.
In the present study, the Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management (IY TCM) program was impl... more In the present study, the Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management (IY TCM) program was implemented as a universal preventive intervention in a regular, lower primary school setting. Outcomes for teacher’s behavior management practice, problem behavior in the classroom and the school environment, teacher self- and collective efficacy, and classroom climate were examined. Using a quasi-experimental pre–post comparison group design, teacher-reported outcomes were compared between 163 teachers in 21 schools who participated in the IY TCM program and 139 teachers from 23 schools who did not participate in the program. No significant main effects of the IY TCM program on teacher-reported outcomes were revealed by linear mixed model analyses. The findings suggest that further evaluation is warranted. Future research should explore the impact of training teachers more consistently (e.g., provision of additional individual coaching outside the Teacher Classroom Management [TCM] session...
The Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management (IY TCM) programme has shown promise in reducin... more The Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management (IY TCM) programme has shown promise in reducing behaviour problems among high-risk children in childcare. However, at present, we do not know whether the IY TCM successfully improves the child–teacher relationship in childcare and whether the effects manifest in both the population and in high-risk groups. Hence, we conducted a quasi-experimental pre-post study with a matched control condition to examine the changes in child–teacher relationships in a sample of 1085 children aged 3–6 years after implementing the IY TCM programme. Linear mixed models revealed favourable group-by-time differences benefitting the intervention compared to the control condition. Subgroup analyses of children scoring at or above the 90th percentile on either internalising or externalising behaviour problems showed that the preventive effects persisted in both high-risk subsamples. In sum, the findings indicate that the IY TCM programme does improve child–teacher relationships and that the effect is present for the entire study population as well as children scoring in the clinical range on behaviour problems. This suggests that the application of the IY TCM programme in childcare settings has important preventive effects. Implications and limitations are further discussed.
International Journal on Child Maltreatment: Research, Policy and Practice
In this study, we look at the decision to provide services following a child protection investiga... more In this study, we look at the decision to provide services following a child protection investigation in Norway. More specifically, we want to look at variability at the case level and at the agency level in order to identify factors that may impact a decision to provide services.The study was designed as a cross-sectional archive study that was carried out retrospectively. Included predictors for service provision were presence of abuse, and risk factors related to child, parental and family function. Agency predictors were referral rate and metropolitan location. Variation in service provision was sectioned into case level (N = 883) variation and agency level (N = 16) variation. Five nested multilevel models were estimated. Service provision for families following a child protection investigation was on average 38.4% in the sample. Among the 16 agencies, it varied between 21.9 and 60.0%. This variation is mostly explained by case variables. The strongest were physical abuse (OR = ...
Studien viser at MultifunC-behandling er kortere enn andre behandlingstiltak på barnevernsinstitu... more Studien viser at MultifunC-behandling er kortere enn andre behandlingstiltak på barnevernsinstitusjoner og at flere av ungdommene var hjemme igjen ett år etter inntak på institusjonene. Tross forskjellen i behandlingstid var det ingen forskjeller i bruk av rusmidler, utagerende og regelbrytende atferd. Det var gunstige reduksjoner i denne typen atferd i begge behandlingstypene som ble sammenlignet. Forekomsten av kriminalitet var fortsatt bekymringsfullt høy og for få hadde fortsatt videregående skolegang til at det kan sluttes at behandlingsresultatene er tilfredsstillende
This study aimed to compare the content of the Norwegian Kvello AF for child welfare investigatio... more This study aimed to compare the content of the Norwegian Kvello AF for child welfare investigations with similar frameworks from Sweden (BBIC) and Denmark (ICS). The comparison was based on detailed descriptions of each framework, retrieved from authorized websites, textbooks, manuals, course material, and, for the Kvello AF, also personal communication with the author. An ecological triangle model similar to the British AF was chosen as a guideline for the comparison, as all three frameworks referred to bio-ecological developmental theory. The content of the frameworks was thus compared along dimensions and categories related to 1) the child's needs and development, 2) the parents' capacity, and 3) environmental factors. The main finding was that the Kvello AF included many of the same elements for gathering information as the other frameworks, but there were some important differences. The Kvello AF seemed to have a narrower perspective on the children's needs and welfare than the other frameworks, implying a stronger focus on the child-parent interaction and a less focus on environmental factors and the child's functioning outside the family.
Supplemental material, Supplementary_tables for Systematic approaches to assessment in child prot... more Supplemental material, Supplementary_tables for Systematic approaches to assessment in child protection investigations: A literature review by Svein Arild Vis, Camilla Lauritzen and Sturla Fossum in International Social Work
There has been a lack of studies on bullying in non-western low-income and middle-income countrie... more There has been a lack of studies on bullying in non-western low-income and middle-income countries. This study reported the prevalence of traditional victimization, cybervictimization, and the combination of these, in 13 European and Asian countries, and explored how psychiatric symptoms were associated with victimization. The data for this cross-sectional, school-based study of 21,688 adolescents aged 13–15 were collected from 2011 to 2017. The main outcomes were traditional and cybervictimization obtained from student self-reports. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire was used to assess psychiatric symptoms. Generalized estimating equation and logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). The mean prevalence of any victimization was 28.9%, of traditional victimization only, this was 17.7%, and for cybervictimization only this was 5.1%. Cybervictimization occurred both independently, and in combination with, tradi...
This study examined whether, and the extent to which, the Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Mana... more This study examined whether, and the extent to which, the Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management program predicted positive development of children's emotional, behavioral, and social adjustment through changes in the child-teacher relationship. Using data from a longitudinal quasi-experimental intervention trial with a matched control condition, including 1,085 children (49.7% girls, mean age = 4.22 years; SD age = 0.88 years), the potential associations were tested by means of multilevel path modeling. The mediation model demonstrated that (1) children in the intervention condition achieved more favorable changes in the child-teacher relationship than the control condition; (2) changes in the child-teacher relationship were associated with changes in the target outcomes; and (3) the intervention effects were mediated via changes in the child-teacher relationship.
There are several studies conducted on parenting stress, and the conclusion in the parenting stre... more There are several studies conducted on parenting stress, and the conclusion in the parenting stress research literature is generally that parenting stress decreases the quality of the parent-child relationship. There are however few studies on parenting stress comparing kinship homes to ordinary types of foster homes. The aims of this study were to measure parenting stress in kinship and non-kinship foster homes and to explore factors that predict parenting stress related to the child and to their role as foster parents. Results show that kinship-foster parents experienced higher stress related to the parent domain i.e. depression and relationship problems with the spouse. This was associated with kinship foster parents being of older age and receiving fewer social support services. Non-kinship foster parents experienced higher parenting stress related to the child domain i.e. child's acceptability and adaptability in the family. This was associated with children in non-kinship foster homes having higher internalizing and externalizing mental health problems. The implications are that different types of support are needed for kinship foster parents and non-kinship foster parents. More differentiated support for foster parents may help prevent parenting problems and increase placement permanency.
Changes in the aggressive behaviour of Norwegian children following parent training This study re... more Changes in the aggressive behaviour of Norwegian children following parent training This study records the change in aggressive behaviour of children participating in a Norwegian study based on the treatment program «The Incredible Years». The «Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory» was used to measure behaviour of children from pre-treatment stage until one-year after treatment. Ninety-seven children from four to eight years old as well as their mothers participated in the study. Chi-square and F-tests were used to determine whether treatment outcomes were moderated by variables such as maternal age, maternal level of education, marital status and contact with the child welfare services. The study found that approximately 63% of children participating in the study experienced promising and lasting improvement in their behaviour. Maternal education moderated treatment outcome and mothers with less education reported less favourable treatment outcomes. The importance of identifying childre...
Videoconferencing may help reduce traveling and may save time and money for patients and the heal... more Videoconferencing may help reduce traveling and may save time and money for patients and the health care system. Despite the fact that studies have found videoconferencing as good as face-to-face interactions for certain therapies, few in northern Norway use this tool routinely for the assessment and treatment of patients. We examined clinicians' experiences with videoconferencing and their attitudes to using this tool for psychiatric consultations, and discussed the findings in light of the Technology Acceptance Model. Obstacles to use and how they may be overcome are discussed.
Betingelsene for samarbeid har blitt tydeligere for ansatte i barnevernet og psykisk helsevern fo... more Betingelsene for samarbeid har blitt tydeligere for ansatte i barnevernet og psykisk helsevern for barn og unge etter rundskrivet i 2015, men de ansatte ser fortsatt store utfordringer i samhandlingen, skriver Camilla Lauritzen og kolleger. TEKST: Camilla Lauritzen, Svein A. M. Vis og Sturla Fossum Det er kjent at samordnete tilbud til barn og unge i barnevernet og i psykisk helsevern for barn og unge ofte er mangelfulle (Fossum, Lauritzen, Vis, Ottosen & Rustad, 2015). Helse-og omsorgstjenesten skal vaere ekstra bevisst på grupper Psychologist, 4, e14.
The aim of the present study was to examine how the cyberbullying status (not involved, cyber-vic... more The aim of the present study was to examine how the cyberbullying status (not involved, cyber-victim only, cyberbully only, cyber-victim and bully) is related to the mental health of the adolescents when controlled for traditional bullying experience. We also examined the potential moderator sex on the relationship between cyberbullying status and mental health. Univariate analyses of variance were conducted to predict mental health problems using the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire total difficulties score and its five scales. The model consisted of five predictors in addition to an interaction term between cyberbully status and sex. Of the 2,117 adolescents, 50% were girls. The vast majority did not have any cyberbullying experience (87%), 9% of the adolescents were cyber-victims only, 1% were cyberbullies only and 3% were both cyber-victims and bullies. Overall, girl's mental health seems to be more compromised when exposed to or involved in cyberbullying than boys mental health. In general, adolescents who are not only cyberbullies and cyber-victims, but also cyber-victims only had a worse mental health compared to adolescents without cyberbullying experience. Being exposed to cyberbullying is a unique contributor to mental health problems. Preventing cyberbullying is therefore important. Especially girl's mental health seems to be negatively affected when exposed to cyberbullying.
Scandinavian Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology
Background: Help-seeking is considered a constructive coping style. However, the threshold at whi... more Background: Help-seeking is considered a constructive coping style. However, the threshold at which many adolescents seek help is relatively high, and the outcomes are not necessarily always positive. Objective: The main aim of this study was to examine if bullying and cyberbullying victimization predicted help-seeking behavior among Norwegian adolescents. Method: Help-seeking behavior was predicted using three different Generalized Linear Mixed Models. In addition to demographic characteristics and mental health, these models controlled for bullying and cyberbullying, respectively. Results: 2054 adolescents answered questions on help-seeking behavior and if they had felt the need to seek outside help with their problems, feelings, behavior, or emotional troubles within the past 6 months. Two hundred (9.7%) reported seeking outside help. Being exposed to bullying increased the likelihood of help-seeking behavior, while being exposed to cyberbullying did not. Only when forms of bullying or cyberbullying, respectively, were added to the models, did the threat of having rumors spread, both in real life and online, increase the likelihood for seeking help. Conclusions: Many factors affect whether adolescents seek help for a problem. The fact that adolescents exposed to bullying seek help more often than those not exposed may be considered a success, as this behavior is encouraged by many adults, mental health professionals, and anti-bullying interventions. However, adolescents exposed to cyberbullying did not seem to seek help. Future studies should identify factors that lead to more and successful help-seeking among bullied and cyberbullied adolescents.
Betingelsene for samarbeid har blitt tydeligere for ansatte i barnevernet og psykisk helsevern fo... more Betingelsene for samarbeid har blitt tydeligere for ansatte i barnevernet og psykisk helsevern for barn og unge etter rundskrivet i 2015, men de ansatte ser fortsatt store utfordringer i samhandlingen, skriver Camilla Lauritzen og kolleger. TEKST: Camilla Lauritzen, Svein A. M. Vis og Sturla Fossum Det er kjent at samordnete tilbud til barn og unge i barnevernet og i psykisk helsevern for barn og unge ofte er mangelfulle (Fossum, Lauritzen, Vis, Ottosen & Rustad, 2015). Helse-og omsorgstjenesten skal vaere ekstra bevisst på grupper Psychologist, 4, e14.
In the present study, the Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management (IY TCM) program was impl... more In the present study, the Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management (IY TCM) program was implemented as a universal preventive intervention in a regular, lower primary school setting. Outcomes for teacher’s behavior management practice, problem behavior in the classroom and the school environment, teacher self- and collective efficacy, and classroom climate were examined. Using a quasi-experimental pre–post comparison group design, teacher-reported outcomes were compared between 163 teachers in 21 schools who participated in the IY TCM program and 139 teachers from 23 schools who did not participate in the program. No significant main effects of the IY TCM program on teacher-reported outcomes were revealed by linear mixed model analyses. The findings suggest that further evaluation is warranted. Future research should explore the impact of training teachers more consistently (e.g., provision of additional individual coaching outside the Teacher Classroom Management [TCM] session...
The Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management (IY TCM) programme has shown promise in reducin... more The Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management (IY TCM) programme has shown promise in reducing behaviour problems among high-risk children in childcare. However, at present, we do not know whether the IY TCM successfully improves the child–teacher relationship in childcare and whether the effects manifest in both the population and in high-risk groups. Hence, we conducted a quasi-experimental pre-post study with a matched control condition to examine the changes in child–teacher relationships in a sample of 1085 children aged 3–6 years after implementing the IY TCM programme. Linear mixed models revealed favourable group-by-time differences benefitting the intervention compared to the control condition. Subgroup analyses of children scoring at or above the 90th percentile on either internalising or externalising behaviour problems showed that the preventive effects persisted in both high-risk subsamples. In sum, the findings indicate that the IY TCM programme does improve child–teacher relationships and that the effect is present for the entire study population as well as children scoring in the clinical range on behaviour problems. This suggests that the application of the IY TCM programme in childcare settings has important preventive effects. Implications and limitations are further discussed.
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