Assessing Clients' Progress Through a Permanency Planning Program

Abstract

Eighty-five HIV-positive mothers were tracked in a descriptive analysis of progress through a nonprofit organization's program of legal and mental health services designed to assist ill parents in making a permanency plan for their children after the parent's death. Data on service utilization was analyzed using a Hierarchical Classes (HICLAS) analysis, which uncovered an interpretable pattern of services that clearly distinguished basic (e.g., intake), legal, and clinical services. From the HICLAS output we created an index of progress: [no services] < [basic services only] < [basic + legal services] < [basic + legal + clinical] services. An index of mood was constructed from staff ratings of clients during home visits. Multiple regression analyses revealed that the number of different moods observed in a client was positively correlated with progress. Number of moods was also positively correlated with positive outcome, that is formulating a legal permanency plan and/or transferring care of the child to a new caregiver. Mediation analyses suggested that number of observed moods influences progress, which in turn increases the likelihood of a positive outcome. A second study replicated the prediction of mood on progress in a group of new caregivers who were not mothers.