Strength-based Practices Research Articles

Adapting cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety in autistic children: A commentary

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a widely recognized intervention for addressing anxiety in both non-autistic and autistic youth. This commentary explores the landscape of implementing CBT for anxiety disorders in autistic children, as investigated by Cervin and colleagues in their 2023 study. While the study provides valuable insights, our commentary aims to broaden the scope of CBT, such as the perspectives of those with lived experiences and consideration of strength-based practices. For this reason, we draw attention to unexplored facets and potential limitations, advocating for further adaptations of CBT practices aligning with the neurodiversity-affirming perspective as we aim to enhance the effectiveness and accessibility of CBT for autistic individuals.

Contributing to an inclusive education for neurodivergent students: sharing reflections, practices, and experiences.

It is estimated that one in seven individuals, more than 15% of the population in the UK, are neurodivergent. In recent years, there has been a notable increase in university students disclosing disabilities, specific learning difficulties, or mental health conditions. Despite this, students with disabilities and learning differences often experience lower levels of well-being compared to their peers, and their completion rates are significantly lower. Two years ago, I was tasked with creating a training program for academic staff to enhance their support for neurodivergent students. In this commentary, I share reflections on what I have learned while developing this training, and I outline effective strategies and approaches that can be implemented in the design and delivery of educational content. I advocate a collaborative approach to training development with neurodivergent students and with colleagues with various roles. The commentary draws upon the Universal Design for Learning framework to advocate for an educational environment that is welcoming and accommodating to all learners. It champions strength-based practices, steering clear of the traditional deficit-focused narratives. My goal with this reflection is to prompt educators to reflect on their teaching methodologies, engage in conversations with their students, and to consider substantial pedagogical changes that prioritize inclusivity over reasonable adjustments.

Experience of stigma and its relationship to identification with the neurodiversity model for Indian parents of children with autism spectrum disorder

It is widely recognized that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their families continue to face extensive stigma and that much of the current research on ASD is deficit-focused. Diversity and inclusion perspectives are emerging, but there is less of a focus on how stigma affects the adoption of these approaches. In collaboration with the University of Michigan Department of Psychology and Action For Autism, a national Indian organization, our research aims to understand the experience of stigma and its relationship to identification with the neurodiversity model for Indian parents of children with ASD. The neurodiversity model proposes that ASD is a natural variation of human behavior that should be celebrated (Jaarsma & Welin, 2011). The study was carried out by administering online surveys through Qualtrics to Indian parents residing in India (N=82; full data n=56). This study explores the extent to which Asian value adherence, child functioning, and perceived ASD stigma contribute to parental alignment with the neurodiversity model. It also investigates the ways in which alignment with the model affects parental stress, isolation from family and friends, parenting goals, identification of child’s strengths, and positive perceptions about raising a child with ASD. Preliminary findings demonstrate statistically significant correlations between a child’s ASD behaviors, perceived ASD stigma, parental stress, and isolation from family and friends. A more complex mediation model of the effects of neurodiversity alignment on these variables will be evaluated in the future and will have implications for the adoption of strength-based practices and the reduction of stigma associated with ASD within different cultural contexts.

Book Review: Facilitating desistance from aggression and crime. Theory, research, and strength-based practices

Book Review: Facilitating desistance from aggression and crime. Theory, research, and strength-based practices

Experiences and perception of character strengths among patients with breast cancer in China: a qualitative study

ObjectiveTo explore the patients’ experiences on character strengths that Chinese patients experience after the diagnosis of breast cancer.DesignA qualitative, exploratory study using semistructured interviews based on the patients’ lived experience...

Strength-Based Strategies for Twice-Exceptional High School Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Academically talented students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have the potential to be successful both in high school and later in college, but their rate of post-secondary enrollment and completion lags behind their peers. Currently, limited information exists on strategies to help these students, often known as twice exceptional or 2e, to be academically successful in high school and prepare for competitive college experiences. This article includes a range of specific and practical educational strategies and practices reported in recent research. These strength-based practices, experiences, and learning strategies can be incorporated into educational planning for current 2eASD secondary students to prepare them for academic success and transition, if they desire, to competitive colleges.

Strength-based school counsellors’ experiences of counselling in New Zealand

ABSTRACT This article presents New Zealand school counsellors’ narratives of counselling adolescents from a strength-based perspective. Strength-based counselling encompasses several counselling modalities including positive psychology, narrative and solution-focused brief counselling and promotes adolescents’ strengths to enhance wellbeing. Using semi-structured interviews, eight secondary school counsellors with a strength-based practice focus were interviewed. Narrative analysis drawing on a categorical-content mode of reading across participants’ narrative data showed that the school context plays a significant role in shaping counsellors’ practice. Metanarratives of both strength and deficit, and metanarratives of the school context were identified as having an impact on counsellors’ strength-based practices. Dominant deficit metanarratives were juxtaposed with metanarratives of strength. Implications of how counsellors negotiate counselling in a school context are discussed.

Assessing Social Determinants of Health in a Prenatal and Perinatal Cultural Intervention for American Indians and Alaska Natives.

American Indians and Alaska Natives (AIANs) refer to cultural traditions and values to guide resilient and strength-based practices to address maternal and infant health disparities. Methods: A case study of a culturally-based educational intervention on AIAN maternal and child health. Results: Cultural teachings have successfully been applied in AIAN behavioral interventions using talking circles and cradleboards, but maternal and child health interventions are not well-represented in peer-reviewed literature. Zero publications included interventions centered around cradleboards and safe sleep. Discussion: There is a need for rigorous published research on culturally based interventions and effectiveness on health outcomes for mothers and babies. Conclusions: This paper discusses how a cradleboard educational intervention incorporates national guidelines to address maternal and infant health while mediating social determinants of health.

Affirming Strength-Based Practices in Disability and Inclusion: A Shared Autoethnographic Study of the Experiences of a Teacher

In this autoethnographic article we focus on the issues of “disability” and “inclusive education” and the challenges of being positive and affirming in this area of research and practice. As a teacher, I (Alina) continue to encounter regularly the dominant deficit view of “disability,” in spite of the extensive body of literature that advocates for the rights of people with disabilities as well as the benefits of inclusive education best built on strength-based thinking. The autoethnographic methodology allowed me to explore my experiences as an educator and reflect on specific events, presented through four vignettes that capture how my beliefs and values as an educator have formed over time. Throughout the article, I work closely with two academic colleagues (Ed and Jane), who become my critical friends, as I travel through this personal and professional journey that includes emotional reaction, reflection and academic analysis. I also engage with the emerging field of strength-based approaches to disability, as well as the importance of dialogue and justice, on an individual and professional level, with the aim of empowerment for students and teachers.

Positive Psychology and Education of Students with Disabilities: the Way Forward for Assessment and Intervention

Focusing on using strength-based practices in special education broadens the perspectives of students with disabilities, their families, and people that provide supports (e.g., educators, counselors) regarding the positive traits that students with disabilities demonstrate and how they can use these attributes to achieve valued life outcomes. Measuring, understanding, and building on strengths are the mission of the field of positive psychology, which can provide a framework for practitioners in the disability field to build on strengths and enhance systems of support and quality of life outcomes. Practitioners, including special and general educators, related service providers, psychologists, and counselors, can use positive psychological assessments and interventions to promote positive student school and postschool outcomes, including well-being, achievement, and leadership. This article (1) provides an overview of how positive psychology can provide a framework for strength-based approaches, (2) highlights specific positive psychological assessment tools and interventions, (3) describes how to implement positive psychological assessment tools and interventions in educational contexts with students with disabilities, and (4) identifies areas for future research to promote positive and meaningful outcomes. Low-cost strength-based assessments and interventions can be used in diverse educational settings to promote positive student school and postschool outcomes. Future research should test hypotheses related to how strength assessments and interventions can promote personal strengths across educational contexts (e.g., inclusive, general education classrooms) with students with diverse personal characteristics and support needs.

Uncovering strengths within community dwelling older adults: What does it mean for health care practice?

The aim of this paper is to present the psychological strengths we identified from interviews with community dwelling older adults. Data for this paper is drawn from participants in a community dwelling older adult study. The latter involved qualitative in-depth interviews with the participants exploring their well-being. All participants were community dwelling and living in a region in the North Island of New Zealand. Interviews took place between March 2017 to September 2017. Thirty-seven older adults between the ages of 66-99 took part in semi-structured interviews and all interviews were audio-recorded. Interviews ranged from 1 to 3hr. Analysis was informed by the Values in Action Character strengths framework. We were able to identify strengths within the VIA conceptual framework comprising; cognitive strengths, emotional strengths, social and community strengths, protective strengths and transcendental strengths. Throughout this study we found that participants experienced difficulties in identifying and talking about their strengths. In many ways this may reflect participants' strength of humility, demonstrating modesty in talking about themselves. This study has highlighted the challenges older adults experienced in identifying their own strengths. However, the study has demonstrated how narratives can be one way of uncovering psychological strengths with older adults. In particular, these findings highlight the range of strengths, for example, bravery, gratitude, hope, humour, kindness, perseverance, spirituality, that older adults have and give a voice in highlighting these. However, more practical ways of making strength-based practices workable in daily practice, for example, in clinical assessment and health promotion programs are required.

Building Bridges for New Immigrant Students Through Asset-Based Consultation

The number of immigrant students enrolling in California schools is increasing and teaching them effectively requires adapted approaches to affirm their linguistic and cultural diversity. Educators feel underprepared to meet the complex needs of students who represent hundreds of languages and cultures. Many immigrant children are frequently also dual-language or English learners who struggle to meet the academic demands of today’s fast-paced schools, and teachers need to know specific information about newcomer challenges to maintain and affirm their linguistic and cultural strengths. Given this cultural shift, how can school psychologists break down barriers and assist teachers in working with newly arrived immigrant students? This paper provides school psychologists with strength-based practices to begin building educational bridges for immigrant students through an adapted consultative approach. The proposed Asset-Based Consultation model combines instructional consultation and the Cultural Assets Identifier within a multicultural, response-to-intervention framework, individually tailored to support school psychologists as they consult with teachers on how to best address the academic, social, and emotional needs of newcomer students in our increasingly diverse educational landscape.

The Change Clinic Counselling Service: Blending Client-Centred and Strength-Based Practices to Improve Mental Health Services to Families

Operating in a small urban Canadian location, Change Clinic is a brief counselling service intended for child and adolescent mental health issues. It blends principles from different strength-based and client-centred approaches to counselling (e.g., solution-focused, narrative, and single session therapies). Using the parent-report version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, changes in child and adolescent mental health difficulties were assessed. Compared to pre-test scores, significant improvements in behavioural, emotional, and hyperactivity problems were observed six months after delivery of the service. Effect size was estimated to be moderate (.62) based on the Added Value Score calculation. Almost three quarters of clients were served in one to two sessions.

A Glass Half Full Not Empty: Strength-Based Practice in Persons with Substance Use Disorders

The strength-based practice highlights the inherent competencies, resources, and values of an individual. While acknowledging underlying problem behaviors, it moves toward identifying potential solutions and meanings an individual holds. It therefore presents an innovative method to working with clients with different mental health concerns, including substance use disorders (SUD) with a focus on building resources. Traditionally, psychosocial interventions in the field of SUD have focused on behavioral management, cognitive approaches and the 12-steps programs. Such approaches have a leaning toward the deficit model and identify underlying pathology seen in addiction. Moving toward a strengths perspective offers possibilities to view one’s self and others in a positive light. In the current report, we present an argument to incorporate strength-based practices such as Motivational Interviewing, Solution-focused family therapy, Family-Centered Practice, Community-Based Participatory Research interventions and Case Management in working with persons with SUD. Specifically, we recommend a therapeutic focus of individual, family and community interventions that intensify movement toward healing by examining variables that instill well-being, while destigmatizing addiction. Secondly, we look at relational research such as social support, social networks and family strengths. Finally, we review aspects of community support groups and access to help that are intertwined within a strengths model.

Assessment of Children in Need in a Post-Soviet Context: Reflections of Child Protective Workers in Estonia

Child protective worker perspectives and principles are known to affect practitioner–-client interaction. However, there is little research on the principles underpinning workers’ assessment activities in transitioning post-Soviet societies where child protection is a relatively new field. This article presents the findings of a small-scale, qualitative study that explored the perspectives and principles that Estonian child protective workers utilize to inform their assessments. The respondents (N = 20) provided examples of real-life cases that reflected their assessment perspectives. The results indicated that too often workers’ assessments demonstrate an over-reliance on an authoritarian, deficit-based approach that does not sufficiently include family or child perspectives. Such an approach may suggest the lingering influence of philosophies that informed family policy during the Soviet occupation. Workers with advanced training in social work and strength-based practices were more likely to focus on family strengths, build collaborative relationships with parents and children, and report successful outcomes in their cases. This study underscores the potential influence of previous Soviet occupation on child welfare practices in Estonia and also the need for further training of the nation’s child protective workers.

Parenting in a New Land: Specialized Services for Immigrant and Refugee Families in the USA

This practice-based research study examines a US-based preventive services program tailored to immigrant and refugee families that have been subject to a Child Protective Services report. The model is the result of a collaboration between an immigrant serving community-based agency and a county department of child welfare services in a medium-sized city that has become a hub for refugee resettlement. A clinical data mining approach was used in an intensive examination of 15 families’ case records. This paper identifies family characteristics, service needs, and strength-based practices that emerged, offering recommendations for child welfare agencies and practitioners in other jurisdictions seeking to design strategies to strengthen their services for immigrant and refugee communities.

Strength-based practice and parental engagement in child welfare services: An empirical examination

Child welfare policy and practice increasingly emphasize the use of strength-based practice in concert with efforts to reduce identified risks to child safety. Compared with strategies for assessing risk, however, strength-based child welfare interventions lack a robust empirical foundation. Using data from a linked sample of primary caregivers (n=679) and child welfare caseworkers (n=327), the present study used path analysis to examine the relationship between parent report of workers' use of strength-based practice and parent investment in child welfare services. The study also examined the role of worker characteristics, organizational factors, child placement status, and parent risk factors. As hypothesized, parents' perceptions regarding their workers' use of strength-based practices robustly predicted their buy-in to services. Furthermore, those parents with a child in out-of-home placement, compared to those receiving in-home services, were less likely to perceive their worker as strength-based or to engage in services. The only significant organizational variable was workers' positive challenge, directly influencing strength-based practices and indirectly affecting parent engagement. Further, parents who reported using substances and those experiencing more economic hardship were more likely to buy-in to services. The findings provide empirical support for the link between parents' willingness to engage in services and the use of strength-based interventions, and contribute to current discussions regarding the appropriate balance between reducing risks to child safety and strengthening family capacities.

Diversity: What Can Psychiatry Do?

Diversity: What Can Psychiatry Do?

A Study on Community Mental Health Social Worker's Experiences of Strength-based Practices

본 연구는 지역사회 정신보건사회복지사를 대상으로 강점실천의 경험을 분석하기 위해 질적분석방법으로 조사하였다. 자료수집 기간은 2012년 2월 1일부터 2012년 2월 29일 까지였다. 연구참여자들은 10명으로 심층인터뷰를 통해 지역사회 정신보건사회복지사들이 진술한 내용을 분석한 결과 강점실천의 경험으로 26개의 구성된 의미에서 9개의 주제를 도출되었다. 이들 주제를 유사한 내용으로 묶고 분류한 결과 사고의 변화, 역량강화, 삶의 의미를 알아가는 것으로 3개의 주제묶음으로 범주화하였으며 연구자에 의해 명명되었다.<BR> 지역사회정신보건사회복지사들이 경험한 강점실천의 연구결과를 중심으로 실천적 함의를 논의하였다.

The Mental Health Recovery Movement and Family Therapy, Part II: A Collaborative, Appreciative Approach for Supporting Mental Health Recovery

A continuation of Part I, which introduced mental health recovery concepts to family therapists, Part II of this article outlines a collaborative, appreciative approach for working in recovery-oriented contexts. This approach draws primarily upon postmodern therapies, which have numerous social justice and strength-based practices that are easily adapted in recovery-oriented contexts. The model outlined in this article includes an overview of the recovery partnership (i.e., therapeutic relationship), mapping recovery (i.e., assessment and case conceptualization), recovery planning (i.e., treatment planning), facilitating recovery (i.e., intervention), accessing resources (i.e., case management), recovery maintenance, and service contexts as well as a case study.