Intervention Strategies

3-1 Discussion: Intervention Strategies

First, review the Case Studies in the Module Three Resources and select one to use. In your initial discussion post, complete the following:

● Describe the treatment intervention you would use for this case.

● Explain your rationale for choosing this intervention.

● Describe possible roadblocks that might hinder the effectiveness of treatment ○ Include one or two methods to successfully address the roadblocks.

● Discuss how the identified intervention would differ if used with a child or adolescent versus an adult.

Reading and Resources2.html

Required Resources

Textbook: Functional Behavioral Assessment, Diagnosis, and Treatment,  Chapter 3

Shapiro Library Article: A Systematic Review of Mental Health Disorders of Children in Foster Care Read this article to learn about mental healthcare for children and adolescents in foster care. Pay particular attention to the specific diagnosis at the focus of your final project.

Website: Case Studies: Disorders of Childhood and Adolescence Read and select one of these case studies to analyze for the module discussion.

Attribution: “Case Studies: Disorders of Childhood and Adolescence” by Chrissy Hicks for Lumen Learning, Lumen Learning is licensed under CC BY 4.0 / A derivative from the original work.

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Treatment Strategies for Adolescents and Children

Effective Treatment Interventions

The field of psychology has many different treatment approaches tailored to unique populations. Psychotherapy is a type of intervention modality. Psychotherapy usually includes evidence-based therapeutic conversations and treatment goals between a therapist and a child or family. The main goals of child and adolescent therapeutic interventions are to help the child and family understand and resolve problems, modify behavior, and make positive changes in their lives.

A treatment strategy incorporates different approaches, techniques, and interventions. Therapists consider many factors when selecting the best treatment approach for a child or an adolescent. Youth in the foster care system may have challenging environmental and psychological issues that make mental health treatment unique and complex. Currently, there is no universal standard of mental health treatment unique to the foster care system. The best treatment approaches depend on the severity of symptoms, the type of care required, and the expertise of treatment providers available in the community (Sanders et al., 2017)

This is a list of possible treatment interventions to explore and implement with a child or adolescent:

• Cognitive behavioral therapy
  • Effective for anxiety and depression
• Interpersonal psychotherapy
  • Effective for depression
• Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy
  • Focuses on children who are currently experiencing or showing signs of post-traumatic stress disorder

It is critical to intervene as early as possible to address potentially problematic symptoms. Intervention is especially important for children in the foster system. There are many effective techniques, interventions, and modes of therapy for use with children. Selection of these depends on the severity and types of symptoms present. In most instances, family involvement is key to making long-term, consistent progress with the child’s symptoms and behaviors. This makes family-based interventions common in child and adolescent mental health treatment.

Dedousis-Wallace (2021) describes parent management training as an intervention for conduct problems. Parent management training improves parenting skills to reduce adolescent misconduct. This intervention works well as a multimodal approach or as an intensive intervention.

Family-focused intervention uses key family members to help reduce the child’s or adolescent’s problematic symptoms and behaviors. Family therapy is especially useful and effective when treating adolescents facing conduct disorders and substance abuse.

Group therapy is effective when working with adolescents and children for many reasons. The primary intervention technique used in group therapy is cognitive behavioral therapy (Epel et al., 2021). Group therapy can reduce participants’ symptoms of depression, anxiety, and fear. Attending a group session can help adolescents and children improve their self-esteem and feelings of competence. Adolescents benefit from group intervention because they more readily accept comments from peers than from adults. Therapy groups offer the advantage of the benefits of relationships and peer interactions. Groups give the opportunity for listening without perceived demands. Perhaps most importantly, adolescents can benefit vicariously from the work they observe others do (Carr, 2019).

References

Carr, A. (2019). Family therapy and systemic interventions for child‐focused problems: The current evidence base. Journal of Family Therapy, 41(2), 153–213.

Dedousis-Wallace, A., Drysdale, S. A., McAloon, J., & Ollendick, T. H. (2021). Parental and familial predictors and moderators of parent management treatment programs for conduct problems in youth. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 24, 92–119.

Epel, N., Zohar, A. A., Artom, A., Novak, A. M., & Lev-Ari, S. (2021). The effect of cognitive behavioral group therapy on children’s self-esteem. Children (Basel, Switzerland), 8(11), 958. https://doi.org/10.3390/children8110958

Sanders, J., Munford, R., Ballantyne, R., Henaghan, M., Allison, R., & Jackson, R. (2017). Conditional openness: Young people define practices for successful child protection interventions. Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 39(3), 261–278.

Graduate Discussion Rubric.html

Graduate Discussion Rubric

Overview

Your active participation in the discussions is essential to your overall success this term. Discussion questions will help you make meaningful connections between the course content and the larger concepts of the course. These discussions give you a chance to express your own thoughts, ask questions, and gain insight from your peers and instructor.

Directions

For each discussion, you must create one initial post and follow up with at least two response posts.

For your initial post, do the following:

• Write a post of 1 to 2 paragraphs.
• In Module One, complete your initial post by Thursday at 11:59 p.m. Eastern.
• In Modules Two through Ten, complete your initial post by Thursday at 11:59 p.m. of your local time zone.
• Consider content from other parts of the course where appropriate. Use proper citation methods for your discipline when referencing scholarly or popular sources.

For your response posts, do the following:

• Reply to at least two classmates outside of your own initial post thread.
• In Module One, complete your two response posts by Sunday at 11:59 p.m. Eastern.
• In Modules Two through Ten, complete your two response posts by Sunday at 11:59 p.m. of your local time zone.
• Demonstrate more depth and thought than saying things like “I agree” or “You are wrong.” Guidance is provided for you in the discussion prompt.

Discussion Rubric