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The evaluation of parental competencies within child welfare social services is critical in assessing potential instances of neglect concerning children and adolescents. It is also of significant relevance for forensic psychologists operating within family courts, where they provide expert reports concerning custody arrangements in parental disputes. Moreover, these assessments play a pivotal role in the selection processes of adoptive and foster families. This review describes the main instruments that have been published in the Spanish language in the last 20 years. It emphasizes tools that are particularly pertinent in contexts characterized by social risk, given the intricacies associated with evaluating parental figures in such circumstances and the relevant role of the assessment process. These assessments often determine the decision of whether a child remains within the family unit or faces separation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Española de Sociología is the property of Federacion Espanola de Sociologia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study investigated: a) mothers´ use and satisfaction with informal and formal supports in at-risk psychosocial contexts, and b) the relationships between satisfaction with help and the mothers´ perception of their role (personal agency). Self-report data about the use and satisfaction with sources of help, and levels of internal control, self-efficacy, couple agreement, role difficulty and motivation for change were obtained from 519 mothers referred by Social Services and 519 non-referred mothers. Results indicated that at-risk mothers relied less upon close informal support and more on formal support than non atrisk mothers. They were also more satisfied with the formal sources of support and had lower levels of personal agency. There were beneficial effects of satisfaction with informal help and school support on several aspects of personal agency for both groups. However, satisfaction with school and social services support had a detrimental effect on couple agreement in the at-risk group. Implications of the results for providing social support to at-risk families are discussed.

The aims of this study were to explore parenting stress in mothers of at-risk families as a predictor of psychological symptoms and to examine moderating effects with variables which are related to parenting stress. To accomplish these objectives 109 mothers receiving family preservation intervention were interviewed. Their average age was 35.55 years (DT= 7.25), they had at least one children and their level of risk was medium. Psychological symptoms (GHQ-28), parenting experience (PSI-SF, PSOC, PLOC) and coping strategies were assessed (COPE). Analyses showed that most of the mothers exceeded the clinical limit indicated by the GHQ-28 y PSI-SF. Significant relations were observed between psychological symptoms and poverty, stressful life events, parental locus of control and avoidance. Parenting stress was a relevant predictor of psychological symptoms, especially the parental distress scale. Parental satisfaction, problemfocused coping and avoidance moderate this relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Programa de Formación y Apoyo Familiar (Family Education and Support Program) is a psychoeducative and community intervention to promote positive parenting. It is a secondary prevention parent education program for families at psychosocial risk and is applied by the Family Preservation Services. This article describes the program and analyses its application in 34 different groups of parents comprising 152 families. The results suggest that the implementation of the program was characterised by homogeneity and variety, indicating both the structured nature of the program and its flexibility. Moreover, the Programa de Formación y Apoyo Familiar program was regarded positively by both the practitioners and the participating families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study parenting stress and coping strategies in a sample of 109 mothers from at-risk families were analyzed. Results obtained show over half of these women experienced clinical levels of parenting stress, and problem focused coping strategies were the most commonly used. Moreover, the main characteristics of these families and their trajectories in Child and Family Protection Services were correlated with parenting stress and coping strategies. The global valuation of family risk informed by professionals was significantly related to parenting stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Las familias en situación de riesgo constituyen un colectivo central dentro de la población usuaria de los Servicios Sociales y, en los últimos años, se están realizando en nuestro país diversos estudios sobre ellas. En este trabajo se presentan algunos de los resultados de una investigación realizada con una muestra de madres que reciben intervenciones de preservación familiar por parte de los Servicios Sociales comunitarios de la Diputación de Huelva. En concreto se analizan sus principales características sociodemográficas y económicas, su nivel de pobreza y su historial y situación actual en los Servicios Sociales, explorando las evaluaciones que los profesionales hacen acerca de la evolución de estas familias. Asimismo, se examinan las diferencias entre las dimensiones analizadas según el tipo de servicio que trabaja con estas familias.

This paper describes the development of a scale to assess parental competence and resilience in psychosocial risk contexts. The research was conducted with 63 professionals from the Gran Canaria social services, (Canary Islands, Spain) over 498 cases of at-risk families. The factor structure was obtained by Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (ESEM) with oblimin rotation, and the estimation method using the Weighted Least Squares with moving measurement window (WLSMW) for confirmatory purposes. The mothers scale showed a structure of five factors with 44 items: Personal Development and Resilience, Household Organization, Seek of Support, Educational Competence, and Community Competence. These factors showed good internal consistency (ordinal alpha ranging from .70 to .97). The fathers scale consisted of 4 factors with 32 items: Personal Development and Resilience, Educational and Mouse--hold Organization Competence, Community Competence, Seek of support. These factors showed good internal consistency with ordinal alpha ranging from .68 to .97. The results suggested that the questionnaire, in its double version tor mothers and fathers, captures the specificities of each parental role and showed sound psychometric properties that make it suitable for the social services field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between parental stress and parental locus of control concerning parenting practices (consistency, responsiveness, psychological control and behavioural control) in situations of psychosocial risk. The moderating role of mothers' locus of control on the relationship between stress and parenting practices is analyzed. Data from 69 mothers meeting the following criteria are included: (1) received psychosocial interventions from public family preservation services, and (2) had at least one child aged between 3 and 12 years. The results showed that parental locus of control moderates the relationship between parental stress and parenting practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cuadernos de Trabajo Social is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study investigated: a) mothers' use and satisfaction with informal and formal supports in at-risk psychosocial contexts, and b) the relationships between satisfaction with help and the mothers' perception of their role (personal agency). Self-report data about the use and satisfaction with sources of help, and levels of internal control, self-efficacy, couple agreement, role difficulty and motivation for change were obtained from 519 mothers referred by Social Services and 519 non-referred mothers. Results indicated that at-risk mothers relied less upon close informal support and more on formal support than non at-risk mothers. They were also more satisfied with the formal sources of support and had lower levels of personal agency. There were beneficial effects of satisfaction with informal help and school support on several aspects of personal agency for both groups. However, satisfaction with school and social services support had a detrimental effect on couple agreement in the at-risk group. Implications of the results for providing social support to at-risk families are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated: a) mothers' use and satisfaction with informal and formal supports in at-risk psychosocial contexts, and b) the relationships between satisfaction with help and the mothers' perception of their role (personal agency). Self-report data about the use and satisfaction with sources of help, and levels of internal control, self-efficacy, couple agreement, role difficulty and motivation for change were obtained from 519 mothers referred by Social Services and 519 non-referred mothers. Results indicated that at-risk mothers relied less upon close informal support and more on formal support than non at-risk mothers. They were also more satisfied with the formal sources of support and had lower levels of personal agency. There were beneficial effects of satisfaction with informal help and school support on several aspects of personal agency for both groups. However, satisfaction with school and social services support had a detrimental effect on couple agreement in the at-risk group. Implications of the results for providing social support to at-risk families are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]