A number of cross-sectional and a few longitudinal studies have shown a developmental relationship between child abuse and adult physical and mental health. Published findings also suggest that social support can lessen the risk of adverse outcomes for some abused children. However, few studies have investigated whether social support mediates or moderates the relationship between child abuse and adult physical and mental health. Structural equation modeling was used to examine data on these topics from a longitudinal study of more than 30 years. While a latent construct of physical and emotional child abuse did not predict adult health outcomes directly, child abuse did predict outcomes indirectly through social support. A test of variable moderation for child abuse and social support was nonsignificant. Results suggest that social support may help explain the association between child abuse and health outcomes at midlife. Implications of the findings for prevention and treatment are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Background: Strategic implementation leadership is a critical determinant of successful implementation, hypothesized to create a more supportive implementation climate conducive to the adoption and use of evidence-based practices. Implementation leadership behaviors may vary significantly across contexts, necessitating studies that examine the validity of established measurement tools in novel health service delivery sectors. The education sector is the most common site for delivering mental health services to children and adolescents in the USA, but research focused on implementation leadership in schools is in the early phases, and there is a need for adaptation and expansion of instruments in order to tailor to the school context. The current study adapted and validated the School Implementation Leadership Scale (SILS) (based on the Implementation Leadership Scale) in a sample of elementary school personnel from six school districts who were implementing one of two well-established prevention programs for supporting children’s mental health. Methods: Participants were 441 public school teachers from 52 elementary schools in the Midwest and West Coast of the USA. Participants completed a survey that contained: (1) an adapted and expanded version of the SILS with additional items generated for four existing subscales as well as three new subscales (communication, vision/mission, and availability), and (2) additional tools to evaluate convergent and divergent validity (i.e., measures of general/molar leadership and teaching attitudes). Data underwent (1) examination of item characteristic curves to reduce items and ensure a pragmatic instrument, (2) confirmatory factor analyses to establish structural validity, and (3) evaluation of convergent and divergent validity. Results: Item reduction analyses resulted in seven subscales of three items each. Results indicated acceptable fit for a seven-factor structural model (CFI = .995, TLI = .99, RMSEA = .07, SRMR = 0.02). Second-order factor loadings were high (λ = .89 to .96), suggesting that the SILS subscales comprise a higher-order implementation leadership factor. All subscales demonstrated good inter-item reliability (α = .91–.96). Convergent and divergent validity results were generally as hypothesized, with moderate to high correlations between SILS subscales and general leadership, moderate correlations with teaching attitudes, and low correlations with school demographics. Conclusions: Overall, results provided strong structural, convergent, and divergent validity evidence for the 21-item, 7-factor SILS instrument. Implications for the measurement of implementation leadership in schools are discussed, as well as strategies to support leaders to enhance their strategic behaviors related to the implementation of mental health prevention programs (e.g., adaptation of existing leadership-focused implementation strategies).

For Schoolwide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) to be effective, educators must use the practices as intended. Whether a teacher uses a practice as intended can depend, in part, on how feasible the practice is perceived to be. Identifying malleable factors associated with teachers’ perceptions of SWPBIS feasibility can help schools identify targeted supports to improve feasibility. Implementation climate, or the shared perception among implementers that their school supports implementation efforts, is known to promote high quality implementation. However, little is known about how individuals’ perceptions of their school’s implementation climate may influence their perceptions of feasibility. The lack of empirical evidence points to a need to explore whether educators’ shared and individual perceptions of implementation climate influence feasibility of implementing SWPBIS. Therefore, this study examines the link between teachers’ individual and shared perceptions of implementation climate related to the feasibility of implementing SWPBIS in a sample of 348 K-5 general education teachers across 39 elementary schools in the pacific northwestern United States. Results indicate that teachers who experience their schools’ implementation climate as positive are more likely to report SWPBIS as feasible, controlling for teachers’ shared perceptions of implementation climate. Implications for schools aiming to improve their implementation of SWPBIS, including the development of individualized implementation supports (e.g., tailoring implementation strategies to support each and every teacher), are discussed.