Human service organizations (HSO) have increasingly recognized the value of employing trauma-informed care (TIC) in a variety of practice settings. Evidence suggests that effectively adopting TIC has shown client improvements. Organizational barriers to TIC implementation, however, exist. To improve TIC practice, the attitudes related to trauma-informed care (ARTIC) scale was developed to measure staff attitudes and beliefs towards TIC. The ARTIC has been widely adopted by researchers without evaluating its psychometric performance in diverse practice settings. The purpose of this study was to independently validate the ARTIC scale drawn from a sample of staff (n = 373) who provide services to substance-using parents. Psychometric tests were conducted to evaluate how the ARTIC performs with our HSO population. Results from a confirmatory factor analysis showed poor fit (X² = 2761.62, df = 2.96; RMSEA = 0.07 [0.07, 0.08]; CFI = 0.72). An exploratory factor analysis was conducted to analyze how the data fit with our specific population, yielding 10 factors. Finally, a qualitative inter-item analysis of these factors was conducted, resulting in nine factors. Our findings suggest that measuring TIC attitudes and beliefs may vary according to field of practice and ethno-racially diverse workers. Further refinement of the ARTIC may be necessary for various services domains.

While there is extensive literature on the strengths of different supervisory models, we have limited understanding of how the relational capacity of front-line staff may impact how they receive and seek feedback from their supervisor. This study examines how mental health providers’ and front-line staff’s own rejection sensitivity may be associated with the supervisory relationship and the ways in which job feedback is sought and received in community-based mental health settings. Cross-sectional survey data were collected from 156 front-line staff of three mental health agencies. Staff were administered an original survey using validated measures related to supervision, feedback, and relational capacities. We found staff with a higher rejection sensitivity (RS) were less likely to actively seek feedback about their performance; and, when feedback was received, were more likely to rate its quality as poor. Staff with a higher RS were more likely to perceive their supervisor and their relationship negatively. This is the first study to examine whether workers’ relational capacities, as expressed through a higher RS, influence their perceptions of supervision and quality of feedback and their feedback-seeking behaviors. These findings build theory related to the important role that staff relational capacities play in influencing organizational dynamics and support.

Background: Foster care alumni face increased health challenges across the domains of mental and physical health, yet there is a paucity of research examining the associations between care experiences, health, and sleep quality in alumni aged 30 and above. Objectives: Our exploratory mixed-method study examined the sleep quality of North American group care leavers aged 30+ to understand whether sleep quality in adulthood is associated with earlier child welfare system experiences during childhood and adolescence. Secondly, we examined the association between sleep quality and overall concurrent health. Methods: Using a convenience sample of 41 alumni of care aged 30–85 and 16 qualitative interviews, we explored the intricate connections between group care leavers’ developmental trauma, sleep quality, and health. Linear regression and qualitative content analysis were utilized to understand how sleep was related to well-being in aging care alumni. Results: Adult sleep was significantly associated with the perceived quality of their youth out-of-home placement experiences (β = 0.421, p < 0.01), controlling for friendship support networks and demographic variables. Adult sleep quality was a significant predictor of overall health (β = −0.328, p < 0.05). Qualitative interviews elucidated insights into the importance and linkages of child welfare system experiences, adult sleep, and well-being. Conclusions: Our research highlights the enduring association between child welfare placement experiences, and sleep functioning well into adulthood, even when accounting for contemporaneous social support and other demographic indicators. Practitioners should be inquiring directly about sleep, and future longitudinal research should delve deeper into the nature of sleep difficulties and their association with health and well-being.

Despite practice models of trauma-informed care (TIC) emphasizing relational engagement and emotional attunement as critical to service delivery, the role of individual dispositions in shaping staff perceptions and behavior remains underexplored. This study examined how rejection sensitivity, a construct grounded in attachment theory, defined as a dispositional tendency to anxiously expect and overreact to perceived rejection, may influence staff perceptions of their roles and client relationships in residential mental health agencies implementing TIC. We further explored whether individual and organizational factors, including job satisfaction, prior trauma training, perceived isolation at work, and trauma-related knowledge, contribute to these associations. Regression analyses were conducted on survey data from 155 frontline staff across three agencies testing the associations between rejection sensitivity and two relational outcomes: perceptions of work and of clients. Higher rejection sensitivity was significantly associated with more disengaged perceptions of work and less empathic views of clients, even after controlling for demographic and contextual organizational variables. Job satisfaction and trauma knowledge emerged as domain-specific protective factors, reducing the negative impact of rejection sensitivity. The findings underscore the importance of addressing staff relational dispositions to sustain effective TIC implementation. Enhancing job satisfaction and trauma knowledge may help support staff engagement in trauma-informed practice.