Improving Trauma Informed Education and Parenting for Resource Parents at a Foster Care Agency

Authors

  • Dr. Courtney Albers, DNP, APRN, PMHNP-BC University of Louisville
  • Dr. Sarah Schirmer, DNP, MEd., APRN, PMHNP-BC University of Louisville
  • Dr. Rudy Clark, EdD, RN University of Louisville

Abstract

675,000 children nationwide were involved with the foster care system in 2019, and nearly all children within the foster care system are actively suffering from the effects of trauma. Resource parent trauma-informed trainings, such as Resource Parenting Curriculum (RPC) developed by The National Child Traumatic Stress Network, are associated with improved parental perceptions towards trauma-informed care, improved child outcomes, and placement stability. Foster care agencies have trauma-informed state-based curriculum, but it does not meet the needs of resource parents, specifically those caring for children with developmental delays or disorders. The project was implemented at a therapeutic foster care agency for resource parents to improve knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes surrounding trauma-informed parenting, tolerance of misbehavior and parenting efficacy. Resource parents participated in a two-hour workshop consisting of a condensed version of RPC, which was adapted to meet the needs of parents caring for a child with a developmental delay or disorder. Resource parents completed a pre- and post-workshop knowledge test and Resource Parent Knowledge and Beliefs Survey (RPKBS). Qualitative measures identified resource parent satisfaction with workshop. Resource parent knowledge (p=0.108) and all three scales from the RPKBS: trauma-informed parenting (p=0.074), tolerance of misbehavior (p=0.500), and parenting efficacy (p=0.293) improved from pre- to post-workshop but were not statistically significant. The project will have sustained outcomes as the project site has adopted a trauma-informed curriculum to implement into their program as a tool for resource parents. Future implementation of this intervention should focus on improving response rates, studying the relationship of collaborative trainings and the development of staff specific trauma-informed assessments and the impact of trauma-informed workshops on parenting behaviors and outcomes, specifically placement stability.

Author Biographies

  • Dr. Courtney Albers, DNP, APRN, PMHNP-BC, University of Louisville

    Dr. Courtney Albers, DNP, APRN, PMHNP-BC has a combined five years of clinical experience in providing psychiatric mental health care across the lifespan in several settings. Dr. Albers developed a passion for working with children and adolescents in foster care while completing her work as a registered nurse. She worked with youth age 4-12, most of whom were involved in foster care and had sensory processing disorders and/or developmental delays. The above project served as her Doctor of Nursing Practice project. Dr. Courtney Albers serves as an Assistant Professor at the University of Louisville School of Nursing and as a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP) at several clinical sites in Louisville, KY. She's a PMHNP at Kentucky’s leading community mental health center, Seven Counties Services, at Kentucky Racing Health Services Center, a nonprofit clinic providing comprehensive care to the workers of the thoroughbred racing industry, and at Jewish Family and Career Services. 

  • Dr. Sarah Schirmer, DNP, MEd., APRN, PMHNP-BC, University of Louisville

    Dr. Sarah Schirmer, DNP is a board-certified psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner and has worked in mental health care for the past 20 years. She began her career as a licensed professional clinical counselor providing individual and family therapy to children and families after completing a master’s degree in counseling psychology from the University of Louisville in 2006.

    Dr. Schirmer, DNP is board certified by the ANCC to provide psychiatric mental-health treatment across the lifespan. She is licensed in Kentucky and has been working as an APRN in the mental health outpatient setting for the past six years. She is an Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing at the University of Louisville where she teaches in and co-coordinates the psychiatric-mental health track of the Doctor of Nursing Practice program. Dr Schirmer, DNP also is an active member of Kentucky’s Eating Disorder Council to which she was nominated by the Kentucky Association of Nurse Practitioners and Nurse Midwives and appointed to in 2020 by Governor Andy Beshear.

  • Dr. Rudy Clark, EdD, RN, University of Louisville

    Dr. Rudy Clark completed her BA in Psychology and ADN from the Kentucky Wesleyan, MSN from Bellarmine University with a focus in Nursing Education, and her EdD from Spalding University in 2018, with a focus on educational leadership. She is an active member in the American Association of Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing and the Kentuckian chapter.

    Dr. Clark has 27 years of teaching experience with traditional undergraduate nursing students and graduate students.  Dr. Clark teaches the psychiatric mental health course and clinical.  Her research focus is the use of the arts to increase critical/creative thinking.

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Published

2024-09-03

Issue

Vol. 5 No. 1 (2024): Journal of Foster Care

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Dr. Courtney Albers, DNP, APRN, PMHNP-BC, Dr. Sarah Schirmer, DNP, MEd., APRN, PMHNP-BC, Dr. Rudy Clark, EdD, RN

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