Becci A Akin
Biographic Data
| ID | 4175832 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Becci A Akin |
| GIVEN NAMES | Becci A |
| FAMILY NAME | Akin |
| SIGNATURE | AKIN B A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Kansas |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0026-5730 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 32 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 144 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 32 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Exploring trauma-informed organizational practices and self-care
Organizational strategies, including resilience-building, promoting safety, and supportive leadership, may influence workers' self-care behaviors. Findings suggest systemic changes are needed to enhance resilience, mitigate secondary traumatic stress, and improve retention. Future research should explore long-term impacts of organizational practices on job satisfaction, retention, and well-being. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights…
Organizational Compassion and Workforce Well-Being
An Anti-Racist Practice in Social Work Research Teams
Social work researchers must intentionally and explicitly be anti-racist in commitments and actions if we are to disrupt, rather than simply acknowledge, racist systems and practices. This article, written by members of several research teams (including research staff, graduate research assistants, and principal investigators), describes an anti-racist team practice, which germinated in one research team and pollinated to others within a school o…
Preventive Legal Services for Kinship Care
This study examines the implementation of preventive legal services for kinship families within the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) service array. A university research team, contracted by the Title IV-E agency to evaluate the FFPSA programs, interviewed legal staff and kinship caregivers to understand how the provision of preventive legal services impacts the prevention-related needs of families. Findings suggest that the provision …
“I Ran to Make a Point”
Youth who run away from foster care experience danger to health and safety and increased risk of adverse child welfare outcomes. By applying a concurrent mixed-methods approach, this study aimed to develop a deeper understanding of runaway risk that used a person-centered lens and amplified youth voices. Collectively, this approach can inform service innovations to support youth placed in out-of-home care. Working with a foster care agency in Kan…
Reconciling the past and shaping the future
Honoring Family
Shown love from the brokenness of a system’
Child welfare (CW) reforms have called for including family and youth voice. Yet, most initiatives have remained at individual levels, and research has rarely included youth, parent and professional voices simultaneously and equally. This study sought to integrate these perspectives and identify systems-level strategies that could reimagine CW. Using an arts-based method and thematic analysis, researchers investigated recommendations for policy a…
Exploring the relationships between self-care and well-being outcomes among child welfare professionals
Child welfare workers experience increased risk of secondary traumatic stress (STS) and burnout. Despite encouragement to bolster self-care, little remains known about self-care and well-being outcomes. This study explored frequency of self-care and its relationship with STS, burnout, and compassion satisfaction by surveying 305 child welfare direct service and supervisor professionals. Participants completed the ProQol and reported frequency and…
The helping relationship in the foster care context
While the helping relationship is often viewed as a core element of child welfare practice, there is limited research on how birth parents and caseworkers describe the helping relationship in the foster care context. We interviewed six parent-worker dyads individually (N = 12) to explore how parents and caseworkers describe their helping relationship and perspectives on the role of the helping relationship on parents’ participation in foster care…
Youth are not something to check off your to do list’
The child welfare system is characterized by fixed power structures, coercion and hierarchies that privilege the perspectives of a select few. These oppressive aspects of the system quelch youth voice and others' voices, especially those with lived experience, frequently omitting them from case‐ and system‐level decisions. Acknowledging the empowering potential of creative and arts‐based research, this study used poetic inquiry with youth in or f…
Barriers to Services at the Intersection of Child Maltreatment and Domestic Violence
Purpose Firm evidence exists on the co-existence of child maltreatment and domestic violence (DV). This study examines the barriers to service delivery for families experiencing DV who are child welfare (CW) system involved from the perspectives of two key groups: parents with lived experience of DV and CW and multi-sector professionals. Methods A thematic content analysis was conducted of data from 16 in-person and remote listening sessions of 1…
Randomized Controlled Trial of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy for Substance-Use-Disorder-Affected Parents Involved in the Child Welfare System
Objective: Solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) has shown promise as an effective intervention with substance-abusing adults. This study expands on a preliminary study by Kim et al. (2018) by examining the results from the complete sample on substance abuse and trauma-related problems. Method: Child-welfare-involved parents were randomly assigned to either the SFBT (N = 90) or treatment-as-usual (N = 89) control group. Mixed linear models tested…
Driving organization and systems change toward trauma-responsive services in child welfare
Despite trauma as a prevalent and substantial need among children in foster care, child welfare systems are challenged with fully implementing trauma-responsive programs and policies. Furthermore, evidence on effective implementation strategies for trauma-responsive programs in child welfare is scarce. This study’s overarching purpose was to examine child welfare supervisor and administrator views on the initial implementation of a trauma-respons…
Parent perspectives of engagement in the strengthening families program
Despite growing use of evidence‐based parenting interventions (EBPIs) in child welfare settings, few qualitative studies have obtained parents' direct views and feedback on these programs. Further, engagement in EBPIs continues to present challenges in a child welfare context, particularly for parents affected by substances. We sought to understand parents' experiences of the supports and barriers to engagement in an EBPI. Semistructured intervie…
Randomized trial of PMTO in foster care
Randomized Study of PMTO in Foster Care
Objective: This study examined the effects of Parent Management Training, Oregon (PMTO) model on parenting effectiveness and caregiver functioning. Method: Children in foster care with emotional and behavioral problems were randomized to PMTO ( n = 461) or services as usual ( n = 457) in a nonblinded study design. Using an intent-to-treat approach, analysis of covariance models tested the intervention’s overall effect and time interactions for pa…
Changes in parenting practices during Parent Management Training Oregon model with parents of children in foster care
Parental drug use and permanency for young children in foster care
Successes and challenges in developing trauma-informed child welfare systems
Noncompletion of Evidence-Based Parent Training
Solution-Focused Brief Therapy With Substance-Using Individuals
Objective: This study examined the effectiveness of solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) intervention on substance abuse and trauma-related problems. Methods: A randomized controlled trial design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of SFBT in primary substance use treatment services for child welfare involved parents in outpatient treatment for substance use disorders. Mixed linear models were used to test within- and between-group changes us…
Randomized Trial of PMTO in Foster Care
Objective: This study tested the effectiveness of Parent Management Training, Oregon (PMTO) model on child social–emotional well-being. Methods: Using a randomized controlled design and three measures of social–emotional well-being, the study investigated effectiveness of PMTO with families of children in foster care with serious emotional disturbance (SED). Participants included children (3–16 years) and parents who were randomly assigned to PMT…
Practitioner views on the core functions of coaching in the implementation of an evidence-based intervention in child welfare
Joining formative evaluation with translational science to assess an EBI in foster care
Predictors of foster care exits to permanency
Parental drug use and permanency for young children in foster care
Selecting an EBP to Reduce Long-Term Foster Care
A growing implementation literature outlines broad evidence-based practice implementation principles and pitfalls. Less robust is knowledge about the real-world process by which a state or agency chooses an evidence-based practice to implement and evaluate. Using a major U.S. initiative to reduce long-term foster care as the case, this article describes three major aspects of the evidence-based practice selection process: defining a target popula…
The disparate impact of alcohol, methamphetamine, and other drugs on family reunification
Successes and challenges in developing trauma-informed child welfare systems
Solution-Focused Brief Therapy With Substance-Using Individuals
Objective: This study examined the effectiveness of solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) intervention on substance abuse and trauma-related problems. Methods: A randomized controlled trial design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of SFBT in primary substance use treatment services for child welfare involved parents in outpatient treatment for substance use disorders. Mixed linear models were used to test within- and between-group changes us…
Implementation of an evidence-based intervention to reduce long-term foster care
Practitioner views on the core functions of coaching in the implementation of an evidence-based intervention in child welfare
Exploring the path from foster care to stable and lasting adoption
Formative Evaluation of an Evidence-Based Intervention to Reduce Long-Term Foster Care
As part of the federal Permanency Innovations Initiative, this local grantee implemented an evidence-based intervention to improve outcomes for children with serious emotional disturbance. The project approach integrates the tenets of implementation science and program evaluation. Formative evaluation used a small sample (n = 76) to assess implementation integrity and statistical association to recommend whether the intervention was ready for sum…
Barriers to Services at the Intersection of Child Maltreatment and Domestic Violence
Purpose Firm evidence exists on the co-existence of child maltreatment and domestic violence (DV). This study examines the barriers to service delivery for families experiencing DV who are child welfare (CW) system involved from the perspectives of two key groups: parents with lived experience of DV and CW and multi-sector professionals. Methods A thematic content analysis was conducted of data from 16 in-person and remote listening sessions of 1…
Driving organization and systems change toward trauma-responsive services in child welfare
Despite trauma as a prevalent and substantial need among children in foster care, child welfare systems are challenged with fully implementing trauma-responsive programs and policies. Furthermore, evidence on effective implementation strategies for trauma-responsive programs in child welfare is scarce. This study’s overarching purpose was to examine child welfare supervisor and administrator views on the initial implementation of a trauma-respons…
Randomized Study of PMTO in Foster Care
Objective: This study examined the effects of Parent Management Training, Oregon (PMTO) model on parenting effectiveness and caregiver functioning. Method: Children in foster care with emotional and behavioral problems were randomized to PMTO ( n = 461) or services as usual ( n = 457) in a nonblinded study design. Using an intent-to-treat approach, analysis of covariance models tested the intervention’s overall effect and time interactions for pa…
Changes in parenting practices during Parent Management Training Oregon model with parents of children in foster care
Joining formative evaluation with translational science to assess an EBI in foster care
Exploring the relationships between self-care and well-being outcomes among child welfare professionals
Child welfare workers experience increased risk of secondary traumatic stress (STS) and burnout. Despite encouragement to bolster self-care, little remains known about self-care and well-being outcomes. This study explored frequency of self-care and its relationship with STS, burnout, and compassion satisfaction by surveying 305 child welfare direct service and supervisor professionals. Participants completed the ProQol and reported frequency and…
Youth are not something to check off your to do list’
The child welfare system is characterized by fixed power structures, coercion and hierarchies that privilege the perspectives of a select few. These oppressive aspects of the system quelch youth voice and others' voices, especially those with lived experience, frequently omitting them from case‐ and system‐level decisions. Acknowledging the empowering potential of creative and arts‐based research, this study used poetic inquiry with youth in or f…
Parent perspectives of engagement in the strengthening families program
Despite growing use of evidence‐based parenting interventions (EBPIs) in child welfare settings, few qualitative studies have obtained parents' direct views and feedback on these programs. Further, engagement in EBPIs continues to present challenges in a child welfare context, particularly for parents affected by substances. We sought to understand parents' experiences of the supports and barriers to engagement in an EBPI. Semistructured intervie…
Randomized trial of PMTO in foster care
Noncompletion of Evidence-Based Parent Training
Randomized Trial of PMTO in Foster Care
Objective: This study tested the effectiveness of Parent Management Training, Oregon (PMTO) model on child social–emotional well-being. Methods: Using a randomized controlled design and three measures of social–emotional well-being, the study investigated effectiveness of PMTO with families of children in foster care with serious emotional disturbance (SED). Participants included children (3–16 years) and parents who were randomly assigned to PMT…
Honoring Family
Predictors of foster care exits to permanency
Formative Evaluation of an Evidence-Based Intervention to Reduce Long-Term Foster Care
As part of the federal Permanency Innovations Initiative, this local grantee implemented an evidence-based intervention to improve outcomes for children with serious emotional disturbance. The project approach integrates the tenets of implementation science and program evaluation. Formative evaluation used a small sample (n = 76) to assess implementation integrity and statistical association to recommend whether the intervention was ready for sum…
Selecting an EBP to Reduce Long-Term Foster Care
A growing implementation literature outlines broad evidence-based practice implementation principles and pitfalls. Less robust is knowledge about the real-world process by which a state or agency chooses an evidence-based practice to implement and evaluate. Using a major U.S. initiative to reduce long-term foster care as the case, this article describes three major aspects of the evidence-based practice selection process: defining a target popula…
The disparate impact of alcohol, methamphetamine, and other drugs on family reunification
Implementation of an evidence-based intervention to reduce long-term foster care
Joining formative evaluation with translational science to assess an EBI in foster care
Exploring the path from foster care to stable and lasting adoption
Examining the role of methamphetamine in permanency
Parental methamphetamine use has drawn significant attention in recent years. Despite prior research that shows that parental substance abuse is a risk factor for lengthy foster care stay, little is known about the effect of specific types of substance use on permanency. This study sought to compare the impact of parental methamphetamine use to alcohol use, other drug use, and polysubstance use on the timing of 3 types of permanency: reunificatio…
Solution-Focused Brief Therapy With Substance-Using Individuals
Objective: This study examined the effectiveness of solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) intervention on substance abuse and trauma-related problems. Methods: A randomized controlled trial design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of SFBT in primary substance use treatment services for child welfare involved parents in outpatient treatment for substance use disorders. Mixed linear models were used to test within- and between-group changes us…
Randomized Trial of PMTO in Foster Care
Objective: This study tested the effectiveness of Parent Management Training, Oregon (PMTO) model on child social–emotional well-being. Methods: Using a randomized controlled design and three measures of social–emotional well-being, the study investigated effectiveness of PMTO with families of children in foster care with serious emotional disturbance (SED). Participants included children (3–16 years) and parents who were randomly assigned to PMT…
Practitioner views on the core functions of coaching in the implementation of an evidence-based intervention in child welfare
Randomized Study of PMTO in Foster Care
Objective: This study examined the effects of Parent Management Training, Oregon (PMTO) model on parenting effectiveness and caregiver functioning. Method: Children in foster care with emotional and behavioral problems were randomized to PMTO ( n = 461) or services as usual ( n = 457) in a nonblinded study design. Using an intent-to-treat approach, analysis of covariance models tested the intervention’s overall effect and time interactions for pa…
Changes in parenting practices during Parent Management Training Oregon model with parents of children in foster care
Parental drug use and permanency for young children in foster care
Successes and challenges in developing trauma-informed child welfare systems
Noncompletion of Evidence-Based Parent Training
Parent perspectives of engagement in the strengthening families program
Despite growing use of evidence‐based parenting interventions (EBPIs) in child welfare settings, few qualitative studies have obtained parents' direct views and feedback on these programs. Further, engagement in EBPIs continues to present challenges in a child welfare context, particularly for parents affected by substances. We sought to understand parents' experiences of the supports and barriers to engagement in an EBPI. Semistructured intervie…
Randomized trial of PMTO in foster care
Driving organization and systems change toward trauma-responsive services in child welfare
Despite trauma as a prevalent and substantial need among children in foster care, child welfare systems are challenged with fully implementing trauma-responsive programs and policies. Furthermore, evidence on effective implementation strategies for trauma-responsive programs in child welfare is scarce. This study’s overarching purpose was to examine child welfare supervisor and administrator views on the initial implementation of a trauma-respons…
Randomized Controlled Trial of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy for Substance-Use-Disorder-Affected Parents Involved in the Child Welfare System
Objective: Solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) has shown promise as an effective intervention with substance-abusing adults. This study expands on a preliminary study by Kim et al. (2018) by examining the results from the complete sample on substance abuse and trauma-related problems. Method: Child-welfare-involved parents were randomly assigned to either the SFBT (N = 90) or treatment-as-usual (N = 89) control group. Mixed linear models tested…
Youth are not something to check off your to do list’
The child welfare system is characterized by fixed power structures, coercion and hierarchies that privilege the perspectives of a select few. These oppressive aspects of the system quelch youth voice and others' voices, especially those with lived experience, frequently omitting them from case‐ and system‐level decisions. Acknowledging the empowering potential of creative and arts‐based research, this study used poetic inquiry with youth in or f…
Barriers to Services at the Intersection of Child Maltreatment and Domestic Violence
Purpose Firm evidence exists on the co-existence of child maltreatment and domestic violence (DV). This study examines the barriers to service delivery for families experiencing DV who are child welfare (CW) system involved from the perspectives of two key groups: parents with lived experience of DV and CW and multi-sector professionals. Methods A thematic content analysis was conducted of data from 16 in-person and remote listening sessions of 1…
The helping relationship in the foster care context
While the helping relationship is often viewed as a core element of child welfare practice, there is limited research on how birth parents and caseworkers describe the helping relationship in the foster care context. We interviewed six parent-worker dyads individually (N = 12) to explore how parents and caseworkers describe their helping relationship and perspectives on the role of the helping relationship on parents’ participation in foster care…
Preventive Legal Services for Kinship Care
This study examines the implementation of preventive legal services for kinship families within the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) service array. A university research team, contracted by the Title IV-E agency to evaluate the FFPSA programs, interviewed legal staff and kinship caregivers to understand how the provision of preventive legal services impacts the prevention-related needs of families. Findings suggest that the provision …
“I Ran to Make a Point”
Youth who run away from foster care experience danger to health and safety and increased risk of adverse child welfare outcomes. By applying a concurrent mixed-methods approach, this study aimed to develop a deeper understanding of runaway risk that used a person-centered lens and amplified youth voices. Collectively, this approach can inform service innovations to support youth placed in out-of-home care. Working with a foster care agency in Kan…
Psychology (29 works) · Medicine (28 works) · Child Welfare and Adoption (20 works) · Nursing (20 works) · Political science (20 works) · Child Abuse and Trauma (17 works) · Foster care (15 works) · Welfare (14 works) · Family and Disability Support Research (13 works) · Intervention (counseling (13 works)