Mindfulness-integrated, resilience, trauma-informed and social pedagogy (MIRTS) : a holistic treatment curriculum for professionals working with young people with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) and substance use issues

• Main Author: Mockett, Velma
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2016
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/58794

Over the past ten years, the service needs of young people with FASD have been the subject of considerable interest. This interest has been triggered, in large part, by a growing recognition of the fact that addiction and mental health service do not adequately serve young people with FASD. The purpose of this dissertation was to develop a curriculum for professionals working with young people with FASD within the addiction settings, with the general aim of improving holistic outcomes for young people with FASD. A modified version of Intervention Mapping (IM) was used to guide the development, formative evaluation and implementation plan of the curriculum. Findings from the evaluation indicated that in early drafts of the curriculum the level of detail would need to be modified for clinicians to use it effectively and that concepts also needed to be simplified so that young people with FASD would be able to engage more freely with the material that a clinician presents. Later stages of the evaluation reveal the degree to which the framework illuminated new or unconsidered areas, the extent to which goals and objectives were better defined and understood and the degree to which clinician’s information needs were addressed. The review and consultation process indicated that clinicians found the material engaging, effective, appropriate and beneficial to the work they do. All the clinicians consulted noted that they would use the curriculum, and recommend it to colleagues. The results of this evaluation further strengthen and support the necessity for more appropriate resources and services to nurture the strengths and address the needs of young people with FASD. IM provided a useful framework for developing an appropriate theory-based curriculum for professionals working with young people with FASD. Although the process was time-consuming, it provided a systematic and rigorous approach to developing a quality curriculum. This in turn provided a clear framework for the process of analysis and therefore, increases the potential of the curriculum to realize the desired outcome. Supplementary material : http://hdl.handle.net/2429/58795 === Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies === Population and Public Health (SPPH), School of === Graduate