Arguments for family strengths research.

"How many of you routinely assess family strengths in your work with clients?" One-third of a group of second-year University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration students raised their hands. Given that these were bright, committed students schooled in the strengths perspective and in the recognition that social work approaches that build on family strengths result in more effective service delivery, I was surprised so few raised their hands. The ensuing discussion provided some explanation for their response. The students revealed no lack of understanding or dedication to the value of building on family strengths in social work practice. At the same time, they recognized that most of their work in their internships is focused on problem-reduction activities. When seeking explanations for the discrepancies between their values and their practice behaviors, they quite brilliantly described significant gaps in practice knowledge in the area of family strengths. They described the lack of adequate assessment tools to help recognize family strengths; the limited number of practice models and intervention strategies that build on family strengths; and, the numerous barriers to implementing these models in agency settings. In sum, they articulated that despite the social work commitment to strengthening families, we face a giant gap in our knowledge about family strengths. A research brief entitled "Family Strengths: Often Overlooked, but Real" (Moore, Chalk, Scarpa & Vandivere, 2002) recently released by Child Trends provides useful information and perspectives for social workers concerned with the knowledge gap on family strengths. The brief seeks to define the concept of family strengths, examine several measures of family strengths, and review available research on strong families. The review serves to advance our knowledge of family strengths by pulling together existing research. It defines family strengths as the "set of relationships and processes that support and protect families and family members, especially during times of adversity and change" and suggests that many families in the United States are solid and thriving, are doing a good job of raising children and of protecting and supporting one another. "Levels of closeness, concern, caring and interaction" are quite high. The research points to the successful coping strategies families use to manage the challenges and stresses in their daily lives. The report describes several key directions for family strengths research; specifically, it suggests that family strengths research should (1) focus on both the qualities of family relationship and family behaviors as indicators of family strengths (2) seek multiple measures to provide a more complete picture of the status of families or household groups (3) seek measures of family strengths that address different developmental periods of family life (4) focus on and recognize the influence of families' social and economic contexts (5) focus on and recognize the influence of culture on family processes and relationships. Closing the gap on knowledge of family strengths is important to social workers for a number of reasons. First, as the Child Trends brief indicates, an important goal of family strengths research is to document core processes and relationships that serve as coping mechanisms and resources for families regardless of their socioeconomic circumstances or cultural background. Second, family strengths research is an important resource for practitioners and policymakers seeking to develop effective programs and services for families in diverse circumstances. For example, research reviewed in the brief documents that * positive parental mental health * household routines * shared parent-child activities * positive communication * parental supervision and involvement all are factors related to positive child outcomes. …