Informing Policy-Making at Sub-Local Authority Spatial Levels: Using Small Area Micro-Data from the 2001 Census

This article discusses how the release of small area microdata (SAM) from the 2001 UK Population Census could help provide better information in the policy-making process at sub-local authority spatial levels. An experimental set of SAM from the 1991 Census, provided by National Statistics, was used to develop a methodology which can provide SAM estimates of the effects of area at ward level, and can separate these spatial effects from compositional influences due to characteristics of the local area population. These SAM-based results appear to be at variance with census tabular data. It is concluded that 2001 Census SAM could provide an important further source of information for improved policy and target setting at the local area level.     

Trauma Systems Therapy in Residential Settings: Improving Emotion Regulation and the Social Environment of Traumatized Children and Youth in Congregate Care

Although abundant evidence exists indicating the prevalence of trauma exposure among youth in residential care, few models exist for creating trauma-informed milieu treatment. This article outlines the problem and describes the implementation of Trauma Systems Therapy (TST) in three residential centers. TST is unique in emphasizing youth emotions and behaviors as well as the role a distressed or threatening social environment may play in keeping a traumatized youth in a dysregulated state. This dual emphasis makes TST specifically appropriate to implementation in congregate care, focusing assessment and intervention strategies on both clinical treatment and the functioning of the therapeutic milieu itself. Data are reported on incidents of the use of physical restraint; numbers of disrupted foster care placements following discharge from residential treatment; and scores on psychometric measures of children’s functioning and emotion regulation capacity. Knowledge gained through TST implementation in these three residential centers has important implications for developing a model of trauma-informed congregate care.