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TRUST BELIEFS IN SOCIAL WORKER AND WORKING ALLIANCE
Children’s Trust Beliefs in Social Workers: Scale Development and
Its Relation to Children’s Working Alliance with Social Workers
RUNNING HEAD: TRUST BELIEFS IN SOCIAL WORKER AND WORKING ALLIANCE
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TRUST BELIEFS IN SOCIAL WORKER AND WORKING ALLIANCE
Abstract
The study examined the relation between children’s trust beliefs in parents, children’s
trust beliefs in social workers and their working alliance. (YOU ARE MISSING THE
CRUCIAL ISSUE HERE: YOU ARE DEVELOPING THE FIRST SCALE TO ASSESS
CHILDREN’S TRUST IN SOCIAL WORKERS – TO MY KNOWLEDGE AT LEAST.
THIS NEEDS TO BE HIGHLIGHED IN THE ABSTRACT AND IN THE PAPER.
THE PURPOSE IS TO ESTABLISH A SCALE WHICH SHOWS RELIABILITY AND
VALIDITY. AS I UNDERSTAND IT, THE RELATION BETWEEEN THE NEW
SCALE AND WOKING ALLIANCE IS ONE TEST OF THE UTILITY OF THE
SCALE IF NOT ITS VALIDITY.) sample of 110 Italian children admitted to a day care
service by the Italian Social Services (M = 11.4 years, SD = 1 month) were administered the
Italian Children’s Generalized Trust Beliefs (ICGTB) Scale, the Children’s Trust Beliefs in
General Social Worker (CTBGSW) Scale and the Working Alliance Inventory (WAI). The
CTBGSW scale demonstrated: (a) validity by its three factor structure and (b) reliability by
exhibiting acceptable internal consistency (c) construct validity by correlations with ICGTB.
(CAN YOU DISTINQUISH BETWEEN VALIDITY AND CONSTRUCT VALIDITY
IN THIS CONTEXT?) As expected, trust beliefs in social workers were found to mediate
the relation between trust beliefs in parents and working alliance with social workers. The
findings yielded support for the Basis, Domain, and Target trust Framework and was
discussed with respect to the generalization of trust beliefs and the protective role of
interpersonal trust. (I DO WANT TO DRAW YOUR ATTENTION TO THE ISSUES
REGARDING TESTS OF MEDIATION IN CONCURRENT DATA. IS THIS
NECESSARY OR ADVISABLE?)
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TRUST BELIEFS IN SOCIAL WORKER AND WORKING ALLIANCE
Key Words: Trust Beliefs; Working Alliance; Children; Trust in Parents; Trust in Social
Workers; Social Services.
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TRUST BELIEFS IN SOCIAL WORKER AND WORKING ALLIANCE
Children’s Trust beliefs in Social Workers: Scale Development and
Its Relation to Children’s Working Alliance with Social Workers
Children’s trust in others has been regarded as the cornerstone of their interpersonal
relationships (Rotenberg, 2010). WHY DON’T WE DIVIDE THIS UP IN TERMS
OF CHILDREN’S TRUST IN MEMBERS OF THEIR IMMEDIATE SOCIAL
ENVIRONMENT SUCH AS MOTHERS, FATHERS, PEER, AND TEACHERS?
VS CHILDREN’S TRUST IN HEALTH PROFESSIONAL. Researchers have found
that children’s trust beliefs in mother, father, teacher, peers are associated with Theory of
Mind ability (Rotenberg, Petrocchi, Lecciso, & Marchetti, 2015) and longitudinally
predicts low aggression (Malti et al., 2013), high prosocial behavior (Malti et al., 2015),
and low loneliness (Rotenberg et al., 2015). RESEARCHERS HAVE EXAMINED
CHILDREN’S TRUST IN HEALTH PROFFESSIONALS AND found that
children’s trust beliefs in physicians are associated with their adherence to prescribed
medical regimes (Rotenberg et al., 2008) and that children’s trust beliefs in nurses are
associated with the frequency of interactions with nurses as assessed by number of visits
to medical centres (Rotenberg et al., 2015).
(I WONDER IF WE COULD TIE THIS PARAGRAPH TO THE NEXT BY
SAYING HERE THAT RESEARCHERS HAVE EXAMINED CHILDREN’S
TRUST IN A RANGE OF SIGNIFICANT OTHERS BUT HAVE IGNORED
EXAMINING CHILDREN’S TRUST IN SOCIAL WORKERS WHO MAY PLAY
A CRUCIAL ROLE IN THEIR LIVES. ) FURTHERMORE, Authors have proposed
that children’s trust beliefs in social workers play a crucial role in their psychosocial
adjustment and are essential for the success of social work with children and their
families (see Hafford-Letchfield, & Spatcher, 2007). The research addressing that
proposition is scarce, though, and the current study was intended to redress that
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TRUST BELIEFS IN SOCIAL WORKER AND WORKING ALLIANCE
oversight. In order to fill-in that gap in knowledge, the current study was designed to: (a)
develop a psychometrically viable scale to assess the children’s trust beliefs in social
workers SO THAT…..
examine its relation to trust beliefs in parents AS A TEST OF WHAT …..
examine its relation to children’s working alliance with social workers AS A TEST OF
WHAT
SHOULDN’T YOUR NEW SCALE BE A BETTER PREDICTOR OF children’s
working alliance with social workers THAN EITHER A GENERALIZED TRUST
BELIEFS OR TRUST BELIEFS IN PARENTS? IT IS MORE CENTRAL TO HOW
CHILDREN ORIENT THEMSELVES TO SOCIAL WORKERS.
Conceptualization of Interpersonal Trust
The current study (CONSTRUCTION OF THE SCALE TO ASSSESS
CHILDREN’S TRUST BELIEFS IN SOCIAL WORKERS) was guided by the Basis,
Domain, and Target interpersonal trust framework (BDT; Rotenberg, 2010; Rotenberg et
al., 2010). The BDT specifies that trust comprises three Bases (reliability, emotional,
honesty), three Domains (cognitive/affective, behavior-dependent, behavior-enacting)
and two Target dimensions (familiarity, specificity). The three bases are: (a) reliability,
comprising fulfilment of words or promises, (b) emotional, comprising refraining from
causing emotional harm and maintaining confidentiality, (c) honesty, comprising telling
the truth and engaging in behavior guided by benevolent rather than malevolent
intention.
The BDT framework further emphasizes that interpersonal trust is the result of
reciprocity between individuals, notably in dyadic interaction (see Betts et al., 2015), that
results in establishing a common social history with significant others. From those social
common histories, comprising reciprocal fulfilment of promises, refrain from causing
6
TRUST BELIEFS IN SOCIAL WORKER AND WORKING ALLIANCE
emotional harm, and maintaining confidentiality, a unique level of trust towards various
target has established (Rotenberg, 2010).
The BDT has served as the basis for developing three-factor (reliability, emotional,
and honesty) scales in mothers, fathers, teachers, peers, physicians and nurses
(Rotenberg et al., 2005; Rotenberg et al., 2008; Rotenberg et al., 2015) and several other
measures of trust beliefs (i.e., Rotenberg, Petrocchi, Lecciso, Marchetti, 2013). The
current study was CARRIED OUT to develop a three-factor scale to assess children’s
trust beliefs in social workers that assessed the three bases of trust beliefs (i.e, reliability,
emotional, and honesty). (DO YOU WANT TO CARRY THIS ON… TO
INDRODUCE THE NEXT SECTION?)
Working Alliance Within Child and Social Workers
The strength and quality of working relationship between social worker and client
has received increasing attention (Marsh, Angell, Andrews, & Curry, 2012; Killian,
Forrester, Westlake, & Antonopoulou, 2015) based on the psychological concept of
working alliance. Working alliance or therapeutic alliance has been developed within
psychotherapy literature (see Horvath et al., 2011) to measure the quality of the
relationship between patient and psychotherapist. Bordin (1979, 1994) conceptualized
working alliance as including the perceived quality of the bond between client and
therapist (named bond dimension), the agreement of the goals of the therapy (named goal
dimension), and the agreement of the tasks to reach those goals (named task dimension).
Two are the main reasons for the fruitfull application of the warking alliance concept
outside the psychotherapy. First, Bordin's (1994) position applies its principles from a
general theoretical perspective to any situation in which a person has a relation with a
professional (see also Horvath, 1994). Second, Bordin’s theoretical framework elicited
7
TRUST BELIEFS IN SOCIAL WORKER AND WORKING ALLIANCE
the development of several forms of the Working Alliance Inventories (WAI; see for
example Horvath, 1981; Horvath & Greenberg, 1986, 1989) which are questionnaires
with acceptable psychometric characteristics and three-factor structures corresponding to
the three dimensions of bond, goal, and task.
The quality of working relation with social worker has considered a key factor to
predict the strength of family involvement into the intervention, family service
completion (Girvin, DePanfilis, & Daining, 2007; Killian, Forrester, Westlake, &
Antonopoulou, 2015; Korfmacher, Green, Spellman, & Thornburg, 2007), and positive
outcomes (Lee & Ayon, 2004; Munro, 2011). Within child welfare service, children are
the other actors of the relation with the social workers together with their families. In
that vein, it is relevant to know something about working alliance from children’s point
of view, because they are engaged and personally involved in the relation with the social
worker. (THIS SEEMS WEAK. DO YOU WANT TO SAY THAT IT IS
WORTHWHILE TO EXAMINE CHILDREN’S TRUST IN SOCIAL WORKERS
BECAUSE THAT TRUST SHOULD HAVE EFFECTS ON THE EXTENT TO
WHICH THE CHILDREN AND THEIR FAMILIES COOPERATE WITH
SOCIAL WOKERS? )
There has been few experience to translate the working alliance concept into the
child welfare services (see Marsh, Angell, Andrews, & Curry, 2012). Two studies
administered the WAI, but only from parents’ point of view (Altman, 2008; Killian,
Forrester, Westlake, & Antonopoulou, 2015). Both of them found a stable three-factor
structure and Killian et al. (2015) demonstrated convergent and discriminant validity as
well. There is paucity of research, thought, regarding children’s working alliance
towards social worker and the relation between individual differences in children’s
working alliance and their trust beliefs in others. The purpose of the research was to
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TRUST BELIEFS IN SOCIAL WORKER AND WORKING ALLIANCE
redress that oversight.
Children’s Working Alliance and Trust Beliefs in Others
The purpose of the current study was to examine the Trust Beliefs and Working
Alliance (TBWA) hypothesis which posits that children’s trust beliefs in significant
others (parents, social worker) are associated with children’s working alliance with social
workers. (THIS IS DIVEGENT. BESIDES THE CHILDREN’S TRUST IN
SOCIAL WORKERS YOU ARE INCLUDING THEIR TRUST IN PARENTS AS
A FACTOR. THIS NEEDS TO BE INCLUDED IN THE PAPER MUCH
EARLIER. YOU NEED A RATIONALE FOR WHY TRUST IN PARENTS
COUNTS.) A version of the Children’s Trust Beliefs in General Social Worker
(CTBGSW) scale was developed to test the TBWA hypothesis. It was expected that the
scale would be composed of three factors (reliability, emotional, and honesty bases),
demonstrate acceptable internal consistency, and significant correlations with
corresponding dimensions from the Italian Children’s Generalized Trust Beliefs scale
(Rotenberg, Petrocchi, Lecciso, Marchetti, 2015).
TBWA hypothesis was derived from BDT framework and Attachment Theory
principles and evidence regarding the role of trust to enhance quality of relationships
between children and professionals. (IF YOU FOLLOW THIS YOU NEED TO
DESCRIBE IT MUCH EARLIER. THE REAL PROBLEM IS THAT YOU DO
NOT HAVE A MEASURE OF ATTACHMENT. IN PRACTICE YOU DO NOT
NEED IT. INDEED THERE IS LITTLE NECESSITY FOR IT. THERE HAS
BEEN A STRONG CHALLENGE TO CONSIDERING TESTS OF MEDIATION
IN CROSS-SECTIONAL DATA. IT IS NOW UNWISE TO DO SO. MOREOVER,
YOU ARE MISSING THE VERY IMPORTANT POINT OF WHY CHILDREN’S
9
TRUST BELIEFS IN SOCIAL WORKER AND WORKING ALLIANCE
TRUST IN SOCIAL WORKERS SHOULD BE RELATED TO THE WORKING
ALLIANCE. CONSIDER HOW TRUST BELIEFS/BEHAVIORS ARE
NECESSARY FOR CHILDREN TO CO-OPERATE WITH SOCIAL WORKERS:
THE CHILDREN NEED TO RELY ON THE SOCIAL WORKER’S WORD OR
PROMISE (RELIABILITY), ACCEPTANCE OF DISCLOSURE (EMOTIONAL)
AND HONESTY OF COMMUNICATION (HONESTY). YES, RECIPROCITY
OF THOSE PLAYS A ROLE. THEORETICALLY EACH OF THOSE BASES
SHOULD BE IMPORTANT. YES, THERE SHOULD BE A RELATION
BETWEEN CHILDREN’S GENERALIZED TRUST BELIEFS ON YOUR
ITALIAN SCALE (IF YOU INCLUDED ALL TARGETS IN THE SCALE)
BECAUSE CHILDREN’S TRUST BELIEFS IN SOCIAL WORKERS IS AN
EXTENSION OF THOSE BELIEFS. INDEED, THE OPTIMAL RELATIONS
ARE BETWEEN EACH BASIS SUBSCALE IN GENERALIZED TRUST
BELIEFS AND CHILDREN’S TRUST BELIEFS IN SOCIAL WORKERS. YOU
DO NOT NEED THE IWM AND IT IS NOT EXPLICIT ENOUGH TO EXPLAIN
WHY TRUST REALLY AFFECTS DEVELOPMENT – WHICH IS EXPLAINED BY
THE BDT. RECALL THAT WE EVENTIALLY IDENTIFIED THAT
EMOTIONAL TRUST WAS ASSOCIATED WITH TOM. SADLY, THE IWM
SERVES TO OBSCURE IMPORTANT MECHANISMS RESPONSIBLE FOR
CHILDREN’S SOCIAL FUNCTIONING.)
First, the association between children’s trust beliefs in parents and children’s trust
beliefs in social workers is derived from the principles of the Internal Working Model
(IWM; Bowlby, 1969; 1973; 1980) of the Attachment Theory and the reciprocity of the
exchanges within family members of the BDT framework (Rotenberg, 2010). The IWM
is a cognitive structure build during early childhood which affects later psychological
10
TRUST BELIEFS IN SOCIAL WORKER AND WORKING ALLIANCE
functioning. Securely as opposed to insecurely attached children develop an IWM
comprising social expectations characterized by a sense of trust in others and by positive
thoughts regarding the intentions of other people’s behaviors (Cohn, 1990; Lieberman,
1977). The IWM provides a cognitive structure to generalize trust to significant others
(teachers, peers, physicians, social workers). The BDT framework (Rotenberg, 2010)
further emphasizes that children build trust through a common social history within
family and then generalize trust beliefs to significant others (see also, Rotter, 1967, 1971,
1980).
In line of this hypothesized link, researchers have found that children’s social
expectation in significant adults are guided by their IWM (REF). Other authors
(Hafford-Letchfield, & Spatcher, 2007) have proposed that children’s trust beliefs in
social workers play a crucial role in their psychosocial adjustment and are essential for
the success of social work with children and their families.
Second, the association between children’s trust beliefs in social workers and
children’s working alliance with social workers is based on the research showing that
trust beliefs in others (i.e., the expectations that others fulfil promises, keep secrets, and
being honest) affect the quality of their relationships with other significant adults
(INSERIRE REF).
In line with this hypothesized link, authors have found that children’s trust beliefs
is a key element for the cooperative relationship with physicians. Trust beliefs were
associated with children’s adherence to prescribed medical regimes (Rotenberg et al.,
2008) and with the frequency of interactions with nurses as assessed by number of visits
to medical centres (Rotenberg et al., 2015). As a partial empirical evidence of the
association between trust in social workers and children’s working alliance it has been
found that interpersonal trust is a key element for the cooperative relationship with
11
TRUST BELIEFS IN SOCIAL WORKER AND WORKING ALLIANCE
physicians. It has been found that children’s trust in physicians is associated with their
adherence to prescribed medical regimes (Rotenberg et al., 2008) and that children’s trust
beliefs in nurses is associated with the frequency of interactions with nurses as assessed
by visits to medical centres (Rotenberg et al., 2015). (YES, TRUST IS ASSOCIATED
WITH THE CO-OPERATION .. BUT WHY IS IMPORTANT. THIS BEARS ON
THE CURRENT ISSUE AS PREVIOUSLY OUTLINED.)
Based on those principles, the TBWA hypothesis states that children’s trust
beliefs in parents are generalized to professionals such as social worker and, because
those are reciprocated by them, exposes the child to a good quality relation. As a result
of that links, children’s trust beliefs in parents are linked to children’s trust beliefs in
social worker which in turn affect working alliance towards social worker. Nevertheless,
there is a lack of research that addresses the hypothesized paths and the current study
was designed to redress that oversight. (THIS IS TOO GENERAL GIVEN THE
NATURE OF THE BDT.)
The present study
A version of the Children’s Trust Beliefs in General Social Worker (CTBGSW)
scale was created to test the Trust Beliefs and Working Alliance hypothesis (TBWA). It
was expected that the scale would be composed of three factors (reliability, emotional,
and honesty bases), demonstrated acceptable internal consistency, and significant
correlations with corresponding dimensions from the ICGTB scale.
In line with the TBWA hypothesis, it was expected that children’s trust beliefs in
social worker should serve as a mediator between children’s trust beliefs in parents and
children’s working alliance. The effect of gender as a moderator variable on the
observed correlations path was considered.
12
TRUST BELIEFS IN SOCIAL WORKER AND WORKING ALLIANCE
Method
Participants
The participants were 110 Italian children (67 boys) with mean age = 11 years-4
months (SD = 1 month) ranging from 8 years to 14 years. They were admitted to a day
care service by the Italian Social Services; 99 of them lived with their natural family, 12
lived with a short-term foster care family. Families were composed of 2 to 9 members
with a mean of 4.30 (SD = 1.5). Reasons for being admitted to the local social services
were mandatory/involuntary for 48 families (i.e., the Juvenile Court established
compulsory meetings with social worker) and non mandatory for 62 (i.e., the Juvenile
Court suggested to schedule meetings with social worker to prevent negative outcome).
Children were Italian citizens with European White background and were enrolled in
public schools serving low and middle class neighborhoods in southern Italy.
Participation was secured by parental signed consent as recommended by APA/BPS
ethics guidelines.
Mothers’s age ranged from 25 to 62 years (M = 40 years-5 months, SD = 7 months)
and fathers’ age from 27 to 66 years (M = 45 years-9 months, SD = 10 months).
Mothers’ educational level averaged 8.8 years (SD = 3.03) which corresponds to Junior
High/Secondary School. Fifteen mothers were unmarried, 51 married, 41 divorced, and
3 widowed. Fifty nine mothers were housewives, 42 employed for wages, 4
unemployed, 3 retired, and 2 self-employed. Fathers’ educational level averaged 8.07
years (SD = 2.66); 79 were employed for wages, 20 unemployed, 3 retired, 2 self-
employed, and 6 participants did not share information about their profession.
Measures
Trust beliefs in significant others. The Italian Children’s Generalized Trust
13
TRUST BELIEFS IN SOCIAL WORKER AND WORKING ALLIANCE
Beliefs scale (ICGTB; Rotenberg et al., 2015) was administered. Twenty-four items
described short stories with a child and his/her mother (or father, or teacher, or peers) as
protagonists. Participants imagined being protagonist of each story and judged
accordingly if the target character (mother, father, teacher, or peers) keeps promises
(reliability), fulfills confidentiality and avoids criticism and embarrassing (emotional),
and tells the truth (honesty). The children provided the answers on a Likert five-point
scale from 1 (very unlikely) to 5 (very likely).
Evidence for internal consistency and confirmatory factorial structure is shown by
Rotenberg et al. (2015). Means for the three bases of trust (reliability, emotional,
honesty) and for trust beliefs in parents were calculated with higher scores denoting
greater trust. The ICGTB scale demonstrated acceptable internal consistency (α = .81, rs
> .23), as did for trust beliefs in parents (α = .74, rs > .22) and for the three bases
subscales: α = .63, rs > .29 (reliability), α = .67, rs > .27 (emotional), and α = .68, rs
> .21 (honesty). (WHAT HAPPENED TO CHILDREN’S TRUST IN PEERS AND
TEACHERS? WHY AREN’T THEY INCLUDED?)
Trust beliefs in social worker. The Italian Children’s Trust Beliefs in General
Social Worker (CTBGSW) scale was created for this study. Eighteen items were
developed describing interactions between a child (same gender of the participant) and a
social worker who behaved through the three bases of trust (reliability, emotional,
honesty). Participants provided the answers on a five-point Likert scale (1-very unlikely
to 5-very likely). Means for the three bases of trust were calculated with higher scores
denoting greater trust in social worker.
Working Alliance with Social Worker. The Working Alliance Inventory (Horvath,
Greenberg, 1989) was modified to measure the quality of children’s working relation
with their social worker. The original version of the WAI for adults was composed of 36
14
TRUST BELIEFS IN SOCIAL WORKER AND WORKING ALLIANCE
items and measured the three dimensions of the client-therapist relation (task, bond,
goal).
The original 36-items WAI (Horvath, Greenberg, 1989) was modified to measure
the alliance between child and social worker from the child’s point of view taking into
account the specific setting in which the questionnaire was to be used (i.e., day-care
social services). Two authors of the present research independently worked on the
original 36-items WAI for adults to develop a viable scale for children. Because judged
too difficult for children or not related to social services environment, 18 items were
deleted. The remaining 18 items were subjected to a linguistic revision: (a) the
expression ‘therapist’ was replaced by ‘social worker’; (b) the blank line that needed to
represent the name of the therapist or client in the original questionnaire was replaced by
‘my social worker’; and (d) the terms ‘sessions’ and ‘therapy’ were changed to
‘meetings’.
The final 18 items required children to think about their relation with their social
workers and reply on a 7 points-Likert scale how much they agreed with each item. Six
items for each dimensions (task, bond, and goal) composed the new version of the WAI-
SW for children. Means for the three dimensions of working alliance were calculated
with higher scores denoting greater alliance in social worker. (THIS IS A BIT
PROBLEMATIC BECAUSE IT WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER TO ASSESS
THIS FROM THE SOCIAL WORKER’S OR PARENT’S PERSPECTIVE – AS A
MORE OBJECTIVE CRITERION. STILL, THIS REPRESENTS THE NOTION
THAT CHILDREN’S TRUST BELIEFS IN SOCIAL WORKERS IS
ASSOCIATED WITH THEIR WILLINGNESS TO FORM AN ALLIANCE WITH
THE SOCIAL WORKER. THIS IS OK TO TEST AND SAY. YOU WOULD
EXPECT THIS ON THE BASIS OF THE BDT AND RELATED RESEARCH. I
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TRUST BELIEFS IN SOCIAL WORKER AND WORKING ALLIANCE
WOULD MENTION THE USE OF MORE OBJECTIVE CRITERIA IN YOUR
DISCUSSION. THERE ARE TWO ISSUES HERE: (1) YOU ARE, IN EFFECT,
DEVELOPING A SCALE OF CHILDREN’S PERCEPTIONS OF THEIR
WORKING ALLIANCE WITH SOCIAL WORKERS – A NEW UNTESTED
SCALE ITSELF; AND (2) THE THREE FACTOR STRUCTURE MEANS THAT
YOU NEED TO EXAMINE THE RELATIONS BETWEEN THOSE AND THE
OTHER VARIABLES. THIS WILL GET A BIT COMPLICATED. )
Results
Psychometric Properties of the CTBGSW and WAI-SW Scales
The 18 items of the CTBGSW scale were subjected to a reliability analysis. Six of
the 18 items were removed because they did not exhibit adequate corrected item-total
correlations and thus reduced the internal consistency of the overall scale. The final
CTBGSW scale was composed of 12 items that comprised 4 items assessing the same
basis of trust beliefs. The CTBGSW scale as a whole demonstrated acceptable internal
consistency (α = .74, rs > .26), as did the three bases subscales: α = .66, rs > .36
(reliability), α = .64, rs > .33 (emotional), and α = .79, rs > .52 (honesty).
The 12 items were subjected to a confirmatory factor analysis using Structural
Equation Modelling. The hypothesized three factors model (shown in Figure 1) showed
good fit to the data, χ2 (51) = 67.11, p = .06, CFI (comparative fit index) = .94, RMSEA
(root mean square error of approximation) = .05. The standardized regression weights
for the three bases and covariances between reliability and emotional and between
reliability and honesty attained significance at p <.05. All the regression weights
exceeded the recommended value of .30 (see Kline, 2005). Figure 1 shows the CFA
model for the CTBGSW scale.
16
TRUST BELIEFS IN SOCIAL WORKER AND WORKING ALLIANCE
_ _ _ _ _
Insert Figure 1 approx. here
_ _ _ _ _
The 18 items of the WAI-SW scale were subjected to a reliability analysis. Nine of
the 18 items were removed because they did not exhibit adequate corrected item-total
correlations and thus reduced the internal consistency of the overall scale. The WAI-SW
scale as a whole demonstrated acceptable internal consistency (α = .XX, rs > .XX), as
did the three dimensions, α = .85, rs > .47 for task, α = .88, rs > .48 for bond, and α
= .66, rs > .29 for goal.
The 9 items were subjected to a confirmatory factor analysis using Structural Equation
Modelling. The hypothesized three factors model (shown in Figure 2) showed good fit to the data,
χ2 (24) = 41.81, p = .014 CFI (comparative fit index) = .97, RMSEA (root mean square error of
approximation) = .08. The standardized regression weights for the three bases and covariances all
attained significance at p <.05. All the regression weights exceeded the recommended value of .30
(see Kline, 2005). Figure 2 shows the CFA model for the WAI-SW scale.
_ _ _ _ _
Insert Figure 2 approx. here
_ _ _ _ _
Correlations between Measures
Table 1 shows correlations between the CTBGSW and the correponding dimensions of the I-CGTB.
———-
insert table 1 approx here
———-
17
TRUST BELIEFS IN SOCIAL WORKER AND WORKING ALLIANCE
As expected, each scale of the CTBGSW, namely reliability, emotional and honesty scales, was
correlated with the comparing scale of the I-CGTB. There were also appreciable correlations
between the three scale of the CTBGSW and reliability and emotional dimensions of the I-CGTB.
Finally, there were internal correlations between the scales of each measures.
YOU ARE MISSING A LOT HERE. MOST IMPORTANTLY THE CORRELATIONS
BETWEEN THE SUBSCALES OF THE CTBGSW AND CTB-SW, AS WELL AS CHILDREN’S
TRUST IN PARENTS.
Test of Hypothesized Mediation
According to the model, children’s trust beliefs in social worker (CTB-SW) should serve as a
mediator between children’s trust beliefs in parents (CTB-P) and children’s working alliance
(CWA). The expected mediation was assessed by PROCESS (REF HERE) and by the 10,000
bootstrap resample procedure. When CTB-P was the predictor, the test of simple mediation yielded
significant: (1) effects of CTB-P on CTB-SW, b = .10 (SE = .10), t(108) = 4.24, p < .0001, (2)
effects of CTB-SW on CWA, b = .80 (SE = .013, t(107) = 6.02, p < .0001. Direct effect of CTB-P
on CWA was not significant. The bootstrap results for the 95% confidence level were .17 for the
lower confidence level and .58 for the upper confidence level. Because zero did not fall with this
range, the indirect effect of CTB-SW attained significance at p < .05. The findings yielded support
for the hypothesis that trust beliefs in social workers served as a mediator between children’s trust
beliefs in parents and children’s working alliance.
Gender as a Moderator of the Observed Correlations and Paths
T-tests and hierarchical regression analyses (HRAs) were carried out to test whether gender
moderated the observed correlations shown in Table 1. T-test was significant for children’s trust
beliefs in parents, t(108) = 2.15, p = .033, with boys having higher scores (M = 3.63, SD = .61) than
girls (M = 3.35, SD = .71). Hierarchical regression analyses were carried out with gender served as
18
TRUST BELIEFS IN SOCIAL WORKER AND WORKING ALLIANCE
potential moderating variable and it was dummy coded. The predictors were: (Step 1) children’s
trust beliefs in parents, (Step 2) gender and (Step 3) predictor * gender term (see Cohen, Cohen,
West, & Aiken, 2003). The HRAs were not significant and did not yield a significant measure *
gender interaction. As a consequence, gender was not found to moderate the observed relations. The
Mediation Analysis was carried out with gender served as a moderator of the hypothesized model
which showed that gender did not moderate the observed paths.
Discussion
The first aim of this research was to provide a viable scale to measure children’s
trust beliefs in social worker. As expected, the CTBGSW scale demonstrated validity by
its three-factor structure (reliability, emotional, honesty), acceptable internal consistency,
and construct validity by correlations with the same dimensions of the I-CGTB.
The second aim of this research was to test the TBWA hypothesis which posits
relations between children’s trust beliefs in parents, children’s trust beliefs in social
worker, and children’s working alliance towards social worker. As expected, in support
of the TBWA hypothesis, children’s trust beliefs in social worker has found to serve as a
mediator between children’s trust beliefs in parents and children’s working alliance
towards social worker.
The Children’s Trust Beliefs in General Social Worker scale showed adequate
psychometric properties (validity and consistency) and those were similar to qualities
found for the original CGTB scale for English speaking children (Rotenberg et al., 2005)
and its Italian version (Rotenerg et al., 2015). The results demonstrated that CTBGSW is
a viable scale to investigate children’s trust beliefs in social worker. Broadly, the
findings show that the BDT interpersonal trust framework (Rotenberg, 2010) is
applicable to the investigation of children’s trust beliefs in significant others.
19
TRUST BELIEFS IN SOCIAL WORKER AND WORKING ALLIANCE
The findings yielded evidence for the hypothesized distal linkage (and thus paths) between
children’s trust beliefs in parents and children’s working alliance towards social worker, as well as
for the hypothesis that children’s trust beliefs in social worker served as a mediator between those
two variables. The findings yielded support for the notion that children’s trust beliefs in parents, as
part of their IWM, provides the cognitive structure to generalize their trust beliefs to social worker
and thus affects the quality of relations between children and social worker.
The current findings yielded support for the idea that children’s trust beliefs in social workers
play a crucial role in their psychosocial adjustment and are essential for the success of social work
with children and their families (see Hafford-Letchfield, & Spatcher, 2007) by showing that the
quality of working relation is associated with trust beliefs. Our results extend the empirical
evidence showing that children’s trust in physicians is associated with the quality of their
relationships with physicians (measured as adherence to prescribed medical regimes or frequency of
visits; Rotenberg et al., 2008; Rotenberg et al., 2015). According to the TBWA hypothesis,
children’s trust beliefs in significant others increase the likelihood that they engage in collaborative
behaviors which are reciprocated by social worker and promote the quality of their relationship.
The findings showed that children’s trust beliefs in parents were higher for boys than girls
which is not consistent with some studies (see Betts & Rotenberg, 2007; Rotenberg et al., 2004) that
found higher level of trust for girl than boys. The current findings showed, though, that gender was
not responsible for the relation between children’s trust beliefs in others and their working alliance.
In summary, the current study has yielded the development of the Children’s Trust
Beliefs in Generalized Social Worker scale and provides support for the TBWA
hypothesis in that children’s trust beliefs in parents were associated with their working
alliance with social worker through the mediation of children’s trust beliefs in social
worker.
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TRUST BELIEFS IN SOCIAL WORKER AND WORKING ALLIANCE
Limitations and Direction for Future Research
In future, researchers might wish to examine the following two issues. First, the current
study examined concurrent relations among trust beliefs and working alliance. Longitudinal
research is needed to provide clearer evidence for the hypothesized causal relations.
Second, current research showed that trust beliefs in social worker contributes to the quality of
the child-social worker relationship. Research has found that the quality of working relation with
social worker influences the strength of family involvement into the intervention and family service
completion (Girvin, DePanfilis, & Daining, 2007; Killian, Forrester, Westlake, & Antonopoulou,
2015; Korfmacher, Green, Spellman, & Thornburg, 2007), and bring them into positive outcomes
(Lee & Ayon, 2004; Munro, 2011). As children admitted to a day care service are the other active
actors of the relationship it would be desirable to promote children’s working alliance with social
worker employing the full potential of the trust beliefs to enhance children’s involvement and
positive outcomes.
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TRUST BELIEFS IN SOCIAL WORKER AND WORKING ALLIANCE
Figure Captions
Figure 1: The three-Factor Model of the Children’s Trust Beliefs in Social Worker Scale
All paths and covariances attained the significance, p < .05
.39
.79
.60
.64
.74
.53
.62
.73
.37
.31
.70
.46
.81
.35
.04
.52
e12
e11
e10
e9
e8
e7
e6
e5
e4
e3
e2
e1
Honesty
Emotional
Reliability
Item 12
Item 11
Item 10
Item 9
Item 8
Item 7
Item 6
Item 5
Item 4
Item 3
Item 2
Item 1
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TRUST BELIEFS IN SOCIAL WORKER AND WORKING ALLIANCE
Figure 2: The Three-Factor Model of the Working Alliance towards Social Worker
All paths and covariances attained the significance, p < .05
.84
.83
.76
.88
.86
.79
.84
.74
.38
.94
.95
.93
e9
e8
e7
e6
e5
e4
e3
e2
e1
Task
Bond
Goal
Item 9
Item 8
Item 7
Item 6
Item 5
Item 4
Item 3
Item 2
Item 1
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TRUST BELIEFS IN SOCIAL WORKER AND WORKING ALLIANCE
Figure 3: The Mediation Model testing the TBWA Hypothesis with bs (and ps between brackets).
Note: CTB-P= children’s trust beliefs in parents; CTB-SW= children’s trust beliefs in social worker; CWA= children’s working alliance towards social worker; ns= not significant.
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TRUST BELIEFS IN SOCIAL WORKER AND WORKING ALLIANCE
Table 1: Correlations between I-CGTB and CTBGSW dimensions.
M (SD)
1 2 3 4 5
Reliability ICGTB 3.64 (.64) .56*** .55*** .44*** .34*** .52***
Emotional ICGTB (1) 3.67 (.67) .31** .33*** .42*** .47***
Honesty ICGTB (2) 3.10 (.75) .15 .13 .72***
Reliability CTBGSW (3) 4.04 (.64) .41*** .22**
Emotional CTBGSW (4) 3.81 (.74) .27*
Honesty CTBGSW (5) 3.62 (.79)
Note: CGTB= Children’s Generalized Trust Beliefs Scale; CTBGSW= Children’s Generalized Trust Beliefs in Social Workers; * p < .05; ** p < .01; *** p < .001; df = 108
25
TRUST BELIEFS IN SOCIAL WORKER AND WORKING ALLIANCE
References