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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™

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2014

Social Work

Social work

Articles 1 - 26 of 26

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

A Library And The Disciplines: A Collaborative Project Assessing The Impact Of Ebooks And Mobile Devices On Student Learning, Barbara C. Glackin, Roy Rodenhiser, Brooke Herzog Dec 2014

A Library And The Disciplines: A Collaborative Project Assessing The Impact Of Ebooks And Mobile Devices On Student Learning, Barbara C. Glackin, Roy Rodenhiser, Brooke Herzog

Roy Rodenhiser

With the proliferation of technology usage, it is essential to understand the effect of implementation of technology in the academic setting. Specifically, this article examines the impact of eBooks and mobile devices on student learning. A pilot study was conducted with three areas of interest. The first question of interest found that owning or having access to two or more mobile devices significantly increased respondents' frequency of accessing eBooks. The second question examined the pros and cons of using mobile devices. Accessibility and cost savings were found as pros; while functionality and pedagogy were reported as drawbacks to mobile device …

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Practitioner Profile: An Interview With Reeta Wolfsohn, Cmsw, Reeta Wolfsohn Aug 2014

Practitioner Profile: An Interview With Reeta Wolfsohn, Cmsw, Reeta Wolfsohn

Journal of Financial Therapy

Reeta Wolfsohn, CMSW, began practicing financial therapy in 1997. At the time, she didn’t call what she did by that name, but her work specifically addressed the financial issues and problems of her clients. Early on in her work, Reeta recognized clients wanted to take control of their money and their lives, but struggled not only with the shame, guilt, worry, and stress of debt, but also with the poor sense of self, and low self-confidence and self-esteem which inevitably accompanied it. Realizing clients needed more help than regularly scheduled therapy sessions, she began developing financial educational materials and psychosocial …

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Assessing The Fit Between Child Welfare Information Systems And Frontline Workers: Development Of A Task-Technology Fit Instrument, Kurt William Heisler Jul 2014

Assessing The Fit Between Child Welfare Information Systems And Frontline Workers: Development Of A Task-Technology Fit Instrument, Kurt William Heisler

Health Services Research Dissertations

States and the federal government continue to invest heavily in child welfare information systems (CWIS) to improve caseworkers' performance, but the extent to which these systems meet caseworkers' needs is unclear. In the field of child welfare there are no reliable user-evaluation measures states can use to assess the degree to which a CWIS meets caseworkers' needs, and identify which specific features of the CWIS most need improvement. The study developed such a measure based on the task-technology fit (TTF) framework, which posits that users will evaluate the usefulness of a technology based on how well it meets their tasks …

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How Quickly We Forget: Comments On “A Historical Analysis Of Evidence-Based Practice In Social Work: The Unfinished Journey Toward An Empirically Grounded Profession”, Anne E. Fortune Jun 2014

How Quickly We Forget: Comments On “A Historical Analysis Of Evidence-Based Practice In Social Work: The Unfinished Journey Toward An Empirically Grounded Profession”, Anne E. Fortune

Social Welfare Faculty Scholarship

The Social Service Review article, “A Historical Analysis of Evidence-Based Practice in Social Work: The Unfinished Journey toward an Empirically Grounded Profession,” by Nathanael J. Okpych and James L-H Yu, is the kind of article that makes you sit up and say, “That’s revisionist history!” “What new ideas!” “I wish I had written that!” “But that’s not what I know!” Such an ambivalent response suggests that it is a groundbreaking article or at least one that will stimulate discussion and reassessment of what we know. Constructivism suggests both that there are many legitimate worldviews and that it is worth knowing …

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Beliefs About Substance Abusing Clients Among Social Work Students, Seidy Jhosselyn Soto, Marry Jean Stuart Jun 2014

Beliefs About Substance Abusing Clients Among Social Work Students, Seidy Jhosselyn Soto, Marry Jean Stuart

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This study was a quantitative survey and explored beliefs about substance abusing clients among sixty-three social work students. The study focused on the extent to which social work students display bias toward clients with a substance abuse disorder. The study also explored the attitudinal domains of permissiveness, treatment intervention, non-stereotypes, treatment optimism, and non-moralism. The study found that social work students who have taken a substance abuse education class are less like to attribute substance abuse addiction to a weak will in the client. The study recommends that future studies on beliefs about substance abusing clients among social work students …

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Human Service Providers’ Perception Of The Quality Of Client Services Provided As Related To Their Level Of Self-Care, Joseph Ray Brinson, Luis Hernandez Jun 2014

Human Service Providers’ Perception Of The Quality Of Client Services Provided As Related To Their Level Of Self-Care, Joseph Ray Brinson, Luis Hernandez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This study explored human service providers’ perception of the quality of client services provided as related to the providers’ level of self-care. We utilized a quantitative research approach to survey 54 human service providers from three Southern California agencies. An independent t-test was conducted to analyze the difference between participants’ perceptions of self-care by age, gender, and level of education. This study revealed a significant difference was found between gender and social care. Females are more likely to maintain an open, trusting relationship with someone who they can share their frustrations with, sustain balance in their life by pursing a …

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A Social Construction Of Affordable Housing And Nimby In A Southern California County, Stefany K. Nelson Jun 2014

A Social Construction Of Affordable Housing And Nimby In A Southern California County, Stefany K. Nelson

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The constructivist paradigm was used in the research study to focus on the challenges with affordable housing and concentrations of Housing Choice Voucher recipients in a county in Southern California. Viewed through the lens of Social Stratification posed by Max Weber, ones opportunities in life are based on his/her position of class, status and power, where by those with lower positions are excluded from opportunities. The literature discusses the goal of the Housing Choice Voucher Program is to deconcentrate poverty and provide opportunities to move to higher income areas in order to provide opportunities for social upward mobility. Residential socioeconomic …

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Parental Perceptions And Experiences Of Physical And Emotional Violence Between Siblings: A Mixed-Methods, Comparative Case Study, Nathan Perkins May 2014

Parental Perceptions And Experiences Of Physical And Emotional Violence Between Siblings: A Mixed-Methods, Comparative Case Study, Nathan Perkins

Theses and Dissertations

Sibling violence is a common occurrence for many children yet this form of family violence has received minimal attention in research compared to other forms of child maltreatment. With parents as an integral component in the lives of many children, parental perceptions and experiences of violence between siblings are important to understand. Furthermore, with the increased variation in family structures within society, inclusion of multiple types of families in research is necessary to encompass a broad understanding of sibling violence. This case study included seven parents from four different family structures to examine their perceptions and experiences of physical and …

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Promoting Hope And Resilience In Parkinson’S Disease, Emily R. Brunner May 2014

Promoting Hope And Resilience In Parkinson’S Disease, Emily R. Brunner

Master of Social Work Clinical Research Papers

The purpose of this project was to explore how or if social workers promote hope and resiliency in individuals’ with Parkinson’s disease. Using a qualitative design, eight licensed social workers throughout the United States, with between two to thirty years of experience working with individuals suffering from Parkinson’s disease. The participants reflected on their experiences and observations of hope and resiliency in individuals with Parkinson’s disease. The researcher analyzed data by looking for themes and commonalties between the participant responses during the interviews. The interviews were transcribed and linked to previous related literature. The findings indicated that all of the …

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Harm Reduction In The Social Work Practice, Kayla Lessard May 2014

Harm Reduction In The Social Work Practice, Kayla Lessard

Master of Social Work Clinical Research Papers

Harm reduction is a technique used to address a variety of behaviors that produce harm and is implemented at micro, mezzo and macro levels. The purpose of this study was to examine the social worker experience of implementing harm reduction techniques with clients that identify as using substances. This study aimed to discover the strengths, limitations, and barriers of implementing harm reduction into the social work practice. This is a qualitative study that used guided interviews to collect data. Eight licensed graduate social workers that identify as using harm reduction techniques with clients that abuse substances were interviewed. Data gathered …

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The Experience Of Msw Students: Self-Stigma And Mental Illness, Ashley Trudell May 2014

The Experience Of Msw Students: Self-Stigma And Mental Illness, Ashley Trudell

Master of Social Work Clinical Research Papers

The purpose of this research study was to investigate the ways in which current MSW students experience different forms of the stigma of mental illness. The broader research question for this study is: Do current MSW students experience self-stigma of mental illness? Self-stigma is the internalization of negative attitudes and stereotypes created by general stigma (Corrigan et al., 2008). This study will examine the relationship between levels of general stigma and self-stigma in order to answer an additional question: If social work students are non-judgmental towards others in the general population with mental illness, are they similarly less judgmental towards …

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Families With Severe Medical Conditions In Children: Effects And Interventions, Morgan Wilson May 2014

Families With Severe Medical Conditions In Children: Effects And Interventions, Morgan Wilson

Master of Social Work Clinical Research Papers

Parents and primary caregivers are the most important providers of support and care for their children. Families with children with chronic or life-threatening medical conditions face many challenges that the average family does not. The purpose of this research project was to discover what the effects of having a child with a chronic or severe illness are on the family system. This was done by finding out what has been the most helpful to the family and each of its members during the time since the child has been diagnosed and by finding out what has been challenging to the …

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Agency Support For Self-Care And Burnout Among Licensed Social Workers, Catherine Wyman May 2014

Agency Support For Self-Care And Burnout Among Licensed Social Workers, Catherine Wyman

Master of Social Work Clinical Research Papers

Social workers often work in stressful environments and experience secondary trauma through their clients. An examination of the available literature has found that social workers experience symptoms of burnout. Previous research also indicated that self-care is beneficial to decreasing stress levels in social workers. In this study, a quantitative and qualitative survey was distributed to licensed social workers in the state of Minnesota examining burnout and self-care within the context of the social work agency. Quantitative data was evaluated using descriptive and inferential statistics. Qualitative data was analyzed and coded using grounded theory methodology. There were no significant quantitative findings. …

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Using Creativity As A Form Of Intervention For At-Risk-Youth: The Development Of Creativity2day, Tamika T. Lewis May 2014

Using Creativity As A Form Of Intervention For At-Risk-Youth: The Development Of Creativity2day, Tamika T. Lewis

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This project is a detailed description of the development of Creativity2Day, the organization and its workshops, its sole purpose is to positively impact the lives of at-risk-youth and the communities they live in. This project provides a synthetized definition of creativity and a detailed outline on how the deliberate use of the Creative Change Leadership Model, Creative Problems Solving, and the Torrance Incubation Model of Teaching and Learning can be used together as a form of micro-level intervention methods, geared towards the positive development of at-risk-youth who attend Title I schools and reside in low-income communities.

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A Library And The Disciplines: A Collaborative Project Assessing The Impact Of Ebooks And Mobile Devices On Student Learning, Barbara C. Glackin, Roy Rodenhiser, Brooke Herzog May 2014

A Library And The Disciplines: A Collaborative Project Assessing The Impact Of Ebooks And Mobile Devices On Student Learning, Barbara C. Glackin, Roy Rodenhiser, Brooke Herzog

Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

With the proliferation of technology usage, it is essential to understand the effect of implementation of technology in the academic setting. Specifically, this article examines the impact of eBooks and mobile devices on student learning. A pilot study was conducted with three areas of interest. The first question of interest found that owning or having access to two or more mobile devices significantly increased respondents' frequency of accessing eBooks. The second question examined the pros and cons of using mobile devices. Accessibility and cost savings were found as pros; while functionality and pedagogy were reported as drawbacks to mobile device …

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Addressing Traumatic Loss And Grief Within Inner City High Schools, Jena Henry Mar 2014

Addressing Traumatic Loss And Grief Within Inner City High Schools, Jena Henry

Master of Social Work Clinical Research Papers

Experiences of trauma, loss, and grief have been shown to increase the likelihood of developing serious mental health difficulties and to decrease academic performance, which in turn can be harmful to an individual’s success. This research study examined the perceived prevalence of traumatic loss and grief within inner city high schools, as well as the methods used by inner city high school social workers to address traumatic loss and grief experienced by students, through the use of an online mixed-methods survey. Results showed that all participants perceive a percentage of their student population have experienced traumatic loss and grief, some …

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Livable Wage Legislation: Minnesota Social Workers’ Knowledge Of And Involvement In The Movement, Maggie Wangen Mar 2014

Livable Wage Legislation: Minnesota Social Workers’ Knowledge Of And Involvement In The Movement, Maggie Wangen

Master of Social Work Clinical Research Papers

Minnesota’s minimum wage provides insufficient income for full-time adult employees to meet their needs and the needs of their dependent children. The social work profession, and individual social workers, should be aware of and involved in the current social justice issue of raising the minimum wage to a more realistic (livable) wage. This research paper examines the potential impacts of raising the minimum wage, current opinions of American society regarding livable wages, and the extent to which Minnesota social workers have knowledge of and are involved in the livable wage movement. Results of a survey taken by Minnesota’s licensed social …

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The Collaboration Of Faith And Social Work In Creating A Gateway Of Helping, Breanne M. Bambrick Mar 2014

The Collaboration Of Faith And Social Work In Creating A Gateway Of Helping, Breanne M. Bambrick

Honors Program Projects

When tragedy occurs, trauma follows. In crises, emergency response professionals are called upon in order to aid survivors. While the majority of professionals involved have received formal education on crisis management or disaster relief, the faith community is often called upon to assist without such prior knowledge. However, based on their mutual commitment to serve those in need, the social work profession and faith community represents a natural partnership in preparing for the disaster management process. Therefore, social workers can assist faith leadership in order to empower the faith community to be involved in crisis response. Specifically, this research addresses …

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Perspectives Of Social Work Students On Nutrition And The Nutrition Effects On Mental Health, Diana Tran Mar 2014

Perspectives Of Social Work Students On Nutrition And The Nutrition Effects On Mental Health, Diana Tran

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Nutrition is related to the mental well-being of clients. However, the nutritional views and practices of social workers in the mental health field have not been thoroughly explored. By using the post-positivist paradigm, 15 mental health social work students were interviewed for their perspectives regarding nutrition and nutrition’s effect on stress. Their main ideas were identified, connected, and organized to develop a theoretical statement. The resulting theory focused on the development of social work students' perspectives in applying nutrition into their mental health practice. The students were influenced by a variety of background factors, including their education, barriers to applying …

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Social Capital And Suicide: Social Workers' Obligation Toward Contemporary Suicide Prevention, Christopher Hodshire, Roghayeh Khosravi, Shuresh Lotfi Feb 2014

Social Capital And Suicide: Social Workers' Obligation Toward Contemporary Suicide Prevention, Christopher Hodshire, Roghayeh Khosravi, Shuresh Lotfi

Social Work Faculty Publications

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “approximately 1 million die by suicide in the world every year and it is estimated that 1.5 million will die from suicide in 2020.”To many in the social work field feels this is disturbing news that deserves far more attention both by the academics and the mass-media. This study pertains to the applications of social capital theory and its everyday practice in the social work profession. In particular, the study provides a deeper understanding and review of social capital, suicide and its application of social capital theory in the social work practice with …

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Mental Health First Aid Usa: The Implementation Of A Mental Health First Aid Training Program In A Rural Healthcare Setting, Andrew M. O'Neill, Valerie L. Leyva, Michael N. Humble, Melinda L. Lewis, John A. Garcia Jan 2014

Mental Health First Aid Usa: The Implementation Of A Mental Health First Aid Training Program In A Rural Healthcare Setting, Andrew M. O'Neill, Valerie L. Leyva, Michael N. Humble, Melinda L. Lewis, John A. Garcia

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

Nearly one-quarter of adults in the United States suffer from a documented mental disorder. Consequently, anyone could encounter a person with symptoms of mental illness at some point as they carry out their daily life activities. Although laypersons may accurately identify physical illnesses, they may lack necessary skills to identify symptoms of mental disorders, or know how to adequately respond to persons in a mental health crisis. Mental Health First Aid USA is an evidence-based certification program designed to teach lay citizens to recognize certain symptoms of common mental illnesses, offer and provide first aid assistance, and guide a person …

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Increasing Military Social Work Knowledge: An Evaluation Of Learning Outcomes., Mary Ann Forgey, Sharon L Young Jan 2014

Increasing Military Social Work Knowledge: An Evaluation Of Learning Outcomes., Mary Ann Forgey, Sharon L Young

Social Service Faculty Publications

Service members and veterans face a myriad of health mental health and social challenges stemming from the combat and operational stressors experienced during deployment and the challenges of reintegration to civilian life. To intervene effectively with this population social workers must be knowledgeable about these issues and the cultural context within which they occur. While schools of social work across the country are developing course work in military social work, little is known about the learning outcomes of these courses. This paper describes a military social work course that was developed to increase student preparedness to work with a military …

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A Demonstration Of Canonical Correlation Analysis With Orthogonal Rotation To Facilitate Interpretation, Patrick V. Dattalo Jan 2014

A Demonstration Of Canonical Correlation Analysis With Orthogonal Rotation To Facilitate Interpretation, Patrick V. Dattalo

Social Work Publications

This paper describes and demonstrates Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) with orthogonal rotation to facilitate interpretation. The purpose of CCA is to explain the relationship between two or more sets of variables. CCA can be thought of as a kind of principal components analysis on two set of variables, except that the criteria for the pairs of linear combinations is that they have the highest possible correlation while being orthogonal to “earlier” pairs. Social work researchers should rarely be satisfied with a strategy that determines which sets of variables to model on purely statistical grounds. However, there are times when there …

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Food Landscapes: A Case Study Of A Cooking And Art- Focused Program For Teens Living In A Food Desert, Jessica R. Norris Jan 2014

Food Landscapes: A Case Study Of A Cooking And Art- Focused Program For Teens Living In A Food Desert, Jessica R. Norris

Theses and Dissertations

This study constructs themes and propositions about the experiences of youth participants in the fall 2013 Food Landscapes program at the Neighborhood Resource Center in Richmond, Virginia. During the program, youth participated in cooking-based volunteerism with adults with disabilities and created short videos about their experiences. In this study, I analyzed pre- and post-program participant interviews, twice-weekly program observations, and facilitator reflections to understand how Food Landscapes affected youths’ conception of community engagement and communication strategies. This case study offers insight into how youth experience after-school programming of this design. Based on my findings, youth develop and rely upon a …

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Analyzing Health Education Training Of Human Services Students, Christine W. Thorpe Jan 2014

Analyzing Health Education Training Of Human Services Students, Christine W. Thorpe

Publications and Research

Human services programs across the country are charged with training students to address social problems of individuals and families through delivering services that enhance the standard of living of all people. The coursework generally offered in accredited human services programs are within the framework of mental health and social work, yet human services workers play a critical role in health care delivery and need to convey good health practices to the clients they serve. Hence the need for human services students to have coursework in health education to develop their skills in addressing client health behavior. The purpose of this …

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Infusion Of Gerontological Competencies In Social Work, Jessica Marie Rawls Jan 2014

Infusion Of Gerontological Competencies In Social Work, Jessica Marie Rawls

LSU Master's Theses

This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the Graduate Certificate in Gerontology Program (GCGP) at Louisiana State University School of Social Work (LSUSSW). Thirty advanced year students participating in the GCGP in the 2012-2013 academic year participated in the study. All of the participants were female, and the majority (n=25) identified as Caucasian. The mean age of the participants was twenty-seven years. The study utilized a pre-experimental, one group pretest-posttest design. Participants were surveyed pre-certificate program and upon completion of the program using a two-part, self-report survey which utilized the Geriatric Social Work Competency Scale II. Participants reported their …

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