Social Work Commons^™

The Relationship Between Role Models, Socioeconomic Mobility Beliefs, And Academic Outcomes, Christian Koeu, Marisol Espinoza Garcia

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Objective: This study aims to provide insights into the relationships between role models, socioeconomic mobility beliefs and the education outcomes of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. While previous studies highlight the positive influence of role models on academic and career aspirations, the specific relationship between role models and socioeconomic beliefs remains unexplored. Our study addresses this gap by examining whether the presence of role models relates with more optimistic socioeconomic beliefs and how these beliefs, in turn, affect academic outcomes (academic engagement, academic intentions, and grade point average [GPA]). Additionally, we investigate the influence of role model characteristics to …

Improving The High School And College Classroom Experience For Learners With Refugee Status: Theory, Practice, And Change., Kayte Thomas, Sara-Jean Lipmen

Journal of Applied Disciplines

Refugee populations are increasing globally, and children make up more than fifty percent of those displaced. Unique experiences that come with forced migration including fragmented education, trauma, family separation, grief, and adverse other effects can impact learning in the classroom for refugee students. Existing data indicates that schools lack sufficient protocols to meet the needs of students with refugee status who consistently face risks associated with ill-prepared learning environments, and therefore must rethink possibilities to address this. By adopting strategic decolonized approaches, educational leaders can create supportive environments which improve instructional methods and learning outcomes for these students as they …

Moving At The Speed Of Trust, Sun Ho Lee

Masters Theses

Moving at the Speed of Trust is a workbook of strategies — practices, definitions, and techniques — to nurture community-building in support of inbetweeners who live between power structures and cultures and are often left out. Inbetweeners are those individuals whose lives are in transition through recent immigration or forced translocation from Asia to America.

These strategies revolve around threads of trust: kin, giggles, vulnerability, and shared experience. With these threads, we can question power. We can preserve stories, expand the ways we connect, shift perspectives on what is “standard,” and cultivate a community rooted in understanding. To understand each …

The Effects Of Colorism On The Self-Esteem And Relationships Among College Students, Marrakesh Shiloh Spann, Pius Nyutu

Journal of Research Initiatives

This study was designed to examine the relationship between colorism and self-esteem and relationship satisfaction among college students. Additionally, the impact of other social-economic factors such as gender, race/ethnicity, and income level were evaluated. Data was collected via a questionnaire developed in google forms from 202 participants. The instruments included the Rosenberg Self- Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965), A Generic Measure of Relationship Satisfaction (Hendrick, 1988), The Colorism Scale (Harvey, Banks, & Tennial, 2014) and a general demographics questionnaire. The results indicated a very low correlation between colorism and self-esteem (r = .084) and between colorism and relationship satisfaction (r = …

Averting Educational Disruptions For Migrant Children, Natalie Elisarraraz

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Migrant children entering the United States face unique challenges when being introduced to the country’s public education system. Not properly addressing the adversities migrant children and families face and their effective resources and strengths when navigating a new educational system can cause a detrimental delay to their potential academic success. This study sought to investigate the educational disruptions experienced by migrant students. This study also explored the relationship between the unique strengths migrant students possess and their use by school staff to the interventions utilized. This study utilized a qualitative design of primary data collected on the experiences of six …

Barriers To The Use Of Palliative And Hospice Care Among The Latino Population, Diana Ramirez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Patients suffering from irreversible and terminal illnesses may benefit from the services provided by Palliative and Hospice Care to control any symptom burden and assist in navigating complex medical decisions. Many patients may express hesitation in accepting and enrolling to this service due to misconceptions. Language barriers may add an additional layer of complexity. This study explored the challenges Palliative Care providers encounter when introducing concept of hospice to Spanish-speaking patients their families for the first time. This study implemented qualitative research methods by using semi-structured one-on-one interviews. Ten members of an In-patient Palliative Care Team at a University Hospital …

Assessing Professionals Working With Latinx Families With Special Needs In Monterey County, Jose Francisco Hernandez Rivera

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Special Kids Connect (SKC) is a nonprofit organization serving children with disabilities and their families in Monterey County. This capstone project concentrated on the professionals working with children as part of SKC’s Early Start Intervention Program. The project’s objective was to discover local agencies' professional development training needs that serve Latinx families with disabled children between 2 to 8 years. Seventy-five child-care providers, early intervention service professionals, regional center staff, and school district personnel responded to the survey. They indicated an overall 60 % needed an understanding of systems related to IEPs, Early Start Services, Developmental Screenings, Social-Emotional Screenings, Regional …

The Impact Of Bias And Historical Racial Trauma On Black Girls’ Education: Using Theory To Better Understand Benefits, Angela Fisher-Williams

DSW Capstone Projects

ABSTRACT OF CAPSTONE

Implicit biases are among the most unfair discriminating microaggressive habits; Black students face within the compulsory educational system. However, college institutions are not sufficiently preparing social work students to work with this marginalized group to help manage these needs through diversity training courses. The researcher wrote a synthesis paper that synthesized two theories, the Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome (PTSS). This research will determine if social work students who take part in diversity training embedded in their coursework could better prepare social workers for the field. This research employed a descriptive design while …

Learning About Others In Multiculturalist Social Service's Curriculum In Finland: Transnational Feminism, Anti-Racist Pedagogy, And Politics Of Othering In The Curriculum, Jenni Lampinen

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Social work education aims to train competent professionals to answer the needs of changing populations and society. Education includes theoretical and practical components that offer the frames for social work at different levels of society; personal, interpersonal, institutional, and structural. Primarily, multicultural social work focuses on working with populations with diverse ethnic, cultural, and racial identities that often differ from the majority population. Multicultural social work can be seen as a bridge between minority communities and society. This research was implemented using discourse analysis to examine the social services program’s curriculum of one University of Applied Sciences in the Helsinki …

Corazonar Y Escuchar Para Construir Memoria Desde La Interculturalidad Y El Territorio: Voces De Maestras En Escuelas Rurales., Valentina Dalmau Corredor, Laura Valentina Arévalo Lozano

Trabajo Social

La presente investigación da cuenta de la relación que se teje entre memoria colectiva y territorial desde la perspectiva de la interculturalidad decolonial en las Escuelas Normales Superiores (ENS) de Sibundoy-Putumayo y Pupiales-Nariño. Este documento fue escrito involucrando las voces de las maestras rurales, quienes, desde su trayectoria de vida, resignifican la labor docente en un país marcado por la desigualdad social, política y cultural como lo es Colombia. En estos territorios del sur del país, las maestras rurales hacen escuela desde sus resistencias y luchas cotidianas contra la estandarización y uniformidad que propone el sistema educativo. Por ello, busca …

Barriers To Post-Secondary Success, Douglas Swanson, Najeana Henderson, Maritza Sloan

Dissertations

This study reviews factors that prior studies have identified or failed to consider as barriers to post-secondary success. The three main areas include academic success for Latinx students after high school, organizational systems and their impact on African-American students’ postsecondary readiness, and what workers think of their high school education with regards to career preparedness.

Five factors are identified as major barriers for Latinx students to continue in a higher education system. A survey of former students from Saint Louis, Missouri, and Dallas, Texas, metroplex area identified 56 Latinx students that participated in an initial survey. This led to a …

Spilling The Tea In Bilingual Latinx New York City Department Of Education School Social Workers: Towards Entre Nos, Cindy M. Bautista-Thomas

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Social workers play an important role in schools. There are about one million children enrolled in the New York City Department of Education(NYCDOE) school system, across 1,843 schools (New York City Department of Education, 2020). Of those students, the largest demographic group is the Latinx population, which has been increasing steadily since 2011. Therefore, there is an urgent need not only to increase the numbers of culturally responsive bilingual Latinx social workers, but also to understand their professional experiences. In order to address this gap in knowledge, the roles of bilingual Latinx school social workers as culturally responsive practitioners in …

Cultural Identity Formation: A Personal Narrative, Jose Carbajal

Faculty Publications

This paper provides an autoethnography of personal experiences and perceptions of being a minoritized individual. This is the story of a professional social worker learning to adapt to social norms and expectations of self. I discuss the struggles I experienced as an adolescent and as a young adult attending college. This narrative highlights the intersection of faith and social work at moments in my professional development. It is at this intersection that this social worker learns to live a holistic life without feeling discriminated against or ashamed of his identity. I begin to actualize a reality with imperfect beings who …

Music Education In A Liquid Social World: The Nuances Of Teaching With Students Of Immigrant And Refugee Backgrounds, Gabriela Ocádiz Velázquez

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This integrated-article dissertation explores the multiple ways in which music teachers, community facilitators, and students engage in music teaching and learning in social contexts prone to change due to human mobility. Drawing upon Bauman’s sociological understanding of modern societies as liquid and the larger implications of processes of human mobility in schools and communities, this research focuses on exploring music education as it happens within an increasingly diversifying Canadian society.

In the first article, a philosophical research study, I conceptualize the notion of coping with discomfort as a form of response possibly experienced by music teachers. Here, I draw from …

How To Be Unfaithful To Eurocentrism: A Spanglish Decolonial Critique To Knowledge Gentrification, Captivity And Storycide In Qualitative Research, Marcela Polanco, Nathan D. Hanson, Camila Hernandez, Tirzah Le Feber, Sonia Medina, Stephanie Old Bucher, Eva I. Rivera, Ione Rodriguez, Elizabeth Vela, Brandi Velasco, Jackolyn Le Feber

The Qualitative Report

From a position of academic activism, we critique the longstanding dominance del production of knowledge that solely implicates fidelity to Eurocentric methodological technologies en qualitative research. Influenced by an Andean decolonial perspective, en Spanglish we problematize métodos of analysis as the dominant research practice, whereby las stories o relatos result en su appropriation, captivity and gentrification, first by researchers’ authorship and later by the publishing industry copyrights. We highlight the racializing and capitalist colonial/modern Eurocentric agenda del current market of knowledge production that displaces to la periphery all knowledge o relatos that do not subscribe to Euro-US American methodological parameters …

When Personal Raises Political: Experience Of Racial Discrimination And Distrust Of Authorities Among Children Of Immigrants, Luis Fernandez-Barutell

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Substantial research has addressed the association between welcoming or hostile contexts and sociopolitical behavior among second generation immigrants. Previous analyses have conceptualized positive elements (e.g., group solidarity) and negative factors (e.g., anti-immigration bias) related to specific outcomes, such as voting or activism. This study examined factors associated with distrust of authorities and, in particular, whether experiencing personal discrimination based on race/ethnicity is related to distrust of government and police among second generation Latinos in the United States. Our results confirmed that experiencing discrimination in two contexts (school and police) is indeed related to distrust of authorities. Recommendations for practice and …

Navigating The Silences: Social Worker Discourses Around Race, Cherie Bridges Patrick

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

This thesis explored social worker discourses to learn what they could reveal about professional workplace practices and experiences with race and racism. The study traced the subtle and elusive racism often found in everyday professional conversations that are not considered racist by dominant consensus. Using tools of thematic and critical discourse analysis (CDA), and van Dijk’s (1993, 2001, 2008, 2009, 2011) general theory of racism and denial (1992, 2008), data from 14 semistructured interviews and one focus group with a racially diverse group of social workers was analyzed in two ways. First, thematic analysis offered a horizontal or flat exploration …

Accessibility To Resources For Homeless Documented Immigrant Families: A Case Study, Antaniece P. Carter

Dissertations

This study seeks to explore the experience of a homeless documented immigrant family attempting to access school and community resources. Research has shown that due to disadvantages including but not limited to lack of economic mobility, employment access, lone parent families, and cultural background, some immigrant families may face challenges accessing services (Arnold, 2004). Difficulty accessing services then can inhibit adjustment and may lead to homelessness.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the issue of homelessness as experienced by immigrants within an urban community. A case study will highlight the experience of a homeless immigrant family, as defined …

Latino Parent School Involvement: Do Parents Read And Respond To Teacher Invitations?, Celia Marquez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Latinos are the second largest ethnic group after Whites in the education system, yet there is still a large gap between Whites’ and Latino’s graduation rates. Research indicates that parental involvement in children’s education plays a significant role in children’s academic success. For this reason, this study aims to understand Latino parents’ perspectives on their participation in their child’s school. More specifically, how often Latino parents receive invitations from the school and whether or not they respond to these invitations. The research design for this study is exploratory and qualitative and uses one-on-one interviews with Latino parents. The central themes …

Rags To Riches: One Migrant Worker's Journey To Educational Triumph, Sarah E. Broman

Educational Considerations

The effect poverty has on a child’s education is tragic. Without the necessary life-sustaining resources, many of our nation’s children struggle to concentrate on anything other than their immediate dire circumstances. This article tells the story of how one migrant farm worker overcame her struggles living in abject poverty to become a first generation college student and future elementary education teacher thanks to her supportive family and her compassionate, caring educators along the way.

College Access For Undocumented Students And Law, Jessica C. Enyioha

Educational Considerations

There are over 32 million undocumented immigrants in the United States and of this population, over 1.5 million are children (Palmer & Davidson, 2011). These children grow up in the US, achieve primary and secondary education, and when they are ready to pursue postsecondary education, it becomes harder for them to achieve. In this paper, undocumented students’ access to postsecondary education in the US is examined: laws that affect their access to postsecondary education, previous cases on access to education for undocumented students, and the difficulties undocumented students often encounter when pursuing postsecondary education are discussed and analyzed. Best practices …

System Challenges For Bilingual Clinical Social Work In Forensic Settings, Roberto G. Arroyo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Little information exists about challenges that bilingual clinical social workers face when engaging individuals with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) in forensic settings, which may influence the efficacy of services provided. Bilingual clinical social workers in the U.S. state of South Carolina lack operational guidelines to assist people with LEP who are involved in forensic matters. The purpose of this study was to explore challenges that affect delivery of bilingual clinical social work to people with LEP in forensic settings. Ecological systems theory served as the conceptual framework for this study. Purposive and snowball sampling methods led to the participation of …

In Translation: An Examination Of Esl Policy On Paper As It Relates To The Realities Of Implementation, Grace M. Cuevas

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This honors research project explores the features of Title III requirements as they relate to the actual experience of students and their families. This paper synthesizes my experience researching English as a Second Language (ESL) specific supports and policy to inform my time spent accompanying an upper-level administrator for the Harrisonburg City Public School (HCPS) system, and interviewing professionals at an area school. In this paper I outline the results of interviews with 13 service providers. Interviews examined the “letter of the law” and the subsequent “spirit of the law” through application of a social work lens to the different …

Supporting Newcomer Students: A Chicago-Specific Exploration Of Social And Emotional Learning Initiatives, Lincoln Hill

Center for the Human Rights of Children

Due to the large number of immigrant children and families within its borders as well as its sanctuary jurisdiction, the city of Chicago serves as an ideal case study towards investigating specialized services for one of its most vulnerable subpopulations of children, primarily the development needs of its immigrant children. The desired outcome for this non-exhaustive research brief is to provide empirical evidence and best practices for Chicago community and school specialists seeking to support the social and emotional needs of their newcomer student population.

Restorative Justice And Social Justice, John M. Winslade

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

This paper explains the connections between restorative justice and social justice. Specifically it argues that restorative practices in schools fit with a social justice agenda. It defines both terms and then outlines how restorative practices work to address the pipeline to prison and against retributive justice and zero tolerance policies. It also outlines the use of narrative questions designed to enhance restorative practices.

Examining Jordanians' Attitudes Towards Five Types Of Developmental Disabilities, Najah Zaaeed Drph, Mohammad M. Mohammad, Peter Gleason, Khaled A. Bahjri Md, Naomi Modeste

Journal of Refugee & Global Health

Background: The diagnosis and reported rates of persons with developmental disabilities (PWDDs) in Jordan is steadily increasing. Although initiatives have been implemented to improve the lives of PWDDs, attitudes towards PWDDs hinder successful inclusion in the Jordanian society.

Objectives: To examine the relationship between Jordanians socio-economic status and attitudes towards persons with developmental disabilities: autism, blindness, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome and muscular dystrophy.

Methods: Jordanians (N=259), ages 18-65 were recruited for this convergent parallel, mixed-methods study. Participants completed the modified 40-item Community Living Attitude Scale-developmental disability (CLAS-DD) and the modified Intellectual Disability Literacy Scale consisting of five vignettes, representing each …

It Takes A Village-Schooling Out Of Place: School Experiences Of Black African Youth In Waterloo Region, Olufunke Oba 5726040

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation examined experiences of alienation among Black African youth in Waterloo region schools. This study is timely and relevant considering the rapid influx of Black Africans into the region in response to government initiatives to redirect immigrants to smaller communities. The research addressed the dearth of scholarship on experiences of Black Africans outside the major metropolitan areas by employing Afrocentric and critical race theories to explore relationships between race and youth experiences of alienation. The dissertation study utilized elder facilitated youth dialogue forum (adaptation of focus group) and in-depth storytelling (which honours African orality) to access the meanings seventeen …

Promoting Student Success: Bilingual Education Best Practices And Research Flaws, Lillian Fassero

Senior Honors Theses

This paper first determines the benefits which bilingual education offers and then compares transitional, dual-language, and heritage language maintenance programs. After exploring the outcomes, contexts, and practical implications of the various bilingual programs, this paper explores the oversight in most bilingual studies, which assess students’ syntax and semantics while neglecting their understanding of pragmatics and discourse structures (Maxwell-Reid, 2011). Incorporating information from recent studies which question traditional understandings of bilingualism and argue that biliteracy requires more than grammatical and vocabulary instruction, this paper proposes modifications in current research strategies and suggests best practices for transitional, dual-language, and heritage maintenance programs.

“Our Greatest Songs Are Still Unsung”: Educating Citizens About Schooling In A Multicultural Society, Simona Goldin, Erin E. Flynn, Cori Mehan Egan

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study examines how a practice-based unit informs undergraduates’ understandings of the dynamics of teaching and learning in a multicultural society, and how these intersect with equity in U.S. classrooms. Citizens’ nuanced understanding of teaching and learning is increasingly important for their engagement with U.S. schools. Practice-based opportunities can allow students to “see” the complexity of teaching and to challenge assumptions about teaching and learning, which are central to preparing an informed citizenry. Findings further suggest that a single course is not sufficient to expand undergraduate students’ understanding of the role of diversity in social life. More concentrated and ongoing …

The Dynamics Of Participatory Monitoring And Evaluation (Pm&E) In Traditional Pakistan., Aamer Shams

Capstone Collection

This research seeks to explore the interpretation and application of Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation (PM&E) in the context of Educational Empowerment by analyzing insights gathered from multiple stakeholder groups in four cities of Pakistan, Islamabad, Lahore, Quetta, and Peshawar. Analysis of the findings reveals nuances of PM&E, including “Equality and Equity, Respect and Tolerance” (pg. 58-61) that limit the potential of this transdisciplinary empowerment process. Empowerment and educational programs often employ the continuous processes of Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) to gain an understanding of the implementation, efficiency, impact, and overall performance of the program. M&E also provides valuable information about …