Social Work Commons^™

Interns Matter: Maximizing Integration Of Interns Into Community Agencies, Valerie Garcia

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Hope Services is a non-profit agency serving individuals with developmental disabilities in six counties. Over the years, there have been many agencies that have formed connections with Hope Services. One of these collaborative partnerships has been with CSU Monterey Bay’s (CSUMB) integration of interns through their field placement program. However, recently former Hope Services South District Manager, Greg Dinsmore, witnessed a lack of utilization and integration of interns across all Hope Services agencies. Through firsthand experience as a mentor, he witnessed the benefits of utilizing interns and saw the need for further advocacy and support for the integration of interns …

A Descriptive Study Of The Elderly In California Substance Abuse Treatment Programs, David Berenschot

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

As gerontologists may know, there are a great deal of studies and a variety of academic literature on the misuse of alcohol and prescription medication amongst the elderly population. While there is a plethora of information on alcohol and prescription misuse, there is little reported data about the prevalence of other substance misuse experienced by this population. This study aims to help to fill that gap in the data by using quantitative methods to describe the scope of substance abuse of individuals 55-years or older. This study utilizes data from the Treatment Data Set Admission (TEDS-A). The TEDS-A is a …

Putting Care Back Into "Health Care:" An Analysis Of The Place Of Community Health Workers Within The U.S. Health Care System, Megan Schowalter

Honors Program Theses

This paper explores who a Community Health Worker (CHW) is and contextualizes the social, political, and historical factors that allowed for the growth of CHWs within the primary health care sector in the U.S. It analyzes how CHWs perceive their own roles and responsibilities within the U.S. health system as a means of highlighting the gap within health care services and the influence of Social Determinants of Health (SDH) on well-being. The second part of this paper relates CHWs to scholarship by medical anthropologist Paul Farmer and public health scholar Alicia Yamin concerning pathologies of power and the need for …

Case Study: Healthy Texas Women Program In The Abilene-Taylor County Public Health District, Saul Francisco Delgado

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The public healthcare system faces continuous transformations and challenges of constant adjustments to the increasing usage of fee for service revenue and the decrease of federal investment to women’s healthcare services and to the safety net healthcare providers (Meit, 2013; Weisman, 1997).

In 2016, the Texas 84^th Legislation Session determined to consolidate two existing women’s healthcare service programs into one a single program: the Healthy Texas Women (HTW) program. The new women’s program is a preventative care program that provides services of family planning and chronic illness care under a complete fee for service reimbursement system as its sourse …

A Study Of Innovation In Model Project Design: Addressing Mental Health Symptoms Among Co-Occurring Substance Use And Mentally Ill Clients Who Are Homeless In A Local Community Clinic Setting, Isis Dian Martel

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Homeless persons with co-occurring substance use combined with mental illness constitute a particularly vulnerable subgroup with complex service needs. Unfortunately, the capacity to deliver critical treatment services has been extremely limited causing many from this population to remain untreated. Untreated co-occurring disorders can lead to a host of difficulties for both the individual and the community (Bouchery, Harwood, Sacks, Simon, & Brewer, 2011). Developing community based intervention services in Arkansas is a key activity necessary in strategically addressing this problem (Barbee, Gonzales, & Shelor, 2016). In partnership with the Arkansas Division of Behavioral Health Services, a local community treatment provider …

Communicative Behaviors Elicited By Leisure Activities In Memory Care Units, Tarynn Clune

Honors Projects

A wide variety of leisure activities used in reminiscence care have been studied for their merits in terms of preventing cognitive decline, and increasing quality of life; however, little is known about what different types have to offer in terms of communicative opportunities. Communication with peers is imperative for quality of life, and is crucial for maintenance of relationships between the person with dementia (PWD) and their loved ones. As a result of this importance, an exploration of communication elicited by different activities facilitated in a unit was conducted. The communication explored in this study was solely vocal, and included …

Recovery From Design, Cassandra J. Ellison

Theses and Dissertations

Through research, inquiry, and an evaluation of Recovery By Design, a ‘design therapy’ program that serves people with mental illness, substance use disorders, and developmental disabilities, it is my assertion that the practice of design has therapeutic potential and can aid in the process of recovery. To the novice, the practices of conception, shaping form, and praxis have empowering benefit especially when guided by Conditional and Transformation Design methods together with an emphasis on materiality and vernacular form.

Social Workers' Perceptions Of A Rural Emergency Mental Health Trauma Service, William L. Getz

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Studies have shown that emergency mental health trauma (EMHT) services can significantly reduce the long-term effects of trauma after a disaster. However, rural municipalities may find they do not have the capacity to create such a service, or may not realize that their disaster planning includes no provision for emergency mental health care. Such was the case in a rural island community in the state of Washington, where, in 2014, several residents initiated a discussion that helped to identify the community's lack of EMHT services. This project, framed by action research and based on collaboration theory, sought to advance the …

Nonresidential Fathers Parenting Their Children Residing In Shelters: A Phenomenological Study, Karen Denise Hudson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This phenomenological qualitative study explored the parenting role of nonresidential fathers of children living in shelters. Special attention was paid to the perceived contributions of these fathers to the overall health and general well-being of their children residing in shelters. Often separations of nonresidential fathers from their children in shelters decreased their contributions to their children's health and well-being. Increased knowledge of these parental roles and contributions can enhance programs and policies to support these fathers in improving the health and well-being of their children. In-depth semistructured interviews were conducted with 6 demographically diverse nonresidential fathers living in Philadelphia. The …

Sex Education In Montana Schools: An Assessment Of The Needs Of Sexual And Gender Minority Youth, Elizabeth A. Redinger, Annie Sondag

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Youth are particularly vulnerable to infection from HIV and STIs. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, youth between the ages of 13 and 24 accounted for about 26% of all new HIV transmission cases in the United States in 2010, In young MSM specifically, there was a 22% increase in new infections from 2008 to 2010 (CDC, 2015). Education is one of the factors that plays a role in sexual health practices starting in high schools, yet in Montana there is no clear set of guidelines as to what is covered during sex education classes in the …