Social Work Commons^™

Social Work Research Sequence Syllabi, Armando Barragan

Q2S Enhancing Pedagogy

This syllabus is the prototype for SW 6011, 6012, 6013, & 6014, a revitalized generalist and advanced generalist social work courses that will be taught in the semester system. The format is a departure from the quarter system format and the process of development involved all faculty.

Advanced Generalist Field Work Iii & Iv, Shyra Harris

Q2S Enhancing Pedagogy

This syllabus is the prototype for SW 6083 & SW 6084, revitalized advanced generalist field social work courses that will first be taught in the semester system. The format is a departure from the quarter system format and the process of development involved all faculty.

Generalist Field Work I & Ii, Rachel Allinson

Q2S Enhancing Pedagogy

This syllabus is the prototype for SW 6081 & SW 6082, revitalized generalist field social work courses that will first be taught in the semester system. The format is a departure from the quarter system format and the process of development involved all faculty.

Serving And Protecting People With Mental Illness And/Or Developmental Disabilities: An Evaluation Of The Los Angeles Sheriff Department’S Field Operations Crisis Intervention Skills Program, Veronica Plascencia, Melissa Mcdonald

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

ABSTRACT The Los Angeles Sheriff Department’s Field Operations Crisis Intervention Skills (FOCIS) program is a collaborative effort aimed at preparing law enforcement officers for crises that involve individuals with severe mental illness and/or developmental disabilities. That is, the ultimate goal of the program is to train officers to serve, protect, and build connections with the community’s most vulnerable citizens. Embracing a pre-experimental design, this study assessed the effectiveness and applicability of the FOCIS program among 53 law enforcement officers in Los Angeles County. Findings from non-parametric analyses revealed that the FOCIS training increased officers’ knowledge on mental illness and developmental …

Substance Abuse And Family Reunification: Perceptions And Potential Contributing Factors To Family Reunification, Ashley Odam, Tina Macmaster

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the contributing factors of family reunification (FR) according to social workers and other professionals working in child welfare. Existing research highlights the importance of the social worker’s relationship with the person with substance abuse as a contributing factor to FR; however, there is little research as to what influenced the social worker and other professionals from their perspective.

A quantitative self-administered survey was distributed to social workers and professionals in San Bernardino County and Riverside County that included questions about the participant’s background, experience, possible contributing factors, and influences potentially impacting family …

Social Workers' Perspectives On Chronic Pain And Mental Health, Ashley Danielle Patterson, Cynthia Christine Sanchez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This study explored social workers’ perceived level of competency in addressing chronic pain and mental health. Chronic pain is a prevalent issue and individuals with chronic pain are more likely to experience a mental health concern (Dahlhamer et al., 2016; Gureje et al., 2008). The research design of this study was a quantitative cross-sectional survey distributed through social networks such as Facebook and Reddit. There were a total of 278 respondents, however, 79 were omitted due to not fully completing the survey leaving 199 respondents. The results indicate social workers have a moderate level of competency when working with this …

Perceptions Of Mental Health Among Asian Pacific Islander College Students, Jenny Phan

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

As part of the demands of higher education, college students undergo stressful events that have a negative impact on their mental health. Furthermore, Asian American Pacific Islander (API) Asian Pacific Islanders (API) face cultural and structural barriers that further influences individuals to ignore their mental well-being. Through interviews and surveys, this study aims to explore the current perceptions of mental health among API college students and the possible factors that prevent these students from addressing the mental health concerns through interviews obtaining student’s personal narratives. The findings are to enhance social work practice through becoming more culturally aware of the …

Mental Health Therapists' Views On The Challenges Latinos Face To Continue Services, Jessica Gutierrez, Elizabeth Casas-Valdovinos

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors leading Latinos to withdraw from mental health services through the perspective of mental health therapists. This study employed a qualitative design and data were collected from face-to-face and phone interviews with 10 therapists from Riverside and San Bernardino County. The results of this study identified that Latino client’s low levels of mental health literacy contributed to a higher level of mental health stigma that led to premature withdrawal from services. The study also found that language barrier and job-related issues were major challenges Latino families faced in their continuation of …

Evaluating The Perceptions Of Preschool Teachers And Administrators On Mental Health Services In The School Setting, Celia Tavarez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Mental health can impact a child’s success in many aspects, including in the school setting. School settings are very often the only place that provide an opportunity for families to be able to receive mental health services for their children. It is imperative that schools meet the mental health needs of the children who attend their schools. This research project examines data and information gathered from educators and school administrators to help us understand their experiences, successes, and/or displeasure about the services that are offered or not offered within the agency they work for. The literature review discusses the definition …

Burnout Mediated By Master Of Social Work Enrollment Status, Donna Andrea Villaseñor, Vanessa Lopez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The social work profession is widely known to be fulfilling, yet demanding. Burnout has been found to begin during the academic career in pursuit of social work profession. Therefore, addressing burnout in the academic setting can later impact job retention. This study was significant because it allowed for the identification, understanding, and recognition of burnout as a student which then could in turn delay the onset and alleviate the amount of burnout in the transition from student to professional. A cross sectional methods approach was applied by surveying Master of Social Work students from a local Southern California Master of …

Athletes With Mental Health Illnesses, Trenton Allmang

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The focus for this research study is to understand the development of mental health symptoms that result from sports engagement. Participating in sports for several years within different developmental stages of human life can increase the probability of identity conflict and mental distress. This study addresses the risk factors that contribute to the development of mental health illnesses from former athletes’ perspectives through qualitative research. The study includes former male and female participants ages 18 and older as well as their family members, friends, sports stakeholders, sports officials, coaches, social workers, and athletic training staff. This study was conducted from …

Emotional Labor: How Gendered Racism Affects African American Women Working In Mental Health Crisis Response, Dana N. Sandoval

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The research uses the framework of emotional labor to analyze the effect of gendered racism on mental health, physical well-being, and burn out of African American women who provide mental health crisis response. The focus on the emotional toll an African American woman experiences while dealing with clients who may respond with racist and/or sexist actions or words. Also explored are coping strategies and protective factors while managing the stressors of sexism and racism while working in a mental health crisis response. The study uses in- depth interviews to explore the lived experiences of African American/Black women. Axial coding links …

Measuring Teacher Self-Efficacy In Addressing Pupil Mental Health Post Assembly Bill 2246, Samantha J. Ross, Christel Salas

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Assembly Bill 2246, known as the pupil suicide prevention policies, was implemented into law at the start of the 2017-2018 academic school year. This legislation mandates that all secondary schools in the state of California implement a suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention policy for at-risk students. Assembly Bill 2246 specifically recognizes the role of teachers in addressing pupil mental health and aims to provide support through policy. The purpose of this study is to measure teacher self-efficacy in addressing pupil mental health post Assembly Bill 2246. This study’s research design is comprised of a quantitative, pretest/posttest model using an independent …

The Role And Impact Of Long-Term, Faith-Based Reentry Programs After Incarceration, Louie John Martinez, Rebecca Graf

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The focus of this exploratory study is on individuals who have completed long term, faith-based reentry programs after incarceration. Through one-on-one interviews with participants, this study will examine the impact that long-term, faith-based treatment programs have had in helping persons with a criminal past re-acclimate back into society. As more reentry programs focus on skills-based treatment only, this study seeks to explore the integration of faith and spirituality in long-term faith-based treatment programs in conjunction with other treatment modalities. This study will contribute to a deeper understanding of the critical elements necessary to help individuals overcome their past and collateral …

What Are The Relationships Between Adverse Childhood Experiences And Age Of Initiaton Of Substance Use?, Alisha Dozier

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Child abuse and substance abuse are significant health problems in the United States and they negatively impact the physical, emotional, and biological health of millions of individuals. It is estimated that one in four children experience child abuse, which is a risk factor for the development of substance abuse problems later in life (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS], 2018). Rates of substance abuse are increasing nationally, making the relationship between child abuse and the development of substance abuse problems important to study.

This research project analyzes the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and subsequent age of …

A Study Of The Effectiveness Of Mediation Orientation Programs For Child Custody Recommending Counseling, Arlene Trevizo, Ana Paulina Romero Baltazar

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This study examined the impact of a Child Custody Recommending Counseling (CCRC) orientation program on encouraging parental agreements in child custody and visitation cases. We used qualitative research methods by interviewing CCRC counselors to identify common case factors involved in obtaining full agreements. The interview questions addressed commonly noted case factors, perspectives of the mediators in regard to tools used by parents from the orientation programs, and areas of potential enhancement to the orientation. Eight mediators were interviewed, and their interviews were transcribed and thematically analyzed using conventional content analysis. As a result of this study, the themes that arose …

Analyzing Service Barriers And Risk Factors For Reentry Among Formerly Incarcerated Adults, Agustina Alejandra Sepulveda

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Recidivism is a growing problem affecting formerly incarcerated adults struggling with reentry into society. After release, most individuals are dealing with barriers in their environment that affect their access to substance abuse and mental health treatment, which can be important to reducing recidivism. Thus, this study sought to understand the various service barriers and risk factors to reentry among formerly incarcerated individuals to help increase awareness of some of the challenges the reentry population is facing.

Self-administered surveys focusing on housing, employment, public assistance, and mental health barriers were collected among formerly incarcerated individuals from Southern California (n=103). Bivariate chi-square …

Perceptions Of Compassion Fatigue Amongst Master Of Social Work Students And Self-Care Strategies To Build Resilience, Daniel Wright

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Due to the unpredictable nature of the social work profession, MSW interns may find themselves unprepared when dealing with clients that have suffered through traumatic events. For those that are not adequately prepared, there can be risks of experiencing compassion fatigue. Compassion fatigue is a process by which a professional’s inner experience is negatively transformed through empathic engagement with clients’ trauma material (Killian, 2008). This research project examined possible contributing factors to compassion fatigue among MSW students and recent MSW graduates from a large public university in Southern California. The study also focused on whether self-care methods were being used, …

Self-Care, Burnout, And Compassion Fatigue, Among Child Welfare Workers, Angelica Castrejon

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Child welfare is recognized as a stressful and overwhelming career the demands of which can result in poor retention and high turnover. Many factors contribute to the high turnover including, high caseloads, unmanageable administration requirements, challenging clients, and increasing amount of paperwork. Thus, this study aimed to explore child welfare social workers’ understanding of burnout and compassion fatigue, its effects on their work, and how self-care is integrated into their daily practice to reduce burnout and compassion fatigue. The study used qualitative methods to explore burnout and compassion fatigue among seven child welfare social workers employed by a large child …

Perception Of Burnout Among Social Workers And Coping Mechanisms Used To Combat It, Natasha Hogan

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate how many social workers are experiencing burnout as well as to learn what kinds of methods they use in order to reduce the symptoms of burnout. During this study, the researcher interviewed six participants who are social workers in San Bernardino County. Each participant disclosed their feelings and thoughts surrounding their experience with burnout. To interpret the findings the open coding method as well as a qualitative data analysis was used. It was found that many participants not only experienced burnout in their job as social workers, but many also were experiencing …

Clinical Preparedness Of Clinicians For Lgbt Clients, Martin Rojas

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This study used surveys to measure the clinical competency of clinicians and their clinical preparedness, attitudes, knowledge of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) clients using an exploratory quantitative research design. The purpose of the research was to assess clinician knowledge, preparedness, and attitudes to identify to what extent further training is needed to work effectively with the LGBT population. Data was collected from seventy-eight participants from southern California. Findings were that clinicians’ knowledge regarding LGBT clients was high, attitudes were open towards this population, and preparedness was also relatively high. Comparisons between LGBT participants and other participants, social workers …

The Effects Of Eating Disorders And Body Dissatisfaction On School Achievement, Briana Ribota

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Eating disorders are no longer an invisible phenomenon. Eating disorders are caused by a multitude of factors which include a combination of biological, environmental abnormalities, and/or psychological, such as: nutritional deficiencies, sexual abuse, poor self-esteem, trauma, and/or social pressure (Strother et al., 2012). These food related issues can cause embarrassment and pain, along with severely jeopardizing one’s health if not recognized and treated (Strother et al., 2012). As a result of the complexities of eating disorders, young adults are annihilated with managing life impediments rather than focusing on academic achievement. A qualitative post positivist study will be conducted by interviewing …

Are Social Work Services Provided To Deployed Military Families Adequate, Janet Walker

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This study was initiated to discover if Social Work services are as prevalent as they should be for deployed service families and troops abroad. Previous studies seem to suggest that social workers are minimally portioned without a true dedicated purpose. This study determined through input from enlisted personnel and their families what social work services are available to deployed military personnel and their families.

Deployed enlisted personnel and their families have a unique experience that from time to time cause trauma, both physical and mental. Whereas in the past, trauma was experienced only by fighting men, today’s military is multi-gendered …

Hospice Social Workers Beliefs, Ethics, And Values: How Do They Affect Terminal Clients Requesting Physician Assisted Suicide?, Jazmine Camacho, Jessica Huver

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Since the enactment of California’s End of Life Option Act in 2016, physician assisted suicide (PAS) has become increasingly relevant within the field of medical social work. As a result, social workers will find themselves educating and assisting clients on EOLO. Research suggests that the amount of education and training received regarding PAS all had an impact on social workers’ perceived preparedness to discuss PAS as and EOLO. Additionally, research indicates that social workers collectively support and have a positive attitude towards PAS; however, there is little research that explores the extent to which a social worker’s personal values and …

Removing Barriers To Mental Health Service Utilization For Individuals With Sensory Impairments, Kery Silva

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The present study explored common themes and barriers associated with mental health service utilization among people with sensory impairments. The ultimate goal is to promote social workers’ preparedness to serve individuals with sensory disabilities. This study is significant considering that (1) a large proportion of people with sensory disabilities do not receive mental health services and (2) there is a paucity of studies within the field of social work that examine barriers to mental health services for the aforementioned population. In this qualitative study, the researcher conducted semi-structured interviews with 14 professional social workers (N =14) who have direct experience …

General Internship Satisfaction As A Function Of Perceived Supervision Quality And Emotional Intelligence, Eva Huerta

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The current study utilized a quantitative design to investigate the extent to which MSW students’ general internship satisfaction (GIS) is related to their perceptions of supervision quality (SQ), and their emotional intelligence (EI). Participants were 53 individuals recruited from students enrolled in a Master of Social Work (MSW) program at an ethnically diverse Southern California university. Participants were required to be participating in their first or second year of field placement. An online survey solicited demographic information and participant responses to measurement scales for the three variables under investigation. Variable data were recorded on a 1-to-7 Likert scale, with comparatively …

Compassion Fatigue And Burnout Within A Mental Health Clinic A Constructivist Approach, Leonard Pinto

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Compassion Fatigue and Burnout are two very familiar problems in the field of mental health that can harm both the provider and the client if untreated and left unresolved. Past research efforts have found prevention methods and ways to recover from both problems, from an individualized approach. These issues appear to possibly occur on an organizational or agency level, but very little research has been centered around this. Furthermore, this research has explored the differences to be found in experience across different scopes of practice within a mental health clinic.

From the constructivist approach, this research has gathered quantitative …

Domestic Violence In Rural Areas, Priscilla Ayala, Patricia Sanchez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Domestic violence (DV) negatively impacts individuals and families, including children, across the U.S. Yet, there is little research on the barriers and facilitators to services these families encounter, especially in rural areas. The goal of this study was to examine service availability in rural areas for families who have experienced domestic violence.

This study was conducted using a qualitative research design. Researchers conducted face-to-face and phone interviews with nine human services professionals in one rural California community. The study used in-depth interviews with open-ended questions to encourage participants to share their views and experiences.

The findings were categorized into six …

Professionals’ Perspectives On Barriers And Facilitators Of Success With Teen Parents In The Child Welfare System, Zuleima Carrillo, Victoria Valenzuela

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of the barriers and facilitators of success with teen parents who are in the child welfare system. The study examines these issues through the perspectives of professionals and paraprofessionals. The literature review suggested that having children at a young age negatively affects the mother as well as the child and that adolescents who have received or are receiving services from child welfare agencies become teen mothers at higher rates.

The study used a qualitative, exploratory design. The data was obtained from in-depth interviews with 15 professionals and paraprofessionals who …

Reducing Depression And Anxiety With Equine Activities, Denise Todd

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Anxiety and depression are among the most popular mental health issues in the United States and across the globe, as many people continue to face personal, familial, and systemic challenges in their lives. It is believed that equine activities (those that involve interactions with horses) can play a significant role in alleviating anxiety and depression levels in adults. So far, however, the existing scholarship contains just a handful of studies supporting such a claim. Using a pre-experimental design, this study sought to extend the mental health literature by assessing the impact of equine activities on anxiety and depression among …