Social Work Commons^™

Co-Design Of An Nhs Primary Care Health Check For Autistic Adults, Helen Taylor, Barry Ingham, David Mason, Tracy Finch, Colin Wilson, Clare Scarlett, Sebastian Moss, Christina M. Nicolaidis, Multiple Additional Authors

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Autistic people experience more health conditions and earlier mortality. This study investigated views about a primary care health check for autistic adults to inform its design. Fifty-one people participated in consultation groups and interviews, comprising autistic adults (some with co-occurring intellectual disabilities), adults with intellectual disabilities, supporters and health professionals. Participants wanted the health check to cover physical and mental health and social functioning. They emphasised the importance of sharing information about individual needs and associated adjustments before the health check. They highlighted the need to change the way healthcare services communicate with autistic people, such as reducing phone contact …

"It Made Me Feel Like Things Are Starting To Change In Society:" A Qualitative Study To Foster Positive Patient Experiences During Phone-Based Social Needs Interventions, Anna Steeves-Reece, Christina Nicolaidis, Dawn M. Richardson, Melissa Frangie, Katherin Gomez-Arboleda, Chrystal Barnes, Minnie Kang, Bruce Goldberg, Stephan Lindner, Melinda M. Davis

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Many healthcare organizations are screening patients for health-related social needs (HRSN) to improve healthcare quality and outcomes. Due to both the COVID-19 pandemic and limited time during clinical visits, much of this screening is now happening by phone. To promote healing and avoid harm, it is vital to understand patient experiences and recommendations regarding these activities. We conducted a pragmatic qualitative study with patients who had participated in a HRSN intervention. We applied maximum variation sampling, completed recruitment and interviews by phone, and carried out an inductive reflexive thematic analysis. From August to November 2021 we interviewed 34 patients, developed …

Youth-Reported School Connection And Experiences Of A Middle Schoolebased Screening, Brief Intervention, And Referral To Treatment Initiative: Preliminary Results From A Program Evaluation, Maria Stepanchak, Kate Katzman, Margaret Soukup, Evan Elkin, Kathryn Choate, Allison Kristman-Valente, Carolyn A. Mccarty

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Purpose

This study aimed (1) to evaluate the feasibility of a school-based Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) program that expands on traditional SBIRT to support the mental health and well-being of middle school students and (2) to assess its effects on students’ connection with adults at school.

Methods

Focus group discussions were conducted with 26 students in grades 6–8 to understand student perspectives about an innovative school-based SBIRT program. A subset of middle school students from the SBIRT program who received a brief intervention (BI) after screening (n = 116) were asked to rate their experience meeting …

Implementation Of The Texas Community-Engaged Statewide Consortium For The Prevention Of Covid-19, Erika L. Thompson, Bettina M. Beech, Robert L. Ferrer, Lorna Mcneill, Jasmine J. Opusunju, Rebecca A. Seguin-Fowler, Emily Spence, Luis Torres-Hostos, Christopher I. Amos, Palak Desai, Jamboor K. Vishwanatha

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Community Engagement Alliance (CEAL) Against COVID-19 Disparities aims to conduct community-engaged research and outreach. This paper describes the Texas CEAL Consortium's activities in the first year and evaluates progress. The Texas CEAL Consortium comprised seven projects. To evaluate the Texas CEAL Consortium's progress, we used components of the RE-AIM Framework. Evaluation included estimating the number of people reached for data collection and education activities (reach), individual project goals and progress (effectiveness), partnerships established and partner engagement (adoption), and outreach and education activities (implementation). During the one-year period, focus groups were conducted with 172 people and surveys with 2107 people …

“The Broker Of Reality”: A Scoping Review Of Moral Reconation Therapy, Sam Harrell, Constance Johnson, Chandler Boys, Brianna Suslovic, Ben Anderson-Nathe, Kassandra Botts

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Purpose: This scoping review aims to identify the evidence-based literature supporting Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT), a cognitive-behavioral treatment program created in 1987 and implemented in correctional-treatment settings across the US. Social work students and practitioners are among MRT’s facilitators.

Method: We analyze the reliability and validity of the most recent meta-analysis of MRT, covering studies published between 1988 and 2010. We then identify 669 potential publications on MRT published between 2011 and 2021.

Results: Our search across Google Scholar and eleven academic databases yielded zero peer-reviewed studies on MRT’s effectiveness or outcomes.

When Families, Organizational Culture, And Policy Collide: A Mixed Method Study Of Alternative Response, Stacey L. Shipe, Mathew C. Uretsky, Catherine A. Labrenz, Corey S. Shdaimah, Christian M. Connell

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Objective Alternative response (AR) is a family-centered, preventative approach for child protection systems. This study first examined what family and case factors predicted re-investigation and then explored which organizational factors influence caseworker and agency implementation of AR. Method Using administrative data from child protection reports, AR families (N = 9,959) and traditional response (TR) families (N = 13,974) were followed for 18 months to determine re-investigation rates using multilevel modeling where families were nested in county of residence. Four focus groups with 14 participants were conducted to discuss the quantitative findings, organizational culture, and implementation of AR. Results AR families …

The Role Of Community Factors In Predicting Depressive Symptoms Among Chinese Workforce: A Longitudinal Study In Rural And Urban Settings, Wanlian Li, Guanghan Gao, Fei Sun, Lin Jiang

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: The dual urban-rural division system in China has led to distinguishes in economic development, medical services, and education as well as in mental health disparities. This study examined whether community factors (community cohesion, supportive network size, foreseeable community threat, and medical insurance coverage) predict the depressive symptoms of Chinese workers and how community factors may work differently in rural and urban settings.

Methods: This secondary data analysis was conducted using data from the 2014 and 2016 China Labor-force Dynamics Survey (CLDS). The sample of this study includes 9,140 workers (6,157 rural labors and 2,983 urban labors) who took part …

Health Through A Human Right Lens At The Us-Mexico Border: Increasing Access To Healthcare For Central American Immigrants, Carolina Venturi, Diana Guízar-Sánchez, María Elena Ramos-Tovar, Melissa Torres, Flor D. Avellaneda, Luis R. Torres-Hostos, Omar Matuk-Villazon

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The number of immigrants seeking entry into the U.S. through asylum requests or through irregular means is increasing, and most come from the Northern Triangle of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. Immigrants come fleeing extreme poverty, violence, health and social inequities, and drastic climate changes. Most had limited access to healthcare at home, and even more limited care along the journey. Those that are allowed entry into the U.S., are confronted with feeling unwelcome in many communities, having to navigate an array of local, state, and federal laws that regulate access to healthcare. We need immigration policies that preserve the …

Efficacy Of The Project Futures Self-Determination Coaching Model For College Students With Foster Care Backgrounds And Mental Health Challenges, Jennifer Blakeslee, Rebecca A. Miller, Mathew C. Uretsky

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Post-secondary students transitioning from foster care face a range of unique challenges to academic engagement and success, and the typical mental health stressors experienced by college-age young adults are exacerbated by experiences of trauma common to those with foster care experience. Many campuses have introduced specialized support programs for these students, but few have been rigorously tested. This study is the first identified randomized experiment to evaluate a post-secondary support program for enrolled college students with foster care backgrounds and mental health challenges. We report findings from a pilot intervention study testing the Project Futures model, which includes one-on-one coaching …

Remedios: Coping With Mental Distress Among Mexican Americans In The Rio Grande Valley, Romeo Escobar, Irán Barrera, Denise Longoria, John Gonzalez, Isaias Melgoza

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Latino population continues to increase, with estimates of 60 million living in the United States. Of the Hispanic population, 19% live in poverty. This may be a problem because according to research, living in poverty affects people’s social networks and self-worth negatively and is strongly associated with psychological issues. This study examined the perceptions of practitioners of mental health treatment of Mexican Americans who were experiencing mental distress and were residing in the U.S.- Mexico border. Findings suggest clients self-diagnose and try medications (usually purchased in Mexico) that were recommended to them by family members and/or social networks. Additionally, …

The Texas Community-Engagement Research Alliance Against Covid-19 In Disproportionately Affected Communities (Tx Ceal) Consortium, Rebecca A. Seguin-Fowler, Chris Amos, Bettina M. Beech, Robert L. Ferrer, Lorna Mcneill, Jasmine J. Opusunju, Emily Spence, Erika L. Thompson, Luis R. Torres-Hostos, Jamboor K. Vishwanatha

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic requires urgent implementation of effective community-engaged strategies to enhance education, awareness, and inclusion of underserved communities in prevention, mitigation, and treatment efforts. The Texas Community-Engagement Alliance Consortium was established with support from the United States’ National Institutes of Health (NIH) to conduct community-engaged projects in selected geographic locations with a high proportion of medically underserved minority groups with a disproportionate burden of COVID-19 disease and hospitalizations. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of the Consortium. The Consortium organized seven projects with focused activities to address COVID-19 clinical and vaccine trials …

Leveraging Public-Private Partnerships During Covid-19: Providing Virtual Field Opportunities For Student Learners And Addressing Social Isolation In Older Adults, Omolola E. Adepoju, Sheara Jennings, Patti Schrader, Kathleen Reeve, Tracy Mcmanaman-Bridges, Lauren Gilbert, Ben King, Jessica Dobbins, Andy Rollins, Luis Torres-Hostos

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

While preventive and management measures are important to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, strategies like social distancing can have devastating effects on older adults who are already at risk for social isolation and loneliness. In response, two Colleges of Health Professions (Social Work and Nursing) at a large public University leveraged a partnership with a national health and wellbeing company to address social isolation and loneliness in Houston area older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. This intergenerational linkage initiative involved 707 older adults and 177 graduate social work and nursing students. This study describes the process of developing a virtual …

Assessing Student Readiness To Work With People Who Use Drugs: Development Of A Multi-Disciplinary Addiction Educational Survey, Patrick C.M. Brown, Dana Button, Danika Bethune, Emily Kelly, Hannah R. Tierney, Rahee M. Nerurkar, Christina Nicolaidis, Rebecca Harrison, Ximena Levander

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: As health profession schools implement addiction curricula, they need survey instruments to evaluate the impact of the educational interventions. However, existing measures do not use current non-stigmatizing language and fail to capture core concepts.

Objective: To develop a brief measure of health profession student readiness to work with people who use drugs (PWUDs) and establish its content validity.

Methods: We conducted a literature review of existing instruments and desired clinical competencies related to providing care to PWUD and used results and expert feedback to create and revise a pool of 72 items. We conducted cognitive interviews …

Suicide Among South Asian Americans: A Systematic Review Of Causal And Risk Factors, Susheelabai R. Srinivasa, Sudershan Pasupuleti, Rani Dronamraju

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper will provide an overview of suicide prevalence among South Asian Americans who constitute nearly one-third of Asian Americans and 1.7 percent of the United States population. South Asians, late 20th century immigrants, are a numerally small percentage of the population in the United States. As a distinct ethnic population despite significant diversity within, South Asians encounter unique challenges with myriad sub-cultures and struggles that make them vulnerable and underrepresented in policy and service utilization in mental health and health care due to various barriers. These conditions create vulnerability among first and subsequent generations as they go through social …

Shifting Course: Drawing On Feminist Principles To Inform Community-Engaged Teaching In Uncertain Times, Amie Thurber, Sarah V. Suiter, Susan Halverson

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This autoethnographic case study explores teaching community-engaged courses during the onset of COVID-19. As educators who teach applied program evaluation courses at two universities, we consider how principles of feminist community engagement—relationality, border crossing, reflexivity, and disruptive pedagogy (Iverson & James, 2014)—ground our courses. Drawing from instructor reflections, interviews with community partners, students’ written reflections, and course evaluations, we explore how these principles informed our pedagogical response to teaching through the tumultuous spring of 2020, and the degree to which these practices enabled the continued participation of students and community partners. We close with implications for community-engaged teaching in these—and …

Associations Of Positive And Negative Affect On Health Risk Behaviors Among Latinos., John R. Moore, Zully C. Guerra, Nazanin M. Heydarian, Tatiana Londoño, Yessenia Castro

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Objective: Negative affect is widely emphasized in behavior modification interventions. However, positive affect is associated with smoking cessation, physical activity, and healthy dietary habits and may be an important treatment target. Few studies have examined the relationship between positive affect and health behaviors among Latinos, who disproportionately experience modifiable health risk behaviors. This study examined the independent associations of positive affect and negative affect on modifiable health risk behaviors among Latino adults.

Method: Data came from 432 persons who participated in one of two studies examining determinants of modifiable health risk behaviors among Latino adults. Primary outcomes were current smoking, …

Predictors Of Positive Parenting: Mexican And Puerto Rican Mothers Vulnerable To Child Welfare Involvement, Jessica Rodriguez-Jenkins, Mathew C. Uretsky

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

For young children, positive parenting is predictive of their prosocial development and positive emotional well-being. Understanding the factors that promote or undermine positive parenting is of particular importance for families at risk of child welfare involvement. For Latinx families, conceptualizations of risk are better viewed through a cultural lens. This paper explores predictors of positive parenting among Latinx families (Mexican and Puerto Rican) who are vulnerable to child welfare involvement. Weighted data were drawn from Wave 1 of the National Survey on Child and Adolescent Well-being II—Restricted Release (NSCAW-II), a national sample that approximated a probability sample of child welfare …

Social Needs Resource Connections: A Systematic Review Of Barriers, Facilitators, And Evaluation, Katherine Dubose Broadwell, Dawn Michele Richardson, Christina M. Nicolaidis

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Healthcare organizations increasingly are screening patients for social needs (e.g., food, housing) and referring them to community resources. This systematic mixed studies review assesses how studies evaluate social needs resource connections and identifies patient- and caregiver-reported factors that may inhibit or facilitate resource connections.

Critical Synthesis Toward Transformative Collaboration: A Dialectical Analysis Of Functionalist And Critical Paradigms, Jangmin Kim, Junghee Lee

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Social workers are required to become effective boundary spanners to address complex social problems with community-based and cross-system collaboration. However, substantial tensions exist in the literature about how to build successful collaboration, stemming from the massive use of the two competing paradigms: functionalist and critical paradigms. Using a dialectical analysis, this article attempted to uncover and synthesize paradoxical understandings of the major elements of successful collaboration. Significant contradictions between the two contrasting paradigms are identified at the multidimensional levels, including (1) member capacity for developing objective/consensus knowledge vs. subjective/dissensus knowledge, (2) unity vs. diversity in membership, (3) centralized vs. decentralized …

Working With Others In The Mentoring Relationship System, Thomas E. Keller

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

A mentoring relationship typically doesn’t operate in isolation. Even youth who want or need additional support from a mentor are bound to have many other important people in their lives, such as parents and other caregivers, siblings, teachers, and peers. Consequently, a mentor already may have or may need to establish relationships with other people in the mentee’s network of support. Because these other individuals, and a mentor’s interactions with them, have the potential to enhance or detract from the mentoring experience, they are all important parts of the “mentoring relationship system.”

This chapter outlines important considerations for how to …

Intervention Development To Improve Foster Youth Mental Health By Targeting Coping Self-Efficacy And Help-Seeking, Jennifer Blakeslee, Brianne H. Kothari, Rebecca Miller

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study articulates the iterative development of an intervention called Strengthening Youth Networks and Coping (SYNC), which is designed to target coping self-efficacy and help-seeking intentions and behaviors among youth in foster care. The overarching goal is to design an intervention that will be a feasible and acceptable enhancement to existing child welfare services, and that will address modifiable determinants among adolescents involved in child welfare system that are related to elevated risk for mental health challenges, limited support network capacity, and service disengagement after exiting foster care. In this paper, we describe our initial needs assessment, explain how we …

Channa Reddy In Telangana Statehood Movement: Initiation, Intervention And Contribution, Jakkula Koteswar Rao, Ram Shepherd Bheenaveni

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The present paper tries to explore some of the repeated accusations and half-truths against the Telangana leader – Dr. Marri Channa Reddy, who led the movement in 1969. It is believed that the leaders started the Telangana Statehood movement as a problem-solving movement against subregionalism. Dr. Reddy was a staunch opponent of Andhra’s internal colonization. This is not only absurd but also a parody of the truth. This is mainly due to the lack of original documents in an organized campaign for the separate state of Telangana. The print and electronic media reports speak of alarming national integration at the …

Colonial Necrocapitalism, State Secrecy, And The Palestinian Freedom Tunnel, Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, Stephanie Wahab

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Secrecy and the use of “secret information” as capital in the hands of the state is mobilised by affective racialised machineries, cultivated on “security” grounds. Securitised secrecy is an assemblage of concealed operations juxtaposing various forms of invasions and dispossessions. It is a central strategy in the politico-economic life of the state to increase its scope of domination. Secrecy is used and abused to entrap and penetrate political subjects and entities. This article explores the necrocapitalist utilisation of secrecy embedded in the coloniser’s attempt to distort the mind of the colonised. Built from the voices of those affected by secrecy’s …

Practice Research Methods In Social Work: Processes, Applications And Implications For Social Service Organisations, Bowen Mcbeath, Michael J. Austin, Sarah Carnochan, Emmeline Chuang

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Although social work research is commonly rooted within social service settings, it can be difficult for social work researchers and practitioners to develop and sustain participatory studies that specifically promote knowledge sharing and service improvement involving organisational practice. One participatory approach is practice research (PR), which involves social work researchers and practitioners collaborating to define, understand and try to improve the delivery of health and social care services and organisational structures and processes. The two goals of this commentary are to introduce essential methods and approaches to PR and to identify points of connection involving PR and social service organisational …

Reflections On Teaching Against White Supremacy During A Time Of Social Rupture And Transformation, Erica Fonesca, Stéphanie Wahab

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Social Justice and Social Work is a foundational course required for all social work students in the master’s of social work program at Portland State University. Although the course has long focused on interrupting oppressions including White supremacy, teaching the course during the fall of 2020 required a nimble dance between our familiar modes of teaching and the need for spontaneous adaptation and creativity. The unique landscape for this course included teaching the course remotely (Zoom), inside a university embattled around the arming of its security force (that killed a Black man in 2018), in a city targeted by an …

Do Nursing And Pharmacy Students Practice What They Preach On Safe Drug Storage And Disposal? A Cross-Sectional Study, Tamara Al Rawwad, Patrici K. Schrader, Andrea Brooks, Lillian Duong, Douglas Thornton

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: Research has confirmed a lack of knowledge regarding the risks of unused medications including diversion, misuse, or accidental overdose among health care professionals (Abdulmajeed, 2020). Nurses and pharmacists are often who patients interact with the most regarding medications; therefore, early education on proper storage and disposal is vital (Bowen, Rotz, Patterson, & Sen, 2017; Celio, Ninane, Bugnon, & Schneider, 2018).

Objectives: The study's objective is to explore safe drug storage and disposal knowledge, attitudes, and practices of professional pharmacy (Pharm.D.) and nursing students.

Design: This research is an exploratory cross-sectional study from May to September 2019.

Methods: An anonymous …

Gentrification, Amie Thurber, Amy Krings

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Gentrification can be understood as the process through which geographical areas become increasingly exclusive, which disproportionately harms people living in poverty and people of color, as well as the elderly, families, and youth. As such, this article argues that macro social work practitioners should view gentrification as a key concern. Thus, to help guide macro interventions, the article begins by first defining gentrification and describing ways to measure it, while emphasizing its difference from revitalization. Second, the article explores causes of gentrification, including its relationship to systemic racism. Third, the article explores the consequences of gentrification on individuals’ and communities’ …

"We Support You... To An Extent": Identities, Intersections, And Family Support Among First-Generation Students In A School Of Social Work, Miranda Mosier

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Family support is a critical part of college student retention. Given the strength of parental educational attainment in predicting access and persistence among college students (Choy, 2001), some have questioned the capacity for families to support first-generation college students. Family support may be especially critical for first-generation college students, who value interdependence more highly than continuing generation students (Stephens et al., 2012). This paper centers the perspectives of first-generation students in a school of social work and their experiences of family support. Focus group conversations were analyzed using the Listening Guide/Voice-centered relational data analysis (Brown & Gilligan, 1992). My interpretations …

(Not) Minding The Gap: A Qualitative Interview Study Of How Social Class Bias Can Influence Youth Mentoring Relationships., Renée Spencer, Martha J. Mccormack, Alison L. Drew, Grace Gowdy, Thomas E. Keller

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study sought to examine how social class bias may be enacted by mentors and mentoring program staff within community-based youth mentoring relationships and how these biases may influence the mentoring relationship. A narrative thematic analysis was conducted with interviews from mentors, mentees' parents/caregivers, and mentoring program staff representing 36 matches participating in a larger, prospective, mixed-methods study examining factors associated with early match closures. Findings indicate that although some mentors were able to partner with the youth and family to effectively navigate challenges related to the family's economic circumstances, other mentors and some mentoring program staff held deficit views …

Can Preference Policies Advance Racial Justice?, Amie Thurber, Lisa Bates, Susan Halverson

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Mitigating the harms of gentrification to communities of color is a pressing challenge. One promising approach is preference policies that enable long-term residents to remain in or return to gentrifying neighborhoods. This mixed-methods study evaluates the City of Portland’s “Preference Policy,” which provides targeted affordable rental housing to residents displaced from a historically Black neighborhood. This paper draws on survey, interview, and focus group data to explore resident motivations, changes to well-being, and recommendations for improving the policy. Findings suggest preference policies can enhance well-being, and underscore the need for comprehensive strategies to advance racial justice in gentrifying neighborhoods.