Social Work Commons^™

Native American Veterans And Mental Health: Culture Vs Modern Medicine, Willis Dean Torres Jr.

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This study aims to determine that, when it comes to mental health, are Native American veterans more inclined to utilize their cultural practices, or seek out modern Western medicine practices to attain mental wellness. The significance behind this research is to help future social workers and social service agencies better understand that perhaps when it comes to Native American veterans’ cultural practices should be taken into consideration when helping to try to attain mental wellness. The study will include interviews conducted with Native American veterans. The data will help to determine which types of practices are better suited for each …

Agency, Atonement, And Psychological Theories Of Change: A Latter-Day Saint Christian Perspective, Richard N. Williams, Edwin E. Gantt

Issues in Religion and Psychotherapy

This paper interrogates the relationship of the hard determinism inherent in the theories and models currently on offer in mainstream psychology and the current trends in psychotherapeutic approaches. It foregrounds the seeming contradiction between the emphasis placed on mastering and incorporating discipline-specific knowledge – which clearly assumes scientism and hard determinism – and the emphasis placed on practitioners to develop a coherent theory of change as part of their approach to effective clinical practice. We argue that hard determinism and strategies for facilitating genuine therapeutic change and transformation are incompatible where there is no clear, coherent view of human beings …

Help Thou My Unbelief: Exploring The Secular Sources Of Our Clients' Doubts, Edwin E. Gantt, Madeline R. Christensen, Jacob D. Tubbs

Issues in Religion and Psychotherapy

Issues of faith and doubt are often at the heart of religious clients’ psychological and emotional suffering. As such, they are a topic of genuine therapeutic interest. Latter-day Saint therapists have a unique responsibility to help our religious clients work through their psychological concerns, as well as help them address their religious doubts when relevant in the therapeutic setting. We argue that many of the concerns fueling client faith crises spring from taken-for-granted assumptions absorbed from our larger secular culture. Further, these assumptions are radically different from – indeed, typically antithetical to – the premises upon many of our fundamental …

The Resilience Of Female Survivors Of Intimate Partner Violence In Southwest Nigeria: An Interdisciplinary Analysis, Tobi F. Oloyede

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Female survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Nigeria endure harsh and traumatic experiences that affect their rights as women and their well-being. As the phenomenon of IPV persists in Nigeria, it is not only a family problem but a critical social and psychological problem. This study examined Nigerian female survivors’ hidden strength, agency, and resilience, rather than their powerlessness and vulnerability. Analysis of survey questionnaires, interviews, and secondary scholarship reveals that some Nigerian female survivors of IPV are able to cope whilst navigating stressful and traumatic experiences. The results also show that survivors’ ability to thrive and cope under …

Making Meaning Of Being Bereaved By Suicide: An Everyday Experience, Colleen Carlon

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This autoethnography explores the experience of societal meanings of suicide from the perspective of people bereaved by suicide. The research focuses on three autoethnographic stories of everyday experiences in which personal meaning making and societal meanings of suicide intersect in contemporary Australian settings. Personal perspectives are positioned alongside broader discussions of suicide taboo to consider the implications for agency and meaning making. Key differences between conventional notions of stigma and structural stigma, and ways in which suicide taboo influences meaning making for people bereaved by suicide are explored. The paper proposes a recasting of action previously framed as internalised stigma …

The Welfare Subject In The “One-Stop Shop”: Agency In Troublesome Welfare Encounters, Kjetil Lundberg

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The purpose of this article is to investigate the agency of “welfare subjects” in welfare encounters, situated in a “one-stop shop” reform context, thereby providing increased theoretical sensitivity into the field of welfare encounters’ research. Anchored in a Norwegian reform context, this article analyses agency related to welfare encounters, including welfare subjects’ attempts to hold NAV (the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration) accountable to help them. Shifting agency positions are located, the lines of responsibility in the welfare encounters are found to be unclear, and there are indications that this may contribute to the production of destructive agency positions.

The Forgotten Ones: Domestic Child Soldiers In The United States, Jesse Bach

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

The term child soldier conjures up images of a war-torn Sub-Saharan African child holding a battle-worn rifle, staring into the distance of an uncertain future. Their story is well known: A paramilitary organization entered an area and forcibly recruited children to engage in conflict — protecting arms, drugs, or "turf." Through the marketing of the child soldier story and its emotional response, the international community has been moved to action through hosting awareness raising campaigns, generating mass donations for care, and establishing recovery and rehabilitation programs.

There is no doubt that the international child soldier is viewed as a victim …

"The Way Of Man Is Not In Himself": Reflections On Humanistic Psychology, Same-Sex Attraction, And Safe Spaces, Richard N. Williams

Issues in Religion and Psychotherapy

No abstract provided.

Recognising Birth Children As Social Actors In The Foster-Care Process: Retrospective Accounts From Biological Children Of Foster-Carers In Ireland, David Williams

Articles

While a wealth of literature exists on the topic of fostering, limited research has been published on the experiences of the biological children of foster-carers (Younes and Harp, 2007; Sutton and Stack, 2013). Literature that exists identifies increased recognition of the importance of birth children’s contribution to successful foster-care placements and the prevention of placement breakdown (Kalland and Sinkonnen, 2001; Hojer et al., 2013). This paper reports findings from an interpretivist study that explored the retrospective experiences of fifteen adult birth children of foster-carers (aged between eighteen and twenty-eight years) in Ireland. Using semi-structured interviews, birth children’s experiences of fostering …

Girls(') Speak: Criticality As Agency, Annalise Trudell

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

I seek to contribute knowledge about girls’ embodied sense of agency, as well as to provide empirical insights into anti-violence community programming. Rather than a focus on girls as victims, I want to illuminate the conditions of possibility for girls’ exercise of agency. Working with a feminist post-structuralist framework, and drawing heavily on Judith Butler (1990; 1997), I ask: How does anti-violence programming impact girls’ sense of themselves as agential subjects rather than victims, and, hence, as capable of exercising agency in their subjectivization? Which conceptions of agency do girls mobilize, and how do certain identity categories come to bear …

Levels Of Perceived Stress Among Clinicians Who Work With Client Suicidal Behavior With An Organizational Context, Elyse A.S. Chastain

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This quantitative study set out to explore the relationship between clinicians’ levels of stress and perceptions of agency or organizational support when working with clients exhibiting suicidal behaviors, attempts or completed suicide, known throughout this thesis as client suicidal behavior (CSB). It is well documented in the literature that clinicians experience a range of personal and professional reactions when working with CSB that, if left unacknowledged, can have negative implications for clinicians, clients and the agency or organization at large. With the theoretical underpinning of person in the environment, the reciprocity between an individual and their environment can be understood. …

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. …

What Does The 'Q' Stand For Anyway? : Queerness And Agency Competence, Eleanor C. Taylor

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This exploratory study’s purpose was to explore queer identity in mental health practice through the question, "Does queerness emerge as a distinct cultural category through the language of conversation, clinical practice, and administrative policy in mental health agencies that serve queer people, and in what practices is this reflected?” This project was undertaken in order to begin to fill gaps in existing cultural competence literature, particularly regarding queer identity.

This project entailed semi-structured interviews with ten participants, who worked in direct service at mental health agencies that serve LGBTQIA+ populations. This study examines the meanings and effects of queerness in …