Social Work Commons^™

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 …

Strategies To Mitigate The Effects Of Negative Political Rhetoric On Service Providers: A Study In Two Refugee-Serving Organizations, Maria V. Wathen, Charity N. Weishar, Patrick L.F. Decker

Social Work: School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Other Works

This paper explores the strategies that staff at two refugee-serving organizations found helpful in mitigating their increased distress from negative political rhetoric aimed at their clients. Results point to the importance of organizational acknowledgement of the distress. Additionally, staff perceived that intentionally focused organizational interventions can mitigate the emotional impacts of negative rhetoric. Finally, strategies employees used to lessen their distress and regain a sense of efficacy included recommitment to the mission, advocacy for refugees among family and friends, strong reliance on religious faith in coping, and an avoidance of the rhetoric by decreasing engagement with news and social media.

Implementing Lasting Change: Hr In The Social Service Sector, Fermin Diez, Run Qian Ng

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The Human Resources (HR) practices in any organisation can make a big difference in its ability to implement the strategic plan (Thomas, Smith & Diez, 2013). This assertion points towards an additional question: Can a whole sector of the economy increase its overall capability and capacity by improving the overall HR abilities of the organisations in the sector? The Social Service Sector in Singapore has been undergoing just such a sector-wide transformation over the past 6 years, and provides a great opportunity to analyse empirically whether a systemic approach to improve the overall HR practices of the Social Service Agencies …

Interrogating The Construction And Representations Of Criminalized Women In The Academic Social Work Literature: A Critical Discourse Analysis, Sandra Marie Leotti

Dissertations and Theses

In the United States today, there are 2.3 million people behind bars in jails and prisons. Mass incarceration has swept up the United States to such a degree that we are known globally for holding more people in correctional facilities than any other country in the world. Although women have always, and still do, reflect a smaller proportion of the correctional population, over the last 40 years, their rates of criminalization and imprisonment have far outpaced that of men's. Drastic increases in the criminalization of women are intimately connected to the entrenchment of social disadvantage enabled under neoliberal globalization. Neoliberal …

Self-Determination Theory As A Framework For Understanding Needs Of Youth At-Risk: Perspectives Of Social Service Professionals And The Youth Themselves, Tania Nagpaul, Jinwen Chen

Lien Centre for Social Innovation: Research

While there is evidence from the self-determination perspective for the positive impact of self-determination interventions on at-risk youth's transition outcomes, no research to date, has attempted to understand youth needs from both social service provider and youth client perspectives in the same study. The present study sought to generate a nuanced understanding of youth needs. For this purpose, the study was conducted in two phases. In phase1, twenty-one social service professionals (case workers, social workers, counsellors, program supervisors) were interviewed to get an understanding of their perception of youth needs and how they are being met. In phase 2, 45 …

Mapping Collective Action Structures And Activities In A Rural Age-Friendly Communities Initiative, Althea R. Pestine-Stevens

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Age-Friendly Communities (AFC) initiatives convene stakeholders across sectors and service areas throughout a community to work together to improve the social and built environments for older persons living in the community. While the AFC movement has been active internationally for thirteen years, little is known about the mechanisms that drive this work and its successes. This study aims to uncover some of the key collective action processes and structures that comprise AFC work in a rural county in New York State, through a collaboration theory framework and a social network analysis design.

Changing The Rules: A Guide For Youth And Young Adults With Mental Health Conditions Who Want To Change Policy, Nancy Koroloff, Barbara J. Friesen, Nicholas Buekea

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This guide provides information about policy and policy change in mental health and other human services for young adult groups who want to be

directly involved in policy change activities. Some of the many ways that young people can be involved in policy work include serving on advisory committees that consider areas where policy change is needed, participating on groups convened to review contract language about youth-related issues or serving on groups charged with developing rules and regulations to support recent policy change. A number of manuals or handbooks address these important roles, although few of them are specifically focused …

What Is Peer Support And What Is Not Peer Support?, Mary Beth Welch, Caitlin Baird, Celeste L. Seibel

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This publication provides clarity around the primary functions of the young adult peer support role, and addresses the common misconceptions of young adult peer work.

Bachelor In Social Work Field Education Program's Use Of A Learning Contract Assignment To Measure Competency, Toni-Marie Ciarfella

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Field education is deemed the signature pedagogy in social work education and due to this designation, evaluation of field education assignments is key. The purpose of this qualitative content analysis case study was to explore how undergraduate social work students move knowledge from the classroom to field practice using a Learning Contract Assignment (LCA).

The Intersectionality Of Religion And Socialwelfare: Historical Development Of Richmond's Nonprofit Health And Human Services, F. Ellen Netting, Mary Katherine O'Connor

Social Work Publications

Studying the intersectionality of religion and social welfare in Richmond, Virginia requires going back to the beginning of the Virginia colony. In the crucible of the colony, the religious and social welfare functions of a parish community were one and the same. However, after the Revolutionary War it was just a matter of time before the entire system was disassembled. The process of disentanglement of church and state created an identity crisis in Virginia. In the late 1700s, the emergence of charitable efforts began with leading men of Richmond who tried to address the temporary needs of travelers, followed by …

Margaret’S Family Tree: A Story Of Hope And Belonging [Simulizi Ya Familia Ya Margareta: Hadithi Ya Matumaini Na Jumuiya], Susan Halverson

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Margaret’s Family Tree: A Story of Hope and Belonging (2016), is a coloring book designed to help children work through their grief in a constructive way and to help them acknowledge feelings about their lost loved ones. The book is written in both English and Swahili. It is illustrated in black and white by Oregon artist Edna M. Kennel. Halvorson-Westerberg is offering it free for duplication to anyone working with children, especially in African countries.

Social Service Professionals Perspectives On Assessing Abuse Among The Developmentally Disabled, Shelita D. Majied

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

There are substantial amounts of research on risk factors that contribute to abuse among adults with developmental disabilities. There are also studies that explore preventative measures and safety factors to help reduce abuse among the population. These relevant studies and research has examined the relationship between developmental disabilities, types of abuse, risk factors, effectiveness of risk assessments, and prevention. The main purpose of this study is to explore the problem of high abuse rates amongst this population and discuss social service professional’s perspective on the current preventative measures used to protect adults with developmental disabilities from abuse. For this quantitative …

Kate Martin: Individual And Couples Therapist And Workshop Leader, Erin Olson, Diana S. Richmond Garland

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Whether she is working as therapist with a couple in crisis in her office or leading a workshop in a church fellowship hall, Kate sees this as her way, as she says, of "answering God's call to bring redemption."

Youth & Young Adult Peer Support: What Research Tells Us About Its Effectiveness In Mental Health Services, Sharice Jackson, Janet S. Walker, Celeste Seibel

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Increasing the availability of peer support for youth and young adults with serious mental health conditions has been advocated by service users, researchers, and government commissions. Efforts to provide peer support for young people are becoming more and more common. This FAQ describes the research evidence for peer support, as well as some of the challenges that can be expected when peer support is implemented.

The Process Of Learning To Do Social Work In The Undergraduate Field Practicum In Mainland China : Bsw Students' Perceptions Of Most Useful Learning Event, Qiang Chen

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Social work educational programs have been rapidly expanded in mainland China since 2000, and field practicum is considered as one of the most problematic areas. This qualitative study explores baccalaureate social work students’ perceptions of the most useful learning event in the field practicum. Critical Incident Technique-based interview was conducted with 27 students from one undergraduate program in Beijing. Interview transcripts were analyzed using Nvivo software, guided by a constant comparative method in the ground theory tradition. From data analysis, a general learning process emerged that reveals similar patterns of learning among the student participants. This general learning process comprises …

Mental Health Case Management: The Perspective Of Nursing Home Social Service Personnel, Mary K. Schmitz

Master of Social Work Clinical Research Papers

Many clients who suffer from serious and persistent mental illness (SPMI) are admitted to long-term residential facilities, like nursing homes, and often end up staying for years. Many studies have shown that case management helps them to achieve and maintain their highest level of independence however, clients often become ineligible to receive these services when they reside in nursing homes. This mixed methods study was able to get the perspective of nursing home social service personnel, who are often put in the primary role of assisting client’s discharge to more independent settings when case management is not available. The goal …

Under What Conditions Does Caseworker-Caregiver Racial/Ethnic Similarity Matter For Housing Service Provision? An Application Of Representative Bureaucracy Theory, Jennifer E. Blakeslee, Emmeline Chuang, Alicia Bunger, Bowen Mcbeath

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this article, we examine child welfare caseworkers’ housing-related service strategies when they serve culturally similar versus culturally dissimilar clients. Testing hypotheses drawn from representative bureaucracy theory and using data from the second cohort of the National Survey of Child and AdolescentWell-Being, we find that when non-Caucasian caseworkers share the same racial/ethnic background as caregivers, caseworkers use more active strategies to connect caregivers to needed housing services. The relationship between racial/ethnic matching and frontline workers’ repertoire of service strategies is most pronounced when the need for housing has been registered formally via referrals and case plans and thus legitimated institutionally. …

Implementing The Peer Support Specialist Role: Peer Support In A Youth-Led Drop-In Center, Research And Training Center For Pathways To Positive Futures, Youth Move Oregon

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This information brief gives an overview of Youth MOVE Oregon, an innovator in peer-led services for youth. The role and development of Peer Support Providers is discussed in some detail along with organizational challenges that need to be addressed.

Implementing The Peer Support Specialist Role: Youth Peer Support In Wraparound, Research And Training Center For Pathways To Positive Futures, Youth And Family Training Institute

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This information brief provides an example of how one state has implemented and supported the Peer Support Specialist role for youth with serious mental health conditions. The brief covers aspects of training, coaching, supervision, role definition and financing; and describes a series of challenges and solutions.

Comparing Cultural Competence In Graduating Master Of Social Work And Nursing Students, Joanna Guadalupe Rubio, Jamie Anne Webb

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this study was to compare cultural competence between graduating Bachelor of Nursing students and Master of Social Work students. The study participants consisted of 107 students who were graduating from either the MSW program or the Bachelor of Nursing program at California State University, San Bernardino. Participants were asked to complete a cultural competence survey and quantitative data analysis was utilized to compare cultural competence among respondents.

Case Management Services In The Community: Benefits And Outcomes, Esmeralda Alcantar Plascencia

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this study is to advance knowledge in the area of case management services by investigating "what characteristics are most frequent in clients who complete the case management program and in clients who did not complete the case management provided through the Montclair Community Collaborative (MCC)." This research addresses case management services and centers on obtaining client data pertaining to case management services, focusing on the family's outcome. The general research methodology consisted of a qualitative review (content analysis) of an existing data set (case records). This study examined a random sample of 130 MCC case management studies.

Substance Abuse Among The Aging Population: A Needs Assessment, Stephen Michael Clark

Theses Digitization Project

This needs assessment was composed of 33 clinicians' in Riverside and San Bernardino counties that work in the substance abuse field. This study was developed to test if there is a need to increase clinicians' knowledge level base when working with older adults age 65 plus with a substance abuse problem. This needs assessment looked at demographics and tested the differences between self reported knowledge and what instruments their agencies are currently using.

Empowerment-Based Advocacy Conducted By Not-For-Profit Organizations, Margery C. Saunders

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This study explores the advocacy patterns of over 200 nonprofit human service providers active in both anti-violence and anti-poverty service arenas. A mailed survey to organizations associated with three statewide advocacy organizations in New York State examined the organizational factors associated with three advocacy activities: case advocacy, public policy education, and legislative issue advocacy. Using empowerment theory, predictors that captured the degree of ethnic diversity of an organization's staff and board, and whether or not consumers served on the staff or board, and whether having social workers as advocates were examined along with other control variables to explain the conditions …

For The Children: Accounting For Careers In Child Protective Services, Joan M. Morris

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper analyzes autobiographical essays from women who work as social service workers in child-protection agencies. Working long hours in relatively low-paying jobs, these women have limited prestige and autonomy and increasingly, come under close scrutiny and public criticism. They are clearly exploited in terms of the emotional and "mothering" labor they are expected to perform and are held personally accountable for daily decisions that could have dire consequences for the children they serve to protect. This paper is an investigation of how their narratives explain and justify their willingness to continue working in these situations and how their professional …

Do Educators Value School Social Workers?, Keynasia Kami Daniels

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this study is to examine educators' (teachers and school administrators) level of knowledge about the professional role of school social workers and the value that educators place on the functions carried out by social workers as pupil support personnel.

Factors Influencing Social Workers Commitment To The Field Of Gerontology, Susan Savella Cole, Teresa Marie Alarcon

Theses Digitization Project

Due to the impending "elder boom" the need for gerontological social workers is increasing. This study examined what attracted workers to enter this field and what motivates them to stay. The research also focused on the relationship between the social worker's commitment and their perceived need for training and education in the field of gerontology.

A Survey On Work Experiences Of Practicing Social Workers Who Are Disabled, Charles Robinson Freidel

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Calling: A Spirituality Model For Social Work Practice, Beryl Hugen

Pro Rege

No abstract provided.

Factors Influencing Males In Their Choice Of Social Work As A Career, Frieda Kepple Heim

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Dr. Alan Keith-Lucas Lectures On Social Work, Mckendree R. Langley

Pro Rege

No abstract provided.