Social Work Commons^™

Innovations In Leadership Development: Centering Communities Of Color, Ann Curry-Stevens

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

With innovative funding from a large local foundation, communities of color in Portland, Oregon developed an array of leadership programs to serve communities of color. This article shares the models they developed, including overviews of curriculum, theories of change, and concrete evidence-based gains achieved by the programs. Innovations include a leadership model that is rooted in community leadership, and the emergence of community priorities to guide the programs, alongside culturally-specific programs that are effective in reaching and supporting the participation of emerging and existing leaders of color. Community priorities included advocacy engagement that resulted in achieving real gains during the …

Is Online Training An Effective Workforce Development Strategy For Transition Service Providers? Results Of A Comparative Study, Eileen Brennan, Claudia Sellmaier, Pauline Jivanjee, Leigh Grover

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Service providers working with transition-aged young people with mental health disorders require specialized research-based training to better meet their needs. A 10-module interactive online training program, Promoting Positive Pathways to Adulthood (PPPA), was developed to build service provider competencies to improve outcomes for the youth with whom they work. In total, 19 organizations participated in a longitudinal quasi-experimental study that compared training outcomes for participants receiving PPPA online training only (Group 1) with those receiving PPPA online training with team-based practice activities (Group 2). Most of the 63 service providers participating in the training were females, below 40 years, had …

Development And Testing Of An Assessment Of Youth/Young Adult Voice In Agency-Level Advising And Decision Making, Janet S. Walker, Brie Masselli, Jennifer E. Blakeslee, Caitlin Baird, Kristin Thorp

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

There is a range of stakeholder benefits when youth- and young adult-serving agencies include service recipient “voice” in advising and decision making regarding agency policies and programming. Yet many agency stakeholders lack awareness of strategic best practices to ensure the consistent and meaningful participation of young people in decision-making processes, and few tools exist to evaluate agency efforts. This paper describes the development and validation of the Youth/Young Adult Voice at the Agency Level (Y-VAL), an assessment of the extent to which agencies have implemented best practices for supporting meaningful participation. The Y-VAL is intended for research purposes, as well …

Lifetime Economic Burden Of Intimate Partner Violence Among U.S. Adults, Cora Peterson, Megan C. Kearns, Wendy Likamwa Mcintosh, Lianne Fuino Estefen, Christina Nicolaidis, Kathryn E. Mccollister, Amy Gordon, Curtis Florence

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Introduction: This study estimated the U.S. lifetime per-victim cost and economic burden of intimate partner violence.

Methods: Data from previous studies were combined with 2012 U.S. National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey data in a mathematical model. Intimate partner violence was defined as contact sexual violence, physical violence, or stalking victimization with related impact (e.g., missed work days). Costs included attributable impaired health, lost productivity, and criminal justice costs from the societal perspective. Mean age at first victimization was assessed as 25 years. Future costs were discounted by 3%. The main outcome measures were the mean per-victim (female and …

Repatriation Of Afghan Refugees From Iran: A Shelter Profile Study, Mitra Naseh, Miriam Potocky, Paul Stuart, Sara Pezeshk

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

One in every nine refugees worldwide is from Afghanistan, and Iran is one of main host countries for these refugees. Close to 40 years of hosting Afghan refugees have depleted resources in Iran and resulted in promoting and sometimes forcing repatriation. Repatriation of Afghan refugees from Iran to Afghanistan has been long facilitated by humanitarian organizations with the premise that it will end prolonged displacement. However, lack of minimum standards of living, among other factors such as private covered living area, can make repatriation far from a durable solution. This study aims to highlight the value of access to shelter …

Assessing Refugee Poverty Using Capabilities Versus Commodities: The Case Of Afghans In Iran, Mitra Naseh, Miriam Potocky, Shanna L. Burke, Paul H. Stuart

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study is among the first to calculate poverty among one of the world’s largest refugee populations, Afghans in Iran. More importantly, it is one of the first to use capability and monetary approaches to provide a comprehensive perspective on Afghan refugees’ poverty. We estimated poverty using data collected from a sample of 2,034 refugee households in 2011 in Iran. We utilized basic needs poverty lines and the World Bank’s absolute international poverty line for our monetary poverty analyses and the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) for our capability analyses of poverty. Findings show that nearly half of the Afghan …

What’S Happening During Home Visits? Exploring The Relationship Of Home Visiting Content And Dosage To Parenting Outcomes, Peggy Nygren, Beth Green, Katie Winters, Anna Rockhill

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Research has documented modest positive impacts of early childhood home visiting programs. However, understanding more about what home visitors do during visits and how much time they spend on specific topics may provide insight into the variability in effectiveness of services. Methods Outcome data were collected via parent survey at program enrollment and 12 months from 123 women in three MIECHV-funded home visiting models. Home visitors completed weekly home visit content and activity logs. Results Families received an average of 28 visits during the study (3.1 visits per month). Of ten content areas, the three most often discussed were early …

Storying Experience: Young Children's Early Use Of Story Genres, Erin Elizabeth Flynn

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The purpose of this study is to support early childhood teachers’ understanding of the diversity and sophistication present in young children’s storytelling to counteract singular and tacit conceptualizations of story. Drawing on the notion of genre, this study uses systemic functional linguistics to examine rhetorical patterns in the storytelling of a group of children in multilingual and multicultural classrooms. Stories were collected in the context of a small group storytelling activity called story circles. Participation in story circles resulted in 176 stories. Children’s stories were parsed into story stages and story genres based on functional purpose and known patterns in …

The Integration Of Early Psychosis Services In A System Of Care Framework: Opportunities, Issues, Tamara G. Sale, Patrice Fetzer, Jennifer Humensky, Megan Baker, Kate Hardy, Douglas Noordsy, Steven Adelsheim

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Since the beginning of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Children’s Mental Health Initiative in 1993, the system of care (SOC) framework has provided the foundation for community- based service development in the United States and has focused on improving the lives of children, youth, and young adults who experience the most complex mental health needs and their families. In recent years, with greater understanding of early psychosis, the SOC framework has expanded to include young adults presenting with signs of early psychosis.

The SOC approach brings children, youth, and young adults with Serious Emotional Disturbance (SED)1 and …

Help-Seeking On Facebook Versus More Traditional Sources Of Help: Cross-Sectional Survey Of Military Veterans, Alan R. Teo, Heather E. Marsh, Samuel B.L. Liebow, Jason I. Chen, Christopher W. Forsberg, Christina Nicolaidis, Somnath Saha, Steven K. Dobscha

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: The media has devoted significant attention to anecdotes of individuals who post messages on Facebook prior to suicide. However, it is unclear to what extent social media is perceived as a source of help or how it compares to other sources of potential support for mental health problems.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the degree to which military veterans with depression use social media for help-seeking in comparison to other more traditional sources of help.

Methods: Cross-sectional self-report survey of 270 adult military veterans with probable major depression. Help-seeking intentions were measured with a modified General Help-Seeking Questionnaire. …

A Screeching Halt: Family Involvement When A Youth With Mental Health Needs Turns 18: Commentary On State Of The Science From A Family Perspective, Janet S. Walker, Malisa Pearson

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The authors of this commentary are part of the leadership team for FREDLA (Family-Run Executive Director Leadership Association). FREDLA serves as the national representative and advocate for family-run organizations and their executive directors, and supports effective stewardship of family-run organizations focused on the well-being of children and youth with mental health, emotional or behavioral challenges and their families. Their perspective on priorities for future research reflects not only their appreciation of formal research literature, but also what they have learned through their work with family-run organizations and through connecting with family members and other caregivers around the country.

Building Competencies And Skills Among Service Providers Working With Young People Who Experience Serious Mental Health Conditions: State Of The Science, Janet S. Walker, Pauline Jivanjee, Eileen M. Brennan, Leigh Grover

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper explores what is currently known about the most promising strategies for increasing providers’ capacity to deliver effective behavioral health services and supports. The paper also describes how this information has been—or could be—applied to the design of cutting-edge approaches for building skills and competencies among providers that work with young people who experience serious mental health conditions.

Mitigating Early Loss Of Community Participation In Early Psychosis Services: State Of The Science, Tamara G. Sale, Dora M. Raymaker, Mariam Rija, Veronica Gould, Christina Wall, Ryan P. Melton

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

In the early stages of treatment for psychosis, community engagement and social networks are threatened through a combination of symptomology and negative messages and reactions from the environment which may result in internalized stigma, disempowerment, and prolonged isolation. While treatment programs attempt to mitigate these factors, ambivalence toward treatment and the basic concept of psychosis, along with difficulty engaging in conversation, make initial engagement more difficult. Self-determination theory and growing recovery literature point to the importance of maintaining a sense of community relatedness and connection, and developing a sense of agency and competence as important to active recovery and retention …

Social Network Enhancement Strategies To Address Limited Support Networks In Young Adulthood: State Of The Science, Jennifer E. Blakeslee

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This review focuses on populations where systems involvement is presumed to impact the size, strength, and supportiveness of social networks, including young people who have experienced out-of-home placement in foster care, juvenile justice, or residential treatment.

Assessing The Meaningful Inclusion Of Youth Voice In Policy And Practice: State Of The Science, Jennifer E. Blakeslee, Janet S. Walker

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Despite current prioritization of the inclusion of young people's voices in the design and delivery of services for youth and young adults, few up-to-date tools or frameworks have emerged to assist service-providing programs, agencies, or systems in evaluating their efforts. Further, though stakeholders may be on board with the general purpose and principles for including youth and young adult voice in organizations and systems, they may lack awareness of the policies and practices that need to be developed to ensure the consistent and meaningful engagement of youth as participants in decision-making processes. This review synthesizes the state-of-the-science regarding how to …

The Summit Ambulatory‑Icu Primary Care Model For Medically And Socially Complex Patients In An Urban Federally Qualified Health Center: Study Design And Rationale, Brian Chan, Samuel T. Edwards, Meg Devoe, Richard Gil, Matthew Mitchell, Honora Englander, Christina Nicolaidis, Multiple Additional Authors

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: Medically complex urban patients experiencing homelessness comprise a disproportionate number of high-cost, high-need patients. There are few studies of interventions to improve care for these populations; their social complexity makes them difficult to study and requires clinical and research collaboration. We present a protocol for a trial of the streamlined unified meaningfully managed interdisciplinary team (SUMMIT) team, an ambulatory ICU (A-ICU) intervention to improve utilization and patient experience that uses control populations to address limitations of prior research.

Methods/design: Participants are patients at a Federally Qualified Health Center in Portland, Oregon that serves patients experiencing homelessness or …

Editorial: Dismantling Children’S Rights In The Global North, Kiaras Gharabaghi, Ben Anderson-Nathe

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Editorial. The article discusses children's rights in the global North. Topics discussed include responsibility of all states and their governments to protect those rights, need to mitigate infringements on the rights of children and youth, and dependency of children and youth on their families and families are willing to take to provide them with opportunities for health, education and safety.

Editorial: In A World Of ‘Us’ And ‘Them’: The Case Against Intervention-Focused Research, Kiaras Gharabaghi, Ben Anderson-Nathe

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Editorial. The authors consider the manifestation of "us" and "them" narratives in research on children and youth and on intervention research in child and youth services. They say much of the research is damage-focused despite the best intentions. They mention damaged-centered research written by scholar Eve Tuck in 2009 in the "Harvard Educational Review." The authors add that intervention-based research is blind to the daily life of young people within their self-formed communities.

Supporting College Student Success Through Connections To Mentors And Campus Champions, Rebecca Miller, Jennifer E. Blakeslee, B. Hope

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This brief shares best practices learned on the Project Futures research study being conducted at Portland State University and local community colleges in Portland, Oregon. The study is testing evidence-based mentoring strategies for underserved students, in this case college freshmen with lived experience in foster care and with mental health stressors. Campus-based mentoring is an increasingly popular strategy to better support under-represented students, who in addition to navigating the typical challenges of college life, may face additional barriers to student success, such as:

• Homelessness or housing instability and/or financial insecurity with no safety net,
• Mental health and trauma,
• Starting college …

Transition Mental Health Service Provider Core Competencies, Pauline Jivanjee, Eileen Brennan, Leigh Grover, Claudia Sellmaier, Eliz Roser

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

From 2010 through 2012, the Pathways Transition Training Collaborative (PTTC) worked collaboratively to identify core competencies for service providers working in mental health services with young adults of transition age. Since then, the Pathways Transition Training Partnership (PTTP) has collaborated with partners to update and clarify the core competencies. Competencies include the values, attitudes, knowledge, and skills needed to engage youth and young adults and provide effective services and supports to young people and families. Each of the 15 core competencies is defined, followed by the attitudes, knowledge and skills needed to demonstrate it, and an example of the competency …

Veteran Patient Perspectives And Experiences During Implementation Of A Patient-Centered Medical Home Model, Anaïs Tuepker, Summer Newell, Christina Nicolaidis, Marie-Elena Reyes, Carolina Castillo, Maria Carolina Gonzalez-Prats, Elini Skaperdas

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: The Veterans Health Administration (VA) has implemented the largest shift to a patient-centered medical home (PCMH) model of care in the United States to date. Objective: We interviewed veterans about their experiences of primary care to understand whether they observed changes in care during this period as well as to learn which characteristics of care mattered most to their experiences. Method: Qualitative interviews were conducted with 32 veterans receiving primary care at 1 of 8 VA clinics in the northwest United States. Interviews were analyzed using an inductive–deductive hybrid approach by an interdisciplinary team that included a veteran patient. …

The Role Of Youth-Run Organizations In Improving Services And Systems For Youth And Young Adults: A Commentary On The State Of The Science, Brie Masselli, Johanna Bergan

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The authors of this commentary are part of the leadership team of Youth MOVE National (YMN), a youth-run, chapter-membership organization focused on improving services and systems for youth and young adults by uniting the voices of individuals who have lived experience within those systems. Their perspective on priorities for future research reflects their appreciation of formal research literature, and is complemented by what they have learned through their work with YMN's extensive chapter network, through partnering with service systems and agencies around the nation, and through connecting with young people around the country.

Peer Support For Youth And Young Adults Who Experience Serious Mental Health Conditions: State Of The Science, Janet S. Walker, Caitlin Baird, Mary Beth Welch

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Peer support for youth and young adults who experience serious mental health conditions (SMHCs) is rapidly growing in popularity as an addition to the mental health service array in communities around the United States. Research focusing on various aspects of the youth/young adult peer support role has been accruing in recent years; however, many questions remain regarding how the role is defined and supported, and what sort of outcomes can and should be expected once peer support is implemented as a service. This brief reviews the research literature that bears on these topics, describes how current work at Pathways RTC …

Editorial: Children And Youth In The Era Of Climate Change, Kiaras Gharabaghi, Ben Anderson-Nathe

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Editorial. An editorial is presented on the impact of global warming and climate change on human life, social relations, economic prospects, and ecological health. It expresses the view that young people is changing rapidly as climate change increasingly transitions from a scientific observation. An overview of the challenge of climate change to child and youth serving communities.

Housing And Transition: Meeting The Needs Of Young Adults With Mental Health Conditions, Barbara J. Friesen, Nancy Koroloff

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This report addresses challenges faced by transition-age youth and young adults with mental health conditions as they try to find and maintain stable housing. This document was written specifically for program designers, administrators, and policy-makers, and others who are planning to develop or modify housing supports that are available to young adults. It may also be of interest to advocates and young people working to improve housing policy and program options for young people. The document is grounded in two critical considerations: 1) the current political and economic conditions that affect the availability of affordable housing also restrict the availability …