Social Work Commons^™

Effectiveness Of Animal-Assisted Therapy: Therapists’ Perspectives, Nichole M. Budahn

Master of Social Work Clinical Research Papers

Animal-assisted therapy has frequently been used with children who have autism spectrum disorder. This study examined animal-assisted therapists’ perceptions of effectiveness of animal-assisted therapy with children who have DSM-IV mental health diagnoses. The researcher recruited self-identified animal-assisted therapists using social media sites LinkedIn and Facebook. Two therapists completed the fourteen question qualitative survey in full. Three themes were found in this study; comfort, confidence, and benefits. While this study produced definite themes, more research needs to be conducted on animal-assisted therapy and children with DSM-IV mental health disorders. Very few studies have been conducted on the impacts of animal-assisted therapy …

College Student Mental Health And Use Of Counseling Center Services, Daniel J. Hinderaker

Master of Social Work Clinical Research Papers

The purpose of this study was to learn how students at a small Midwestern college were utilizing the school’s counseling center. This quantitative study used a survey to learn about the mental health concerns and distress levels of students who had not used the college’s counseling center (

n = 127). The survey results revealed that the overwhelming majority of "non-counseled" students were aware of the counseling center and that it provided free counseling services. However, many of these students had recently experienced significant levels of concern with various problem areas, including anxiety, depression, relationships, and eating/body image. These problem …

A Practical Meta-Analysis Of Prayer Efficacy In Coping With Mental Health, Benjamin M. Kimball

Master of Social Work Clinical Research Papers

Given the large number of people who identify as religious in the United States and the large number of the overall population diagnosed with a mental illness, there is a need for linking an easily accessible practice like prayer to a common and often painful problem of managing mental health symptoms. Using a Practical Meta-Analysis, this research project examined prayer’s efficacy when used as a coping strategy to relieve mental health symptoms. A Practical Meta-Analysis is a statistical method that synthesizes findings from multiple research studies and provides a quantitative measure of an intervention’s efficacy as a whole. Of 598 …

Attitudes And Perceptions Of Mental Disorders Among Individuals From Nepal, Sonam Lama

Master of Social Work Clinical Research Papers

The growing population of immigrants and refugees in the United States increases the need for culturally sensitive and appropriate mental health care. The purpose of this research project is to explore the attitudes and perceptions of mental disorders among individuals from Nepal who reside in the United States. Using a qualitative design, data was collected through an online survey. Thirty respondents completed the online survey. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics to investigate the relationship between the participant’s level of education, their beliefs and perceptions about mental disorders and the participants’ length of stay in the United States. …

Mental Health Service Utilization Among African American Emerging Adults, Sha-Lai Williams

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Mental illness affects 25-30% of US adults ages 18 years and older in a given year. Of those individuals, about 41% fail to utilize mental health services. Research indicates that being African American and between the ages of 18 and 29 are associated with decreased rates of service utilization. Yet, less is known about the factors related to mental health service utilization among a specific subset of these groups, namely, African American emerging adults. Using empirically-tested theoretical frameworks as its foundation, this dissertation study aimed to address this gap in literature by examining specific predisposing, enabling, and need factors: e.g., …

Mental Health Practitioner’S Perspective Of Early Intervention Treatment Barriers For Young Children And Their Families, Melissa J. Mccanney

Master of Social Work Clinical Research Papers

Young children are showing an increase in behavioral and emotional disturbances. Children are showing precocious knowledge of information about drugs, sex and violence. This research project reviews previous findings for causes and intervention for these behaviors. Early intervention, family barriers and access barriers concerning mental health treatment were themes that were continuously discussed in the existing research. This study focused on those themes and surveyed 29 professionals about the family and access barriers that families and children face in regards to preschool mental health treatment. The participants were surveyed anonymously and the findings were analyzed for common themes. The results …

Interventions That Help The Helpers: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis Of Interventions Targeting Compassion Fatigue, Secondary Traumatic Stress And Vicarious Traumatization In Mental Health Workers, Melissa Lynn Bercier

Dissertations

Compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress and vicarious traumatization have received widespread attention in the literature due to an increased awareness of negative effects mental health workers experience when working with people who have been traumatized. Mental health workers become more vulnerable to significant stress when they work with trauma victims, which can lead to many negative consequences that can affect their own health as well as their treatment of their clients. While there is much that we are learning about the causes and outcomes of mental health workers' exposure to their clients' trauma, there has been less focus on effectiveness …

A Community Based System Of Integrated Clinical Care: Primary Care, Mental Health And Substance Use Treatment, Terri Reuvers

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Our segregated medical and mental health care system misses opportunities for early detection of physical disease. Missed opportunities lead to increased costs. Colorado’s Medicaid health plan estimates that an integrated health program will reduce costs for patients with psychiatric disorders by 10%. The cost of doing nothing may exceed $300 billion per year in the United States (NCCBH, 2010). The purpose of this Capstone project is to critically examine existing models of Integrated Primary and Mental Health care. These models will then be evaluated to identify those most compatible with rural communities in Southern Minnesota.