Social Work Commons^™

Social Work And Human Rights: A Foundation For Policy And Practice. Elizabeth Reichert. Reviewed By Mel Gray., Mel Gray

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Elisabeth Reichert, Social Work and Human Rights: A Foundation for Policy and Practice. New York: Columbia University Press, 2003. $49.50 hardcover, $24.50 papercover.

The Commercialization Of Intimate Life: Notes From Home And Work. Arlie Russel Hochschild., James Midgley

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book note for Arlie Russel Hochschild, The Commerialization of Intimate Life: Notes from Home and Work. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2003. $19.95 papercover.

Rationalizing Capitalist Democracy: The Cold War Origins Of Rational Choice Liberalism. S. M. Amadae., James Midgley

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book note for S. M. Amadae, Rationalizing Capitalist Democracy: The Cold War Origins of Rational Choice Liberalism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003. $19.00 papercover.

Profile Of Older Adults Participating Idas: Findings From The American Dream Demonstration, Michelle Putnam, Nancy Morrow-Howell, Lin Zhang, Michael Sherraden

Center for Social Development Research

This research report is the first of a three-part series aimed at developing a greater understanding of older adults and their use of Individual Development Accounts (IDAs). The intent of this first report is to answer the following three questions: 1) Who are the older adults participating in IDAs? 2) What are they saving for? and 3) What do we know about IDAs and saving for retirement? These questions are answered using data from the American Dream Demonstration (ADD), the first nation-wide evaluation of IDAs as tools for asset building and community development. In this report, comparisons are made between …

Community Determinants Of Volunteer Participation: The Case Of Japan, Mary Alice Haddad

Mary Alice Haddad

Why are some communities more civically engaged than others? Why do some communities provide services with volunteer labor whereas others rely primarily on government provision? When communities provide both volunteer and paid labor for the same service, how do they motivate and organize those volunteers? This article addresses these questions through quantitative tests of prevailing explanations for levels of civic engagement (e.g., education, TV viewing, urbanization) and qualitative analyses of case studies of three medium-sized cities in Japan, focusing particularly on the service areas of firefighting and elder care. The statistical analyses demonstrate that current explanations that rely on individual …

Social Work Burnout And Supportive Supervision, Kathryn L. Jarl

Theses and Graduate Projects

It is widely agreed that social work has an emotional and stressful load that can lead to social worker burnout. Burnout needs to be clearly defined and the different variables causing stress leading to burnout need to be fully understood in order to implement appropriate preventative strategies. Burnout is defined as the emotional depletion felt from a continuous drain on one's personal reserves. Burnout has three different components: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and lack of personal accomplishment. The findings suggest that the type of supervision has an impact on social worker burnout. Supervision is divided into its three functions: administrative, educational, …

Does Family-Centered Out-Of-Home Care Work? Comparison Of A Family-Centered Approach And Traditional Care., Cathleen A. Lewandowski, Lois Pierce

Social Work Faculty Publications

This research assessed the effectiveness of a family-centered approach to out-of home core in reunifying children with their families by comparing differential exit rates of children whose families received family-centered services with children whose families received routine child welfare services. The sample included 472 children who were in foster care from 1994 to 1996 in Missouri. Survival analysis was used to calculate the probability that a child would he reunified with his or her family at a particular time and to compare the differential exit rates for the children who experienced subsequent placement during the study period. The authors used …

Assessing Cultural Receptivity In Fostering: Scale Development And Validation, Tanya M. Coakley

Doctoral Dissertations

A shortage of foster parents of diverse cultures coupled with the problem of an overrepresentation of children of minority cultures in the child welfare system has resulted in a dire need to place children in families that do not share cultures (i.e., transcultural placements). Children in foster and adoptive placements suffer the loss of their birth families and are at risk for losing knowledge about their past generations (Deberry, Scarr, & Weinberg, 1996; Thoburn, Norford, & Rashid, 2000). Children in transcultural placements are further at-risk for consequent loss of their cultural heritages. Therefore, it is imperative for transcultural foster parents …

Social Support Protects Against The Negative Effects Of Partner Violence On Mental Health, Ann L. Coker, Paige H. Smith, Martie P. Thompson, Robert E. Mckeown, Lesa Bethea, Keith E. Davis

CRVAW Faculty Journal Articles

Objectives: Social support for abused women may reduce the impact of abuse on mental health, yet few studies have addressed this issue. We wish to determine associations between intimate partner violence (IPV) and mental health outcomes and to assess the protective role of abuse disclosure and support on mental health among abused women.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted of 1152 women, ages 18–65, recruited from family practice clinics from 1997 through 1999. They were screened for IPV during a brief in-clinic interview, and physical and mental health status was assessed in a follow-up interview.

Results: IPV, defined as sexual, …

The Quest For Housing, Leslie Moore

Theses and Graduate Projects

What are the factors that affect the ability of a person with serious and persistent mental illness to maintain stable housing? People with serious and persistent mental illness face many challenges to find and/or maintain stable housing. Interviews were conducted with 12 individuals with serious and persistent mental illness. Structured individual interviews concentrated on each participant's ability to find housing, how the participant found current and past housing (past two years), if he or she was assisted in the process, and identified any difficulties encountered while seeking housing. A second aspect of the study focused on the challenges each individual …

Research In Home-Care Telemedicine: Challenges In Patient Recruitment, Usha Subramanian, Faith Hopp, Julie Lowery, Peter Woodbridge, David Smith

Social Work Faculty Publications

This study reports challenges in recruiting patients for a randomized controHed trial of home-care telemedicinae. Descriptive statistics on patient eligibility for home-care telemedidne services and patient refusals for participation are provided. Frequency counts of reasons for study exclusion and participant refusal and Chi-square tests to compare race and age-related differences are given. Of 302 home-care patients reviewed, 197 (65.2%) did not meet inclusion criteria. The most common reasons for study exclusion were patients either needing <2 visits per month (n = 59, 30%) or >3 skilled nurse visits per week (n = 46, 23.4%). Of the eligible patients (n = 105), 79 …

Cost-Effectiveness In Individual Development Accounts, Mark Schreiner, Guat Tin Ng, Michael Sherraden

Center for Social Development Research

Because resources are limited, the benefits and costs of social-work interventions—like all interventions—must be compared with the benefits and costs of alternatives. Evidence-basedpractice should ask not only “What works?” but also “How well does it work?” and “What does it cost?” Unfortunately, evaluations of social-work practice—like evaluations in any field—rarely can measure all the relevant variables. In particular, benefits are extremely difficult to measure. Costs are simpler to measure, but even so, few evaluations measure costs. In the end, all evaluations are inevitably incomplete and so must make subjective judgments aboutunmeasured factors. The key to evaluation, then, is not certainty …

Family Saving And Community Assets: Designing And Implementing Family-Centered, Place-Based Individual Development Account Programs, Stephanie C. Boddie, Michael Sherraden, Lorlene Hoyt, Prema Thirupathy, Trina Shanks, Solana Rice, Margaret Sherraden

Center for Social Development Research

Family Saving and Community Assets: Designing and Implementing Family-Centered, Place-Based Individual Development Account Programs

Racial Differences In Performance In A Matched Savings Program, Michal Grinstein-Weiss, Michael Sherraden

Center for Social Development Research

This study examines the saving performance of low income African Americans and Caucasian participants in an Individual Development Accounts (IDA) program. IDAs are matched saving for home ownership, education, and small business capitalization. Using data from the American Dream Demonstration (N = 2,364), this study compares the savings performance of Black and White participants in IDAs. The results indicate that low-income African Americans on average save successfully in IDAs, though in smaller amounts than Caucasians. Results of separateregressions for Blacks and Whites indicate that mostly individual characteristics are associatedwith saving performance among Caucasians. In contrast, mostly institutional characteristics areassociated with …

Voluntariado Juvenil Y Servicio Cívico En América Latina Y El Caribe: Una Posible Estrategia De Desarrollo Económico Y Social [Youth Volunteerism And Civic Service In Latin America And The Caribbean: A Potential Strategy For Social And Economic Development], Lissa Johnson, Carlos Benítez, Amanda Moore Mcbride, René Olate

Center for Social Development Research

Voluntariado Juvenil Y Servicio Cívico en América Latina y el Caribe: Una Posible Estrategia de Desarrollo Económico y Social [Youth volunteerism and civic service in Latin America and the Caribbean: A potential strategy for social and economic development]

The Voluntary Cultural Year In Germany: Perceptions Of Volunteers, Institutions, Politicians, And Society, Gesa Birnkraut, Ines E. Hein, Frederick Loock

Center for Social Development Research

The Voluntary Cultural Year in Germany: Perceptions of Volunteers, Institutions, Politicians, and Society

Asset Building: Increasing Capacity For Performance Measurement And Effects+B200, Amanda Moore Mcbride, Stacie Lintvedt Hanson, Sondra Beverly, Mark Schreiner, Michael Sherraden, Lissa Johnson

Center for Social Development Research

Asset Building: Increasing Capacity for Performance Measurement and Effects

Saving For Microenterprise In Individual Development Accounts: Lessons From The American Dream Demonstration, Fred M. Ssewamala, Michael Sherraden

Center for Social Development Research

Saving for Microenterprise in Individual Development Accounts: Lessons From the American Dream Demonstration

State Ida Policy Brief: Promoting Asset Building Through The Earned Income Tax Credit, Center For Social Development, Corporation For Enterprise Development

Center for Social Development Research

State IDA Policy Brief: Promoting Asset Building Through the Earned Income Tax Credit

Getting Your Money's Worth: What Early Childhood Directors Should Know About Working With Mental Health Professionals, Beth L. Green, Maria C. Everhart, Lynwood Gordon

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The increasing numbers of young children with challenging behaviors and emotional problems have led many child care providers and early childhood education programs to employ or contract with mental health professionals (Lavigne et al., 1996). Head Start Programs, for example, are required by federal performance standards to utilize services of mental health professionals that are "sufficient" to meet the needs of children and families. However, there has been little research to help program managers make informed choices about who might provide the best services, what services are most important to support staff and families, and how to make the best …

Organizing For Economic Empowerment Of Battered Women: Women's Savings Accounts, Cynthia K. Sanders, Meg Schnabel

Center for Social Development Research

When describing reasons for remaining with or returning to an abusive partner, many women mention economic dependence on their abuser. Few battered women, especially those who are poor,have the economic resources necessary to live independently. Additionally, battered women are commonly isolated from financial resources lacking ready access to cash, checking accounts, or charge accounts. Creating strategies that address financial well-being is essential to addressing the issue ofdomestic violence. This article discusses a collaboration among domestic violence service providers in the St. Louis, Missouri region created to promote the economic development of low-income batteredwomen. The collaboration has culminated in formalized economic …

What States Can Do To Remove Penalties For Saving, Center For Social Development, Corporation For Enterprise Development

Center for Social Development Research

What States Can Do to Remove Penalties for Saving

Hard Numbers, Hard Times: Homeless Individuals In Massachusetts Emergency Shelters, 1999-2003, Tatjana Meschede, Brian Sokol, Jennifer Raymond

Center for Social Policy Publications

Hard Numbers, Hard Times is the fruit of five years of homeless management information systems data collected in homeless emergency shelters serving individuals across Massachusetts. For the first time, comprehensive, reliable statewide data are provided on how many people accessed the system, where people became homeless, what they attributed their homelessness to, how long they stayed in shelter, and where they went when they left. These data are combined with information on demographics, income, special needs and insurance status along with analysis and interviews to provide multiple perspectives on the Massachusetts shelter system.

Overcoming Poverty: Supported Saving As A Household Development Strategy, Margaret S. Sherraden, Trina Williams, Amanda Moore Mcbride, Fred Ssewamala

Center for Social Development Research

Low-income participants experience greater positive financial, psychological, and cognitive outcomes of saving in IDAs than controls. The study contributes to knowledge about poverty alleviation, capacity-building, and empowerment.

Saving Performance In Individual Development Accounts: Does Marital Status Matter?, Michal Grinstein-Weiss, Min Zhan, Michael Sherraden

Center for Social Development Research

Research indicates that marriage has a large effect on reducing the risk of poverty and is associated with a higher probability of attaining affluence over the life course when comparedwith nonmarriage. Using data from the American Dream Demonstration (N = 2,364), this studycompares savings performances of married and unmarried low income participants in a matched savings program – Individual Development Accounts (IDAs). The results indicate that both married and unmarried low income participants can save in IDA programs; however, unmarried participants are saving less than married participants. We further examine possible factors that are associated with savings performance for these …

Youth Service: A Comprehensive Perspective, Amanda Moore Mcbride, Suzanne Pritzker, Dolly Daftary, Fengyan Tang

Center for Social Development Research

When youth are involved in their communities, they typically do so through institutional structures. We construe youth service as a type of long-term, intensive volunteerism or civic service, which takes a range of institutional forms including service-learning, national service, and international service. We define these forms as having common operational features, and summarize what is known about them and their effects on youth and the individuals and communities with whom the youth are engaged. We identify directions for future research,including issues of server inclusion and impacts on the served.

Youth Volunteerism And Civic Service In Latin America And The Caribbean: A Potential Strategy For Social And Economic Development, Lissa Johnson, Carlos Benítez, Amanda Moore Mcbride, René Olate

Center for Social Development Research

Youth Volunteerism and Civic Service in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Potential Strategy for Social and Economic Development

Evaluation Of The American Dream Demonstration: Final Evaluation Report, Gregory Mills, Rhiannon Patterson, Larry Orr, Donna Demarco

Center for Social Development Research

Evaluation of the American Dream Demonstration: Final Evaluation Report

Integrating Savings Into Microenterprise Programs For The Poor: Do Institutions Matter?, Fred M. Ssewamala, Michael Sherraden

Center for Social Development Research

Numerous theoretical frameworks have been used to explain factors that influence outcomes of poor families engaged in self-employment. Theories related to human capital, social capital, andfinancial assets have guided most studies. Using data from fourteen institutions promoting self-employment among the poor, and drawing on the institutional theory, this study finds that theories related to individual influences do not adequately explain all the phenomenon.Controlling for a wide range of individual characteristics, there is a statistically significant association between institutional influences and participants’ outcomes. Policy makers shouldconsider a range of institutional characteristics when designing policies and programs aimed atpromoting self-employment among poor …

Civic Engagement Among Low-Income And Low-Wealth Families: In Their Words, Amanda Moore Mcbride, Margaret S. Sherraden, Suzanne Pritzer

Center for Social Development Research

Through in-depth interviews with 84 low-income, low-wealth families, we find civic engagement across a range of behaviors, e.g., volunteering through religious organizations, neighboring, involvement in children’s activities, and contributing. Data are suggestive of a modified life cycle theory of engagement as well as a “stakeholding” theory, highlighting assets as resources and incentives for action. Time constraint is noted as a primary mediator. Possible implications for measurement, future research, and social interventions and policies are discussed.