Social Work Commons^™

Provision And Long-Term Assessment Of A Specialized Clinical Evidence-Based Practice Curriculum For Master Of Social Work Students, Susan Reay

Social Work Faculty Publications

This study investigated social workers’ knowledge of the common elements in evidence-based practice to treat youth mental health conditions following a specialized curriculum during their Master of Social Work (MSW) education. Participants’ knowledge was measured during their MSW education and in their first 5 years of social work practice after graduation. The quantitative study measured participants’ knowledge of common elements three times; 86 social workers participated in the study with 67 sets of scores at three data points. Study results showed that participants knew more after completing the curriculum but knew less one to five years after graduation. Overall, however, …

Reflections, Accomplishments, And Opportunities: The Csd Annual Letter, Michael Sherraden

Center for Social Development Research

In this annual letter to mark the start of the Center's for Social Development's 30th year, Founding Director Michael Sherraden shares reflections on some recent accomplishments and discusses the opportunities ahead.

Co-Creating Experiences Through The Use Of Arts In Social Work Education, Keiron Hatton, Tracey Maegusuku-Hewett, Jo Redcliffe

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The inclusion of citizens in social work education was initiated over 30 years ago and continues to travel a ‘long and winding road’. Social work education in the UK faces increasing pressure from a range of stakeholders including citizens who use services, regulatory bodies and the media to demonstrate that newly qualified social workers are competent and uphold public trust. While social work education and practice within England and Wales draw on similar traditions in theory and practice, there are important differences in the national and institutional frameworks within which they operate. This article illustrates some of these differences through …

Sw 317 Class Handout, Ashley Rosener

Handouts

This handout highlights resources to find statistical information for class assignments.

Exploring Race: The Collaborative Inquiry Experience Of A Group Of Black Social Work Faculty, Lusta Phanord, Amber D. Bell, Deneen Harris, Crystal George-Moses, Erica Bosque, Carla Fagan, Bianca Brandon

Title III Professional Development Reports

Through a partnership presentation, presenters discussed the co-inquiry group process through which they explored their experiences as Black faculty who teach race based content in social work programs. They shared insights into what it means, what it takes, and what it costs to teach such content, and the benefits of the group process.

Social Work 603 Library Handout, Ashley Rosener

Handouts

A handout designed for SW 603 students who need to learn how to find articles and policies on a chosen topic.

Agreement Of Psychiatric Diagnoses Within And Between Groups Of Mental Health Clinicians From Different Disciplines, Wade Mcguire

Dissertations

The development of therapy as a treatment option for mental health problems has led to the creation of different disciplines. Each discipline has developed its own conceptualization of classification and treatment of mental health problems. These conceptualizations have led to different areas of focus for each of the disciplines, specifically counseling, psychology, and social work. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether these areas of focus influence how each discipline diagnoses. For this study, data was collected by having clinicians provide diagnoses for three fictitious clients. The vignettes for the clients were taken from a psychopathology textbook to …

Early Childhood Support Specialist Evaluation Report, Emilie Swenson Msw, Rachel Gallo Mph

Children, Youth, & Families

The Early Childhood Support Specialist (ECSS) at MaineHealth builds relationships with families who have children aged birth to three, a timeframe when infants and toddlers are rapidly developing, learning, and benefiting from family and community connections. The ECSS assesses a family’s strengths and needs to understand how that family can be supported and connected. The ECSS connects families to resources, provides referrals, coaches families on children’s social and emotional development, and generally serves as a point of contact to assist families with social, emotional, and medical needs. Ultimately, the intended outcome of this model is to increase family connections, decrease …

Building Or Burning: Critical Reflections On Social And Political Change, Amy Krings, Karen D'Angelo, Jan Ivery, Amy B. Murphy-Nguyen

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

Social change oriented toward social justice is a core tenet for social work practice. However, there are times that our profession espouses a commitment to social change and yet struggles to actualize it within research, teaching, and practice. In an effort to support social workers taking social action, we put forward the Equiticity Racial Justice Movement framework as a tool for individual or collective discernment about approaches to social change (https://www.equiticity.org/).

From Childhood Obesity Risk To Healthy Growth In The U.S.: A 10-Year Social Work Research & Policy Update, Brittany R. Schuler, Christian E. Vazquez, Nicole O'Reilly

Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Childhood obesity is a major health issue and a prominent chronic health condition for children in the United States (U.S.), caused by a multitude of factors. Most existing models of childhood obesity prevention have not worked, yielding little to no effect on improving weight status or the proximal health behaviors most attributed to obesity risk: nutritional intake, physical activity, sedentary behaviors, and sleep. There is an urgent need for new approaches to prevent health disparities that are responsive to impacts of economic inequality on healthy child growth in marginalized populations. In this Short Commentary, a social justice update is …

Spring 2022 Training For Licensure Supervision, Andrea Reynolds

Title III Professional Development Reports

The 2022 Spring Training for Licensure Supervision was held virtually over four, four-hour sessions. This training sought to educate on six domains: supervisory relationship and process, supervision of supervisee’s practices, professional relationships, self-care, evaluation, and lifelong learning professional responsibility. There were twenty-six participants from across the state of Missouri, all of whom are Licensed Clinical Social Workers seeking to become licensure supervisors. The training highlighted the need for more qualified licensure supervisors in the state of Missouri. Many participants also expressed their desire to further connect with other licensure supervisors within the state.

Investing In The Social Work Profession Benefits The Health And Well-Being Of Us All, Jill Craig, Kayla Jacobsen, Mackenzie Erickson, Madison Lanning

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

Social workers are the backbone of Minnesota's human services and mental health system. Social workers worked diligently to assist people in receiving health care, connecting to community resources, and overcoming grief and loss throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Social workers are a versatile workforce serving Minnesotans in every sector of our society: hospitals, mental health centers, schools, social service agencies, community centers, and politics and advocacy. Minnesota has an aging social work workforce that must be replenished. However the high cost of getting a social work degree, especially in relationships to pay, is a hinderance to people entering and staying in …

A Pandemic Road Map: Creating Social Work Student Wellness Plans In Field Placement, Susan Reay

Social Work Faculty Publications

During the unprecedented early stages of COVID-19, few protocols were established to support overall student wellness in social work field placements. In response to the overwhelming need for a contextual framework to promote wellness and determine the next steps in mitigating health risks, faculty developed a unique solution in a dynamic situation. Rooted in the university-sponsored dimensions of wellness, BSW and MSW students developed wellness plans that were integrated into the field placement course. These plans were intended to enhance students' ability to evaluate their well-being and encourage them to plan wellness activities. The wellness plan was critical in determining …

Reconceptualizing The Knowledge Base: The Imperative For Critical Theories And Perspectives In Social Work Education, Kristie L. Seelman, Elizabeth L. Beck, Shane R. Brady, Karimah Dillard, William Lane

SW Publications

As the U.S. continues to grapple with the need for a racial reckoning, and with a growth of progressive voices and movements-especially those lead by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color-now is an important time to re-examine social work's knowledge base. Students, researchers, and practitioners need the tools to challenge hegemony, inequity, injustice, and White supremacy from a structural position. Critical theory is an important tool for such work, yet it is not well integrated into social work textbooks, and many students still have limited exposure to it. In this paper, we explore critical theory's roots and evolution and discuss …

Relative Effectiveness Of Online Cognitive Behavioural Therapy With Anxious Or Depressed Young People: Rapid Review And Meta-Analysis, Shikara T. Howes, Kevin M. Gorey, Carly M. Charron

Social Work Publications

Global estimates suggest that 25% and 20% of youth have reported elevated symptoms of depression and anxiety, respectively, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to baseline functioning (Racine et al., 2021). Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) has been found to significantly benefit young people experiencing anxiety and depression (Christ et al., 2020). Pandemic-related protocols have led many mental health services to shift to online platforms. We wondered about the comparative efficacy of online versus offline CBT for young people between the ages of 10-25. We responded with a rapid review and meta-analysis of eight randomized controlled trial outcomes. The …

Income Attainment And Hispanic Female Householders: Examining Educational Attainment, Labor Attachment And Geographic Region, Lillian A. Abreu

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This investigation contributed to the literature by advancing scientific inquiry and addressing the gap in the literature related to social and economic mobility among Hispanic female householders living in the United States. The dissertation achieved its proposed aims by conducting secondary data analysis of the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series – Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplement dataset (Flood, Kind, Rodgers, Ruggles, & Warren, 2020). The investigator applied repeated cross-sectional design to make inferences at the aggregate population level and conceptually frame analysis of a nationally representative sample of Hispanic female householders' a decade after the Great Recession …

A Virtue-Care Approach To Spiritually Sensitive Social Work., Ann M. Callahan

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Sensitivity to the importance of spirituality in social work practice has grown over the past thirty years (Kvarfordt, Sheridan, and Taylor, 2017; Oxhandler & Pargament, 2014). Research suggests that social workers often consider spirituality as an expression of cultural diversity, if not inherent to being human (Barker, 2007; Kvarfordt et al., 2017; Lun & Wai, 2015). Depending on how spirituality is defined or experienced, spirituality can be a source of strength or exacerbate suffering, particularly when a client is in crisis (Callahan, 2017). Social workers must be prepared to engage in spiritually sensitive social work (Cunningham & de Saussure, 2019; …

How Social Work Librarians Connect Social Justice To Information Literacy., Stephen Maher, Carin Graves, Sarah C. Johnson

Publications and Research

In this paper we, as members of the ACRL EBSS Social Work Committee,1 share our experience of developing a companion document to the ACRL Framework.2 Our overarching goal of this project is to clearly demonstrate the overlap between the ACRL Framework and social work’s educational competencies professional ethics. Over the course of this two-year project, we developed a fuller understanding of how social justice—and its corresponding concepts of diversity, equity, and inclusion—exist in both professions.

Covid-19_Umaine News_Press Herald, Wabi Cite Umaine S Tudy In Story About Issues With Unemployment Claims System, University Of Maine Division Of Marketing And Communications

Division of Marketing & Communications

Screenshot of UMaine in the News regarding the Portland Press Herald and WABI (Channel 5) cited a study by Sandra Butler, a University of Maine professor of social work, which detailed numerous issues with the state's unemployment claims system, including long delays in receipt of benefits.

Mediating Effects Of Foster Care Experiences On Employment And Educational Outcomes In Aged Out Former Foster Youth, John Campbell

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The economic well-being outcomes of youth who are removed from foster care status due to reaching the age of ineligibility (i.e., age out) is an important issue in public health and social work. This study investigated the interrelation between simultaneously embodying both a sex and race/ethnicity (i.e., intersectional identity), circumstances experienced through age 19 (i.e., foster care experiences), and economic well-being indicators at age 21, using secondary administrative data from a 4-year longitudinal study (N = 4657). In terms of intersectional identity, findings indicated that intersectional identity was directly related to employment and postsecondary education outcomes. In terms of foster …

Casting Light On The Distinctive Contribution Of Social Work In Multidisciplinary Teams For Older People, Paul Willis, Liz Lloyd, Jackie Hammond, Alisoun Milne, Holly Nelson-Becker, Emma Perry, Mo Ray, Sally Richards, Denise Tanner

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

The current policy emphasis in adult social care in England is on promoting independence, preventing or delaying the need for more intensive support and the provision of personalised services. However, there is little evidence available on how social workers (SWs) identify and meet the complex needs of older service users in practice. In this article, we present findings from a study of innovative social work practice with older adults in England (2018–2019). We present five case studies of social care and integrated services in which SWs are integral team members. Twenty-one individuals participated in interviews; this included service managers and …

The Resulting Mental Health Pandemic From Covid-19: Research And Resources For Social Workers, Ami Lynch

Social Work Student Works

The COVID-19 pandemic will have long-lasting mental health impacts on hundreds of millions more worldwide than the contagion itself. Social workers are seeing increases in depression, anxiety, suicidality, and post-traumatic stress disorder and other negative mental health impacts. Because of this, social workers in all environments and modalities of practice need to be well-trained, agile, and energized while facing the pandemic themselves. This report compiles the impacts and concerns for a variety of social workers and their clients into a single, digestible source, supplemented by the “COVID-19 Resource Compendium for Social Workers and Their Clients”. Social workers must practice self-care, …

Chapter 15: Family Caregiving, Anna Hammersmith

Books and Contributions to Books

The United States’ aging population has led to a greater need for caregivers. This responsibility often falls to family members. Social workers can support family caregivers, but mindfulness about group and individual differences is crucial. Understanding diverse needs of family caregivers and recipients will help social workers effectively implement interventions.

Public Library-Based Social Work Field Placements: Guidance For Public Libraries Planning To Become A Social Work Practicum Site, Elizabeth A. Wahler, Jacob D. Ressler, Sarah C. Johnson, Colleen Rortvedt, Tasha Saecker, John Helling, Michael A. Williams, Danielle Hoover

Publications and Research

Public libraries are increasingly faced with patron psychosocial needs, including mental health problems, substance use, homelessness, or poverty-related needs. Since library staff are often not trained to address these needs, many are choosing to host on-site social work practicum students to provide information and referrals for patrons presenting with psychosocial needs. However, little existing guidance is available about initiating a social work practicum placement, which can leave libraries unprepared and often “reinventing the wheel”. This manuscript provides guidance on the steps that should be considered by libraries intending to host their first social work practicum student.

Navigating Academia During The Covid-19 Pandemic: Can You Do It All?, Abha Rai, Kristen Ravi

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

The goal of this reflection paper is to draw from our own experiences of starting new tenure-track faculty positions in social work departments amid a global pandemic. By drawing from our experiences, we hope to reflect on strategies and resources utilized. By discussing our approach, we endeavor to provide support to other academics across the world. We believe these resources and strategies will be useful as we continue to live in the “new normal.”

Human Rights And Social, Economic, & Environmental Justice: Ethics Of Samfundssind & Agape, Claire L. Dente

Sustainability Research & Practice Seminar Presentations

No abstract provided.

Social Work Research And Evidence-Based Practice In Experimental Medicine Exploring Issues In The Xenotransplantation Context, Alan Lipps, Kyeonghee Jang

School of Social Work

Purpose: The purpose of this paper was to discuss challenges to interdisciplinary evidence-based social work practice (EBP) within a context of xenotransplantation (XTx) using genetically modified animal organs, and the broader context of experimental medicine.

Method: This paper reviewed EBP terminology and discussed the meaning and function of evidence-based social work practice within an IDT in a XTx setting. Meta-analytic systematic reviews, and psychosocial surveys, were discussed to glean insights into ways in which IDTs can incorporate those research methodologies into EBP within an experimental medical (i.e., XTx) context. Several issues that arise while conducting psychosocial research in preparation for …

Promote Healing And Restore Lives: Clinicians’ Reflections On Their Experiences In Working With Survivors Of Trafficking, Brittany Burch

McNair Scholars Research

Humans are shaped by their personal beliefs, values, and individual philosophies of life. Personal ideologies of humanitarian aid can root a deep desire to provide help and assistance to the vulnerable within our community. This desire often manifests itself specifically in clinicians seeking to provide healing, hope, and restoration in the lives of women and men. (Thullesen, 2019). Human trafficking is a prominent human rights and social justice issue that is embedded within our society. This study focused on clinicians’ experiences and perspectives in working with victims of human trafficking.

The data was collected through interviews of clinicians working directly …

College Of Natural Sciences, Forestry, And Agriculture_Covid Related Materials Email, Alison Mitchell

College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture

Email thread featuring messages from Alison S. Mitchell, Adjunct Faculty UMaine School of Social Work to Sandy Butler, Interim Director and Maine Social Work Program Coordinator, and Jonathon Jue-Wong, Administrative Coordinator, The Office of the Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs & Provost regarding Professor Mitchell submitting course material related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Macro Social Work (Sw 6061) Syllabus, Laurie Smith

Q2S Enhancing Pedagogy

This syllabus is the prototype for SW 6061 a revitalized generalist macro social work course that will first be taught in the semester system. The format is a departure from the quarter system format and the process of development involved all faculty.