Digital Commons Network^™

Arts Endowment Committee Annual Report 2011-2012, Indiana State University

Faculty Senate

No abstract provided.

Editorial, Teresa R. Behrens

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Evaluating Changes In Families With Members On Military Deployment, Jill Brink

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

With ongoing operations in the Middle East, military families face a large amount of stress surrounding deployment. While many studies have been conducted on soldier mental health, few have been published on the health of their families and even less on their children. The present case studies examine the mental health of military children, the change in family environment, and the social supports dependent spouses use during deployment. Two families are presented in this study. One family represents an Army Reserve family and the other an Air Force family. By comparing scores to standardized scores, it was shown that mental …

Ages And Stages: Infant (0-12 Months) .G2103, Tonia Renee Durden, Gail L. Brand, Marilyn S. Fox, Jacqueline M. Guzman, Lisa M. Poppe, Ladonna A. Werth, Mary E. Nelson, Leslie Crandall, Ruth E. Vonderohe, Rasheema Pitt

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

During the first year infants develop quickly, meeting many milestones of early growth. Learn how to recognize these stages and what you can do to help support your infant’s growth and development.

Being a parent or caregiver of an infant can be fun and a lot of hard work. Although caring for a baby may seem like an endless cycle of feeding, soothing, and diapering, the first year of a baby’s life is a time for rapid growth and development (Figure 1). By their first birthday, many infants are beginning to crawl and are even taking their first steps. It’s …

The Irony Of Refuge: Gender-Based Violence Against Female Refugees In Africa, Liz Miller

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The Sudanese soldiers and the Janjawid invaded her village. When she tried to escape, they gang-raped her. At that time, she was eight months pregnant and described giving birth to a dead baby afterward and being very sick. She could not make it with her group to the border to flee to Chad so she had to walk alone. Once she got to Chad, she was raped by a Chadian soldier outside of the camp and became pregnant. Afterwards, her husband divorced her, and she now lives with the stigma of being a rape victim. She has been expelled from …

Security Now: Addressing The Needs Of Darfur’S Children, Nicole Judd

Human Rights & Human Welfare

In the Darfur region of Sudan, over 2.3 million children have been affected by the ongoing genocide (UNICEF 2008). Unlike their adult counterparts, children are impacted more severely by the consequences of warfare as they are undergoing a fragile developmental process. While each one of the affected children has had their basic human rights violated in some form, the narrative of trauma differs between groups. Sexually-exploited girls, boy soldiers, unaccompanied children, and those who remain in under-resourced camps have experienced the protracted violence in unique ways. To mitigate the effects of war, each group should receive individualized humanitarian assistance as …

How Valuable Are Capstone Projects For Community Organizations? Lessons From A Program Assessment, David A. Campbell, Kristina T. Lambright

Public Administration Faculty Scholarship

Many MPA programs use capstone courses as culminating experiences to assess students’ capacity to apply program knowledge and skills to challenges facing public or nonprofit organizations. This paper examines whether capstone projects in one university’s MPA program were beneficial to organizational partners. Using data from a survey of capstone supervisors and 10 follow-up interviews, the paper finds that supervisor engagement, project location, and faculty involvement were significant factors in determining whether projects were beneficial to host organizations. The findings indicate that closer relationships among the three primary participants in capstone projects (student, supervisor, and instructor) will lead to more successful …

The Elder Economic Security Initiative™ Program: The Elder Economic Security Standard™ Index For Washington, Gerontology Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Wider Opportunities For Women

Gerontology Institute Publications

This report addresses income adequacy for Washington’s older adults using the national WOW-GI National Elder Economic Security Standard Index (Elder Index) methodology. The Elder Index benchmarks basic costs of living for elder households and illustrates how costs of living vary geographically and are based on the characteristics of elder households, including household size, home ownership or renter status and health status. The costs are based on market costs for basic needs of elder households and do not assume any public or private supports.

Evaluation Of Greater Mankato Area United Way's Annual Allocations Process From The Partner Agencies' Perspective, Erin A. Trytten

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This project aims to provide information to GMAUW about the annual allocations process and level of engagement with partners from the partner agencies/programs themselves. GMAUW values their relationship with their partners and realizes the importance of evaluating their own practices to ensure that the relationship remain strong and mutually beneficial. GMAUW has never had the internal capacity to complete an evaluation of this nature and will use the findings to improve their processes.

Research Question: How do GMAUW’s partners view the annual allocations process?

Faith-Based Organizations In A System Of Behavioral Health Care, Mark Dekraai, Denise Bulling, Nancy C. Shank, Alan J. Tomkins

Nancy Shank Publications

Through community service activities, and ministries to members within their congregations, faith communities will encounter individuals with behavioral health needs. This article suggests that faith communities have inherent resources that can enhance the reach and effectiveness of behavioral health systems. A framework is presented that will create a bridge of understanding about how behavioral health can leverage faith organization assets and how faith organizations can actively assist adults, children and families with behavioral health needs within the context of their faith and their community.

Disabilities Through The Capability Approach Lens: Implications For Public Policies Handicap Au Travers De L’Approche Par Les Capabilités: Quelles Implications Pour Les Politiques Publiques ?, Jean-Francois Trani, Parul Bakhshi, Nicol Bellanca, Mario Biggeri, Francesca Marchetta

Brown School Faculty Publications

This paper explores the contribution of the capability approach of Amartya Sen and other authors to policy making in the specific case of disability policy. After reviewing existing models, their translation into action and their limitations in this regard, the paper introduces a new policy framework based on the capability approach. In particular, we introduce a new measure of functionings and capabilities. We investigate ways of measuring the gap between functionings, what people are able to do and be, and capabilities – the valuable practical opportunities people have and choose from. The possibility of the elaboration of such a disability …

Outcomes, Adaptations And Performance: A Local Evaluation Of Shelter Plus Care, Sloan R. Herrick

Wayne State University Theses

Individual outcomes and barriers to program implementation for Shelter Plus Care are presented in an exploratory study investigating the impact of a permanent supportive housing program - Shelter Plus Care - in Detroit, a city that faces unique challenges and complicated needs. Individual outcomes including improved housing stability, increased income and reports of enhanced self-sufficiency suggest the program is achieving the goals projected by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Despite positive outcomes for individual consumers, barriers to program implementation emerged as thematic problems for organizations running the program. The study provides recommendations that may increase the …

Evidence-Based Strategies For Working With Veterans, Bethany Fopma

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

According to the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), 3.3 million veterans (41%) live in rural areas. Due to geographical barriers, these veterans often lack access to needed services and providers. This research project analyzed studies that utilized telehealth in delivering services to veterans with PTSD. While more research in this area needs to be conducted, telehealth technology shows promising results for improving veterans’ symptoms and providing veterans with satisfactory services. Research Question: Is telehealth medicine an effective intervention in treating veterans with PTSD?

Gains, Losses, And Life Goals Identified By Caregivers Of Individuals With Disabilities In The United States, Sharon A. Raver, Anne M. P. Michalek

Communication Disorders & Special Education Faculty Publications

It is often reported that caregivers of individuals with disabilities experience stress as they manage caregiving responsibilities while they make the effort to balance family and work. Thirty-one caregivers of individuals with an array of disabilities in the United States completed a qualitative survey in this pilot study that asked them to identify their gains and losses from providing care and to identify their life goals. The gains from caregiving were identified as enhanced empathy and compassion, and the losses as strained family relationships, and less personal time. The most commonly identified life goals were experiencing happiness and achieving financial …

Public Health Bill Draft Requests - 2011 Nv Legislative Session, Nevada Institute For Children's Research And Policy Reports

Nevada Institute for Children's Research and Policy Reports

Public Health Bill Draft Requests - 2011 NV Legislative Session

Exploring The Well-Being Of Foster Children Of Parents With Substance Abuse Problems In Family Dependency Treatment Courts, Barbara M. Howes

Dissertations

The aim of this three-paper format dissertation is to explore how the well-being of foster children of parents with substance abuse problems is defined and promoted through Family Dependency Treatment Courts (FDTC) within the context of the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA). The benefit to the author of the three-paper method is the task of submitting the findings of the study for publication is eased as the dissertation contains three stand-alone articles. A drawback for the reader of the three paper method is that there is redundancy in reading the same sections in each paper. The reader is encouraged …

The Role Of Evaluations In Community Foundations, Brad R. Watts

Dissertations

Each year, U.S. community foundations are responsible for billions of dollars in philanthropy, yet the outcomes associated with these efforts often remain unknown. Previous research supports the importance of evaluating philanthropic activities and shows that community foundations express a strong interest in evaluation; however, the limited available evidence suggests that evaluation practice is still not widespread.

This study reports the findings from a national survey of community foundations on evaluation practice. The findings indicate that a substantial share of community foundations do not formally evaluate the outcomes of their philanthropic work. Additionally, although previous research has suggested that community foundation …

The Elder Economic Security Initiative™: The Elder Economic Security Standard™ Index For Iowa, Gerontology Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Wider Opportunities For Women

Gerontology Institute Publications

This report addresses income adequacy for Iowa’s older adults using the national WOW-GI National Elder Economic Security Standard Index (Elder Index) methodology. The Elder Index benchmarks basic costs of living for elder households and illustrates how costs of living vary geographically and are based on the characteristics of elder households, including household size, home ownership or renter status and health status. The costs are based on market costs for basic needs of elder households and do not assume any public or private supports.

The Elder Economic Security Initiative™: The Elder Economic Security Standard™ Index For Colorado, Gerontology Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Wider Opportunities For Women

Gerontology Institute Publications

This report addresses income adequacy for Colorado’s older adults using the national WOW-GI National Elder Economic Security Standard Index (Elder Index) methodology. The Elder Index benchmarks basic costs of living for elder households and illustrates how costs of living vary geographically and are based on the characteristics of elder households, including household size, home ownership or renter status and health status. The costs are based on market costs for basic needs of elder households and do not assume any public or private supports.

What Works In Work-First Welfare: Designing And Managing Employment Programs In New York City, Andrew R. Feldman

Upjohn Press

This book is a case study of how New York City's welfare-to-work programs were managed and implemented in the mid 2000s. Feldman also analyzes the unique characteristics that differentiate it from other programs in place across the country.

Clinical Social Work And The Biomedical Industrial Complex, Tomi Gomory, Stephen E. Wong, David Cohen, Jeffrey R. Lacasse

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article examines how the biomedical industrial complex has ensnared social work within a foreign conceptual and practice model that distracts clinical social workers from the special assistance that they can provide for people with mental distress and misbehavior. We discuss: (1) social work's assimilation of psychiatric perspectives and practices during its pursuit of professional status; (2) the persistence of psychiatric hospitalization despite its coercive methods, high cost, and doubtful efficacy; (3) the increasing reliance on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, despite its widely acknowledged scientific frailty; and (4) the questionable contributions of psychoactive drugs to clinical …

Embedded Foundations: Advancing Community Change And Empowerment, Paula Allen-Meares, Larry Gant, Trina Shanks

The Foundation Review

· Embedded funders are foundations that have made long-term commitments to the communities in which they are located or work.

· Foundations have a long history in funding community development, often with few concrete results.

· Political conditions, the increasing divide between rich and poor, inaccessibility of education, lack of housing, and continued segregation and racial discrimination are issues that need be addressed concurrently and resources need to be drawn from a variety of sources, particularly the neighborhoods themselves. This complexity has created an impetus for embedded philanthropy.

· Embedded funders work participatively with the community and frame evaluations in …

Funding Cultural Adaptations To Promote Effective And Efficient Mental Health Service Provision, Lynda E. Frost, Rick Ybarra

The Foundation Review

· Given the changing demographics of the U.S. and documented racial and ethnic health disparities, behavioral health service providers must look at adapting their services to better meet the needs of their diverse client populations.

· Grantees implemented three types of cultural adaptations: sociocultural/organizational, structural/ service delivery, and clinical.

· Most adaptations were not directly related to the specific evidence-based practice and would be relevant in many service-provision settings.

Leveraging Social Networks In Direct Services: Are Foundations Doing All They Can?, Katya Fels Smyth

The Foundation Review

· Social networks are critical to physical and mental health, and they shape how people see themselves and their possible futures.

· Social networks represent an under-leveraged resource in social services’ efforts to alleviate poverty and other social challenges.

· Foundations may be unintentionally creating barriers to practice that leverages social networks by incentivizing individually-focused, highly specific services delivered in standardized, replicable ways.

· “Network-oriented” practice can help craft a new way forward that threads the needle between everything-is-different-for-everyone and everything- is-the-same-for-everyone.

· By focusing funding on efforts that build and support social networks, foundations can deepen and sustain the …

Executive Summaries

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Exposing Real World Philanthropy To The Next Generation Of Social Work Leaders, Yoko Crume, Edgar Villanueva

The Foundation Review

· This article describes a method for instructing social work students in the art of enhanced collaboration with foundations, shifting the focus from “writing a winning proposal” and “finding alternative funding sources” to “developing collaborative partnerships for sustainable community development and social change.”

· The program consists of four major steps: charitable foundation review and case presentation, self-guided review of real-world proposals, mock grant proposal development, and side-by-side proposal review.

· Student proposals were rated similarly by the instructor and the foundation program officer, even though different criteria were used, suggesting that well-written proposals are also likely to clearly address …

A Systematic Review Of The Literature On The Effects Of School Bullying From The Framework Of Jurgen Habermas’S Theory Of Communicative Action, Gabriel Cohen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This project is a systematic review of the US quantitative, empirical studies on the effects of school bullying for the purpose of determining the degree to which Jurgen Habermas’s social theory, the theory of communicative action, can be used to understand the constellation of measured effects. School bullying is defined as a systematic abuse of power: the empirical literature on school bullying, therefore, provides a large data set on the abuse of power. The review finds strong consistency between the theory and the results of selected studies suggesting that Habermas’s theory of communicative action can explain and predict the mechanisms …

Broken Can Heal: The Life And Work Of Manjula Pradeep Of India, Amy S. Choi

Kroc IPJ Research and Resources

In the following pages, you will find narrative stories about a Woman PeaceMaker, along with additional information to provide a deep understanding of a contemporary conflict and one person’s journey within it. These complementary components include a brief biography of the peacemaker, a historical summary of the conflict, a timeline integrating political developments in the country with personal history of the peacemaker, a question-and-answer transcript of select interviews, and a table of best practices in peacebuilding as demonstrated and reflected on by the peacemaker during her time at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice.

A brazen human …

A Case Study Of The United States Veterans' Disability Compensation Policy Subsystem, Tanya Rosemary Brinkley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In public policy literature, there is a lack of research that integrates social construction theory within the advocacy coalition framework, and far less is known about how these theories address policy change and processes related to programs for disabled veterans.The purpose of this study was to conduct a policy analysis to evaluate how well the needs of veterans are met through the U.S. Veterans' Disability Compensation (USVDC) program. In a case study of a city in the southeastern U.S., gaps between formulation and implementation of USVDC policy were examined. The theoretical frameworks used in this study were Hacker's formulation and …

The Native American Community In Multnomah County: An Unsettling Profile, Ann Curry-Stevens, Amanda Cross-Hemmer, Coalition Of Communities Of Color

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This report is the result of three years of work of true partnership between the Native American community, the Coalition of Communities of Color and Portland State University. The Portland Indian Leaders’ Roundtable, an alliance of 28 local Native American organizations, tribal organizations and Native focused programs within larger institutions, took a lead role in the implementation of the Native American research. Elders of the community reviewed the work and provided invaluable knowledge and historical context.

Our main priority is to advocate for policy decisions that improve outcomes for the Native American community. We hold institutional reform and the formation …