Digital Commons Network^™

Liberating Self: An Autoethnographic Inquiry Into Black Male Mental Health, Phillip J. Roundtree Sr.

Social Work Doctoral Dissertations

This autoethnography offers a first-person perspective on Black male mental health experiences. It incorporates personal narratives and academic research to explore the intersectionality of race, gender, and mental health, as well as the impact of historical and contemporary systemic racism and discrimination on Black males' psychological and emotional well-being.

The Black Liberation Psychology theoretical framework and Africana Studies Conceptual framework examined how cultural norms, hip-hop culture, stigma, and societal factors, including racism, discrimination, and stereotypes about Black masculinity, shape Black male mental health experiences. The study also highlights Black males' development of coping mechanisms and resilience strategies to navigate these …

“We're Not Thriving, But We're Trying.” Exploring Undergraduate Students' Resilience During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Kelly Smith

Social Work Doctoral Dissertations

Undergraduate college students found their lives upended when Covid-19 pandemic mitigation efforts mandated them to leave their school settings and continue their education on virtual platforms. Research on the pandemic and related mitigation efforts has found undergraduate students to be negatively impacted. Today’s undergraduate students are primarily made up of Generation Z who are identified as having a higher reported incidence of mental health issues and have been described as less resilient when compared to other generations. Resilience is integral to undergraduate students’ mental health and educational persistence. This study sought to explore the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on …

Do Degrees Matter? Rethinking Workforce Development For Youth With Intellectual Disabilities And Mental Health Challenges, Susan Reay, William E. Reay, Kris Tevis, Lisa Patterson

Social Work Faculty Publications

The global workforce crisis significantly impacts how evidence-based treatment is provided to youth with developmental disabilities and co-occurring mental health conditions. Addressing the workforce crisis requires re-examining the long-standing methods of selecting individuals for employment based on academic degrees. This project offers an innovative workforce development option that provides specialized training to staff with advanced education degrees and staff with less education. The participants in this study were employed in a rural area of the USA within the mental health, child welfare, and correctional industries. All participants worked with youth experiencing intellectual disabilities and mental illness. Results indicated that participants …

The Influence Of Child Maltreatment In The Manifestation Of Anxiety And Depressive Symptoms At The Age 18, Maria J. Velasquez

LSU Master's Theses

Child maltreatment affects thousands of children and adolescents every year. This phenomenon is multidimensional, meaning there are different subtypes (i.e., physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect) known to predict various mental health issues, including depression and anxiety. While previous research has investigated mental health outcomes in maltreated youth, results may vary based on the dimensions of abuse considered. This study aims to expand on previous literature to examine how a history of child maltreatment subtypes influences the manifestation of anxiety and depressive symptoms in youth at age 18. The current study uses secondary data analysis of the Longitudinal …

Teaching And Learning Together: Situating Information Literacy In The Library Social Services Landscape Of Practice Through Online Scenario-Game-Based Training, Denise R. Shereff

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A scoping literature review and a qualitative case study were conducted in this dissertation research to explore formal information literacy instruction and professional development for librarians and social workers in the context of library social services. This research provides avenues for increasing understanding about how each is prepared to provide mental health and social service information and resources in public libraries.The scoping literature review was conducted on 19 studies published since 2002 focusing on librarians’ roles in information literacy instruction in social worker education. Articles were reviewed according to published Scoping Review guidelines. Trends were described regarding instructional and technological …

Radical Youth Work: A Community Based Approach To Working With Youth, Young Adults And Families, Weston J. Robins

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

Eternal Strength Center for Radical Youth Work is a blended community center with customizable mental health therapeutic support for youth, young adults and families. Providing humanistic and person centered psychotherapy and counseling, alongside experiential therapies and community engagement we support families and youth struggling with anxiety, depression, substance abuse, self harm, suicidality and other challenges on their developmental growth journey.

Lack Of Counseling Services Among Adults Aged 50 And Greater, Madalyn Olson

Counselor Education Capstones

The geriatric population is increasing every year which may indicate a rising need for retirement and mental health counseling. It is essential for individuals aging out of the workforce to prepare for a life after work and know how to create a new identity. Counselors need to be aware of the different scales and assessments that are available to help determine one’s attitude towards retirement and willingness to seek counseling to prepare for retirement. Additionally, it is important to be aware that although there are counseling services available for mental health disorders and substance use disorders, these services are limited …

A Girl Named Sue: A Child's Journey From Complex Trauma To Hope, Healing & Recovery, Jamie S. Like Ms.

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

Audience would include any school staff, counselors, social workers, parents and community members. Many children who experience complex trauma struggle emotionally, physically, and behaviorally. In this session, participants will earn to never underestimate the impact they can make on the life of a child, that damage from childhood trauma can be mitigated and that relationships, relationships, relationships are the key to everything!

“It’S Just Hard Reaching Out”: Factors Affecting Help-Seeking Behaviors Among Independent College Students., Beth Sapiro, Svetlana Shpiegel, Silvia Ramirez Quiroz, Marissa Ventola, Oomi Helen Nwankwo, Tariro Munyereyi

Department of Social Work and Child Advocacy Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Independent students pursue higher education without financial, practical, and sometimes emotional support from family. For these students, asking for assistance when needed is key for college persistence. Decisions around help-seeking are shaped by multiple factors but are often portrayed as a solely individual decision. This study examined factors affecting help seeking among independent students enrolled in a four-year university. Within a process evaluation of a campus support program for independent students, we conducted in-depth, individual interviews with 23 independent students ages 18–23, as well as 5 university staff. Students described a range of psychological and relational factors influencing their willingness …

Understanding Lived Experiences Of Stigma For People Living With Hiv: A Community Based Participatory Research Study, Brent Oliver Dr., Catherine Pearl, Egbert S. Felix – John, Deborah Norris, Folasade J. Elizabeth Olaniyan, Kim Samson, Aniela Dela Cruz, Gabriel Aseselin, Kate Berezowski, Celeste Hayward, Becky Vam Tassel, Floyd Visser

The Qualitative Report

The goal of this project was to better understand the experiences and impacts of HIV stigma and discrimination on people living with HIV and to co-create knowledge that has the potential to challenge existing stigma within the healthcare, social services, and public policy sectors in the province of Alberta, Canada. We employed community-based participatory research and a mixed methods design (survey methods and qualitative interviews) to address these questions. An online survey was completed by 148 people living with HIV and semi-structured interviews were conducted with an additional 20 participants. The research findings have been conceptualized within a social ecological …

A Quantitative Analysis Of The Views And Perceptions Of Building Leaders On Discipline And Special Education For Urban Students, Dementred T. Young

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation involved summarizing and critically evaluating principals’ views on students who have been traumatized and the treatment these students receive as a result of these perceptions. The main focus was to ascertain whether administrators’ upbringing has a mediating effect on the treatment of students being educated in an urban community. The central question focused on the views and perceptions of building leaders raised in urban, suburban, or rural areas and the impact of their perception of urban students who have experienced trauma. Sub-questions were designed to uncover the relationship between the building administrator’s life experiences and perceptions of disciplinary …

United States Female Veterans’ Reintegration: Perceived Needs Of Social And Psychological Support, Lisa Marie Grazioso

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The United States military service members dedicate a period of their lives, some their entire life, to protecting and upholding the United States Constitution. While the United States military service members go through many transitions throughout their military career, all but their transition to civilian life include mentors and have a step-by-step action plan or checklist to prepare them for their next position or move. Often, female Veterans and their needs during reintegration into civilian life are overlooked. The purpose of this research study aimed to examine the relationships between perceived stress, satisfaction with life, and reintegration into civilian life …

Virtual Training In Child Welfare, Penny Putnam Collins

QIC-Takes

Child welfare offices and training centers had to transition their classroom instructor-led training to virtual platforms when the pandemic hit. Some training systems were already using virtual platforms or asynchronous learning tools to deliver training content, but no agency was 100% virtual pre-pandemic. The transition was sudden and there was a steep learning curve for some trainers. Changes made when the pandemic hit may now be the new normal. This QICTake highlights what our QIC-WD sites and team members experienced as child welfare agencies shifted to, and are now embracing, virtual training. What We’re Seeing Finding the Right Tools for …

Affective Depression Mediates Ptsd To Suicide In A Sample Of Treatment-Seeking First Responders, James Whitworth, Jeanine Galusha, Jose Carbajal, Warren Ponder, Donna Schuman

Faculty Publications

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the associations of comorbid

posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), affective or somatic depression, and

suicide among first responders (FRs). Method: We used baseline data from

FRs (N = 232) who sought services at a nonprofit mental health agency specializing

in treating trauma exposed FRs. We conducted two PROCESS simple

mediation models with PTSD as the predictor, affective depression and somatic

depression as the mediators, and suicidality as the dependent variable.

Results: Affective depression significantly mediated the relationship between

PTSD and suicidality, whereas somatic depression did not. The direct effect …

Incorporating Cultural Healing Practices Into Mental Health Care, Maria Jeremiason, Hailey Wilhelm, Yuriana Soto, Erin Sudbeck

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

Minnesota approaches mental health based on Western cultural traditions. This approach does not encompass the traditions of multicultural communities, many of whom have experienced deep generational trauma, oppression, and discrimination. We must address our treatment of people living with mental illness by incorporating and expanding holistic cultural traditions rooted in the cultural traditions of all Minnesotans. This will include honoring the work of cultural healers, cultural brokers, elders, and community health workers within all communities.

Interprofessional Collaborative Attitudes: Comparing Social Work Learners To Their Medicine And Nursing Peers, Joseph Bartholomew, Marcia Mount French, Hea-Won Kim

Florida Public Health Review

Interprofessional learning activities in higher education aim to unite healthcare professionals in their future practice, thus reducing duplication and fragmentation of services. This study uses a social learning perspective to examine advanced practice medicine, nursing, and social work learners’ attitudes toward interprofessional education and collaborative practice activities within their university programs. The authors used a cross-sectional design to administer a questionnaire that included the Interprofessional Attitudes Scale (IPAS) to 151 advanced practice health care learners (internal medicine residents, nurse practitioner students, master’s-level social work students). Findings indicated significant differences in three subsections of the IPAS. Social work learners possessed a …

Social Identity As A Factor In Bystander Responses To Bias-Based Verbal Aggression Among College Students, Shveta Kumaria, David S. Byers, Katherine M. Mccarthy, Carmen Moedano

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

Bias-based bullying is a significant problem in the United States, including aggression targeting college students with minoritized social identities. Bystander responsiveness can help to buffer the effects, but social identity factors may influence how students respond to bias-based aggression among peers. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of a subsample (N = 7,291) of the 2018–2019 Healthy Minds Study to test correlations between racial, sexual, and gender identities and self-reported and hypothetical peer interventions. Students who identify with minoritized sexual and gender identities, across racial identities, are most likely to report past or intended interventions while students who identify as straight, …

Exploring Facilitators, Barriers And Concerns Of Police Using Social Media When Investigating Missing Children, Eleanor Howlings, Reka Solymosi

International Journal of Missing Persons

Missing person investigations involve the collection of information to ensure the person is located as fast as possible, minimising their exposure to harms. Social media is a valuable source of information in police investigations both to learn about the missing person, and to appeal for information to the public. To ensure social media is used safely and effectively, we must understand the concerns and experiences of investigating officers. In this pilot study, we analysed interviews from 8 experts who investigate missing children to identify the facilitators and barriers of using social media. We also identified concerns raised by officers around …

Does Structural Racism Influence How Black/African Americans Define Memory Loss And Cognitive Impairment? An Africana Phenomenological Study, Andre Pruitt

Dissertations and Theses

With the variety of research about dementia and Alzheimer's disease (AD), few studies have explored the effect of social structures, such as racism, on how Black/African Americans conceptualize memory loss, dementia, or AD. Furthermore, limited within the scholarship are the environmental factors and structural racism that are thought to influence cognitive impairments and meaning making about cognitive decline impacting Black/African Americans.

Most U.S. research centers on methodologies and epistemologies grounded in Eurocentric ways of knowing (objectivity, individuality, either/or logic). However, Eurocentric methodologies fail to acknowledge the cultural experiences with memory loss, cognitive impairment, dementia, and AD, as well as the …

The Impact Of Covid-19 On Women And Work: Career Advancement Challenges, Sara Lafkas, Marin Christensen, Susan R. Madsen

Social Work Faculty Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic upended countless lives all over the world. Considerable research has shown that women’s career progression has been more negatively impacted by the pandemic than men’s, especially in the wake of school closures and increased childcare responsibilities. In order to understand more deeply the impact of the pandemic on women’s careers, a large mixed-method survey was conducted in Utah, a western state in the United States. This article reports on the responses of 2564 respondents to one of three open-ended questions taken from the overall survey, namely: “How has the pandemic impacted your career advancement experiences and opportunities …

Paths To Equity: Parents In Partnership With Ucedds Fostering Black Family Advocacy For Children On The Autism Spectrum, Elizabeth H. Morgan, Benita D. Shaw, Ida Winters, Chiffon King, Jazmin Burns, Aubyn Stahmer, Gail Chodron

Developmental Disabilities Network Journal

Racism and ableism have doubly affected Black families of children with developmental disabilities in their interactions with disability systems of supports and services (e.g., early intervention, mental health, education, medical systems). On average, Black autistic children are diagnosed three years later and are up to three times more likely to be misdiagnosed than their non-Hispanic White peers. Qualitative research provides evidence that systemic oppression, often attributed to intersectionality, can cause circumstances where Black disabled youth are doubly marginalized by policy and practice that perpetuates inequality. School discipline policies that criminalize Black students and inadequate medical assessments that improperly support Black …

Shared Responsibility: Conceptualising How A Public Health Approach May Enhance Police Response To Missing Persons, Katie Gambier-Ross, Joe Apps Dr, Sarah Wayland Dr

International Journal of Missing Persons

When a person is reported missing there are substantial costs for the individual, their family and society. This paper conceptualises the experience of missing persons episodes, through a public health approach. This then allows police, stakeholders and the community to engage in discussions about who is vulnerable to going missing by intervening in a way that addresses risk. Historically, a missing persons episode involves an absence, typically followed by police involvement in consultation with next of kin with establishing the whereabouts of the missing person being the primary focus. Yet, the risk factors of going missing relate more to the …

Hr And Child Welfare Data – Building Connections To Improve Practice, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development (Qic-Wd)

Other QIC-WD Products

Combined human resources (HR) and child welfare data is essential to answer pertinent workforce questions. The Quality Improvement Center for Workforce Development (QIC-WD) has been intentional about bringing HR and child welfare professionals together to better understand and use the data they have available to them. In some cases, however, public child welfare agencies struggle to link their HR and child welfare data sets. Through the QIC-WD’s work with our intervention sites and Child Welfare Data Analytics Institutes, our team has worked directly with agencies grappling with the challenge of connecting these vitally important data sets to address a …

Point/Counterpoint: Transgender Sport Participation Policy, Matt Moore, Nafees Alam

Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

I am looking forward to a spirited point/counterpoint regarding the NCAA (2022) policy on transgender sport participation. The NCAA Board of Governors voted in support of a sport-by-sport approach to transgender participation that preserves opportunity for transgender student-athletes while balancing fairness, inclusion, and safety for all who compete. The national governing bodies for each sport will determine policies for transgender participation (e.g., USA Swimming). The NCAA policy became effective in January. The policy requires transgender student-athletes to document sport specific testosterone levels beginning four weeks before their sport’s championship selections. In the 2022-2023 competition season, transgender student-athletes will need documented …

Point/Counterpoint: Transgender Sport Participation Policy, Nafees Alam, Matt Moore

Social Work Faculty Publications

Professor Alam and Professor Moore submitted a Point/Counterpoint commentary article regarding the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Board of Governors Transgender Sport Participation Policy

The Silent Suffering Of Survivors: The Covid-19 Pandemic's Impact On Domestic Violence Resources, Osoniya I. Wodi

XULAneXUS

Increased reports of domestic violence has coincided with the eruptions and growth of the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous research has shown a positive correlation between domestic violence and the occurrence of humanitarian crises. Recently published research about domestic violence police reports in the COVID-19 pandemic has also supported this correlation. We used data from the National Network To End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) to analyze the number of survivors served by domestic violence programs in the United States, type of resources available, and unmet request from 2019-2021, one year pre-pandemic and the first two years of the pandemic. Findings from this study …

Adventure And Spiritual Restoration: Older Adult Motivations For Undertaking A Pilgrimage On El Camino De Santiago, Holly Nelson-Becker, Joseph G. Pickard, Florian Sichling

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

A pilgrimage is an intentional journey undertaken for reasons that can increase a sense of well-being. Although originally completed for religious purposes, motives in contemporary times may include anticipated religious, spiritual, and humanistic benefits as well as appreciation of culture and geography. This quantitative and qualitative survey research explored the motivations of a sample subset age 65 and over from a larger study who completed one of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela routes in Spain. Consistent with life course and developmental theory, some respondents walked at life decision points. The analyzed sample was 111 people, nearly 60% of whom …

The Challenges Of “Moving At The Speed Of Trust”: How Women Navigate New Public Management Dynamics In Power-Based Community Organizations, Mary L. Dungy, Amy Krings

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

The practice of professional community organizing aims to create a more equitable, inclusive society. However, power-based community organizing in the Alinsky tradition has historically been criticized for being unwelcoming to women, especially those who are caregivers at home. To better understand the paradox of working for social justice within an occupational context where one is not fully welcome, this exploratory interview-based study used an Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis to explore how women organizers understand, experience, and navigate gendered features of new public management within power-based community organizations in Chicago. Our findings indicate that women community organizers experience significant tensions due to …

The Effects Of Colorism On The Self-Esteem And Relationships Among College Students, Marrakesh Shiloh Spann, Pius Nyutu

Journal of Research Initiatives

This study was designed to examine the relationship between colorism and self-esteem and relationship satisfaction among college students. Additionally, the impact of other social-economic factors such as gender, race/ethnicity, and income level were evaluated. Data was collected via a questionnaire developed in google forms from 202 participants. The instruments included the Rosenberg Self- Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965), A Generic Measure of Relationship Satisfaction (Hendrick, 1988), The Colorism Scale (Harvey, Banks, & Tennial, 2014) and a general demographics questionnaire. The results indicated a very low correlation between colorism and self-esteem (r = .084) and between colorism and relationship satisfaction (r = …

Supporting Virtual Supervision As Part Of A Hybrid Workforce, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

QIC-Tips

More and more public child welfare agencies offer the opportunity to work in a hybrid environment, combining remote work with in-office work. This has raised questions among supervisors about how best to manage a remote workforce. Since research on virtual supervision is fairly limited relative to the popularity of remote work, studies are needed to understand the ways and conditions that influence effectiveness. Available research on remote work indicates that it is moderately associated with greater perceived autonomy and modestly associated with better supervisor relationships, performance, and job satisfaction. It was also modestly associated with decreased role stress and turnover …