Digital Commons Network^™

Criminal Mental Health, Tabitha Oliver

Senior Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to assess and address the prevalence of mental health issues among incarcerated individuals in America. There are multiple internal and external contributing factors to the disproportionately high numbers of mentally ill inmates. Comparing the United States prison system with other countries such as Norway allows for possible paths to improving the mental health crisis that we are currently experiencing. This thesis looks at the principles and practices used in Norway's prisons as well as how they affect inmate's mental health. By comparing Norway's prison policies and design, this thesis will suggest changes in staff …

The Benefits And Barriers To Receiving Medication-Assisted Treatment Inside And Outside Of Prison And Its Implications For Louisiana, Jennifer Johnson

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Swk 600: Research Methods I, Barbra Teater

Open Educational Resources

This course syllabus is for a Master level social work course on research methods. This course is the first in a two-part series where the end product is a research proposal in this course that is then carried out in the subsequent course. This course could also serve as a stand-alone course ending with the research proposal. The course uses an OER textbook resulting in a zero-textbook-cost (ZTC) for the students.

Investing In A Culturally Diverse Mental Health Workforce In Minnesota, Emma Fuhrman, Teia Kopari, Cody Reinke, Josie Schultz

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

Minnesota’s mental health workforce lacks in both cultural diversity and cultural responsiveness. Each is critical for providing equitable mental health care to Minnesota's increasingly diverse population. Without ensuring that Minnesota’s mental health workforce is culturally diverse, culturally responsive mental health care for Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) will not be attainable. Minnesota must broaden, strengthen, and create structures to support a racially and ethnically diverse mental health workforce.

Compassion Fatigue In Students Completing Fieldwork, Darcy Walker

Honors Projects

This project was completed for students who are entering or actively completing fieldwork in the helping professions. It includes a pamphlet, annotated bibliography, and reflective essay. The pamphlet includes information on the signs of secondary traumatic stress, burnout, and compassion fatigue, as well as ways to prevent and combat them. The annotated bibliography summarizes and analyzes the importance of the sources used to complete the pamphlet. The reflective essay is an honest account of the author's own struggles with secondary traumatic stress and burnout, and the process of combating them while simultaneously completing this project.

"Queer Even In Safe Spaces: Homeless, Shelter Failures, And The Queer Community", Kara West

Audre Lorde Prize

Privileged groups consistently expect marginalized group identities to provide comfort, be it in the way the members actually showcase their identities, the work they do for society, or their general respect for the status quo. The queer community, specifically, has long been subject to prejudice and violence, and while tolerance is slowly increasing in the United States, the present day is no exception. Queer folks in the US are even much more likely to be homeless or in domestic violence situations than their heterosexual counterparts. Furthermore, once in vulnerable housing situations, queer folks are dangerously less likely to receive the …

Patterned Adolescent Socially Deviant Behavior, Raymond B. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Research suggests that most adolescent youth AY (AY) will engage in socially deviant behavior (SDB) beginning from ages 10-14, peak in rate of participation at 16-17, and begin to desist thereafter (ages 17 and older). AY participation in SDB varies by frequency and severity, ranging from minor acts such as smoking cigarettes to behaviors that threaten the safety of self and others. Most AY do not participate in SDB to harm, however, but instead are attempting to express autonomous function from parental and adult oversight. During adolescence, youth become aware of their physical transformation to adulthood and growing sense of …

Barriers To Post-Secondary Success, Douglas Swanson, Najeana Henderson, Maritza Sloan

Dissertations

This study reviews factors that prior studies have identified or failed to consider as barriers to post-secondary success. The three main areas include academic success for Latinx students after high school, organizational systems and their impact on African-American students’ postsecondary readiness, and what workers think of their high school education with regards to career preparedness.

Five factors are identified as major barriers for Latinx students to continue in a higher education system. A survey of former students from Saint Louis, Missouri, and Dallas, Texas, metroplex area identified 56 Latinx students that participated in an initial survey. This led to a …

Modeling Cumulative Risk During The Covid-19 Pandemic: Psychosocial And Socioeconomic Factors For Older Minority Adults, James F. Osborne Iv

LSU Master's Theses

Continued response to the sum consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic has disparately affected the physical and mental health of older minority adults in the United States. SARS-CoV-2 created an acute epidemiological crisis of public health coinciding with a chronic pandemic of accentuated psychosocial stress. Biological and socio-economic risk of morbidity and mortality follow a demographic gradient of subjectively constructed social status that disproportionally threatens older adults and minority racial/ethnic communities. Pathways to increased socio-economic and psychosocial vulnerability are multifactorial and complex. Factors of race, socio-economic status, gender, and age, each contribute to individualized profiles of vulnerability to risk exposure.

The …

Data Visualization (Video), Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Workforce Analytics Resources

Data visualization can communicate data in a clear, concise, and engaging way that is easy for us to understand. During the convening of the Institute, the QIC-WD Data Visualization Team lead, Robert Blagg, conducted a presentation on data visualization that addressed the following:

How to make data visualizations useful?

• How can you better collect and organize data to support visualization?
• How can you develop visualizations that respect visual perception of information?
• How can you better focus users on actionable findings?

To learn more about data visualization, watch Dr. Blagg’s 9-minute presentation.

Dr. Blagg’s Data Visualization Resource summarizes key …

The Tipping Point: A Faith Perspective, Osaro Airen, Lakia M. Scott, Gwendolyn C. Webb, Norvella P. Carter, Patricia Larke, General C. Johnson

The Journal of Faith, Education, and Community

The Journal of Faith Education, and Community’s (JFEC) Special Issue entitled, "The Tipping Point: A Faith Perspective," features articles written from a first-person point of view and faith perspective. The articles focus on the authors’ feelings, emotions, and/or experiences surrounding critical and impactful diversity-related events (i.e. the horrific death of George Floyd, protests for equity and the eradication of hate, etc.).

The Work Is Within: My Buddhist Faith As I Reckon With Police Shootings & Racial Unrest, Vicki Mokuria

The Journal of Faith, Education, and Community

Based on the author’s life story in which her husband was shot and killed by police officers in front of her and their two young children, she provides a first-person narrative of her experience, linking the ways her Buddhist faith and practice have sustained her over the years. She recounts snippets of her privileged childhood growing up Jewish in the South before meeting and marrying her Ethiopian husband and beginning a family with him, along with beginning their Buddhist practice. Specific aspects of Buddhist philosophy are incorporated in this piece to provide insights into a Buddhist lens on our current …

Close Encounters: Mass Incarceration Tactics, Kevin L. Jones

The Journal of Faith, Education, and Community

As a Black man living in America, my Christian faith walk began at an early age. Growing up in a suburban environment, I had several encounters with law enforcement that shaped my belief system. These encounters were and still are a stark reminder that Black boys and men are under attack. Policing negatively impacts Black boys and men when compared to other races of people. I realized that I was in their cross hairs and I was almost consumed by the criminal justice system on many occasions. Through the lens of Critical Race Theory, this work focused on the centrality …

An Open Letter To My White Christian Friend, Norvella Carter

The Journal of Faith, Education, and Community

Abstract

As human beings, our world revolves around relationships. As Christians, we are charged to have positive relationships that can grow into friendships. The importance of friendships is infused throughout scripture, because they allow us to bring others to Christ, encourage and uplift the soul and bear each other’s burdens. Without deep discussions, relationships cannot grow. As an African American, when I consider my friendships, I am finding an emotional need to share my feelings more deeply with White friends, who sincerely want to know the truth about my views on important social ills, particularly racism. Given the state of …

Family Caregiving During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Sharon Milberger, Christina Marsack-Topelewski, Elizabeth Janks, Preethy S. Samuel

Developmental Disabilities Network Journal

Background: The Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has taken a disproportionate toll on people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) as well as their family caregivers. This is especially true for older family caregivers, many of whom assume dual or compound caregiving roles, and provide care as they undergo their own aging experiences. This research brief presents findings from family caregivers of adults with I/DD to better understand how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected their lives. Method: Thirty family caregivers from across the state participated in a one-hour special COVID-19 virtual discussion group. All participant identifiers were deleted from a …

Using Quality Improvement (Qi)-Focused Evaluation To Redesign Direct Home- And Community-Based Services During The Covid-19 Public Health Emergency:, Marcia Moriarta, Anthony Cahill, Heidi Fredine

Developmental Disabilities Network Journal

Like many UCEDDs in the Developmental Disabilities (DD) network, the Center for Development and Disability at the University of New Mexico offers direct service programs in home and community settings. Before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, services were delivered in-person to about 1,000 families across the state including clients with intellectual or developmental disabilities and/or from at-risk communities. In March 2020, due to the spread of COVID-19, a public health emergency was declared in New Mexico and home and community services were stopped throughout the state. This meant direct service programs at the Center had to turn to telehealth …

Connection, Involvement, And Modeling: Co-Constructing A Story Of Resilience Despite Early Parental Loss, Erin E. Silcox

The Qualitative Report

The use of oral history and narrative inquiry to investigate factors of resilience in the face of parental death is absent from the literature. Also, researchers have not linked factors that support resilience against trauma and that lead to positive change in residential treatment with the role of educators. In this study, my father-in-law, Norman, and I answered the research question: What factors in Norman’s adolescent life supported his resilience in the face of an early parental loss? I analyzed Norman’s oral history using narrative analysis methods. Findings include factors that led to Norman’s resilience including his connection to a …

Training Tests, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What are training tests?

For this purpose, training tests include any form of knowledge assessment intended to gauge learning from training. Tests can be of varying lengths, formats (e.g., true/false, multiple choice, short answer), or labels (e.g., quiz, learning checks). The important feature is that they require learners to practice retrieving training-related information from memory. Thus, the focus here is on knowledge and understanding, versus skill acquisition.

Why are training tests valuable?

Training tests are valuable because the act of taking a test improves subsequent learning outcomes. More specifically, people who take a test perform better on later assessments of …

Treating Suicidal Ideation On College Campuses: An Evidence-Based Practice Guide For Counselors On Campus, Lexi Sherwood

Evidence-Based Social Work Practice Guide Series

The suicide rate on college campuses is rising. These 5 evidence-based practices can help therapists and counselors address suicidal ideation and treat the causes.

Working With Substance Use Disorder: An Evidence-Based Practice Guide For Practitioners Working With Sud Clients, Joe Kotynek

Evidence-Based Social Work Practice Guide Series

Counseling individuals with substance use disorder using mindfulness based practice.

Preventing School Absenteeism: The Case For Relationships, Rachel Denise Pounders

LSU Master's Theses

Chronic absenteeism affects nearly 20% of high school students every year (ED, 2016). It is an indicator of students at-risk and the strongest indicator of student dropout. Poor outcomes and risk indicators associated with chronic absenteeism are well established, but little is known about factors that could mitigate chronic absenteeism among vulnerable high school students. This study explored the potential influence of teacher, counselor, and peer relationships on chronic absenteeism in students, after controlling for sex, race, and socioeconomic status. The nationally representative sample came from the National Longitudinal Study of 2009 (NSLS:09) and included 17,777 students. Data were collected …

Moth To A Flame: An Investigation Of The Personality Traits And Early-Life Trauma Histories Of Women Who Have Survived Adult Relationships With Men With Pathological Narcissism, Michelle D. Roberts

Dissertations

Although emotional and psychological abuse, in addition to physical assault, are now commonly accepted as aspects of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), narcissistic abuse as a subset of IPV is not widely recognized or understood. Due to the extremely debilitating, chronic mental health effects of narcissistic abuse (Bremner, 2008; Campbell, 2002; Yoon et al., 2009), this study sought to explore the experiences, personalities, early-life (childhood) trauma histories and mental health outcomes of heterosexual women who self-identify as having been in an adult romantic relationship with a man with pathological narcissism. Specifically, this study aimed to identify the nature and frequency of …

Cooper Neurological Institute, Kayla Cupano

Department of Occupational Therapy Entry-Level Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

Suicide In College: An Evidence-Based Practice Guide For Social Work Practitioners, Hailey Bowler

Evidence-Based Social Work Practice Guide Series

After steadily increasing rates of suicide in colleges each year, this article was produced in order to gain a deeper understanding of prevention and intervention practices as clinicians. Through evidence-based research, this article allows for possible solutions to such as devastating issue.

Family-Based Caregiving: Does Lumping Asian Americans Together Do More Harm Than Good?, Suryadewi E. Nugraheni, Julia F. Hastings

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

Asian American family caregivers have gained increased attention due to the need to provide life-sustaining aid at home given the rising numbers of older adults. This article reflects upon caregiving-related research studies that have overlooked the circumstances Asian American caregivers bring to the home-care context. Policies written to address community needs tend to omit the social circumstances many Asian American caregivers must face when trying to take advantage of programs and services. For example, the eligibility requirements fail to recognize distinctive cultural values embedded within the caregiving processes. Further, most Asian American data is aggregated. Aggregating data by ethnicity limits …

The Power Of Connection: A Therapeutic Approach To Utilizing Technology And Social Media To Build Attachment, Tiffany Monk, Shalandra Whaley

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

This session will explore how technology has become enmeshed in many aspects of daily life and elaborate on how to use technology and social media to foster healthy attachment in the classroom setting.

Educators and helping professionals will also learn safety implications and self-care that must be applied to lessen negative effects of technology use.

Pornography: Social, Emotional And Mental Implications Among Adolescents, William Kelly Canady

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

This presentation will explain the historical development of pornography. It will highlight four segments: 1- Porn’s impact on brain development of reward pathways, ultimately increasing the appetite for more porn. 2- Porn can be a false substitute for real intimacy, resulting in decreased sexual satisfaction with a real person and increased verbal and physical aggression. 3- Porn promotes sex trafficking, promotes multiple sex partners and reduced STD prevention. 4- A review of interventions available to assist clients in navigating a lifestyle away from pornography.

Organizational Cynicism, Dana Hollinshead, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is organizational cynicism?

Organizational cynicism is defined as “a negative attitude toward one's employing organization, comprising three dimensions: (1) a belief that the organization lacks integrity; (2) negative affect toward the organization; and (3) tendencies to disparaging and critical behaviors toward the organization that are consistent with these beliefs and affect” (Dean et al., 1998, p. 345). Measures of organizational cynicism include statements such as “I’ve pretty much given up trying to make suggestions for improvements around here” (Tesluk et al., 1990, p. 283) and “I believe that [the organization] says one thing and does another” (Brandes et al., …

Can You Dig It? Excavating Sel Through The Arts, Gina H. Moore

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

Join us to uncover the power of the arts as tools for tweens and teens to excavate their social-emotional skills. Be prepared to interact and connect in this hands-on session where you’ll experience creative activities designed to build a sense of community in groups discovering new skills together. You’ll leave with your own unique artwork and written instructions to facilitate the activities in your programs.

Act To Save A Life: Evidence-Based Youth Suicide Prevention, Meghan Diamon

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

Youth suicide is a preventable tragedy that can occur when children's mental health needs are unmet. Participants will discuss published research on risk factors for youth suicide, how to implement an evidence-based prevention program, and how to tackle common obstacles encountered. Participants will be prepared to mobilize school staff, parents, and community members to address the critical issues of depression awareness and suicide prevention.