Digital Commons Network^™

Social Ecological Constraints To Park Use In Communities With Quality Access, J. Aaron Hipp, Ravikumar Chockalingam, Deepti Adlakha

Center for Social Development Research

Evidence correlates physical activity, psychological restoration, and social health to proximity to parks and sites of recreation. The purpose of this study was to identify perceived constraints to park use in low-income communities facing significant health disparities, with access to underutilized parks. We used a series of focus groups with families, teens, and older adults in neighborhoods with similar demographic distribution and access to parks over 125 acres in size. Constraints to park use varied across age groups as well as across social ecological levels, with perceived constraints to individuals, user groups, communities, and society. Policies and interventions aimed at …

The Design Of A Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility In Wheelwright, Kentucky Serving Adolescent Males, Jenna Clem

Kaleidoscope

During the spring semester of 2010, I have been working on the design of a psychiatric residential treatment facility in Wheelwright, Kentucky as part of the requirements for ID 659, Interior Design Graduate Studio. I am a senior, but was allowed permission to enroll in this class because of my interest in research-based design. The facility will offer therapy services in a home environment for seven adolescents between the ages of ten and seventeen. This paper describes the process that I followed throughout the design process and the specific issues that were addressed in the final solution. The design process …

Association Between Mental Health Disorders And Juveniles' Detention For A Personal Crime, Patricia A. Stoddard Dare, Christopher A. Mallett, Craig Boitel

Social Work Faculty Publications

Background: Youth involved with juvenile courts often suffer from mental health difficulties and disorders, and these mental health disorders have often been a factor leading to the youth’s delinquent behaviours and activities.

Method: The present study of a sample population (N= 341), randomly drawn from one urban US county’s juvenile court delinquent population, investigated which specific mental health disorders predicted detention for committing a personal crime.

Results: Youth with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and conduct disorder diagnoses were significantly less likely to commit personal crimes and experience subsequent detention, while youth with bipolar diagnoses were significantly more likely.

Conclusion: Co-ordinated youth …

Two Accounts For Why Adolescent Savings Is Predictive Of Young Adult Savings: An Economic Socialization Perspective And An Institutional Perspective, William Elliott Iii, Paul Webley, Terri Friedline

Center for Social Development Research

Economic socialization and the institutional theory of saving offer different accounts for why adolescents' savings predicts savings in young adulthood. Economic socialization theory emphasizes the role that the family plays in whether or not youth develop a future time orientation and a habit of saving. Conversely, an institutional theory is built on the premise that acquisition of financial knowledge and resources are strongly influenced by structural failures related to social class and race. Using longitudinal data (N = 694) from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and its supplements, this paper asks whether having savings as an adolescent (ages …

The Social Nature Of Male Suicide: A New Analytic Model, Daniel Coleman, John T. Casey

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Suicide is one of the leading causes of male mortality. In nearly every country in the world, more males than females end their life by suicide. Previous research indicates male-specific risk factors include social factors such as being unmarried, low income, and unemployment. An analytic model of male suicide is developed, proposing that the traditional male gender role creates a culturally-conditioned narrowing of perceived options and cognitive rigidity when under stress that increases male suicide risk. Suicide prevention and intervention require recognition of the role of high traditional masculinity, situating individual explanations within a broader social context. Based on this …

Productive Aging Conference Report, Center For Social Development

Center for Social Development Research

Productive Aging Conference Report

Getting Noticed: Middle Childhood In Cross-Cultural Perspective, David F. Lancy, M. Annette Grove

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Although rarely named, the majority of societies in the ethnographic record demarcate a period between early childhood and adolescence. Prominent signs of demarcation are: for the first time, pronounced gender separation in fact and in role definition; increased freedom of movement for boys while girls may be bound more tightly to their mothers; and heightened expectations for socially responsible behavior. But, above all, middle childhood is about coming out of the shadows of community life and assuming a distinct, lifetime character. Naming and other rites of passage sometimes acknowledge this transition, but it is, reliably, marked by the assumption or …

Addressing Work-Related Traumatic Stress Nebraska - Resilience Alliance Facilitator Manual, Acs-Nyu Children's Trauma Institute

Other QIC-WD Products

Child welfare staff are first responders; just like police officer and fire fighters, they are asked to respond to emergency situations with very little information, and by doing so often put themselves at risk. In addition to the very real physical risks involved with responding to a report of suspected child abuse or neglect, there are equally real psychological risks involved with taking care of children and families that have experienced abuse, neglect, family and community violence, and other traumas. Unlike police officers and fire fighters, however, child welfare staff get very little public recognition for the hard work they …

Likelihood Of Asking For Help In Caregivers Of Women With Substance Use Or Co-Occurring Substance Use And Mental Disorders, Suzanne Brown, David E. Biegel, Elizabeth M. Tracy

Social Work Faculty Publications

Family members are important to the well-being of their relatives with substance use disorders or cooccurring substance use and mental disorders. Many caregivers experience high levels of burden, negatively impacting their capacity to provide support to their ill family member. The Andersen health care utilization model (Andersen & Newman, 1973, 2005) was used to identify the impact of predisposing, enabling, and need factors hypothesized to predict caregivers’ likelihood of asking for help and support with their caregiving role. The sample include 82 women recruited from outpatient or inpatient substance abuse treatment centers and 82 family caregivers nominated by these women. …

Addressing Health And Social Disparities Through Community-Based Participatory Research In Rural Communities: Challenges And Opportunities For Social Work, Tiffany D. Baffour Ph.D.

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

Social workers can increase the translational ability of their research efforts to create sustainable community change in rural communities through the use of community-based participatory research (CBPR). CBPR is a congruent approach to social work values, representing a balance between research and community empowerment. This article focuses on methodological concerns in conceptualization, setting research goals, measurement, data collection, and dissemination of the findings. Recommendations for how interrelated areas of social work education, practice, research, and policy can address rural social and health disparities through CBPR are advanced.

Net Worth Accumulation By Different Quintiles Of Older Adults Approaching Retirement Age And 10 Years Later, Martha N. Ozawa, Yeong H. Yeo

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The shift in responsibility for income security from the government to individuals makes the accumulation of net worth a vital issue. We investigated the rate of net worth accumulation for people aged 51 to 61 in 1991 (N=7,544) and 61 to 71 in 2001 (N=5,711) using the RAND Health and Retirement Study. We found that the rate of net worth accumulation by the fifth (top) quintile was extremely high in 1991, and the distribution of net worth became more skewed in favor of the wealthy in 2001. Older adults in the first and second quintiles are unable to face the …

Social Work And Conditional Cash Transfers In Latin America., Cindy Calvo

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs are a recent anti-poverty strategy in Latin America. CCT programs provide cash benefits to finance basic needs and foster investment in human capital to extremely poor households. These benefits are conditioned on certain behaviors, usually related to investments in nutrition, health, and education. In the literature, there is a recognizable lack of analyses from social science disciplines related to CCT program implications. This paper contributes in this arena by analyzing the particular role of social work in CCT anti-poverty programs. The educational element of these programs and its theoretical foundation based on the human capital …

Anything Goes? Science And Social Constructions In Competing Discourses, Philip Dybicz

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper examines, then disproves, the claim that social work practices based upon postmodern thought are either anti-science, or at the very least, weak on their respect for and application of scientific knowledge. Postmodern thought does attack the epistemological theory of positivism as well as the correspondence theory of truth. Hence, postmodern social work practices do seek to displace the role that scientific knowledge plays in guiding the helping situation. Rather than diagnosing causes and effects in a problem-solving endeavor, science is used to circumscribe the boundaries within which a postmodern endeavor at consciousness- raising takes place. Describing this new …

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 38, No. 3 (September 2011)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• NET WORTH ACCUMULATION BY DIFFERENT INCOME QUINTILES OF OLDER ADULTS APPROACHING RETIREMENT AGE AND 10 YEARS LATER - Martha N. Ozawa and Yeong H. Yeo
• FOSTER CARE WORKERS' EMOTIONAL RESPONSES TO THEIR WORK - Alissa Schwartz
• SOCIAL WORK AND CONDITIONAL CASH TRANSFERS IN LATIN AMERICA - Cindy Calvo
• CHILD SUPPORT AS LABOR REGULATION - Yiyoon Chung
• ANYTHING GOES: SCIENCE AND SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONS IN COMPETING DISCOURSES - Philip Dybicz
• THE ROLE OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD IN MAKING WELFARE REFORM POSSIBLE - David I. Siegel
• SANCTIONING POLICIES-AUSTRALIAN, AMERICAN AND BRITISH CROSS NATIONAL REFLECTIONS AND COMPARISONS - Harry Savelsberg

BOOK REVIEWS …

The Role Of The Neighborhood In Making Welfare Reform Possible, David I. Siegel

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article will analyze the role of the neighborhood in making welfare reform possible. It will consider the neighborhood and its environment as a context for welfare reform, the influence of neighborhood conditions and effects, recent neighborhood theory building, the neighborhood as a source of relevant values, and finally neighborhood programs that contribute to welfare reform.

Sanctioning Policies-Australian, American And British Cross-National Reflections And Comparisons, Harry Savelsberg

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Over the last two decades welfare policies have undergone major reforms in Anglo-Western nations such as the U.S., U.K. and Australia. Central to these reforms have been the revision of welfare recipient entitlements and responsibilities and the emergence of a responsibility and obligations agenda. The essence of this agenda is conditionality and reciprocity, and it includes the threat of punitive sanctions for failing to comply with mandatory participation requirements. This paper highlights the potent influence of the ideas of American conservatives on policy reforms in the U.S., the U.K. and Australia and provides a thematic crossnational comparison of sanctioning policies …

Review Of Invisible Hands: The Businessmen's Crusade Against The New Deal. Kim Phillips-Fein. Reviewed By Robert Leighninger., Robert Leighninger

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Kim Phillips-Fein, Invisible Hands: The Businessmen's Crusade Against the New Deal. W. W. Norton, 2009. $16.95 paperback.

Review Of From Madness To Mental Health: Psychiatric Disorder And Its Treatment In Western Civilization. Greg Eghigian (Ed.). Reviewed By Christopher Hudson., Christopher Hudson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Greg Eghigian (Ed.), From Madness to Mental Health: Psychiatric Disorder and its Treatment in Western Civilization. Rutgers University Press, 2010. $32.95, paperback.

Addressing Work-Related Traumatic Stress Nebraska - Resilience Alliance Participant Handbook, Asc-Nyu Children's Trauma Institute

Other QIC-WD Products

Child welfare staff are first responders; just like police officer and fire fighters, they are asked to respond to emergency situations with very little information, and by doing so often put themselves at risk. In addition to the very real physical risks involved with responding to a report of suspected child abuse or neglect, there are equally real psychological risks involved with taking care of children and families that have experienced abuse, neglect, family and community violence, and other traumas. Unlike police officers and fire fighters, however, child welfare staff get very little public recognition for the hard work they …

Foster Care Workers' Emotional Responses To Their Work, Alissa Schwartz

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The field of child welfare struggles with high rates of job turnover. This study describes the contributors to and experiences of foster care workers' emotional responses to their work. Uniquely drawing from the field of Positive Psychology, it describes and conceptualizes the relationships of multi-level contributors to foster care workers' emotional reactions at work. In-depth interviews conducted with 25 foster care workers found that negative emotions were more prominently featured than positive, but that working in an agency with positive workplace characteristics mitigated this relationship. Theoretical implications and limitations of taking a Positive Psychology approach to the study are discussed.

A Process Model Of Children's Savings Indirect Effects On College Progress, William Elliott Iii, Ilsung Nam, Toni Johnson

Center for Social Development Research

In addition to direct effects that accompany owning savings, asset researchers hypothesize that savings also has indirect effects. However, theory and research on the psychological effects of assets are in their early stages of development. One promising area of theoretical and research inquiry is the study of college expectations as an explanatory mechanism for the relationship between assets and children’s educational outcomes. However, little theory has been developed about how assets may influence college expectations. a recent study uses Identity-Based Motivation (IBM) theory to explain the indirect effects of assets. There are three core components of IBM: (1) salience, (2) …

Toward A Children's Savings And College-Bound Identity Intervention For Raising College Attendance Rates: A Multilevel Propensity Score Analysis, William Elliott Iii, Gina Chowa, Vernon Loke

Center for Social Development Research

It has been suggested that children’s savings programs will be more effective if they are combined with strategies to build children’s college-bound identities. In this study we use a multi-level treatment approach to propensity score analysis to test this proposition. Findings suggest that children who have savings and are certain they will graduate from a four-year college are more likely to attend college than their counterparts. Given this, we suggest that children’s savings policies designed to increase college attendance rates will be more effective if they include strategies for building children’s college-bound identity and college-bound identity programs will be more …

Explicating Correlates Of Juvenile Offender Detention Length: The Impact Of Race, Mental Health Difficulties, Maltreatment, Offense Type, And Court Dispositions, Christopher A. Mallett, Patricia A. Stoddard Dare, Mamadou M. Seck

Social Work Faculty Publications

Detention and confinement are widely acknowledged juvenile justice system problems which require further research to understand the explanations for these outcomes. Existing juvenile court, mental health, and child welfare histories were used to explicate factors which predict detention length in this random sample of 342 youth from one large, urban Midwestern county in the United States. Data from this sample revealed eight variables which predict detention length. Legitimate predictors of longer detention length such as committing a personal crime or violating a court order were nearly as likely in this sample to predict detention length as other extra-legal predictors such …

The Colorado Community Organizing Collaborative: A Critical Realist Case Study, Shawna M. Margesson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study utilized the ontological and epistemological foundations of critical realism posed by Margaret Archer (2000) to deepen social work's understanding of collaboration. Through the use of Danermark et al.'s (2002) stages of explanatory research based on critical realism, the author found that agential and structural interactions of the Colorado Community Organizing Collaborative emerged. These findings illustrate that critical realism can be used in social work research to broaden the discipline's perception of human and environment. Archer's (2000) grounding of agency in three orders of reality, that practice is pivotal and morphogenesis is transformative aids in rediscovering how structure constrains …

Child Neglect And Its Association With Subsequent Juvenile Drug And Alcohol Offense, Wan-Yi Chen, Jennifer Propp, Ellen Delara, Kenneth Corvo

Social Work (Graduate) Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Independent Living Program Evaluation For Rebuilding All Goals Efficiently, Patricia Armour, Debra Moulton, Araceli Pruett

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This paper evaluates the outcome of independent living (IL) services provided to clients with Spinal Cord Injuries (SCI) by a local non-profit organization, Rebuilding All Goals Efficiently (RAGE). Agency services are directed at increasing client self-sufficiency, self-advocacy, and maintenance of least restrictive living environment. Secondary data provided by RAGE for 22 SCI clients who received services in FY10 was used in the evaluation. Outcomes were measured for living arrangement at case closure, impact of services on client’s life, and cost effectiveness of services provided. Descriptive statistical analysis of the data revealed successful outcomes for all 22 SCI clients. All clients …

Creating Inclusive Programming And Practice For Lgbtqq Youth Through Awareness, L. Kris Gowen, Christian L. Rummell

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Slides from a webinar which presents information and key definitions for organizations that provide programs and services in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning (LGBTQ) youth. Research data and studies; causes of health and system disparities; risk and protective factors; policies and theories; the identity development stages and process; and support strategies are discussed. In addition, audience questions are answered and mentoring specific organizational resources are given. Agencies and organizations can gain a greater awareness of the LGBTQ community which leads to the creation of a more inclusive and responsive approach to youth development for this population.

African American College Students: Literacy Of Depression And Help Seeking, Kim L. Stansbury, Maureen Wimsatt, Gaynell Marie Simpson, Fayetta Martin, Nancy Nelson

Social Work Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Focal Point, Volume 25, Portland State University. Regional Research Institute

Research and Training Center - Focal Point

This issue of Focal Point is about Healthy Relationships and their effects on young adults with mental health conditions. While most of the articles focus on the positive aspects of relationships, others highlight more negative experiences and their impacts.

Innovation In Collaboration: The Summer Institute On Youth Mentoring As A University-Community Partnership, Kevin R. Jones, Thomas E. Keller, Marc E. Wheeler

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The article explores the utility and flexibility of one of the more comprehensive partnership frameworks by using it to a university-based summer institute designed to foster the exchange of knowledge between practitioners and researchers in the field of youth mentoring. It states that youth mentoring is a well-known and prevalent mode of intervention with youth and children across the U.S. The Summer Institute on Youth Mentoring at Portland State University was developed to provide a new and distinctive educational chance for experienced youth and mentoring experts. Portland State University became known as a pioneer in facilitating collaboration between youth mentoring …