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Competency-Based Personnel Selection Oklahoma - Intervention Background, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

What is competency-based personnel selection and why was this intervention selected?

Competency-based personnel selection refers to a hiring process that is rooted in assessment of the required job-related competencies or knowledge, skills, abilities, or other characteristics (KSAOs). Competencies can be evaluated to make hiring decisions using a variety of different methods, including interviews, paper-and-pencil or computer-administered tests, work samples, or situational judgment tests, to name a few. In Oklahoma, a structured interview, typing test, and writing assessment were implemented and pre-employment tests assessing personality, cognitive skills, and attitudes were administered to staff to inform decisions about future …

Supportive Supervision And Resiliency Ohio - Needs Assessment Summary, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

Exploration of Needs The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) partnered with the Quality Improvement Center for Workforce Development (QIC-WD) to conduct a comprehensive needs assessment in nine participating counties, to identify potential issues related to staff retention within the child welfare workforce. A number of data sources were used to inform the process, including: 1) administrative data and metrics provided by the Human Resources representatives in each of the nine agencies, 2) formal surveys of child welfare staff and supervisors in the nine participating counties, and 3) the subjective perceptions and expertise from the QIC-WD and Ohio …

Patterns Of School Victimization And Problem Behaviors: Longitudinal Associations With Socioeconomic Well-Being And Criminal Justice Involvement, Ryan D. Heath, Kevin Tan, Jennifer S. Guzzy, Briyana R. Henry

Social Work - All Scholarship

BACKGROUND: Middle school victimization and problem behaviors often co-occur, but little is known about patterns of co-occurrence, or how long effects persist into adulthood.

OBJECTIVE: Drawing on general strain theory, this study aimed to identify sex-specific profiles of victimization and problem behaviors during middle school, and their association with socioeconomic, violence, and criminal justice outcomes in young adulthood.

METHODS: Latent class analyses was conducted on data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth - 1997, including subsamples of seventh grade females (n=529) and males (n=494).

RESULTS: Two classes were identified for females: (1) low-risk and (2) high-risk; these classes were …

Oncology Healthcare Professionals’ Mental Health During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Leeat Granek, Ora Nakash

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

The paper begins by reviewing the literature on oncology healthcare professionals’ (HCP) mental health. We summarize and present the current data on HCP mental health in order to understand the baseline state of oncology HCPs’ mental health status prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. At each juncture, we will discuss the implications of these mental health variables on the personal lives of HCPs, the healthcare system, and patient care. We follow by reviewing the literature on these parameters during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to better understand the impact of COVID-19 on the overall mental health of HCPs working in oncology. …

Legislative Language For Success, Sanjana Gundala

Master's Theses

Legislative committee meetings are an integral part of the lawmaking process for local and state bills. The testimony presented during these meetings is a large factor in the outcome of the proposed bill. This research uses Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning techniques to analyze testimonies from California Legislative committee meetings from 2015-2016 in order to identify what aspects of a testimony makes it successful. A testimony is considered successful if the alignment of the testimony matches the bill outcome (alignment is "For" and the bill passes or alignment is "Against" and the bill fails). The process of finding what …

Child Protective Services Social Workers Health Outcomes: Results Of Working With Trauma Survivors, Decora Lachelle Bowers

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This quantitative correlational study explored if and to what extent pre-existing health conditions, resilience and coping mechanisms moderated the relationship between job-related stress reactions and mental health outcomes in child protective services social workers. The most challenging clients are victims of trauma, and professionals who work with trauma survivors are at risk of experiencing job-related stress reactions which can be harmful to their overall health. Ann Masten’s variable-focused model of resilience theory guided this study, which involved ninety-six child protective services social workers, supervisors, managers, and directors in North Carolina. Data was collected through a survey which involved demographic questionnaire …

Multi-Level Barriers To Prison Mental Health And Physical Health Care For Individuals With Mental Illnesses, Kelli Canada, Stacey Barrenger, Casey Bohrman, Anthony Banks, Punita Peketi

Social Work (Graduate) Faculty Publications

Objectives: People with mental illnesses are overrepresented in the U.S. prison population. It is well established that incarceration for this population poses physical and mental health risks including greater likelihood of victimization and suicide compared to the general prison population. Yet, research is less clear about how staff and services shape these prison experiences. The aim of this study was to examine how people with mental illnesses experience incarceration through interactions with correctional officers and treatment staff and their use of physical and mental health care services.

Methods: This project utilized a non-experimental design and qualitative research approach to address …

The Impacts Of Exposure To Domestic Violence In Childhood That Leads To Experiencing Violence In Future Intimate Partner Relationships, Araceli Rodriguez, Ceirra L. Venzor

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This qualitative study was designed to explore a person’s experiences of both exposure to domestic violence in childhood and domestic violence in their current relationships. Considering that domestic violence impacts the social wellbeing of an individual, it is important to understand the factors that contribute to a person’s decision to leave the relationship, especially the factors that made it difficult to leave and the services that were accessible to the person.

To explore the aforementioned factors, this study examined interviews of eight female survivors of domestic violence that were receiving services through a domestic violence agency. The student researchers utilized …

Measuring Success In First Episode Psychosis, Eric M. Mckinley

University Honors Theses

The first experience of psychosis can be hugely disruptive to a person’s life. If left untreated, psychosis can gravely impact the long-term wellbeing and functioning of the person. In the last ten years in the U.S., the rise of the Coordinated Specialty Care (CSC) model for treating First Episode Psychosis is a hopeful development for addressing the unique challenges of those experiencing psychosis. The CSC model can potentially improve long term quality of life outcomes amongst people experiencing psychosis. There have been a range of empirical studies typically conducted at the state level that show a positive range of outcomes …

Social Worker Student’S Anxiety, And Alcohol Consumption During The Covid-19 Pandemic, David Adler

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic has been extremely impactful on a vast majority of the population, either from losing a possible loved one, or the pandemonium that arose in its wake. The purpose of this study is to better understand how much of an impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on social worker students’ mental health, specifically, how it has affected their levels of stress, anxiety, and levels of alcohol consumption. This study is significant because the pandemic has had a substantial impact on the mental health of so many individuals, and it is important to research just how large these effects …

Social Workers And Client Resistance Behaviors, Elizabeth Sandoval, Kelly Martinez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The study aimed at exploring the extent that social workers feel competent and confident to respond to client resistance behavior. A quantitative technique using a survey questionnaire, including a standardized scale adapted by the researchers, was used to gather information regarding social workers' level of preparedness to respond to client resistance behaviors. Data was collected using Qualtrics from 137 participants, and 116 were analyzed (21 contained incomplete data). Data was analyzed utilizing SPSS. The results of two Independent Samples T-tests indicated that there is a significant difference between social workers who have less than 6.47 years of experience and those …

Onboarding Program Eastern Band Of Cherokee Indians - Implementation Overview, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

The Implementation Team

The Quality Improvement Center for Workforce Development (QIC-WD) worked with EBCI Family Safety Program (FSP) to establish an implementation team to lead the development and implementation of their intervention. The implementation team included the FSP Manager, the individual unit supervisors, and the Site Implementation Manager (SIM)/Data Coordinator (the same person fulfilled the role of SIM and Data Coordinator), leadership from throughout the Public Health and Human Services Division, and three members of the QIC-WD (representing expertise in workforce, implementation, and evaluation). The SIM and Data Coordinator positions were partially funded by the QIC-WD and all other …

The Effects Of “No Pro Homo” Policies On Lgbtq+ Perceptions In The American South, Isabella L. Brocato

Honors Theses

Five states in the American South currently have “no pro homo” policies in place, while an increasing number of bills targeting discussions about sexuality and gender identity in public schools are being introduced to House floors around the country. Although there is extensive research on the ways in which these policies put the physical and mental well-being of LGBTQ+ students at risk, there is little to no research about how they shape public perceptions of the LGBTQ+ community collectively. With inspiration from Kenneth and Mamie Clark’s social science study cited in Brown v. Board of Education (1954), this study works …

Navigating College While Homeless: A Phenomenological Inquiry Of The Young Adult Experience, Bertha Fountain

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Purpose: The study aimed to understand the perspectives of students in college who were homeless. The research question guiding this inquiry was: How do young adults describe their experience of being homeless while in college?

Method: Qualitative research using a phenomenological approach guided this descriptive inquiry. Interviews were held with 10 students from three CUNY Community Colleges and the data was analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Resilience theory helped to understand the barriers along with the strengths and adaptive responses of the students.

Results: Students experienced unstable and inadequate sleeping arrangements and food insecurity along with their academic responsibilities. Homelessness …

Strategies Anti-Racist Supervisors Use To Disrupt Racism In Social Work Practice, Sarah Ross Bussey

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Addressing racism and bias within social work practice is crucial, given the social justice mandate of the profession and the profession’s history of complicity in oppressive policies. In a time of increased social division, overt bigotry, and pervasive structural violence, social workers have an opportunity to lead the helping professions in meaningful social transformation. Social work supervisors play a central role in developing and guiding ethical social work practice. Yet, little empirically driven scholarship exists providing supervisors with strategies for disrupting racism and bias in the practice of their supervisees. This exploratory qualitative study employs a grounded theory approach to …

The Arv Treatment Adherence Model: A Qualitative Study On Antiretroviral (Arv) Treatment Adherence For People Living With Hiv, Danielle Strauss

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Adherence to antiretroviral (ARV) treatment improves life expectancy and other health outcomes for people living with HIV (PLWH). It also minimizes their risk of transmitting HIV through sexual contact and is therefore a form of HIV prevention. However, many PLWH, specifically low-income PLWH of color who have been disproportionately impacted by the virus, face a multitude of barriers to ARV treatment adherence, making it much harder for them to take their medication as prescribed and remain engaged in care. This qualitative study based on Constructivist Grounded Theory explored the process by which 14 virally suppressed, low-income PLWH of color overcame …

Economic Security From An Asset Perspective, William Elliott Iii

Center for Social Development Research

hat is economic security, and what policies can help more families achieve it?

In talking about the New Deal, President Franklin Roosevelt provided a vision for what economic security should look like in America, a vision that CSD Faculty Director William Elliott III elaborates in this essay. To be secure, Elliott notes, families require enough to live by and something to live for; that is, they require income and assets. Elliott makes the case that policy has a vital role to play in creating and sustaining this security.

This Perspective presents remarks given by CSD Faculty Director William Elliott III …

Mental Health Matters: Mental Health Service Utilization Among African American Emerging Adults, Tamecia Curry

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Evidence indicates that people of color underutilize mental health services, but little is known empirically about the help-seeking behaviors of African American emerging adults. The present mixed method study utilizes a concurrent design with nested samples for the qualitative and quantitative components to examine willingness to seek help and help-seeking intentions among college students. Data was collected from four location sites including Louisiana State University (n=38), Texas State University (n=15), The University of Southern Mississippi (n=65) and Southern University and A&M College (n=3). Minority and non-minority participants completed the Willingness-To-Seek-Help Questionnaire and …

A Qualitative Study On Nurse Facilitators Of Mind-Body Skills Groups, Paula D. Blake-Beckford

Mindfulness Studies Theses

The Center for Mind-Body Medicine (CMBM), founded by Dr. James Gordon, provides communities with evidence-based Mind-Body Skills Groups (MBSGs) that foster self-care, self-awareness, and self-expression. MBSGs range from 8 to 12-week series on various mind-body practices wherein group members meet, practice, and reflect on the impact of mind-body skills in their lives. Research has demonstrated that participants in MBSGs have positive outcomes. Healthcare professionals (HCPs), especially nurses, gain resiliency from MBSGs. As facilitators of MBSGs, nurses develop essential skills transferable to clinical and educational settings. MBSGs are therapeutic for adult participants with chronic stress. Prior to this thesis, only one …

Toward A Co-Working Posture In Global Mental Health: A Literature Review On The Use Of Photovoice In Partnership With Forcibly Displaced Populations, Bethany Randolph

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Abstract

As of 2020, the number of forcibly displaced people in the world numbered 82.4 million. This radically diverse population, approximately one in every 95 people, only continues to burgeon as wars and conflicts send millions fleeing for their lives. Sadly, on top of the massive allostatic load endured by the forcibly displaced, many are then doubly harmed by global mental health professionals who lack insight into the culture and worldview of the fellow humans they serve. In an effort to support meaningful therapeutic work in the cross-cultural milieu, this paper presents a literature review inquiry into the purpose and …

Development And Evaluation Of An Interprofessional Education Course On Integrated Health Care For Nutrition, Public Health, School Counseling, And Social Work Graduate Students, Nadine Bean, Patricia Davidson, Cheryl Neale-Mcfall

International Journal of Health Sciences Education

Interprofessional education (IPE) is essential for enhancing students’ critical thinking skills and ability to integrate other professionals’ knowledge to ensure mutual respect and shared values for patient-centered care. The needs of medically underserved populations (MUPs) to receive behavioral health and nutritional care integrated with primary care services are significant. This research highlights the data outcomes from six offerings of a graduate IPE course on integrated health care. Funding from a Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Behavioral Health Workforce and Education Training (BHWET) grant provided stipends for graduate social work and school counseling students in their final year of field …

Spiritual Outcomes Of A Faith-Based Camp Program For Children Of Incarcerated Parents, Raquel T. Ellis, Krystal Hays, Jeff Hamilton, Lemesis J. Reyes

Movement and Being: The Journal of the Christian Society for Kinesiology, Leisure and Sports Studies

Children of incarcerated parents are likely to experience a number of adverse outcomes including poverty, substance abuse, community violence, multiple caregivers, school failure, and justice system involvement (Hairston, 2007; Martin, 2017; Murphey & Cooper, 2015). The experience of having a parent incarcerated, and the negative outcomes associated with it, disproportionately expose these children to adverse childhood events (ACE’s) known to result in higher morbidity and mortality (Turney, 2018). However, spiritual resources, along with engagement with caring adults, can increase a child’s resilience and buffer the impact of these negative outcomes. This exploratory study describes Camp Agape California (CAC), a faith-based …

Dr. Jennifer Greenfield, Anit Tyagi

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

Interview of Dr. Jennifer Greenfield.

Protecting Native Motherhood: A Longitudinal Investigation Of Interpersonal Violence Among Alaska Native Women, Autumn Asher

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Alaska Native mothers and their children are continually impacted by present day disparities resulting from decades of historical oppression. Indigenous women face a substantially greater risk for experiencing violence during pregnancy. Further, Alaska Native children are disproportionately represented in the child welfare system, including both overrepresentation in out of home care, and underrepresented in preventative and restorative services in comparison to the general population. The present work utilizes data from the Alaska Longitudinal Child Abuse and Neglect Linkage Project (ALCANLink) which follows children of Alaska mothers originally sampled in the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS). The ALCANLink is a …

Choice And Opportunity: Examining Housing Relocation And Organizational Partnerships Within Federal Mixed-Income Community Development Initiatives, Andrew Scott Foell

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

In the United States, residential segregation by race and class has resulted in the creation and growth of geographic areas of concentrated poverty, or the concentration of mostly poor families of color into extremely poor neighborhoods. Due to the durability of concentrated poverty, along with the numerous adverse effects of living in neighborhoods characterized by concentrated poverty, deconcentrating poverty has been a prominent focus of urban poverty policy and housing and community development practice. Mixed-income development initiatives have emerged as promising strategies that focus on assisting low-income families living in distressed public housing while simultaneously investing in housing and neighborhood …

Impact Of The Personal Responsibility And Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (Prwora) On Family Functions, Benjamin Little

Merge

This paper attempts to provide an in depth look into the long-term affect that the policy, The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 has had on families of non-violent drug offenders.

A Life Lived With Schizophrenia: When Mother’S Love Is Kept In The Dark Exploring Maternal Communication And Attachment Organization In Families With Schizophrenia, Myrsini Stefanidou Marini

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, research into the transgenerational transmission of attachment styles has shown that a mother’sattachment style often predicts the attachment style of her infant. Fearsome parental behavior has been found to predict disorganized attachment in infants, which is further associated with a range of mental health disturbances in adolescence. Furthermore, regular patterns of disturbed communication between mother and child have also been found to lead to ‘schizophrenic’ thinking and behavior in the child’s life. While acknowledging that genetic and other biological factors contribute to the emergence of schizophrenia, this study focused on disorganized attachment and disturbed communication between mother …

Trauma Healing With The Neurosequential Model Of Therapy And Bal-A-Vis-X, Becky Johnston

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Stigma related to childhood trauma is shifting with the help of advancements in the understanding of neurobiology and interventions that are proving to be effective for healing. There are immense costs and consequences for survivors of childhood trauma and their loved ones that were not so long ago considered irrelevant and the notion that kids bounce back from adversity was previously popular in the psychological community (Perry & Szalavitz, 2017). The broad strokes of Dr. Bruce Perry’s clinical intervention model, The Neurosequential Model of Therapy (NMT) describes a trauma-sensitive, sequential approach to changing the stress response within mental health counseling. …

Burned Out And Unappreciated: Exploring Emotional Support For Certified Nursing Assistants In Skilled Nursing Facilities, Andrea H. Miller

Masters Theses

This qualitative exploratory study involved individual interviews with three certified nursing assistants (CNAs) working for skilled nursing facilities within the West Michigan area. Using semi-structured questions, the researcher asked the CNAs about the different critical incidents (CIs) and job demands they experience. CNAs were also asked about the support resources they currently have through their SNF employer, if those resources are meeting their needs, and if CISM could be a beneficial resource option. Thematic analysis was used to code and interpret the data from the interview to find four main themes: Burnout, Communication, Inconsistency, and Teamwork. Participants identified physical and …

Can Technology Reduce The Stress Of The Child Welfare Practitioner?, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

Information and communication technology (ICT) “has the potential to dramatically shift and enhance social work practice,” according to Berzin, Singer, & Chan (2015). ICT includes tools that allow users to both communicate with colleagues and clients and access, store, transmit, and manipulate information (Perron et al., 2010). Such technology integration can create practices that are more flexible, on-demand, and individualized not only to the families served, but also to the practitioner. Mobile technology, as well as other technologies (e.g., gaming, social media, robotics, wearable technologies) will enhance practice gains and result in more timely, accurate, and targeted services (Berzin, Singer, …