Digital Commons Network^™

Biopolitics' New Iteration: Gay Men, Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis And The Pharmaco-Pornographic Imagination, Rory David Crath, J. Cristian Rangel, Adam Gaubinger

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

This article builds upon Paul Preciado’s conceptualisation of pharmaco-pornographic power to understand the ongoing affects and effects of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) on queer men’s sexual socialities and subjectivities. Drawing from a new-materialist epistemology, we analyze data from a sexual health pilot study in NYC to trace the techno-sexual health assemblages forming in queer life worlds. Our analysis suggests that these assemblages, entangling PrEP and other pharmacological substances, pornographic imaginaries together with mediatic technologies and public health rationalties, are creating paradoxical desires and practices of intimacy that are both normative and exceed rational health-actor logics and normative understandings of risk. These …

Extension Of Marriage Benefit To Long-Distance Relationship: Comparative Evidence From East Asia, Tidarat Puranachaikere, Bahareh Sahebi, Christine M. Aiello, Shveta Kumaria, Tamara G. Sher

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

Background: Being married is related to better physical and mental health compared to being single or in an unmarried relationship. For those in long-distance relationship (LDR), there are mixed findings in psychological and physical health outcomes when compared to individuals in proximal relationship (PR).

Objective: To explore the health differences between those in LDRs and PRs in a larger and non-Western sample with more health behaviors than had been previously assessed.

Materials and Methods: The present study analyzed the data from the East Asian Social Survey (EASS) comparing health variables and health habits between LDR and PR participants. There were …

Speaking Welcome: A Discursive Analysis Of An Immigrant Mentorship Event In Atlantic Canada, Kristi A. Allain, Rory Crath, Gül Çalışkan

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

This article offers an analysis of a business mentorship event in Fredericton, NB, which targeted immigrants sponsored through the New Brunswick Provincial Nominee Program (NBPNP)—an economic revitalization program designed to attract foreign business people and skilled workers to settle in the province. Applying Derrida’s concept of hospitality as a technology of whiteness, we examine the stated and implicitly understood expectations for the NBPNP, including the mechanisms at play for regulating newcomer’s behavior and comportment. We locate our analysis in the context of a regionally expressed Canadian multiculturalism, extending the relevance of our findings beyond Fredericton to Atlantic Canada. We ask: …

Review: Women And The Egyptian Revolution: Engagement And Activism During The 2011 Arab Uprisings, Bozena Welborne

Government: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Four Pandemics, Joshua Miller

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

COVID 19 interacts with white supremacy, economic insecurity and politcal terrorism, adversely affecting many people and populations. This article considers the consequences of these four interacting pandemics and suggests that social work, particularly clinical social work, requires radical revisioning and decolonizing to be able to ethically and adequately serve affected people.

Understanding The Role Of Past Health Care Discrimination In Help-Seeking And Shared Decision-Making For Depression Treatment Preferences, Ana M. Progovac, Dharma E. Cortés, Valeria Chambers, Jonathan Delman, Deborah Delman, Danny Mccormick, Esther Lee, Selma De Castro, María José Sánchez Román, Natasha A. Kaushal, Timothy B. Creedon, Rajan A. Sonik, Catherine Rodriguez Quinerly, Caryn R.R. Rodgers, Leslie B. Adams, Ora Nakash, Afsaneh Moradi, Heba Abolaban, Tali Flomenhoft, Ruth Nabisere, Ziva Mann, Sherry Shu Yeu Hou, Farah N. Shaikh, Michael Flores, Dierdre Jordan, Nicholas J. Carson, Adam C. Carle, Frederick Lu, Nathaniel M. Tran, Margo Moyer, Benjamin L. Cook

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

As a part of a larger, mixed-methods research study, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 21 adults with depressive symptoms to understand the role that past health care discrimination plays in shaping help-seeking for depression treatment and receiving preferred treatment modalities. We recruited to achieve heterogeneity of racial/ethnic backgrounds and history of health care discrimination in our participant sample. Participants were Hispanic/Latino (n = 4), non-Hispanic/Latino Black (n = 8), or non-Hispanic/Latino White (n = 9). Twelve reported health care discrimination due to race/ethnicity, language, perceived social class, and/or mental health diagnosis. Health care discrimination exacerbated barriers to initiating and continuing …

Intraminority Solidarity: The Role Of Critical Consciousness, Esther Burson, Erin B. Godfrey

Psychology: Faculty Publications

A central question in the growing field of intraminority relations is how best to promote solidarity among marginalized groups. The current article reviews existing social psychological theories of intraminority relations, with a focus on barriers to, and facilitators of, intraminority solidarity. In particular, we explore the roles of competition and identity threats in eroding solidarity, and examine how similarity perceptions, a common identity of stigma, and structural and historical attributions generate solidarity. We then suggest that critical consciousness, a theory of sociopolitical development prominent in the developmental and community psychology literatures, can integrate disparate findings and extend our understanding of …

How Government Created And Shaped The U.S. Nursing Home Industry, Leslie King

Sociology: Faculty Publications

Beginning in the 1960s, U.S. government policy largely created, and subsequently facilitated the corporatization of, a powerful, multi-billion dollar nursing home industry. Using data from trade publications, government agency reports, Congressional hearings, newspaper reports and existing scholarly research, I chart the relationship between the state and the U.S. nursing home industry over four time periods to reveal how, at different moments, government policy contributed to first the creation, then the corporatization and consolidation of the industry. I argue that the trajectory of Medicare and Medicaid policy is not wholly neoliberal but neither should it be considered progressive.

Art As A Transformative Practice: A Participatory Action Research Project With Trans* Youth, Kenta Asakura, Jess Lundy, Dillon Black, Cara Tierney

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

Given that promoting social justice is one of the central organizing principles of social work, it comes as no surprise that participatory action research has gained much attention among social work researchers. While much has been written about promising practices of participatory action research with various marginalized communities, there remains a dearth of participatory action research literature that focuses on trans* people, a population often under attack in current socio-political climates. In this paper, we report on a participatory action research project, in which a trans* artist worked closely with trans* youth participants (n = 5) to assist them through …

The Association Between Deaf Identity And Emotional Distress Among Adolescents, Tal Lambez, Maayan Nagar, Maayan Nagar, Anat Shoshani, Ora Nakash

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

The sociocultural approach regards being deaf as a cultural characteristic in the identity of a deaf/hard-of-hearing (D/HH) person. The degree to which one integrates the hearing and Deaf cultures ("acculturation") is an important factor for the well-being of deaf adolescents. We examined the relationship between acculturation patterns and emotional distress among D/HH (n = 69) compared to hearing (n = 60) adolescents in Israel. We used culturally and linguistically accessible measures. Our findings showed no significant differences in emotional distress between D/HH and their hearing counterparts. Acculturation played an important role predicting emotional distress. Identification with both the Deaf and …

The Influence Of Peer And Parental Norms On First-Generation College Students’ Binge Drinking Trajectories, Graham T. Diguiseppi, Jordan P. Davis, Matthew K. Meisel, Melissa A. Clark, Mya L. Roberson, Miles Q. Ott, Nancy P. Barnett

Statistical and Data Sciences: Faculty Publications

Introduction: First-generation college students are those whose parents have not completed a four-year college degree. The current study addressed the lack of research on first-generation college students’ alcohol use by comparing the binge drinking trajectories of first-generation and continuing-generation students over their first three semesters. The dynamic influence of peer and parental social norms on students’ binge drinking frequencies were also examined. Methods: 1342 college students (n = 225 first-generation) at one private University completed online surveys. Group differences were examined at Time 1, and latent growth-curve models tested the association between first-generation status and social norms (peer descriptive, peer …

Identification And Description Of Potentially Influential Social Network Members Using The Strategic Player Approach, Miles Q. Ott, Sara G. Balestrieri, Graham Diguiseppi, Melissa A. Clark, Michael Bernstein, Sarah Helseth, Nancy P. Barnett

Statistical and Data Sciences: Faculty Publications

Background: Diffusion of innovations theory posits that ideas and behaviors can be spread through social network ties. In intervention work, intervening upon certain network members may lead to intervention effects “diffusing” into the network to affect the behavior of network members who did not receive the intervention. The strategic players (SP) method, an extension of Borgatti’s Key Players approach, is used to balance the (sometimes) opposing goals of spreading the intervention to as many members of the target group as possible, while preventing the spread of the intervention to others. Objectives: We sought to test whether members of the SP …

Gathering Diverse Perspectives To Tackle “Wicked Problems”: Racial/Ethnic Disproportionality In Educational Placement, Amanda Nemoyer, Ora Nakash, Marie Fukuda, Jill Rosenthal, Najeia Mention, Valeria A. Chambers, Deborah Delman, Gilberto Perez, Jennifer G. Green, Edison Trickett, Margarita Alegría

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

Among students receiving behavioral health and special education services, racial/ethnic minority students are consistently overrepresented in settings separate from general classrooms. Once separated, many young people struggle to improve academically and face significant difficulty upon trying to return to a general education setting. Given the complex, ongoing, and multifaceted nature of this challenge, racial/ethnic disproportionality can be identified as a “wicked problem,” for which solutions are not easily identified. Here, we describe our community-engaged research efforts, eliciting perspectives from relevant partners in an ongoing dialogue, to better integrate diverse stakeholders’ perspectives when attempting to address such disparities. We conducted focus …

Social Class And Social Work In The Age Of Trump, Hanna Karpman, Joshua Miller

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

Social class has many meanings and components – economic, social, political, one’s sense of identity, and how class intersects with other social identities – so it is difficult to define it briefly and succinctly. These definitions are further complicated by a global lens, where family of origin, geography, and other factors can pre-determine social class. In this article, we explore the complexities and contradictions of social class in the context of the United States as we believe that this is important for social work, particularly in the age of Donald Trump, where class, and its intersection with race and immigration …

Bridging The Expertise Of Advocates And Academics To Identify Reproductive Justice Learning Outcomes, Charisse M. Loder, Leah Minadeo, Laura Jimenez, Zakiya Luna, Loretta Ross, Nancy Rosenbloom, Caren M. Stalburg, Lisa H. Harris

Study of Women, Gender, & Sexuality: Faculty Publications

Phenomenon: Reproductive justice (RJ) is defined by women of color advocates as the right to have children, not have children and parent children while maintaining reproductive autonomy. In the United States, physicians have been complicit in multiple historical reproductive injustices, involving coercive sterilization of thousands of people of color, low income, and disabilities. Currently, reproductive injustices continue to occur; however, physicians have no formal RJ medical education to address injustices. The objective of this study was to engage leading advocates within the movement using a Delphi method to identify critical components for such a curriculum. Approach: In 2016, we invited …

A Comparison Of Cognitive Restructuring And Thought Listing For Excessive Acquiring In Hoarding Disorder, Hannah C. Levy, Randy O. Frost, Elizabeth A. Offermann, Gail Steketee, David F. Tolin

Psychology: Faculty Publications

Excessive acquiring is a common symptom of hoarding disorder (HD). Little is known about subjective distress associated with acquiring in HD. The present study examined acquiring-related distress and reactions to cognitive restructuring (CR) in 92 individuals with HD and 66 community control (CC) participants. All participants identified an item of interest at a high-risk acquiring location and then decided whether or not to acquire the item. HD participants completed the acquiring task while receiving a CR-based intervention or a thought-listing (TL) control condition. Results showed that HD participants reported more severe distress and greater urges to acquire the item of …

Fathers’ And Mothers’ Attachment Styles, Couple Conflict, Parenting Quality, And Children’S Behavior Problems: An Intervention Test Of Mediation, Philip A. Cowan, Carolyn Pape Cowan, Marsha Kline Pruett, Kyle Pruett

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

A diverse sample of 239 primarily low-income couples participated in a random controlled trial of the Supporting Father Involvement couples group intervention. In this report, we examined the value of adding measures of fathers’ attachment style and parenting to mothers’ measures in order to explain variations in children’s behavior problems. We also tested the hypothesis that the link between intervention-induced reductions in couple conflict and reductions in anxious/harsh parenting can be explained by intervention effects on parents’ attachment insecurity or on anxiety and depression. Fathers’ attachment security and parenting behavior added significantly to mothers’ in accounting for children’s internalizing and …

Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Adults Have Higher Prevalence Of Illicit Opioid Use Than Heterosexual Adults: Evidence From The National Survey On Drug Use And Health, 2015-2017, Benjamin D. Capistrant, Ora Nakash

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

Purpose: We estimated illicit opioid use prevalence among LGB and heterosexual adults. Methods: Cross-sectional National Survey on Drug Use and Health data (2015-2017) were used to estimate illicit opioid use prevalence by sexual identity, age, and gender. Results: An estimated 1.1 million LGB adults used illicit opioids in the preceding 12 months (LGB adults: 9.8%; heterosexual adults: 4.24%). Prevalence of illicit opioid use was significantly higher among LGB women aged /bisexual men (18-25 and 50 +) compared with their heterosexual counterparts. Conclusions: Interventions targeting LGB illicit opioid use should account for possible differential minority stress associated with age and gender.

Buying-Shopping Disorder - Is There Enough Evidence To Support Its Inclusion In Icd-11?, Astrid Müller, Matthias Brand, Laurence Claes, Zsolt Demetrovics, Martina De Zwaan, Fernando Fernández-Aranda, Randy O. Frost, Susana Jimenez-Murcia, Michael Lejoyeux, Sabine Steins-Loeber, James E. Mitchell, Richard Moulding, Maja Nedeljkovic, Patrick Trotzke, Aviv Weinstein, Michael Kyrios

Psychology: Faculty Publications

The phenomenon of buying-shopping disorder (BSD) was described over 100 years ago. Definitions of BSD refer to extreme preoccupation with shopping and buying, to impulses to purchase that are experienced as irresistible, and to recurrent maladaptive buying excesses that lead to distress and impairments. Efforts to stop BSD episodes are unsuccessful, despite the awareness of repeated break-downs in self-regulation, experiences of post-purchase guilt and regret, comorbid psychiatric disorders, reduced quality of life, familial discord, work impairment, financial problems, and other negative consequences. A recent meta-analysis indicated an estimated point prevalence of BSD of 5%. In this narrative review, the authors …

Extraordinary Acts To “Show Up”: Conceptualizing Resilience Of Lgbtq Youth, Kenta Asakura

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

Sexual and gender diversity is an overlooked subject in resilience research. This study seeks to advance the conceptualization of resilience among lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer (LGBTQ) youth. Informed by social ecological theory of resilience, grounded theory analysis of interviews with service providers (n = 16) and LGBTQ youth (n = 19) yielded the following categories: (a) facing adversities across contexts, and (b) “doing well” while still in pain. LGBTQ youth face both general and LGBTQ-specific adversities. LGBTQ youth, even in a so-called “post-gay” era, remain challenged to navigate marginalization to maintain their well-being. Participants endorsed a context-dependent understanding …

Supporting Father Involvement: An Intervention With Community And Child Welfare–Referred Couples, Marsha Kline Pruett, Philip A. Cowan, Carolyn Pape Cowan, Peter Gillette, Kyle D. Pruett

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

Objective: To expand the evidence base of the Supporting Father Involvement (SFI) intervention to include child welfare families. Background: Taking a preventive father-inclusive approach, SFI aims to strengthen coparenting, parent–child relationships, and child outcomes. This study replicates 4 prior iterations of the program using the same 32-hour curriculum facilitated by clinically trained staff, case managers, and onsite child care and family meals. Method: Participants (N = 239) included low-income (median = $24,000) coparenting pairs, typically mothers and fathers/father figures, half of whom were Mexican American, with toddlers (median age < 3 years). Questionnaires assessing multiple family domains were administered verbally over an 18-month period. Intervention effectiveness was tested through a randomized control trial with immediate treatment or waitlist–control groups using a moderated mediator structural equation model. Results: The model explained 49% to 56% of the variance in children's problem behaviors (intervention and autoregressive effects). The intervention reduced couple conflict, which reduced anxious and harsh parenting, leading to better child outcomes. The intervention was equally effective for community and child welfare–referred families and family dynamics pathways were similar across conditions. Conclusion: With its intentional outreach and inclusion of fathers, SFI offers an effective intervention for lower risk child welfare–involved families. Implications: Results argue for the utility of treating community and child welfare parents in mixed-gender prevention groups that focus on strengthening multiple levels of family relationships.

Change In Patient Activation And Mental Illness Symptoms After Communication Training: A Multisite Study With A Diverse Patient Sample, Mengchun Chiang, Janet Chang, Ora Nakash, Mario Cruz-Gonzalez, Mirko K. Fillbrunn, Margarita Alegría

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

Objective: Patient activation involves patients’ ability and motivation to communicate about their health and health care. Research has demonstrated that clinician or patient interventions may improve patient activation. This study explored the degree to which clinician and patient interventions affected both patient activation and symptoms of depression and anxiety in a racially and ethnically diverse clinical sample. Methods: Data were from a randomized clinical trial that included 312 patients and 74 clinicians from 13 Massachusetts community- and hospital-based outpatient behavioral health clinics. Patients completed measures of patient activation and depression and anxiety symptoms. Secondary data analyses were conducted to examine …

Culture, Gender, And The Social Construction Of Borderline Personality Disorder, Allegra L. Comas

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This qualitative study investigates the ways in which culture, gender, and language inform the clinical subjectivity of licensed clinical social workers, marriage and family therapists, and psychologists working with women that present with behaviors associated with BPD as ascribed in the DSM III-V. Psychiatrists who produced BPD argue there is a biological basis to the diagnosis, which has never been proven. The majority of literature on BPD primarily focuses on the patients’ behaviors that may meet the legally codified criteria. However, little scholarship is published about the counter-transference and cultural bias of psychotherapists while diagnosing, treatment planning, and using appropriate …

Short-Term, Faculty-Led Study Abroad And Global Citizenship Identification: Insights From A Global Engagement Program, Lucy W. Mule, Shannon Audley, Kathryn Aloisio

Education and Child Study: Faculty Publications

Short-term, faculty-led study abroad programs are increasingly featured in higher education internationalization efforts. As noted in the literature, such programs can aid in the development of varied student outcomes, including developing global citizenship. This paper presents an examination of the Global Engagement Seminar (GES) program, a short-term, faculty-led program at a private women’s liberal arts college that has expressed a firm commitment to internationalization. A quasi-experimental design was employed to examine whether participation in the GES program influenced participants’ antecedents, identification, and pro-social values of global citizenship (Reysen & Katzarska-Miller 2013a), and how the relationships compare with those of a …

Psychosocial Capacity Building In Response To Cascading Disasters: A Culturally Informed Approach, Joshua Miller, Gianluca Pescaroli

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

The dominant paradigm guiding mental health professionals responding to major disasters is the field of 'disaster mental health', which historically focused more on psychological factors than social factors, privileging individual over collective interventions. However, resilience to complex events is a result of multiple drivers, such as social networks and local culture, that must be considered together in the assessment and planning process. This paper adopts a multi-disciplinary perspective for disaster response, applying a social-ecological approach to disaster risk reduction which has been developed through practice and a review of the literature. In particular, we investigated how psychosocial healing, collective efficacy …

Perceptions Of Intra-Familial Child Sexual Abuse And Intimate Parent-Child Interactions, Qian-Wen Xie, Joshua Miller

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

The current study aimed to explore Chinese undergraduate students’ perceptions of intimate parent-child interactions (IPCI) and intra-familial Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) as well. 354 undergraduate students from 15 universities or colleges in Beijing were recruited to participate in an online-based survey. Results indicated that IPCI such as co-bathing and co-sleeping were very common among Chinese undergraduate students during childhood. Factors including the child’s age and gender, as well as the parent’s gender involved in IPCI were found to impact respondents’ perceptions of the appropriateness of those interactions. Moreover, respondents’ perceptions of the appropriateness of parent-child intimate interactions might also be …

Collaborative Psychosocial Capacity Building In Northern Uganda, Joanne Corbin, Joshua Miller

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

Armed conflicts affect an increasing number of children and families worldwide. War-torn communities often require external resources to address the overwhelming psychosocial needs during and after such violence. This article provides information about a psychosocial training-of-trainers (TOT) program designed by a team of United States and Ugandan practitioners to enhance the knowledge and skills of local community members providing psychosocial support. The conceptual framework of collaboration was used to analyze the work of the TOT facilitators and participants, and identify implications for continued efforts. Discussions among facilitators and between facilitators and participants were essential to developing shared goals, exchanging knowledge …

Embodied Connections: Engaging The Body In Group Work, Alissa Kimmel, Annemarie Gockel

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

Group work is a key modality in social work practice. In this study, we sought to explore how the growing trend toward body-oriented psychotherapy is being integrated into group work, and to identify the potential significance of this trend for social work practice with groups. We conducted in-depth interviews with 20 practitioners engaged in developing this emerging form of practice across the United States, and used thematic analysis to identify how integrating body-oriented psychotherapy may impact the nature and practice of group work from their perspectives. The overarching theme identified was that using body-oriented psychotherapy serves to Deepen the Group …

Increasing Equity In Access To Mental Health Care: A Critical First Step In Improving Service Quality, Margarita Alegría, Ora Nakash, Amanda Nemoyer

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

When There Are No Therapists: A Psychoeducational Group For People Who Have Experienced Social Disasters, Joshua Miller, Xiying Wang

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

A social disaster is when categories of people are politically or socially targeted by virtue of their social identities and suffer ongoing targeting and oppression. Survivors of social disasters often experience similar traumatic symptoms as those of survivors of natural disasters but, unlike most other types of disasters, the threats that caused the trauma and the conditions that undermine survivor’s identity, safety, trust, and sense of control continue to exist. This article shares a model of a psychoeducational group developed and field tested by the authors and used with a group of people targeted because of their queer identities.