Digital Commons Network^™

Analyzing Service Barriers And Risk Factors For Reentry Among Formerly Incarcerated Adults, Agustina Alejandra Sepulveda

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Recidivism is a growing problem affecting formerly incarcerated adults struggling with reentry into society. After release, most individuals are dealing with barriers in their environment that affect their access to substance abuse and mental health treatment, which can be important to reducing recidivism. Thus, this study sought to understand the various service barriers and risk factors to reentry among formerly incarcerated individuals to help increase awareness of some of the challenges the reentry population is facing.

Self-administered surveys focusing on housing, employment, public assistance, and mental health barriers were collected among formerly incarcerated individuals from Southern California (n=103). Bivariate chi-square …

Social Worker Perceptions Of Animal Assisted Therapy For Children With Trauma Histories, Tessa Hodge

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Untreated trauma can have significant lifelong negative impacts on children including poor emotional and mental health, social difficulties, poor physical health, juvenile delinquency, adult criminality, and substance abuse. Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) utilizes animals, typically dogs or horses, in goal-oriented treatment plans, and AAT has been found to be an effective treatment for trauma exposure and post-traumatic stress disorder, especially in children. Social workers working with children who have child welfare involvement are often responsible for services referrals, treatment plans, case plans, and direct provision of services. Current research does not address if the social workers responsible for referring children …

What Are The Relationships Between Adverse Childhood Experiences And Age Of Initiaton Of Substance Use?, Alisha Dozier

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Child abuse and substance abuse are significant health problems in the United States and they negatively impact the physical, emotional, and biological health of millions of individuals. It is estimated that one in four children experience child abuse, which is a risk factor for the development of substance abuse problems later in life (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS], 2018). Rates of substance abuse are increasing nationally, making the relationship between child abuse and the development of substance abuse problems important to study.

This research project analyzes the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and subsequent age of …

The Practice Of Self-Care Strategies Among Master Of Social Work Students, Gracie Romero

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This study examined the different types of self-care strategies that Master of Social Work students practice. This study used the National Alliance on Mental Illness Self-Care Inventory, a survey which asks participants about commonly used methods of self-care. Engaging in self-care can bring better understanding and insights on how to prevent the signs of stress while also increasing an individual’s ability to regulate their emotional needs. All MSW students at the California university were invited to participate in the study. The surveys were administered via Qualtrics online survey software to the 68 part-time and o-time MSW students who agreed to …

Toward Critical Counseling: A Content Analysis Of Critical Race Theory And Culturally Relevant Pedagogy In Community College Counselor Education, Lyman A. Insley

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Background: Prior to the early 1990s, most counselor preparation programs did not have multicultural competencies. Therefore, a call was made for the use of multicultural competencies in counselor preparation programs. Yet, the popularization of multicultural competencies of this time in education had a Eurocentric bent, a kind of colorblindness

More recently, scholars confirmed that these Eurocentric multicultural competencies had become the primary template from which counselor preparation programs taught culturally responsive and relevant pedagogy. Therefore, a call was made for the use of critical race theory (CRT) in counselor preparation programs to challenge and change Eurocentric cultural competence.

Purpose: This …

Master Of Social Work Student Perspectives On Mindfulness Meditation In Curricula, Deyssi Partida

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Mindfulness meditation (MM) has been used as an intervention tool for mental health diagnosis in the field of social work for some time and there are numerous empirical literature and research about the benefits of MM in practice. Despite the evidence and the use of MM in the field, there is very limited incorporation or MM programs and courses in the Master of Social Work (MSW) education and curricula. This study aimed to explore MSW students’ perspectives on mindfulness meditation and whether they would find it beneficial in their curricula. The study collected qualitative data through interviews MSW graduates at …

Compassion Fatigue, Self-Care, And Clergy Members: How Social Workers Can Help, Tifani-Crystal Enid Hanley

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The goals of this research study were to determine if clergy members were prone to experiencing compassion fatigue and to identify the self-care methods they currently employ. Compassion fatigue can affect anyone in a helping profession and is considered to be a component of burnout. With the use of qualitative interviews, the views of pastors will be used to explain their understanding of compassion fatigue and their implementation of self-care. Data will also be collected to describe the methods of self-care the clergy members utilize when their levels of compassion fatigue presentation are prominent. Audio information gathered from the interviews, …

Foster Parent Attitudes Toward Birth Parents And Birth Parent Visitation, Katherine Person

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Foster parents are a vital component to the child welfare system and play an important role, one of which is supervising parental visitation (Muniz, 2018; Neil et al., 2003). With visitation as the primary intervention for family reunification (Haight et al., 2003), foster parents and birth parents are more than likely to interact with one another at some point in time. The purpose of this research study was to examine if foster parent attitudes toward birth parents influence foster parent attitudes toward birth parent visitation.

Data was collected from 40 participants, 36 females and 4 males, from a foster family …

Foster Youths’ Perceptions Of The Social Worker’S Role In Their Pursuit Of Higher Education, Elisa Elvira Sequeira Delgado, Anedia Suarez Arroyo

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The majority of youth transitioning from foster care to adulthood aspire to achieve a higher education, yet they often face barriers and lack a support system. In the United States, only 50% of foster youth graduate from high school. About 13% of foster youth enter college and only 3% graduate. The purpose of this study is to assess foster youths’ perceptions on the social worker’s role when pursuing higher education. The literature suggests that child welfare agencies have developed a variety of programs for foster youth and for their social workers aimed at improving foster youth’s educational outcomes. Yet, the …

Perspectives From Social Workers On The Ability To Maintain Sobriety After Being Successfully Discharged From A Residential Treatment Program, Samantha Navarro

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The research focus for this study was to examine the perspectives of social workers on clients’ ability to maintain sobriety. The primary question that was addressed is if social workers believe that a person can continue to maintain sobriety after treatment. The secondary question was whether having a dual diagnosis affects these beliefs. The sampling strategy that was used was the maximum variation sampling, and qualitative data gathering was used for this study through face-to-face interviews between the researcher and the social workers on an individual basis. Each interview was audio-recorded on a digital device. There are a total of …

Accessing Children's Mental Health Services In A Rural Northern California County, Deborah Wingate

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

When children are detained and enter the foster care system, social workers screen them to determine if mental health services are needed. Formal referrals to mental health providers are made, however there is a significant wait time between referral and service delivery.

The focus of this study was to explore these barriers to mental health services in an effort to identify approaches that might improve service access. Qualitative face-to-face interviews were conducted with key stakeholders using an Ecological Systems Theory to fashion a hermeneutic dialect and a joint construct toward a shared action plan. Data was collected from the interviews …

Breaking The Cycle For A Better Life: Understanding The Decision-Making Process That First-Generation, Community College Students Experienced When Making College Major And Career Choices, Francisco Ramirez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Choosing a college major and career are the most critical decisions that college students make and students are expected to make these impactful decisions early in their academic careers. First-generation, community college students are a group that are especially affected by this early decision process as they require the knowledge and experience to make informed decisions. Their parents often lack the experience to guide them through this process since they are unfamiliar with being a college student and providing the necessary support in this area. These barriers cause stress among these students and inefficiencies in the decisions that they make. …

Social Workers' Perceptions Of Resource Family Approval, Hannah Chavez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Resource Family Approval (RFA) is a policy that was recently enacted in California. The process seeks to merge existing policies on the regulations of families who wish to care for children involved in the foster care system. The purpose of this study was to understand the perceptions of resource family approval social workers and the implementation of RFA. Ten participants were chosen from the resource family approval unit from a county child welfare agency. The study was a qualitative design with in person interviews.

Common themes emerged in responses to social worker's thoughts about RFA, social worker's ideas for preparing …

Mental Health Services For Single Homeless Mothers With Children, Andrea Zermeno, Maria Alejandra Perez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Single mothers with young children living in poverty often experience various disadvantages, especially when they have mental health issues. They are a vulnerable population and face challenges such as poverty, homelessness, and low paying jobs. Homeless mothers and their children often have difficulty in finding means to survive and obtaining basic needs. The purpose of this study was to explore the quality and availability of mental health resources to homeless mother and their children. Ten participants were chosen outside of a homeless shelter in the City of Riverside. The study was a qualitative design conducted through face-to-face interviews.

This study …

Social Workers’ Perceptions On The Usefulness Of The Structured Decision-Making Tool In Assessing Safety And Risk, Chinwe Erika Nwufo, Carol Yareli Castillo

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

In child welfare agencies, the Structured Decision-Making (SDM) Safety and Risk Assessment tools are utilized to support social workers in assessing families and make informed decisions while investigating child abuse and neglect. In the past, numerous studies have evaluated the strengths and weaknesses the SDM safety and risk assessment tools; however, studies have neglected social workers’ perspectives on using the tools during their investigations.

Using a quantitative approach, this study examines social workers’ perceptions on the usefulness of the SDM safety and risk assessment tools during their investigations. IS social work participants from one California county agency completed an online …

Family Structure Corresponding With Delinquent Behaviors, Miranda Santiago, Shirley Tamayo-Contreras

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The significance of this research study is to identify if an adolescences family structure impacts their developmental behaviors. The research design for this study was a quantitative design. The data analysis includes the independent variable (IV) and dependent variable (DV). For this study the IV was family structure and the DV in this study was delinquent behaviors. The findings suggest that during the pre-assessment tool researchers found there was no significance between family structure and delinquent behaviors. However, during the post assessment researchers found that there was significance between family structure and delinquent behavior. Although this study did not find …

Social Work Students' View On The Integration Of Religion In Social Work, Araceli Delgado

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This study focused on social work students’ views on the integration of religion in social work. This study allowed students to gain knowledge and insight on the importance of discussing religion with clients. The study examined social worker students’ experiences during their involvement in the social work program which looked into how prepared they were in situations where religion was necessary to discuss with clients and other outcomes.

Qualitative interviews were conducted with ten participants who discussed their experiences in internships during their involvement within the social work program. Participants were in different years in the BASW and MSW program …

The Relationship Between Self-Care And Burnout Among Social Work Students, Andrew Semedo

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Currently, burnout is a significant issue affecting college students across the world. With the increasing economic, academic, and social pressures of college life, occurrences of burnout out may hinder graduation rates along with the physical and mental health of college students. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between self-care and burnout among social work students. A total of 76 students recruited from a Hispanic-serving institution in Southern California constituted the sample of this study. The Kruskal-Wallis H Test was used to analyze the correlation between self-care and burnout. The findings revealed a strong correlation between the …

Stress, Self-Compassion, And Coping Mechanisms Among Graduate Social Work Students, Elizabeth Contreras

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Graduate students are often exposed to many stressors during their rigorous academic programs which may impact their overall well-being. Researchers have long believed that self-compassion can be used as an emotion-regulated strategy to cope with stress. The purpose of this cross-sectional study is to examine the relationship between self-compassion levels and coping mechanisms for stress among graduate social work students. Data were collected from 97 graduate social work students in a Hispanic-serving university in Southern California (N =97). Using non-parametric techniques, the Kruskal-Wallis Test and the Mann-Whitney Test, this study analyzed the correlation between self-compassion and coping mechanisms for stress, …

After The Attack: Police Perspectives On Promoting Resiliency Following The 2015 San Bernardino Attack, Hannah Patricia Capps

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to provide an exploration of the experiences and perceptions of law enforcement officers who responded to the December 2^nd, 2015 San Bernardino Attacks, specifically addressing what interventions and factors they found helpful in promoting their well-being following the attack. To do this, eight semi-structured interviews were held with officers who either were involved in the scene at the Inland Regional Center or were involved in the shoot-out with the attackers later that day. From these interviews several themes emerged, including: the importance of social support, critique of department responses, unique characteristics of …

Barriers To Higher Education Among Calworks Recipients, Esther Ramirez, Melissa M. Rodriguez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Individuals and families in poverty face an abundance of barriers to self-sufficiency with the lack of higher education being the most prominent of them. The California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program has been the primary intervention to aid poverty following the welfare reform of 1996. Through their work first approach the CalWORKs program intends to set recipients on the path to self-sufficiency. Although education is the biggest weapon against poverty, CalWORKs recipients face a plethora of barriers while pursuing a college degree, as CalWORKs regulations are rigid and unsupportive toward higher education. Due to the minimal research …

The Impact Of Stigma On Adolescents Willingness To Seek Treatment, Alejandra Randol

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The focus of this study will be on how the stigma attached to mental illness impedes adolescent’s experiencing suicidal ideation & depression, willingness to seek out mental health services. The purpose of the study is to determine what action needs to be taken to address these issues to facilitate adolescent’s willingness to seek services. The study was qualitative and was conducted utilizing the constructivism approach with a theoretical orientation emphasized on the labeling and empowerment theory. The literature reviews focus on labeling of mental disorders and stigma, preventing factors and interventions that influence help seeking and mental health services utilization, …

The Role Of Spirituality In Medical Social Work, Adriana Vera, Elena Marie Rendon

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Incorporating spiritually-involved interventions into the treatment process for chronically ill patients is a trending subject in the field of medical social work. Literature suggests the integration of spirituality with patients diagnosed with a chronic medical illness appear to influence patient’s resiliency level. However, the lack of information and knowledge on the topic suggests medical social workers are still in the process of learning how to utilize spirituality as a form of intervention. This study explores how medical social workers in the Inland Empire perceive the practice of spirituality on resilience levels in adults diagnosed with a chronic medical illness. The …

Do Chronic Disease Self-Management Programs For Individuals Living With Hiv/Aids Promote Self-Efficacy And Do They Improve Health Outcomes?, Adan Gomez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to analyze and measure the short-term and long-term impacts of a chronic disease self-management program (CDSP) for individuals living with HIV/AIDS. This study was a follow-up study on an HIV/AIDS Organization in Southern California’s (HAOSC’s) CDSP programs in 2007 and 2008 called “Newly Empowered Women” (NEW), a six (6) week CDSP for women diagnosed with HIV/AIDS which sought to promote self-efficacy through education and self-management skills. A retrospective longitudinal study on the female clients who participated with this program in 2007 and 2008 determined whether clients retained the skills taught in the CDSP and …

Stress Among Caregivers Of Individuals With Special Needs, Ida Benavides

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This research study focuses on gathering data on stress among caregivers caring for an individual with special needs. The participants selected were from three agencies in Southern California. Once the participants were selected, an interview was conducted using an audio recording device to gather and analyze the data collected. The researcher dictated the responses provided during the interview if the participants did not wish to be recorded. All participants received a $5 Starbucks gift card for their participation. This study was conducted to inform clinicians and any reader on the daily struggles and challenges caregivers face by caring for individuals …

Coping Mechanisms Utilized By Single Mothers In College, Natasha Elise Maness, Kristina Rene Munoz

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of study was to explore the various coping mechanisms used by single mothers who are pursuing higher education. Furthermore, this study examined the various relationships, personal and financial needs the mothers face. This study also explored the interpersonal relationships that exist for single mothers raising their children in the U.S. while facing financial burdens, lack of resources and childcare dilemmas. This study utilized a qualitative design. Data was collected through face-to-face interviews. The data collected from this study will allow for social workers to provide services in order to ensure single mother attending college are utilizing effective coping …

Factors Of Resistance: Spirituality And Religion In Social Work Practice, Nancy Ramos, Jessica Chavez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The discussion of spirituality and religion (S/R) in social work is a prevalent topic within the field. Literature suggests that social workers do not feel competent or comfortable discussing or utilizing S/R in practice. This study focused on identifying factors that may be causing resistance in social workers from the Inland Empire of Southern California towards addressing S/R with their clients. The researchers interviewed eight social workers from diverse areas of practice via telephone and in-person. Data was collected via audio-recording and later transcribed for thematic analysis. Participants were asked an array of questions including their own experience with their …

What Crucial Components Should Be Integrated Into Bereavement Programs For The Latino Population?, Aida Blanco

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of the study is to provide an understanding of the emotional and cultural needs Latinos experience when grieving the loss of a loved one. Current research shows that the Latino community is less likely to seek mental health treatment including end of life and bereavement services. This study uses a qualitative approach examining participant’s experiences during the bereaved phase focusing on emotional needs. The study reveals that Latinos experience emotional distress during bereavement and grief. It also identifies a scarcity of programs designed to meet the needs of the bereaved of Latino communities in the Inland Empire where …

Mental Health Services In An Exclusive Latino Community Versus A Diverse Community, Karina Amador, Natalie Salas

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This study examined whether Latino immigrants’ community environment influenced perceptions about the meaning of mental health and accessing mental health services. The two environments analyzed in were an exclusively Latino community (primarily Latino members) and a diverse community (composed of different ethnicities including Latinos). The research method used in this study was a qualitative survey design. A semi-structured interview guideline with questions on the meaning of mental health, mental health services access, and community norms on mental health was utilized with 24 respondents. Responses were then analyzed to find themes. Findings from this study found similarities as well as differences …

The Effect Of Parental Engagement On Treatment And Academic Outcomes Among Latino Students Receiving School Based Mental Health Services, Angel R. Agudo, Victor M. Lezama

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Current data reports approximately 46% of children ages 13-18 are affected by a mental health issue. Of those, 21% will experience a serious mental health disorder throughout their life. Due to the high percentage of school aged children that are affected by mental health disorders, school based mental health services have grown in popularity. Despite the positive attributes associated with providing mental health treatment in a school setting, various factors including race and levels of parental engagement have been identified as barriers to successful implementation. This study sought to identify the effects of parental engagement on the treatment, academic, and …