Digital Commons Network^™

In Defense Of Culturally-Specific Organizations: Understanding The Rationale And The Evidence, Ann Curry-Stevens, Jennifer Sita Muthanna

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Racial disparities abound in human services, with communities of color facing grave impediments to positive progress. Mainstream institutions move painstakingly slowly on reforms—movement too slow to offer this generation prospects for real hope in equity. This paper builds the rationale for expanding funding for culturally-specific organizations, detailing the ways that the literature and the tacit knowledge of culturally-specific organizations improve outcomes for clients and communities of color. The article identifies the service benefits in terms of client outcomes, accountability practices, community benefits, cultural affirmation and inclusion, building community and political capital, and lessening investments in white-centric services. We also identify …

Advice To Young Adults From Young Adults: Helpful Hints For Policy Change In The Mental Health System, Nancy Koroloff, Barbara J. Friesen, Nicholas Buekea

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This tip sheet is designed for use by youth and young adult led organizations that include young people with lived experience in the mental health system in their membership. Organizations that have a history of working together collectively, have clear leadership roles and are ready to move into policy change are most likely to find these tips useful. The recommendations and the quotes contained in this tip sheet came from a series of interviews with young adult leaders from advocacy groups that focus on mental health challenges or living in foster care. Each organization was selected because of its work …

Re-Envisioning Macro Social Work Practice, Bowen Mcbeath

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article presents 10 recommendations supporting a re-envisioning of macro practice for the 21^st century. These strategies are needed to counter a generational trend of disinvestment in macro social work practice and to support the historic vision of the social work profession as equally responsive to the needs of at-risk, disadvantaged populations and the organizational, community, and policy roots of social injustice. Before describing these recommendations and discussing their implications for the social work profession, I first briefly review the challenges facing macro practice and current initiatives promoting its renewal. The goal of this analysis is to define the …

Adjustment To College In The United States: Perceptions Of Qatari Students, Janet S. Walker, Jennifer E. Blakeslee, Batoul Khalifa, Ramzi Nasser, Atmane Ikhlef

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This qualitative study is part of a collaborative research effort undertaken by investigators based in the United States and Qatar to better understand Qatari student perspectives on their post-secondary adjustment and success. Here, we report findings from structured interviews with Qatari nationals studying abroad in the US, all of whom were males who were, or had recently been, undergraduates at state universities and/or community colleges in Oregon (n=21). Approximately two-thirds were in business or economics programs and about a third in STEM programs (science, technology, engineering, or mathematics). Most of the interviews were conducted in Arabic and translated into English …

Autism, Tara Crapnell, Lynette Lau, Christopher D. Hanks, Christina Nicolaidis, Alice Kuo

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex, lifelong neurodevelopmental condition that is marked by deficits in social communication and interaction, and repetitive or restrictive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities. These symptoms can create challenges for individuals on the autism spectrum and their parents during the transition to adulthood, which may interfere with their ability to access and receive adequate and appropriate health care. Awareness of how the challenges associated with ASD may translate to healthcare barriers can help primary care providers address the complex needs of individuals who are on the autism spectrum and mitigate the risks of additional …

Helping Young Adults From Foster Care Succeed In College, Heidi Feight, Breanna Bell, Ashley Conway, Shannon Turner, Neal Naigus, Laurie E. Powers

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

A major barrier experienced my many youth and young adults from foster care is life instability associated with living in multiple foster homes and changing schools, all of which requires repeatedly adjusting to new environments and expectations. This instability can hinder development, learning in high school, and higher education engagement and academic success. Additionally, many young adults from foster care do not have consistent adult support in their lives, which can make succeeding at college even more difficult.

Building Community Supports For Young People In The Transition Years: A Tip Sheet For Service Providers, Pauline Jivanjee, Eileen Brennan, Maria Carolina Gonzalez-Prats, Pathways Transition Training Partnership

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Social support is vital for the well-being of children and adults of all ages. Social support includes information, advice, or practical help from others that has positive effects on the young people receiving it (Munson et al., 2015). Since formal support ends when a young person transitions out of services, providers can assist young people to strengthen their existing informal supports and/or to connect them with other supports.

Social support is particularly valuable during times of difficulty or stress. Support from family members, friends, romantic partners, neighbors, mentors, and other community members may be given during a single event or …

Margaret’S Family Tree: A Story Of Hope And Belonging [Simulizi Ya Familia Ya Margareta: Hadithi Ya Matumaini Na Jumuiya], Susan Halverson

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Margaret’s Family Tree: A Story of Hope and Belonging (2016), is a coloring book designed to help children work through their grief in a constructive way and to help them acknowledge feelings about their lost loved ones. The book is written in both English and Swahili. It is illustrated in black and white by Oregon artist Edna M. Kennel. Halvorson-Westerberg is offering it free for duplication to anyone working with children, especially in African countries.

Staying Off The Megaphone And In The Movement: Cultivating Solidarity And Contesting Authority Among White Antiracist Activists, Amie Thurber, Kelley Frances Fenelon, Leah Marion Roberts

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

In the last two years, Black Lives Matter (BLM) emerged as a multiracial movement which foregrounds the experience, leadership, and values of Black people in the United States while suggesting distinct roles for White people to participate. Among these suggestions is the compellingly illustrative to “stay off the megaphone.” This exploratory, participatory case study traces how a group of White activists grapple with the literal and figurative megaphone in their antiracist activism. We focus on three key dimensions of engagement: content (how do White activists engage the megaphone—literally and figuratively?), subject positions (how are White activists positioning themselves within the …

Social Justice Education With Law Enforcement: Reflections From The Field, Amie Thurber

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The systemic racism embedded in and embodied by law enforcement has resulted in nationwide protests, sparking a call to action that has particular resonance and urgency for social justice educators. While the need for transformed education of police officers is critical, educators may ask: What pedagogic tools are most effective in police departments? How might educators respond to officers’ resistance to learning about inequality? And what obstacles might educators have to overcome in order to do this work? In this case study, I draw from 11 years of experience providing consulting and training to a city police department, sharing key …

“Respect The Way I Need To Communicate With You”: Healthcare Experiences Of Adults On The Autism Spectrum, Christina Nicolaidis, Dora Raymaker, Katherine E. Mcdonald, Amelia E.V. Baggs, Sebastian Dern, Steven K. Kapp, Michael Weiner, Cody Boisclair, Elesia Ashkenazy

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Our objective was to obtain an in-depth understanding of autistic adults’ experiences with healthcare and their recommendations for improving care. Our academic-community partnership used a community based participatory research (CBPR) approach to conduct semi-structured, open-ended interviews with 39 autistic adults and 16 people who had experience supporting autistic adults in healthcare settings. Participants identified patient-level, autism-related factors that impact healthcare interactions, including verbal communication skills, sensory sensitivities, challenges with body awareness, slow processing speed, atypical non-verbal communication, and challenges with organization. However, the success of healthcare interactions largely depended on the interplay between patient- and provider-level factors, as well as …

Who Am I? Who Do You Think I Am? Stability Of Racial/Ethnic Self-Identification Among Youth In Foster Care And Concordance With Agency Categorization, Jessica Schmidt, Shanti Dubey, Larry Dalton, May Nelson, Junghee Lee, Molly Oberweiser Kennedy, Connie Kim-Gervey, Laurie E. Powers, Sarah Geenen, The Research Consortium To Increase The Success Of Youth In Foster Care

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

While it has been well documented that racial and ethnic disparities exist for children of color in child welfare, the accuracy of the race and ethnicity information collected by agencies has not been examined, nor has the concordance of this information with youth self-report. This article addresses a major gap in the literature by examining 1) the racial and ethnic self-identification of youth in foster care, and the rate of agreement with child welfare and school categorizations; 2) the level of concordance between different agencies (school and child welfare); and 3) the stability of racial and ethnic self-identification among youth …

Community-Based Participatory Research To Adapt Health Measures For Use By People With Developmental Disabilities, Christina Nicolaidis, Dora Raymaker, Marsha Katz, Mary Oschwald, Rebecca Goe, Sandra Leotti, Leah Grantham, Eddie Plourde, Janice Salomon, Rosemary B. Hughes, Laurie E. Powers, Partnering With People With Disabilities To Address Violence Consortium

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: People with developmental disabilities (DD) are often not included as participants in research owing to a variety of ethical and practical challenges. One major challenge is that traditional measurement instruments may not be accessible to people with DD. Participatory research approaches promise to increase the participation of marginalized communities in research, but few partnerships have successfully used such approaches to conduct quantitative studies people with DD.

Objective: To use a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach to create an accessible, computer-assisted survey about violence and health in people with DD, and to psychometrically test adapted health instruments.

Methods …

Keep Your Head In The Game: Fosterclub And The Better Futures Project At Portland State University, Lee Ann Phillips, Isha Charlie‐Mccneeley, Timothy Bell, Celeste Bodner, Laurie E. Powers, Sarah Geenen

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This workshop, developed through a partnership between Better Futures and FosterClub, is focused on the challenges youth transitioning from foster care may face while pursuing their goals around higher education.

The Grand Challenge Of Ending Homelessness, Benjamin Henwood, Suzanne L. Wenzel, Philip F. Mangano, Maryellen Hombs, Deborah K. Padgett, Thomas Byrne, Eric Rice, Sarah Butts, Mathew C, Uretsky

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The notion that homelessness in the United States can be ended, rather than managed, represents a fundamental shift in expectations that has occurred over the past three decades. Many U.S. cities now have plans to end homelessness. Yet homelessness and housing instability are substantial problems that afflict a diverse group of subpopulations such as families, youth, veterans, and chronically homeless single adults. Ending homelessness for each of these populations may require tailored interventions that are responsive to specific individualized needs. These factors make tackling homelessness a difficult task. Although evidencebased solutions exist for some subpopulations, such as housing first for …

Measuring The Support Networks Of Transition-Age Foster Youth: Preliminary Validation Of A Social Network Assessment For Research And Practice, Jennifer E. Blakeslee

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Multi-dimensional social support is an important factor in any positive transition into young adulthood, and youth who are exiting foster care ideally receive comprehensive social support from a range of informal and formal sources. Yet the social networks of transition-age foster youth are likely influenced over time by child welfare involvement, which can weaken or disrupt natural support relationships, while introducing service-oriented relationships that are not intended to last into adulthood. To better understand the social support context of youth aging out of care, we can apply social network theory and methods to systematically identify their networks of supportive relationships …

Behavioral Health Services Needs And Availability For Young Children Involved In The Child Welfare System, Jill Hoffman, Alicia Bunger, Hillary Robertson, Scottye Cash

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The purposes of this presentation are to:

• Identify key characteristics of young children (0-5 years old) involved in child welfare
• Learn about the prevalence of behavioral health service needs and use among children 0-5 years old involved in child welfare
• Learn about the availability of behavioral health services targeted toward children aged 0-5 years old
• Have the opportunity to engage in a discussion on this study’s findings and trends they have seen in the populations they serve

Association Of Childhood Physical And Sexual Abuse With Intimate Partner Violence, Poor General Health And Depressive Symptoms Among Pregnant Women, Yasmin V. Barrios, Bizu Gelaye, Qiuyue Zhong, Christina Nicolaidis, Marta B. Rondon, Pedro J. Garcia, Pedro A. Mascaro Sanchez, Sixto E. Sanchez, Michelle A. Williams

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Objective

We examined associations of childhood physical and sexual abuse with risk of intimate partner violence (IPV). We also evaluated the extent to which childhood abuse was associated with self-reported general health status and symptoms of antepartum depression in a cohort of pregnant Peruvian women.

Methods

In-person interviews were conducted to collect information regarding history of childhood abuse and IPV from 1,521 women during early pregnancy. Antepartum depressive symptomatology was evaluated using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9. Multivariable logistic regression procedures were used to estimate adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI).

Results

Any childhood abuse was associated with …

Youth & Young Adult Peer Support: What Research Tells Us About Its Effectiveness In Mental Health Services, Sharice Jackson, Janet S. Walker, Celeste Seibel

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Increasing the availability of peer support for youth and young adults with serious mental health conditions has been advocated by service users, researchers, and government commissions. Efforts to provide peer support for young people are becoming more and more common. This FAQ describes the research evidence for peer support, as well as some of the challenges that can be expected when peer support is implemented.

Community-Based Participatory Research With Communities Defined By Race, Ethnicity, And Disability: Translating Theory To Practice, Christina Nicolaidis, Dora Raymaker

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is an increasingly popular participatory research approach where community members and academics collaborate as equal partners to conduct research for improving health and wellbeing through action (Isreal et al., 2003; Wallerstein and Duran, 2003). It is a branch of action research in the tradition of emancipatory practice. CBPR grew within the health sciences in the 1990s in response to a number of issues with mainstream health science research and minority communities …

Getting The Most Out Of Vocational Rehabilitation, Research And Training Center For Pathways To Positive Futures, Portland State University

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Your state Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) program is an important resource for people with disabilities. VR counselors are available to assist young adults with physical, emotional or mental health challenges to successfully pursue their job or career goals. The purpose of this Tip Sheet is to optimize your VR experience. Your counselor wants to see you succeed and will provide information and support to assist you in exercising informed choice throughout the rehabilitation process as you work towards your employment goal.

Conceptualization Of Autism In The Latino Community And Its Relationship With Early Diagnosis, Katharine E. Zuckerman, Brianna Sinche, Martiza Cobian, Marlene Cervantes, Angie Mejia, Thomas Becker, Christina Nicolaidis

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Objective—Early identification of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has been linked to improved long-term developmental outcomes. However, Latino children are diagnosed later than white non- Latino children. We aimed to qualitatively assess the understanding and conceptualization of ASD in the Latino community in order to understand potential community barriers to early diagnosis.

Method—We conducted 5 focus groups and 4 qualitative interviews with 30 parents of typicallydeveloping Latino children in Oregon. Participants were asked structured questions concerning video vignettes that follow a Latina mother from the time she begins to worry about her 3-year-old son's behaviors to the time he receives an …

Structural Factors That Increase Hiv/Sti Vulnerability Among Indigenous People In The Peruvian Amazon, E. Roberto Orellana, Isaac E. Alva, Cesar P. Cárcamo, Patricia J. García

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

We examined structural factors—social, political, economic, and environmental—that increase vulnerability to HIV among indigenous people in the Peruvian Amazon. Indigenous adults belonging to 12 different ethnic groups were purposively recruited in four Amazonian river ports and 16 indigenous villages. Qualitative data revealed a complex set of structural factors that give rise to environments of risk where health is constantly challenged. Ferryboats that cross Amazonian rivers are settings where unprotected sex—including transactional sex between passengers and boat crew and commercial sex work—often take place. Population mobility and mixing also occurs in settings like the river docks, mining sites, and other resource …

Strengthening A Social Justice Lens For Addictions Practice: Exploration, Reflections, Possibilities And A Challenge To Our Shared Work To Promote Recovery Among The Most Vulnerable, Laura Burney Nissen

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Addiction is commonly conceptualized as a personal problem, a family problem, a neighborhood problem, a community problem, and even a social problem. But how might addiction be understood as a social justice problem?

Substance abuse problems, addictions, and addiction treatment and the related preparation of professionals to fill its treatment ranks exist within an ideological and political infrastructure. Issues of social justice are often conspicuously absent as a primary consideration of the experience of people seeking treatment (acknowledging the treatment gap that impacts some people more than others), for communities ravaged by addiction (acknowledging that some communities are affected more …

Treating Young People With Co-Occurring Disorders: What Works?, Molly Oberweiser Kennedy, L. Kris Gowen

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Youth with substance use disorders often also face mental health challenges. Two recent studies analyzed two different treatment approaches for co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders: (1) a standardized therapy approach and (2) 12-step support groups, as modalities for effectively treating and continuing positive outcomes for young people with co-occurring mental health and substance use issues. The findings from these studies are summarized below.

Getting Performance Metrics Right: A Qualitative Study Of Staff Experiences Implementing And Measuring Practice Transformation, Devan Kansagara, Anaïs Tuepker, Sandy Joos, Christina Nicolaidis, Eleni Skaperdas, David H. Hickam

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

BACKGROUND: Quality improvement is a central goal of the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) model, and requires the use of relevant performance measures that can effectively guide comprehensive care improvements. Existing literature suggests performance measurement can lead to improvements in care quality, but may also promote practices that are detrimental to patient care. Staff perceptions of performance metric implementation have not been well-researched in medical home settings.

OBJECTIVE: To describe primary care staff (clinicians and other staff) experiences with the use of performance metrics during the implementation of the Veterans Health Administration’s (VHA) Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT) model of care. …

Congestive Heart Failure Self-Management Among Us Veterans: The Role Of Personal And Professional Advocates, Eleni Skaperdas, Anaïs Tuepker, Christina Nicolaidis, Jessica K. Robb, Devan Kansagara, David H. Hickam

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Objective: Understand patients’ experiences with primary care services for congestive heart failure (CHF) and explore the relationship between health services and self-management.

Methods: We conducted semi-structured interviews with thirty-nine patients with CHF receiving care at one Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VA). We analyzed data using thematic content analysis.

Results: Participants acknowledged the importance of ongoing engagement in the plan of care for CHF. They attributed success in this effort to be greatly influenced by personal advocates. The advocates included both members of the healthcare team with whom they had a continuity relationship and friends or family members who assisted on …

Motivational Interviewing At The Intersections Of Depression And Intimate Partner Violence Among African American Women, Stéphanie Wahab, Jammie Trimble, Angie Mejia, S. Renee Mitchell, Mary Jo Thomas, Vanessa Timmons, A. Star Waters, Dora Raymaker, Christina Nicolaidis

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article focuses on design, training, and delivery of a culturally-tailored, multi-faceted intervention which used motivational interviewing (MI) and case management to reduce depression severity among African American survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV). We present the details of the intervention and discuss its implementation as a means of creating and providing culturally appropriate depression and violence services to African American women. We used a CBPR approach to develop and evaluate the multi-faceted intervention. As part of the evaluation, we collected process measures about the use of MI, assessed MI fidelity, and interviewed participants about their experiences with the program.

Alcohol And Drug Prevention, Intervention, And Treatment Literature: A Bibliography For Best Practices, Laura Burney Nissen

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Addictions remain a persistent challenge to mental health practice. There is a need for mental health educators, students, and practitioners to be aware of, critique, contribute to, and, where relevant, utilize emerging scholarly literature to inform their intervention strategies. This comprehensive addictions bibliography draws from a wide variety of sources, perspectives, and ideologies to hasten the rate at which academics and practitioners can more meaningfully participate in this rapidly developing field of practice.

Under What Conditions Does Caseworker-Caregiver Racial/Ethnic Similarity Matter For Housing Service Provision? An Application Of Representative Bureaucracy Theory, Jennifer E. Blakeslee, Emmeline Chuang, Alicia Bunger, Bowen Mcbeath

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this article, we examine child welfare caseworkers’ housing-related service strategies when they serve culturally similar versus culturally dissimilar clients. Testing hypotheses drawn from representative bureaucracy theory and using data from the second cohort of the National Survey of Child and AdolescentWell-Being, we find that when non-Caucasian caseworkers share the same racial/ethnic background as caregivers, caseworkers use more active strategies to connect caregivers to needed housing services. The relationship between racial/ethnic matching and frontline workers’ repertoire of service strategies is most pronounced when the need for housing has been registered formally via referrals and case plans and thus legitimated institutionally. …