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The First Faith-Based Movement: The Religious Roots Of Social Progressivism In America (1880-1912) In Historical Perspective, Steven Stritt

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This re-evaluation of the published writings of Richard T. Ely, Josiah Strong, and Jane Addams during the Progressive era (1880- 1912) explores the themes of religious idealism and nationalism that figured prominently in the early formulation of modern liberal reform ideology in the United States. A specific focus will be placed on tracing themes of the America’s millennial destiny and how they gradually evolved into prophesies of social transformation through the applied use of social science knowledge. Beyond merely satisfying historical curiosity, this inquiry provides a new perspective from which to consider the fierce clashes over social welfare policy which …

Information And Communication Technology In Child Welfare: The Need For Culture-Centered Computing, Richard J. Smith, Tara Eaton

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article discusses the introduction of information and communication technology (ICT) in the California child welfare system. Drawing from anthropological literature, the authors emphasize the role of work practice and context associated with new ICT implementation. This case study uses a documentary- historical approach to analyze interviews with 386 workers who used the Child Welfare Services/Case Management System (CWS/CMS) between 1997 and 2005. Data show the implementation of CWS/CMS impacted the work practice of the welfare system. The authors recommend culture-centered computing for future developments and upgrades of ICT in child welfare.

Individual And Country-Level Institutional Trust And Public Attitude To Welfare Expenditures In 24 Transitional Countries, Nazim Habibov

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Does institutional trust on the individual and on the country level influence public attitudes to state social welfare expenditures in transitional countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia? To answer this question, this study draws on a comparative survey conducted in 24 countries. Multilevel binomial logit regression was used to allow for the simultaneous inclusion of variables at the individual- and country-levels of analysis. Institutional trust is associated with positive attitudes to welfare expenditures on the individual level, but not on the country level. Women, older individuals, those who are less educated, and those of low-income …

Correlates Of Job Burnout Among Human Services Workers: Implications For Workforce Retention, Madhavappallil Thomas, Vandana Kohli, Jong Choi

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Job burnout has impacted workers and negatively transformed the social agency and its clients. This study examined the correlates of job burnout among human service workers in a non-urban setting in Central California. Using a convenience sample, researchers collected responses from 288 participants on a 13 item burnout scale. Findings indicated that workers experienced moderate to high levels of job burnout. Several scale items, including caseload size, age, gender, education, and experience, were significantly correlated with burnout. In addition, regression analyses revealed that caseload size was the most significant predictor of job burnout among human service workers. Implications for workforce …

The Update, January/February 2014, University Of Northern Iowa. College Of Humanities, Arts And Sciences.

Update

Inside this issue...

-- Name That! App
-- Department News
-- Name That! App
-- School of Music Events
-- UNI Students Write "The World of Kurt Vonnegut"
-- Just Ann: A Musical about the Life and Times of Former Texas Governor, Ann Richards
-- Interpreters Theatre Productions Schedule
-- Student Spotlight: School of Music: Claudia Restrepo:
-- UNI Women's & Gender Studies Presents: CROW Forum
-- Student Spotlight: Mathematics: Benjamin Castle
-- Featured Organization: Construction Management Club
-- Alicia Jessip Receives Diversity Matters Award
-- Coming Up at Theatre UNI: Mauritius & August: Osage County
-- Student Spotlight: Art: …

Self-Compassion Paradox : A Theoretical Exploration Of Many Compassionate People's Lack Of Self-Compassion, Shihan Qin

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

It seems a common belief that a person cannot have genuine compassion for other people until he can have compassion for himself. However, it seems a pervasive phenomenon that when encountering difficult situations (e.g. failure and fatal disease), many people do not give themselves the compassion they would give to other people in the same situations. This theoretical study aims at supporting my hypothesis that people without self-compassion can still have compassion for others. Relevant evolutionary and neurobiological theories and object relations theories are used to explore this phenomenon. I also apply these two theories to a case study of …

Conceptualization Of Anorexia Nervosa : A Theoretical Synthesis Of Self-Psychology And Family Systems Perspectives, Molly E. Gray

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

Anorexia nervosa is a life-threatening psychiatric disorder that has increased in diagnostic prevalence over the last century. Findings suggest that individuals at greatest risk are females between the ages of 15-22, who demonstrate heightened levels of perfectionism and a need for control. This theoretical thesis hopes to provide clinical social workers and other mental health professionals with a deeper understanding of the psychological, familial, and developmental factors contributing to the onset of the disorder in order to increase the effectiveness of future treatment. Self-psychology will be examined to offer a possible developmental and psychological framework for understanding the emotional challenges …

"I Know That I'M Strong" : Survivors Of Sexual Violence And Their Experiences With Pregnancy And Childbirth, Gretchen J. Davidson

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

The purpose of this exploratory study was to gain a deeper understanding of how women with a history of sexual violence experience pregnancy and childbirth. The study used semistructured phone interviews with eleven women to gather qualitative data about their experiences with pregnancy and childbirth and their reflections on the relationship between past sexual violence and childbearing. The findings suggest that most women experience negative effects of past sexual violence at some point in the childbearing year and that these effects manifest as emotional, physical, and relational trauma reactions. When these reactions occur women may have the opportunity to process …

Social Workers' Attitudes About Physician-Assisted Suicide, Ann W. Wheeler

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This study was conducted with the hope of better understanding the factors that shape social workers' opinions about physician-assisted suicide (PAS). A survey was designed, based on past research, to explore the opinions of social workers regarding PAS depending on the social worker's age, gender, religion, years in the field, state in which they practice, and professional experience with those at the end of life. This study was conducted through an online quantitative survey developed by the authors using mostly questions from a variety of past studies. Fifty-five practicing social workers or social work students over the age of 18 …

Origins Of Clinician Bias Against People Diagnosed With Borderline Personality Disorder, Lindsay K. Heightman

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

A growing body of literature confirms that bias exists and thrives in mental health settings among clinicians charged with the care of individuals who meet criteria for BPD as outlined in DSM V – TR and DSM V. This study explores the origins of such bias against individuals diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). Second, this study examines the various sources of learning that shape student clinicians' attitudes about people with a BPD diagnosis. Study participants, all students in Master's-level clinical social work programs, responded to an anonymous online survey wherein they were asked to reflect on their learning experiences …

Social And Academic Experiences Of Aagbm Who Graduate From Hbcus, Isaiah L. Jones

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This qualitative study explores the social and academic experiences of African American gay and bisexual men (AAGBM) who graduated from historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) from 2008 – 2013; and strives to answer the question: What are the social and academic experience(s) of AAGBM who attended HBCUs? The study's specific aims were to describe: (1) How AAGBM describe their social and academic experiences, positively or negatively, on an HBCU campus; and (2) How HBCUs can help facilitate satisfying social and academic experiences for its AAGBM. These aims were addressed by asking seven open-ended questions to ten (10) AAGBM who …

Hidden In Plain Sight : The Sibling Relationship And Psychodynamic Theory, Jenny A. Joyal

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

In psychotherapy, psychodynamic theory informs a large part of clinical practice. Throughout time, the prevailing theories have been largely devoted to exploring the parent-child relationship and its influence on development. A noticeable gap in the existing psychodynamic literature is in respect to the unique complexities of the sibling. The intent of this thesis is to further synthesize, explore, and contribute to the relatively small body of psychodynamic literature that addresses the sibling relationship. By the use of two very different major theoretical orientations, this thesis emphasizes the distinct, powerful, and mutual influence of siblings on development. It demonstrates that conflicted …

Finding Personal Meaning : Vocational Horticulture Therapy For Individuals With Severe And Persistent Mental Illness, Ariel B. Schneider

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

As the medical treatments available for mental illness continue to progress in the context of an ever-growing medical model with the roll-out of the Affordable Care Act, individuals living with severe and persistent mental illness (SPMI) continue to experience barriers to receiving treatment. Furthermore, the treatment modalities largely based in pharmacological interventions and insight-based talk therapies fail to facilitate recovery, or to help individuals reach a place of sustained functionality. This theoretical study investigates vocational horticulture therapy as a way to facilitate recovery for individuals living with SPMI. I use Viktor Frankl's theory of Logotherapy in which he argues for …

Exploring The Experience Of Biological Children Of Foster Parents : Their Views On Family As Adults, Jessica J. Studer

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

Despite the fact that family foster care is a large part of the current child welfare system, little is known about the experience of biological children of foster parents. This qualitative research study analyzed the stories of ten adults who grew up in foster homes as biological children of foster parents from a family systems perspective. Common themes and areas for future research were identified. Participants identified and described diverse experiences in which both positive aspects as well as individual and family struggles . Participants described exposure to foster siblings behaviors and knowledge about their lives. Due to this exposure, …

Becoming Visible : The Audacity Of Asking The Impossible : Marriage, Lgbtq Activism, And Resilency In The South, Anna R. Wilson

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This exploratory study's purpose was to explore the connection between resiliency and political activism in the LGBTQ community in the south. More specifically, this research asks how LGBTQ couples that have participated in the Campaign for Southern Equality's (CSE) WE DO campaign describe their experiences engaging in political activism. The WE DO campaign involves same sex and queer couples walking into a courthouse or county registrar of deed's office and applying for a marriage license and being denied as a way of highlighting the injustice of anti-gay laws in the South. This project entailed semi-structured interviews with seven couples that …

Social Work Practice With Individuals And Families Who Have Experienced Pregnancy Loss, Sandra J. Stokes

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

Approximately 10 to 15 percent of known pregnancies worldwide end in miscarriage and an additional one in 160 pregnancies end in stillbirth. Because of a lack of evidence-based research to support interventions in this work, social workers have come to rely on their own practical experience. This study investigated social workers' professional practice experience in order to outline the frequency and impact of pregnancy loss and to assess the formation and maintenance of current practices for effective and efficient treatment. This study utilized indepth, qualitative interviews to further understand how clinicians in this field define and conceptualize their work. The …

Exploring The Experiences Of Internalized Racism For Multiracial Individuals : A Clinical Foundation For Social Work, Miranda M. Mckinley

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative study is to give clinicians, researchers, and educator's insight into the multiracial experience. It is the hope of this study to give readers a greater understanding of the ways internalized racism manifest for multiracial individuals. The goal of the literature review is to illuminate past, current and potential further research, which would be useful tools for psychodynamic practice and clinical skill building for clinicians working with multiracial individuals. A total of ten selfidentified multiracial adults participated in this qualitative study that utilized semistructured open-ended questions. These questions were used to explore the unique experiences of …

Exploring The Impacts Of Disclosure For The Transgender And Gender Non-Conforming Therapists, Samuel B. Lurie

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

Transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) people face numerous challenges and disparities as members of a marginalized and stigmatized group (Grant, et al., 2011). With the increased visibility of the transgender and gender non-conforming community, there are also more TGNC people becoming professionally trained therapists, and there is a lack of guidance on navigating this particular experience. Four focus groups were conducted in the northeastern part of the United States with 19 total participants who are all Master's level or above mental health clinicians who identify as TGNC. The purpose of this qualitative exploratory study was to examine the experiences of …

A Study Of Object Use : Adults, Special Objects, And Contemporary American Culture, Emily K. Walsh

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This thesis is an inquiry into the meaning and functions that special objects hold for American adults. After interviewing 29 adults—10 who identify as male and 19 who identify as female—about their special objects, I found that these objects are felt to have profound meaning and important functions for adults. Objects are found special for possessing superlative physical characteristics—visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile, energetic, or due to their size, weight, or sturdiness. And they are found special for their functions: as signifiers of affiliation or membership in a group; as things that assert and reify personal identity; as things that connect …

Exploring Resources For Caretakers Of Children With Food Allergies, Claudia A. Shapiro

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This study explored the resources and supports caretakers of children with food allergies currently have available to them. In addition, resources that caretakers do not feel are currently available to them, but believe would be helpful, were examined. Sample. Convenience sample recruited online through Facebook and parent list-serves, and from fliers put up on several allergy clinics in the Boston area. Methods. Participants completed an online survey through www.surveymonkey.com where they identified food allergy related resources that they currently have available, in addition to those they would like to have. Findings. The small sample size (N=26) and the lack of …

From Sadomasochism To Bdsm : Rethinking Object Relations Theorizing Through Queer Theory And Sex-Positive Feminism, Simon Z. Weismantel

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This theoretical thesis explores the phenomenon of BDSM. BDSM is a type of consensual erotic experience that covers a wide range of interactions between or among people. Referencing the compound acronym BDSM, these interactions encompass: bondage and discipline; dominance and submission; and sadism and masochism. This project investigates psychoanalytic conceptualizations of BDSM, often called sadomasochism in analytic literature. In particular, object relations theory conceptualizations of BDSM are explored. Object relations theorists have tended to identify sadomasochism as pathology. This thesis explores and uses queer theory and sex-positive feminism to analyze two important object relations authors' writings on sadomasochism (i.e., Otto …

Community Resilience In The Face Of Community Violence, Mary Kate Schmermund

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This qualitative study was created to learn more about communities that are labeled as dangerous by external sources. This research explores how organizations and community groups in cities nationally ranked as violent cultivate resilience within the community. People who work in these cities completed an online survey answering qualitative and demographic questions. The study found that respondents portrayed their communities of work and resilience within those communities in complex ways offering increased insight into resilience at the mezzo level. Themes of community cohesion, organizational collaboration, and community violence were present in several responses. The research concludes that while violence is …

Negotiating Our Membership : Factors Leading Latina Lesbians To Develop A Political Collective Identity, Susana Rodriguez

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This qualitative study explores the factors that lead Latina lesbians to develop a politicized collective identity. Simon and Klandermans (2001) define a politicized collective identity as an intentional group membership where members are mindful and conscious of the power difference that exists between in-group members, out-group members and the larger society, as well as engage in social and political power struggles to achieve justice and equality for their group. Additionally, the study aimed to explore the differences between a social identity and a politicized collective identity and the factors influencing the evolution from the former into the latter. Finally, the …

Emptiness As Symptom, Emptiness As Healing : Examining The Intersections Between Buddhist And Psychodynamic Perspectives On No-Self, Bruno D. Trindade

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

Despite growing usage of meditation in Western psychotherapeutic practice, there is a divergence in the meaning of empty self-experience between psychodynamic psychotherapy and the Buddhist source of these meditative practices. In this theoretical study I propose that empty self-experience is manifold, including both beneficial and pathogenic forms, specifically the experience most prized in Buddhism as sunyata, and those most dreaded in personality disorders. By studying these through the theories of control-mastery and Buddhist Abhidhamma, I demonstrate how similar psychological processes are involved in overcoming pathogenic emptiness, on one hand, and in the achievement of sunyata, on the other. The findings …

New York City And Boston Upward Bound Programs : Strengthening Academic Confidence In Low-Income Students, Giselle Regalado

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This study examined the impact of New York City and Boston Upward Bound Programs on academic performance among low-income college alum. The dependent variables were academic self-confidence and academic performance; and the independent variables were New York City and Boston Upward Bound Programs. Participation criteria included only alums from Upward Bound programs in New York City and Boston, college graduate, access to Upward Bound Facebook social media pages, 18 years of age or older, and read English. The sample was random and consisted of thirty-three Upward Bound alumni who completed an online survey. Albert Bandura's Self-Efficacy and Social Learning Theory …

Immigration And Depression : An Exploration Of Risks And Protective Factors, Lenissa Vilhena Barbosa

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

The goal of this study was to explore whether immigration was a risk factor for the development of depression and which were the triggers and protective factors that contribute to the development of depression among a specific population (N = 51) of highly educated legal immigrants during their first years living in the US. Additionally, it sought to determine if the "immigration paradox" (Franzini, Ribble, and Keddie, 2001) could be found in this specific population as well. A quantitative exploratory method design was used, and participants were recruited using the snowball sampling technique, and participated in this research through an …

"Show Me The Face You Had Before Your Parents Were Born" : African-American New Thought Ministers And 'The Black Interior', Kaitlin N. Smith

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This theoretical research critically explores the phenomenon of contemporary African Americans seeking to cultivate individual identities that are not bound by the external demands inherent in a black racial identity. It examines the work and ideas of three African-American New thought ministers who articulate a vision of liberation that is predicated on the cultivation of an interior spiritual identity beyond the social world. This research employs two theoretical frameworks that may help to shed light on the reasons for and implications of contemporary African Americans constructing their identities in this manner. The first of these theoretical frameworks is sociologist Eduardo …

Chitlins And Lemonade : The Impact Of The Word "Nigger" On College Educated Men In The African Diaspora, Thomas W. Brown

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

The study is an exploration of the impact the term "nigger" has on college educated men in the African Diaspora. The semi-structured, open-ended questions focus on the manner in which a racial derogatory term (the N-word) remains volatile even when attempted to be used positively by the oppressed. Twelve to 15 college educated men in the African Diaspora were interviewed to discover whether the term is endearing or endangering to the identity of men in the African Diaspora. Overall the study showed that the N-word promotes negative cultural concepts largely propagated through mass media that results in debilitated progress for …

Hypermasculinity, Delinquency And Adolescent Males, Emily A. Meneses

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

Hypermasculinity, delinquency and or criminality, mental health disorders and race was studied to see if there was a positive or negative correlation between hypermasculinity and delinquency. This study used two instruments, the Male Roles Norms Inventory (MRNI) and the Self Report Delinquency scale (SRD) to measure hypermasculinity and adolescent delinquency. If the correlation was positive this study looked to see what if any affect mental health disorders and race had. The study found that there was no correlation therefore seeing if the correlation varied by race or having a mental health disorder was not done.

Vicarious Traumatization And Vicarious Resilience : An Exploration Of Therapists' Experiences Conducting Individual Therapy Of Refugee Clients : A Project Based Upon An Investigation At Family Health Center Of Worcester, Worcester, Massachusetts, Megan C. Welsh

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative, descriptive study was to explore clinicians' experience of vicarious traumatization and/or vicarious resilience in working with refugee clients in order to gain a better understanding of vicarious trauma and the ways in which clinicians are effected by vicarious trauma. A second purpose of this study was to determine whether or not clinicians experience vicarious resilience in working with this client population, and what, if any, impact the vicarious resilience has on the clinician's treatment modalities, practice style, and personal life. Twelve face-to-face interviews were conducted at Family Health Center of Worcester with clinicians who had …