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Promote Smart Decarceration And Eliminate Racism Grand Challenges For Social Work: Reimagining Marijuana Policy, Charles H. Lea Iii, Gaby Mohr, Susan A. Mccarter, Sarah B. Coughlin, Aaron Gottlieb, Briana S. Partlow, Keshawn S. Matthews, Branden A. Mcleod

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Marijuana decriminalization and legalization policies are being passed in many state and local jurisdictions throughout the United States (U.S.). In this process, many lawmakers have used the argument that these policies and associated practices will redress racial disparities in the criminal punishment system. Yet, the evidence suggests this is not the case. We, therefore, use Critical Race Theory (CRT) to interrogate how marijuana-related policies and practices perpetuate collateral consequences and racial disparities in mass incarceration and recidivism to uncover the ways in which they challenge efforts to promote smart decarceration and eliminate racism. We argue that in order to effectively …

Journal Of Sociology And Social Welfare Vol. 49, No. 2

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

No abstract provided.

Non-Contractual Relations Between Private Mutual Aid And Government During A Crisis, Roland Zullo, Heather Kiningham

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

We examine United Ways 211 call data to test for a non-contractual relationship between a mutual aid nonprofit network and the distribution of federal stimulus checks during the COVID-19 economic recession. Data trends reveal an increase in requests for cash-equivalent relief at the early stage of the 2020 recession, and that the spike in requests from government sources was more than double, proportionately, than for requests from private mutual aid sources. Regression results indicate that the probability of a request for cash-equivalent relief from a government source, as well as United Ways referrals to government agencies, were elevated by the …

Perceptions Of Goal Attainment Scaling Among Future Behavioral And Mental Health Providers: A Qualitative Analysis, Hannah Kenny, Joshua N. Carver, Jennifer E. Harrison, Ann M. Chapleau, Bridget E. Weller

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Goal Attainment Scaling is a method for measuring an individual’s progress toward a given goal. It was used as part of an interprofessional workforce development program that trained social work and occupational therapy graduate students and peer support workers on meeting the mental and behavioral health needs of underserved communities. The purpose of this research note is to describe participants’ experience with Goal Attainment Scaling using data gathered from eight focus groups. Qualitative data were coded, and thematic content analysis was used. Four themes emerged that described participants’ experience with Goal Attainment Scaling: accountability, motivation, insight into developing own goals, …

Using Complex Adaptive Systems Theory To Identify Best Adaptive Practices For Inclusion Within Systems Of Care: The Impact! System Of Care And Its Model Theory Of Change, Marya R. Sosulski

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Systems of Care (SOCs) are distinctive among health care organizations because they focus on process as much as outcomes and consider families as equal partners in improving clients’ outcomes. Because SOCs attend to interactions among all aspects of the clients’ world, we may think of them as ecosystems with continually changing environments. “Theories of Change” (TOCs) are logic models that structure and coordinate SOCs’ conceptualization, implementation, evaluation, and adaptation. Of these elements, current SOC literature is least focused on adaptation, though adaptive practices are vital to addressing clients’ interests. A Complex Adaptive Systems model is used to analyze an exemplary …

Financial Stress And Hardship Among Young Adults: The Role Of Student Loan Debt, Min Zhan

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Analyzing data from the 2018 National Financial Capability Study, this study investigated the associations between student loan debt and financial stress and hardship among young adults. The results show that student loan debt was positively related to all indicators of financial stress and hardship, after controlling for a range of socioeconomic factors as well as measures of financial knowledge and behaviors. In addition, minority young adults were more likely to experience health-care related hardship and higher levels of financial stress. This study further reports that financial literacy and emergency savings were important buffers against financial stress and hardship among young …

Volume 49, Issue 3 (2022)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

No abstract provided.

Digital News Literacy And Social Work: Core Competencies, Cynthia H. Nover

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Digital news refers to online news, television news, and other electronic sources where individuals can gather information about the world around them. As college students increasingly get their news from online sources and comedy television, it is important for students to have appropriate media literacy skills to evaluate content. The relationship between news literacy skills and core competencies of social work education is discussed in this paper, with recommendations for incorporating news literacy in the classroom.

Is More, Better? Relationships Of Multiple Psychological Well-Being Facets With Cardiometabolic Disease, Anna-Josée Guimond, Claudia Trudel-Fitzgerald, Julia K. Boehm, Farah Qureshi, Laura D. Kubzansky

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Objective: Cardiometabolic disease (CMD) is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Assessments of psychological well-being taken at one time point are linked to reduced cardiometabolic risk, but psychological well-being may change over time and how longitudinal trajectories of psychological well-being may be related to CMD risk remains unclear. Furthermore, psychological well-being is a multidimensional construct comprised of distinct facets, but no work has examined whether sustaining high levels of multiple facets may confer additive protection. This study tested if trajectories of four psychological well-being facets would be associated with lower risk of self-reported nonfatal CMD. Method: Participants were …

Voices Of The Often Unheard: The Environmental Impacts Of Catastrophic Wildfire Events On Individuals With Developmental Disabilities, Mary Madison Mckenzie

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The Thomas Fire for a time was the largest wildfire in California history, burning 281,893 acres and destroying 1,063 structures. Within three years, the August Complex Fire, at 1,032,649 acres, almost quadrupled that record. Climate related disasters such as these have impelled social science researchers to heed calls for a paradigm shift in understanding the risks climate change poses to the social world, in particular, disaster risks for vulnerable groups. Existing research tends to focus on disasters such as hurricanes, featuring risks for vulnerable populations by race, class, and/or individuals with disabilities in general, but not for individuals with developmental …

Identifying Skeletal Trauma Markers Associated With Intimate Partner Violence (Ipv), Haley K. Omeasoo

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Objectives: This is a validation study of Biddle (2019), where much of the same materials are used, with the addition of new data from other databases to include more Native American and minority samples. A comparison database will also be analyzed against this data, with known cases of live individuals assaulted and assessed by health officials, some in IPV situations. All data is analyzed to discover which fracture locations are most common in IPV situations and which ethnic, sex, and age groups are most affected. Most fractures analyzed are those of the maxillofacial area, concentrating on the Zygomaticomaxillary Complex (ZMC) …

Understanding Media Richness And Social Presence: Exploring The Impacts Of Media Channels On Individuals’ Levels Of Loneliness, Well-Being, And Belonging, Ashley M. Arsenault

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Loneliness is a universal part of being human and is detrimental to well-being. The need-to-belong hypothesis claims that individuals frequently having positive interactions with people close to them mitigates their loneliness. Media richness theory adds that rich media channels allow individuals to perceive higher levels of social presence and maintain those vital, close relationships. Understanding how a given media channel impacts online interactions and, in turn, the interactants is vital. This study used a pretest-posttest equivalent groups experimental design to examine if individuals who interacted with a close relationship partner over a rich media channel would have a decrease in …

"Sexual Harassment Is My Job": The Impact Of Display Work On Bikini Barista Interactions, Sara R. Wozniak

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study compares the experiences of women working in “bikini” coffee stands with women working in "family-friendly" coffee stands. These stands are similar in that customers drive up and purchase coffee through a window. However, bikini coffee stands differ from their family friendly counterparts because they are staffed by scantily-clad women. This study contributes to the existing literature by comparing the experiences of service workers in sexualized and non-sexualized environments. Additionally, this study examines the understudied service job of bikini coffee. Using semi-structured interviews to examine the baristas’ thoughts and experiences surrounding their work, I find that both types of …

Gigi, Helen Wesley Kapp

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Francis’s grandpa taught her how to wrestle alligators. By the time Francis was sixteen, she could hold her own, but all it takes is one gator. Just one gator who almost gets the best of you, and suddenly you’ve got a dead animal; somebody’s getting stitches; you’re getting haunted by the ghost of the alligator you just killed; and your mom’s making you move to Charleston to attend a swanky prep school where the kids don’t wrestle gators, but surviving the gossip is even harder.

Agricultural Adaptation To Climate Change: How Montana Farmers Make Proactive Changes Despite Unpredictable Conditions, Austin Schuver

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In Montana, climate change is projected to increase interannual variability and the severity of weather events like drought. To sustain agricultural production, farmers must adapt to climate change within a complex decision-making process responsive to a range of climate and non-climate stressors. This study explores how Montana farmers approach proactive and long-term adaptation, two types of adaptation which are not well studied, but are expected to be increasingly important for adapting to the impacts of climate change. To understand Montana farmers’ approaches to adaptation, I conducted 30 in-depth interviews with farmers across the state. Farmers explained how unpredictability in weather …

Seeding Resilience: An Examination Of The Impacts Of A Seed Saving Network In Western Montana, Christina Leas

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Seed saving, a worldwide practice as old as agriculture, continues even in the context of an increasingly industrialized and globalized agricultural system. While some scholarship has focused on informal seed saving practices that continue to thrive in the global South, few studies have examined the dynamics of these practices in the global North, particularly in the American West. Informal seed saving systems have implications for the resilience of agroecosystems. The concept of resilience has become an important framework for conceptualizing agroecosystems as social-ecological systems, both in scholarship and in policy. However, operationalizing the concept of resilience, particularly in agroecology research, …

Community Directed Approaches To Promote Uptake Of Sulfadoxine Pyrimethamine For Intermittent Preventive Treatment Of Malaria In Pregnancy: Baseline Findings From Kisumu And Migori Counties, Dennis Matanda, Wilson Liambila, Beth Kangwana

Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights, and Choices

During pregnancy, malaria has a devastating impact on health outcomes for mothers and infants. Uptake of Sulfadoxine-Pyrimethamine (SP) for intermittent preventive treatment of malaria during pregnancy (IPTp) is a safe and clinically proven medical intervention for the prevention of malaria in pregnancy (MiP). Despite Kenya’s adoption of this intervention in its national policies and guidelines, uptake of IPTp for MiP has been persistently low. To realize effective coverage of IPTp, the Population Council, Kenya in collaboration with Kisumu Medical and Education Trust (KMET) and County Governments, is implementing the Revive IPTp project in Kisumu and Migori counties. The project seeks …

A Comprehensive Forensic Case Report With The University Of Montana Forensic Anthropology Lab University Of Montana Forensic Case #167, Tyler J. Trettin

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This report consists of an inventory of the skeletal remains of case# 167, assessment of the minimum number of individuals (MNI), a biological profile if possible, and a literature review of the assessment and understanding of ballistic trauma. The skeletal remains are consistent with an MNI of one. The remains are likely from a male individual, and skeletal features are representative of a person of Caucasian ancestry. The individual is estimated to be between of 35-65 years old with an estimated stature of between 5’5” and 5’9”.

Y-Chromosome Dna Extraction From Post-Cranial Skeletal Elements, Mykala D. Ward

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The use of DNA in forensic science has become an integral tool for victim and perpetrator identifications, missing person’s cases, paternity testing, etc. A major use of DNA is in the identification of unknown deceased individuals. With a reported number of individuals well over 8,000 in the United States, improved methods to accurately collect and analyze DNA from modern human bone are needed.

This project took the preliminary steps to improve DNA sampling and extraction methods by analyzing the Y-chromosome DNA yield from the two bone types. While both types are composed of the same materials, cortical bone is the …

Class Schedule - Spring 2022, Office Of The Registrar

Semester Schedules and Information

No abstract provided.

Textbook List - Spring 2022, Office Of Registrar

Semester Schedules and Information

No abstract provided.

A Pilot Study Of Total Personal Exposure To Volatile Organic Compounds Among Hispanic Female Domestic Cleaners, Kelly Oyer-Peterson, David Gimeno Ruiz De Porras, Inkyu Han, George L Delclos, Edward G Brooks, Masoud Afshar, Kristina W Whitworth

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Cleaners have an elevated risk for the development or exacerbation of asthma and other respiratory conditions, possibly due to exposure to cleaning products containing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) leading to inflammation and oxidative stress. This pilot study aimed to quantify total personal exposure to VOCs and to assess biomarkers of inflammation and pulmonary oxidative stress in 15 predominantly Hispanic women working as domestic cleaners in San Antonio, Texas, between November 2019 and July 2020. In partnership with a community organization, Domésticas Unidas, recruited women were invited to attend a training session where they were provided 3M 3500 passive organic vapor …

Associations Between Physical Activity And Alcohol Consumption In Rural Cancer Survivors, Scherezade K Mama, Natalia I Heredia, Hannah Johnston, David E Conroy

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

PURPOSE: Rural adults and cancer survivors are more likely to be physically inactive and exceed recommendations for alcohol use. Physical activity and alcohol use are positively associated in adults and cancer survivors but associations between physical activity and alcohol use in rural cancer survivors is unknown. This cross-sectional study explored associations between physical activity, sitting time, and alcohol use in rural cancer survivors.

METHODS: Cancer survivors residing in central Pennsylvania were recruited to the Partnering to Prevent and Control Cancer (PPCC) study and completed mailed questionnaires assessing physical activity (low, moderate, high), sitting time (≥6 hours/day), and alcohol use (0 …

Perceptions Of Experienced African American Male Principals Of Supports Needed To Improve Their Instructional Leadership Skills, Vance M. Benton

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

African American male principals frequently are placed in low-achieving schools but provided limited support. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore the perceptions of experienced African American principals regarding the support they receive to improve their instructional leadership skills as a way to improve student academic achievement. The social cognitive career theory and the transformative learning theory served as the conceptual framework for this basic qualitative study. The research questions for this study examined principals’ perceptions of how they were being supported, the challenges of getting support, and how their support could be improved. Nine experienced African …

Remote Work And Organizational Commitment In The Food Manufacturing Industry, Terry Scott Byers

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Limited research exists on the effects of remote work on the organizational commitment of managers working in the food manufacturing industry. This quantitative study was guided by the three-component model of organizational commitment coupled with relational cohesion theory to examine the organizational commitment of managers working remotely in the food manufacturing industry. The purpose of the study was to determine to what extent, if any, remote work has affected the organizational commitment of managers in an often overlooked and under-researched food manufacturing industry. Using the Three Component Model Employee Commitment Survey, data was collected from 143 anonymous respondents. Statistical analyses …

Understanding Effective Parental Involvement Activities Across Ses, Monique Antoinette Carrington Young

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Parental involvement is pivotal for impoverished middle school students to achieve academic achievement. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship of parental involvement activities and academic achievement for impoverished middle school students. Epstein’s six parental involvement types was the theoretical framework for the research study. The six independent variables of parental involvement were parenting, volunteering, learning at home, decision making, communicating, and collaborating with community The relationship for each parental involvement activated to academic achievement as measured by grade point average was evaluated. A quantitative research design was applied using archival data from the U.S. Department of …

Rural Older Adults’ Wellbeing During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Christina Clevenger

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Recent studies reveal adults 65 and over are living longer, healthier lives than ever before. However, this older generation is often vulnerable to exclusion, marginalization, and discrimination, made worse by the events and circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic brought unprecedented challenges and disproportionate threats to the integrity and wellbeing of older adults, especially those living in rural communities. Nonetheless, little is known about the effects the pandemic had on rural older adults’ wellbeing. This generic qualitative study explored rural older adults’ wellbeing during the pandemic, using the theoretical frameworks of Erikson’s stage theory of psychosocial development and Seligman's …

Principals’ Leadership Role In Supporting Culturally Responsive English Language Learner Programs, Lawrence Cowger

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

English language learners face different challenges in accessing relevant curriculum content compared to native English speakers. There is limited research on effective strategies that teachers use to ensure learning outcomes among English language learners. The purpose of this case study was to explore the leadership strategies that principals implement to support teachers’ culturally responsive strategies when working with English language learning (ELL) students. Culturally responsive school leadership (CRSL) was the basis of the conceptual framework, using research from Walker and five CRSL concepts. The research questions focused on school leadership and how administrators support teachers of ELL programs using CRSL. …

Refugee Women’S Post-Resettlement Experiences In The United States, Dr. Kristen M. Curry, Phd

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and community members of the host country make decisions regarding refugee lifestyles during and post-resettlement rather than the refugee women themselves. This research study informs the development of and provision of multiculturally appropriate counseling services to refugee women living in the United States from the perspective of the refugee women themselves. The purpose of this study was to describe the lived experiences and related meanings of a group of Hmong refugee women living in post-resettlement in the United States. This hermeneutic phenomenological study was developed with a feminist …

The Need For Belonging For Previously Incarcerated Probationers, Alaina Elam

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Research on offender rehabilitation has primarily focused on providing those who are incarcerated with programs and resources to mitigate the circumstances that would lead to recidivism. There is an absence of research on how the need for belonging could reduce recidivism in probationers. Recidivism remains a social problem for many U.S. communities, as those being released are not properly equipped for their transition. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of probationers regarding their transition into their community, recidivism, and their need for belonging. As individual fulfillment and human motivation were examined, Maslow’s self-actualization …