Digital Commons Network^™

Parents’ Perspectives On Trajectories Of Well-Being For Immigrant Youth From Central America., Tatiana Londoño, Lauren E. Gulbas, Luis H. Zayas

School of Social Work Faculty Publications

This study explored the trajectories of well-being among immigrant youth in the United States using an ecodevelopmental and posttraumatic growth perspective. Immigrant youth were from the Northern Triangle of Central America and had recently been released from immigration family detention in the United States. Through time-ordered matrix thematic analysis of interviews with 15 mothers at baseline and follow-up (N = 30 interviews), the research revealed a complex landscape of challenges and adaptations during resettlement. While initial adverse emotional outcomes were common, these tended to improve over time as families gained stability in the United States. Family structure emerged as …

The Golden Rule: An Msw Portfolio Narrative, Russell Jared Jacobs

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

The experiences and research behind Russell "Jared" Jacobs' MSW journey that showcases his abilities in the field of social work.

The Impact Of Medicaid Policy Limitations On Access To Eating Disorder Treatment: Uncovering The Consequences Of A System Built To Fail, Meghan Frost

DSW Capstone Projects

Individuals who rely on Medicaid face major barriers when trying to access eating disorder (ED) treatment, reflecting broader patterns of structural disadvantage in publicly funded health care. Research shows delayed diagnosis, limited access to ED specialists, and frequent denials for recommended services. These gaps occur because Medicaid policies do not match the needs of evidence based ED care, resulting in delayed or incomplete care for many individuals with eating disorders.

This issue is highly relevant to social work practice because the policies shaping these barriers are complex and difficult for clients and ED providers to navigate. Social workers across clinics, …

N Y State Dent J January 2026

The New York State Dental Journal

In the January 2026 issue, the reader will find the following feature articles:

• No Need to Travel the Road to Licensure Renewal Alone
• IPS Subperiosteal Implant for the Maxilla and Mandible
• Amyloidoma of the Palate
• Titanium Hypersensitivity as Possible Cause of Dental Implant Failures

This issue includes regular columns with regional news impacting the New York membership including editorial and perspectives columns, legal, association activities, component news, continuing education opportunities, and classifieds.

Strafford County Extension - Advisory Council Meeting Minutes 2026, Rebecca Hull

Advisory Council

No abstract provided.

Marketing Plan For Community Service Initiative L.A.C.E.S. (Limitless Accessibility For Children To Experience Sports), Grace Bryant

Master of Education in Applied Human Development Graduate Projects

I. Executive Summary

L.A.C.E.S. (Limitless Accessibility for Children to Experience Sports) is a community-based initiative focused on increasing access to youth sports for children in underserved communities. The mission of L.A.C.E.S. is to ensure that every child can experience the joy and benefits of sport by addressing barriers such as cost, transportation, lack of resources, and limited awareness. While youth sports are widely known to support physical health, mental well-being, and social development, access to these opportunities is not equal. Research shows that participation rates are significantly lower among children from low-income households and marginalized communities, largely due to structural …

Linking Social Entrepreneurship To Crime Reduction Among Young African Americans In Chicago’S South And West Sides, Grady C. Wheaton Jr.

All Student Theses and Dissertations

This study examined community members’ perceptions of social entrepreneurship as an employment-centered strategy for addressing youth violence among African Americans on Chicago’s South and West Sides. The study was guided by the following research question: Can social entrepreneurship be leveraged to reduce youth violence among African Americans on Chicago’s South and West Sides, as perceived by community members? Using Fillmore Laundry, a healthcare linen-processing social enterprise located in North Lawndale, as a case example, this quantitative, cross-sectional study collected survey data from 99 eligible community members recruited through community-based partnerships. The survey assessed perceived youth- and community-level program benefits, evaluations …

Socio-Psychological Portrait Of Muslim Women Who Joined Radical Religious Organizations, Akerke Sakbayeva, Nagima Baitenova, Zhuldyz Zhorabek, Assel Alimkhanova, Raimbek Zeinullin

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article examines the socio-psychological characteristics, motivations for radicalization, and the legal and social status of Muslim women who have joined radical religious organizations from gender and cultural studies perspectives. In recent years, the increasing involvement of women in violent extremist movements has intensified the need to investigate this phenomenon not only as a security issue, but also as a complex social, cultural, psychological, and gender-related phenomenon. The study analyzes both internal and external factors influencing the radicalization of women, including social marginalization, identity crises, emotional dependency, limited religious literacy, and perceptions of social injustice. Particular attention is given to …

Protecting (Restorative) Justice: An Analysis Of Confidentiality, Admissibility And Privilege Provisions In State Law, Thalia Gonzalez, Aidan Lorraine Tomlinson

Nebraska Law Review

Over the last thirty years, the use of restorative justice within and adjacent to state juvenile and criminal proceedings, including community contexts, has expanded significantly in the United States. As such, what once could be fairly characterized by scholars as a norm and practice at the legal margins has moved widely into the mainstream. As increased legal institutionalization occurred, so too has scholarly attention. Shifting away from foundational “first generation” theoretical and empirical legal studies of practices and programs, a second stream of interdisciplinary legal scholarship has emerged centralizing structural questions as to the legalization of restorative justice. In this …

4-H Day Of Service Marketing Flyer, Kristen Lyons

UNH Cooperative Extension

No abstract provided.

4-H Day Of Service Sponsorship Opportunities, Kristen Lyons

UNH Cooperative Extension

No abstract provided.

4-H Day Of Service Team Guidebook, Kristen Lyons

UNH Cooperative Extension

No abstract provided.

We’Re The Aunties Now: Intersections Of Mourning Practices, Intergenerational Trauma, And Matrilineal Responsibility In Oneida Life, Marena Bridges

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation examines how Oneida and broader Haudenosaunee mourning practices, as I have lived and understood them, shape grief, healing, and matrilineal responsibility in my family. Using Indigenous autoethnography and storywork, I first present a crafted narrative, then return to that narrative through reflexive thematic analysis. The analysis identifies patterned meanings in how grief is structured, shared, and carried across closely stacked deaths in the maternal line. Mourning practices function as community infrastructure that organizes time, redistributes labor, transmits knowledge, and sustains continuing bonds with the dead. At the same time, repeated loss produces a form of matriarchal ascension, concentrating …

Embracing Vulnerability And Evolving Through Trauma: Teacher Educators’ Collaborative Autoethnographic Reflections, Christina Gray, Lambert

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This collaborative autoethnography examines how two university-based teacher educators navigated personal trauma while continuing their academic and caregiving work. Using narrative portraits, the study explores how collaborative storytelling enabled the authors to embrace vulnerability, surface hidden experiences, and make sense of trauma within the normative and relational conditions of academic professionalism. Analysis of the narratives highlights three interrelated mechanisms that supported wellbeing amidst trauma: the ongoing negotiation of teacher identity, the capacity to accept help and relational support, and intentional self-care through reflective practice. Rather than positioning recovery as linear or complete, the study illuminates how educators may continue to …

From Mandate To Meaning: Designing Implementation Supports For Organizational Readiness In Behavioral Health Service Planning, Lauren K. Mergen

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

Behavioral health agencies often struggle to translate the Transformational Collaborative Outcomes Management (TCOM) framework into practice when implementation is externally mandated. This study examined how educational leaders can support meaningful use of TCOM tools under a Midwestern state’s October 2024 requirement that behavioral health providers use the state Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths assessment in service planning.

Using a Mixed Methods Action Research design, the study progressed through six phases: Diagnosis, Reconnaissance, Planning, Acting, Evaluation, and Monitoring. The Diagnosis Phase identified a knowledge-to-practice gap and weaknesses in implementation support infrastructure. Practitioner surveys administered immediately after training and six months …

The State Of The Child In Tennessee 2025, Tennessee. Commission On Children And Youth.

The State of the Child in Tennessee

No abstract provided.

Reducing Rates Of Child Abuse And Neglect: An Analysis Of Three Potential Solutions, Lauren C. Heil

The Mid-Southern Journal of Criminal Justice

Child abuse and neglect are prevalent problems, affecting an estimated one million children worldwide each year. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate and analyze three potential solutions to reduce the rates of child abuse and neglect. The three programs that were suggested were: improving overall access to healthcare, therapy and counseling, and other support services for children and families who need them, implementing more Nurse-Family Partnerships across the United States for first time mothers with visits from a registered nurse, and increasing parent’s access to economic resources and improving families overall financial security. These programs were researched extensively, …

Longitudinal Association Between Sleep Disturbance And Disordered Eating In Adolescents: The Mediating Role Of Emotion Dysregulation, Antonia Louise Hamilton

Theses - ALL

Accruing evidence suggests a significant relationship between sleep disturbances and disordered eating. Early adolescence is a period of heightened vulnerability for sleep disturbances and disordered eating. However, the longitudinal relationship between sleep disturbance and disordered eating remains unclear in early adolescent samples. The current study aims to examine if sleep disturbance longitudinally predicts disordered eating in early adolescents three years later, how the odds of having clinically significant disordered eating change per each unit increase in sleep disturbance, and if emotion dysregulation mediates these relationships. It is hypothesized that baseline sleep disturbance will predict greater disordered eating at follow-up, and …

Family Functioning And Adolescent Outcomes In Wilderness Therapy: A Quanitative Analysis Of Change And Predictive Relationships, Elizabeth Santone

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the impact of wilderness therapy on adolescent and family functioning using archival data from a licensed outdoor behavioral healthcare program. The purpose of this research was to examine both individual and systemic changes over the course of treatment and to explore whether improvements in family functioning were associated with youth outcomes. The final sample included 1,293 adolescents who completed the Youth Outcome Questionnaire (Y-OQ 2.01) at intake and discharge. A subset of 454 adolescents and their caregivers also completed the Family Assessment Device (FAD) at both time points. Paired-sample t-tests revealed statistically significant improvements in both adolescent …

Ceen 2025 Impact Report, Niki Elliott Ph.D.

Annual Impact Reports

The 2025 year has been one of meaningful impact, shaped by dedicated partnerships, bold conversations, and an unwavering commitment to creating neuroinclusive spaces for learning and living. From our immersive trainings to our pioneering programs, we’ve seen the ripple effects of this work transform classrooms, communities, and systems that serve neurodiverse youth and families.

We have compiled a comprehensive look at our center’s collective reach and accomplishments.

The Impact Of Absent Parents And Harsh Parenting In Forensic Mental Health Settings, Jamcelia M. Jackson

Master of Arts in Human Services

This capstone paper explores the impact of absent parents and harsh parenting practices on children and adolescents within forensic mental health settings. Informed by recent peer-reviewed studies on trauma-informed, attachment-based, and resilience frameworks, this paper synthesizes evidence linking disrupted caregiving, inconsistent discipline, and punitive practices with emotion dysregulation, externalizing behaviors, and justice involvement. Special attention is given to the interaction of family processes with factors such as poverty, racism, service access, that shape risk and protection across development. Key findings suggest that early adversity is associated with delinquency, substance use, and poorer mental health, whereas supportive relationships, culturally responsive parenting …

How Do Childhood Experiences Influence Risk-Taking Behavior In Adolescence?, Sidney Zimmerman

Psychology Student Publications

This paper explores how positive and adverse childhood experiences influence adolescents’ risk-taking behaviors. It explains that positive experiences often lead to healthy, growth-promoting risks, while adverse experiences can increase impulsivity and unhealthy risk-taking. Overall, it emphasizes that early life experiences shape how young people approach challenges and make decisions during adolescence.

Building Belonging: Designing A Training Program To Foster Inclusion In Children's Ministry, Amanda J. Lemieux

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The strategic problem aims to address how to train volunteer children’s ministry workers to feel more confident and well-equipped to handle children with diverse needs. Paul wrote in Romans that one should be accepting of all people just as Jesus accepted (Rom. 15:5-7). Humanity is created in the very image of God, the Creator. It is essential to recognize that everyone is created in God’s image and, therefore, deserves to be treated as such (Gen. 1:27). A healthy children’s ministry should ensure that all children are not only welcome within the classroom but also taught in a way that they …

Las Voices: The Impact On Black Young Males In A Critical Mentorship Program In The Las Vegas Valley, Sean C. Tory

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In America, Black young males face an enormous amount of pressure regarding their social and racial identity. They battle with racial macro/microaggressions, stereotypes, racism, and socialization from various industries and systems. The community organization, King of Jewels, has been able to adopt effective strategies to help Black young males navigate these issues through critical mentorship. This paper will first demonstrate the importance of critical mentorship, Black Racial Identity Development, and will then outline the steps necessary to fill the gaps found in mentorship and Black Racial Identity Development literature. This qualitative study investigates the use of critical mentorship (CM) and …

Prevalence Of Abuse-Specific Injuries In Infants With Prior Injury Evaluated For Abuse., Nara Cho, Kristin G. Crichton, Sara Helwig, Krista K. Wheeler, Rachel M. Stanley, Megan M. Letson, Kristine A. Campbell, Angela N. Bachim, Colleen J. Bressler, Carmen M. Coombs, Lori Frasier, Nicole Johnson, Sara Kilbride, Jan Leonard, Daniel M. Lindberg, Noelle Tran, Joanne N. Wood, Farah W. Brink

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Physical abuse is a common cause of morbidity in infants but is often missed in those with medically minor injuries, increasing the risk for escalating violence. Our objective was to compare the prevalence of abuse-specific injuries among infants with and without prior injuries.

METHODS: This is a retrospective, multicenter study of infants (aged < 12 months) undergoing child abuse pediatrics provider (CAP) consultation for suspected physical abuse between 2/2021 and 12/2022 at 10 participating US centers. Encounters were dichotomized into those with and without history of prior injury. The groups were compared for rates of diagnostic screening and prevalence of abuse-specific injuries. The association of prior injuries with identification of abuse-specific injury was assessed using logistic regression controlling for demographics and presence of prior injury.

RESULTS: We identified 2352 eligible encounters (median age: 4.2 months), of which 13% had a history of prior injury. In infants who underwent diagnostic testing, injury identification was significantly higher in those with prior injury (45% vs 22%,

CONCLUSION: Infants with prior injury undergoing …

Learning, Becoming, And Practicing: My Msw Portfolio, Mario G. Colucci

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

Bridging The Rural Justice Gap: A Scalable Solution Rooted In Clinical Legal Education, Michelle Paxton

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

The rural justice gap significantly impacts child welfare legal representation, exacerbating the challenges families face when navigating juvenile courts in rural America. Attorneys in these communities frequently encounter geographic isolation, limited access to specialized training, professional burnout, and inadequate resources, all of which hinder effective advocacy for vulnerable children and families.

This article argues that clinical legal education, when paired with structured post-graduate training and multidisciplinary consultation, offers a replicable model for addressing the rural attorney shortages in juvenile court advocacy. The Nebraska Children’s Justice and Legal Advocacy Center (NCJC) illustrates how this model can be designed and scaled to …

Suicide Among Youth And Young Adults In Canada: Bereaved Parents’ Perspectives On The Systems Of Care, Toula Kourgiantakis, Deborah Cooper, David Cooper, Shelley Craig, Eunjung Lee, Jori Jones, Carrie K.Y. Lau, Romy Naïma Tousignant, Jonathan B. Singer, Marjorie Johnstone, Juveria Zaheer

Social Work: School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Other Works

Background: Suicide is the second leading cause of death among youth and young adults aged 15–24 in Canada. Emergency departments often serve as the first point of contact for identifying suicide risk, particularly for youth and young adults, partly due to the inaccessibility and unavailability of community mental health services. Almost half of the youth who die by suicide visit an emergency department in the year preceding their death, and up to 90% have untreated mental health and substance use concerns. Studies have found that parents describe youth mental health services as harmful, fragmented, inaccessible, and inadequate in meeting their …

Lgbtq+ Adolescents With Disabilities’ Experiences Of School Connectedness And Identity Navigation, Lyndsay Loretta Mccabe

Dissertations

In the United States, LGBTQ+ students have recently faced a barrage of school-based anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and policies (American Civil Liberties Union, 2025). Little is known about the effects of such policies and the overall sociopolitical climate on school connectedness and identity navigation for LGBTQ+ adolescents with disabilities. School connectedness, or the degree to which students feel that they belong at their school, is associated with numerous academic, behavioral, and social-emotional benefits (K. Allen et al., 2018; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2022b). Students who are at the intersection of multiple marginalized identities, such as LGBTQ+ adolescents with disabilities, …

Examining The Relations Between Parenting Stress, Harsh Parenting Practices, And Children’S Internalizing And Externalizing Symptoms, Caitlin A. Wharton

Individual, Family, and Community Education ETDs

This study examines: relations between maternal parenting stress in infancy and preschool-aged children’s internalizing and externalizing symptoms; whether verbal and physical harsh parenting practices mediate these relations; and whether these relations are moderated by child gender. Research links maternal parenting stress to harsh parenting, which is a risk factor for children’s internalizing and externalizing symptoms. But limited research has examined how maternal stress in infancy affects preschool-aged children’s outcomes, or how verbal and physical harsh parenting practices independently affect these outcomes. The study data came from the Future of Families & Child Wellbeing Study. Results indicate maternal parenting stress in …