Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Transforming Front-Line Child Welfare Practice: The Impacts Of Institutional Settings On Services, Employment Environments, Children, And Families (Summary Of Final Report), Gary Cameron, Lirondel Hazineh, Karen Frensch

Partnerships for Children and Families Project

In 2006, the Ontario government launched an ambitious and multi-faceted Transformation Agenda for child welfare services. Among this Agenda’s objectives was the development of more cooperative helping relationships in child welfare, reducing the system’s reliance on legal authority to engage families, creating community and service partnerships and increasing child welfare capacity to respond differentially to families. Within this shifting child welfare context, the Transforming Front-line Child Welfare Practice Project research’s main purpose was to understand how centrally located service delivery settings and service delivery settings that were more accessible to families affected front-line child protection practice. A second encompassing objective …

Transforming Front-Line Child Welfare Practice: The Impacts Of Institutional Settings On Services, Employment Environments, Children, And Families (Synthesis Report), Gary Cameron, Lirondel Hazineh, Karen Frensch

Partnerships for Children and Families Project

In 2006, the Ontario government launched an ambitious and multi-faceted Transformation Agenda for child welfare services. Among this Agenda’s objectives was the development of more cooperative helping relationships in child welfare, reducing the system’s reliance on legal authority to engage families, creating community and service partnerships and increasing child welfare capacity to respond differentially to families. Within this shifting child welfare context, the Transforming Front-line Child Welfare Practice Project research’s main purpose was to understand how centrally located service delivery settings and service delivery settings that were more accessible to families affected front-line child protection practice. A second encompassing objective …

Helping Child Welfare Workers Improve Cultural Competence By Utilizing Spiritual Genograms With Native American Families And Children, Gordon E. Limb, David R. Hodge

Faculty Publications

This study represents an initial step at giving child welfare workers an important assessment tool as they seek to provide culturally and spiritually competent services to Native American families and children. In order to determine the relevancy and consistency of utilizing a modified spiritual genogram assessment tool with Native Americans, 50 Native American experts reviewed, rated, and gave feedback on its use. Results showed that while there were limitations in utilizing spiritual genograms, this assessment tool could help child welfare workers become more culturally competent as they develop interventions with Native American families and children.

Community Violence And Health Risk Factors Among Adolescents On Chicago's Southside: Does Gender Matter?, Dexter R. Voisin

Faculty Scholarship

We assessed community violence, school engagement, negative peer influences, mental health problems, and human immunodeficiency virus risk among 563 black adolescents. Boys reported higher rates of community violence exposures and gang involvement, while girls reported higher mental health distress. In the presence of multiple risk factors, negative peer norms were the strongest correlate of human immunodeficiency virus risk behaviors.

Earned Income Tax Credit (Eitc) Utilization In Native Communities, Kristen Wagner, Amy Locklear Hertel

Center for Social Development Research

Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Utilization in Native Communities

Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (Vita) Sites In Native Communities, Kristen Wagner, Amy Locklear Hertel

Center for Social Development Research

Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Sites in Native Communities

Savings And Financial Services In Native Communities, Kristen Wagner, Kristen Wagner

Center for Social Development Research

Savings and Financial Services in Native Communities

Predictors Of Depressive Symptomatology In Family Caregivers Of Wom-En With Substance Use Disorders Or Co-Occurring Substance Use And Mental Disorders, David E. Biegel, Shari Katz-Saltzman, David Meeks, Suzanne Brown, Elizabeth M. Tracy

Social Work Faculty Publications

This study utilized a stress-process model to examine the impact of having a female family member with substance use or co-occurring substance use and mental disorders on family caregivers' depressive symptomatology. Participants were 82 women receiving substance abuse treatment and the family member providing the most social support for each woman. Greater caregiver depressive symptomatology was predicted by greater care recipient emotional problems, less care recipient social support, and poor caregiver health. Implications of findings for treatment and future research are discussed

Toward More Inclusive College Savings Plans: Sample State Legislation, Terry Lassar, Margaret M. Clancy, Sarah Mcclure

Center for Social Development Research

A number of states have created inclusive 529 policy strategies to make college savings plans more accessible and easier to use for families at all income levels. These strategies include facilitating enrollment and contributions, removing saving disincentives, increasing saving incentives, and strengthening tax benefits. In this report, we examine these inclusive state policy strategies, describe their application through legislative and administrative means, and point to specific examples.A related policy brief by the same title is also available.

Toward More Inclusive College Savings Plans: Sample State Legislation, Terry Lassar, Margaret M. Clancy, Sarah Mcclure

Center for Social Development Research

A number of states have created inclusive 529 policy strategies to make college savings plans more accessible and easier to use for families at all income levels. These strategies include: facilitating enrollment and contributions, removing saving disincentives, increasing saving incentives, and strengthening tax benefits. In this brief, we highlight these inclusive state policy strategies, describes their application through legislative and administrative means, and points to specific examples. A related policy report by the same title is also available.

The Role Of Savings And Wealth In Reducing "Wilt" Between Expectations And College Attendance, William Elliott Iii, Sondra Beverly

Center for Social Development Research

The Role of Savings and Wealth in Reducing "Wilt" Between Expectations and College Attendance

Psychosocial Capacity Building In New York: Building Resiliency With Construction Workers Assigned To Ground Zero After 9/11, Joshua Miller, Jeff Grabelsky, K. C. Wagner

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

Construction workers who worked on “Ground Zero” after 9/11 in New York City were exposed to stressful and traumatic conditions. Clinicians, trade union leaders and the Cornell School of Industrial and Labor Relations designed a psychosocial capacity-building project which helped workers to recognize, understand and respond to their reactions through a series of interventions that included peer training, psychosocial workshops, brochures, and outreach and referral services. The project emphasized the use of mutual aid and social support through group interventions facilitated by clinicians and offered by trade unions. The article describes the planning and implementation of the project as well …

The Role Of Savings And Wealth In Reducing "Wilt" Between Expectations And College Attendance, William Elliott Iii, Sondra G. Beverly

Center for Social Development Research

“Wilt” occurs when a young person who expects to attend college while in high school does not attend college shortly after graduating. In this study we find that youth with no account in their own name are more likely to experience wilt than any other group examined. In multivariate analysis, youth who expect to graduate from a four-year college and have an account are approximately seven times more likely to attend college than youth who have no account. Youth who expect to graduate from a four-year college and have designated a portion of their savings for college are approximately four …

Sharing Stories, Songs And Books. G1986, Janet S. Hanna, Kayla M. Hinrichs, Carla J. Mahar, John Defrain, Tonia Renee Durden

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

StoryQUEST’s Vision: High-quality early relationships and experiences throughout their daily routines provide each infant and toddler with the tools and skills to build a strong foundation for future school readiness. Families, caregivers, and communities as a whole collaborate to enable all children to become highly competent in language and literacy. This series was developed as part of a national research project — StoryQUEST — through the California Institute on Human Services, Sonoma State University.

Learn to share stories, songs and books as a way to help your child’s literacy development. This is the third publication in a series of nine.

Ethnicity And Health Disparities In Alcohol Research, Karen G. Chartier, Raul Caetano

Social Work Publications

Recent advances in alcohol research continue to build our understanding of alcohol consumption and related consequences for U.S. ethnic minority groups. National surveys show variations across ethnicities in drinking, alcohol use disorders, alcohol problems, and treatment use. Higher rates of high-risk drinking among ethnic minorities are reported for Native Americans and Hispanics, although within-ethnic group differences (e.g., gender, age-group, and other subpopulations) also are evident for ethnicities. Whites and Native Americans have a greater risk for alcohol use disorders relative to other ethnic groups. However, once alcohol dependence occurs, Blacks and Hispanics experience higher rates than Whites of recurrent or …

Fidelity Of Implementation: Development And Testing Of A Measure, Rosalind E. Keith, Faith P. Hopp, Usha Subramanian, Wyndy Wiitala, Julie C. Lowery

Wayne State University Associated BioMed Central Scholarship

Abstract

Background

Along with the increasing prevalence of chronic illness has been an increase in interventions, such as nurse case management programs, to improve outcomes for patients with chronic illness. Evidence supports the effectiveness of such interventions in reducing patient morbidity, mortality, and resource utilization, but other studies have produced equivocal results. Often, little is known about how implementation of an intervention actually occurs in clinical practice. While studies often assume that interventions are used in clinical practice exactly as originally designed, this may not be the case. Thus, fidelity of an intervention's implementation reflects how an intervention is, or …

Prevention Of Child Abuse And Neglect Through Church And Social Service Collaboration, Erin Olson O'Neill, Jodi Gabel, Stephanie Huckins, Jeanette Harder

Social Work Faculty Publications

been a historic disconnect between the two institutions concerning child abuse prevention efforts. All too often, criticisms and mistrust tend to characterize the way in which the two interact. This qualitative investigation examines the perceptions of both Christian leaders and social service providers on the church’s role in preventing and responding to child abuse and neglect. Researchers interviewed 36 church leaders and social service providers of varying Christian congregations and specialties. Interviews focused on both current and potential church programming and activities, as well as beliefs and values held by both parties concerning child protection and real or potential collaboration. …

Empowering Female Offenders To Reach Success In Probation And Parole, Patricia Lewis

Capstone Research Projects

Responding to the need for gender specific programs within the criminal justice system, this study evaluates a women’s life skills group that is geared towards education and empowerment for female offenders at the Board of Probation and Parole (BOPP) in a small southeastern city. The researcher evaluated the effectiveness of this group using a single system model. The desired outcome of the group was to enhance the women’s knowledge in areas such as self-esteem, parenting, domestic violence, job readiness, and health. Findings reveal overall satisfaction of the participants with the life skills group as well as improvement in individual life …

The Benefits Of Holidaying For Children Experiencing Social Exclusion: Recent Irish Evidence, Bernadette Quinn, Jane Stacey

Articles

There is a general assumption in contemporary society that holidaying is beneficial in many ways. Yet, even in affluent societies, access to holidaying opportunities continues to be constrained by a variety of factors relating to inter alia income, gender, health and race. This is problematic because it means that sizeable minorities within advanced societies are being denied the benefits that researchers have attributed to the practice of holidaying. Recently, there has been a renewed interest in problematising the exclusionist nature of holidaying with researchers arguing that a lack of holiday opportunities may compound social deprivation, reinforce social problems and heighten …

Do Haphazard Reviews Provide Sound Directions For Dissemination Efforts?, Eileen Gambrill, Julia H. Littell

Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research Faculty Research and Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Strengthening Family Practices For Latino Families, Karen G. Chartier, Lirio K. Negroni, Michie N. Hesselbrock

Social Work Publications

The study examined the effectiveness of a culturally-adapted Strengthening Families Program (SFP) for Latinos to reduce risks for alcohol and drug use in children. Latino families, predominantly Puerto Rican, with a 9–12 year old child and a parent(s) with a substance abuse problem participated in the study. Pre- and post-tests were conducted with each family. Parental stress, parent-child dysfunctional relations, and child behavior problems were reduced in the families receiving the intervention; family hardiness and family attachment were improved. Findings contribute to the validation of the SFP with Latinos, and can be used to inform social work practice with Puerto …

Alcohol Problems In Young Adults Transitioning From Adolescence To Adulthood: The Association With Race And Gender, Karen G. Chartier, Michie N. Hesselbrock, Victor M. Hesselbrock

Social Work Publications

Race and gender may be important considerations for recognizing alcohol related problems in Black and White young adults. This study examined the prevalence and age of onset of individual alcohol problems and alcohol problem severity across race and gender subgroups from a longitudinal study of a community sample of adolescents followed into young adulthood (N = 166; 23–29 yrs. old who were drinkers). All alcohol problems examined first occurred when subjects were in their late teens and early 20s. Drinking in hazardous situations, blackouts, and tolerance were the most common reported alcohol problems. In race and gender comparisons, more …

Impact Of Globalization On Central Appalachian Women: Social Capital And Social Support Networks, Jennifer Lanham

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Social networks and capital often sustain community and individual survival. This phenomenological study was designed to illuminate the experience of job loss within the context of globalization, describing the phenomenon from the perspective of rural women and its meaning for those participants. Using a phenomenological approach, this qualitative study explored eight rural women in Appalachian Kentucky who had experienced apparel factory layoffs as a result of global outsourcing. A modified form of van Kaam's method (Moustakas, 1994) was used for phenomenological analysis of the data. Data were analyzed using an eight-step technique to identify essential characteristics of rural women's lived …

A Study Of The Effect Of Social Capital On The Recovery Of Persons With Mental Illness In Taiwan, Su-Fen Liu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The main purpose of this study is to explore the association between social capital and recovery from mental illness in community-based rehabilitation services within the Taiwanese social and cultural context. This study employed a cross-sectional survey design using a convenience sample of 310 mental health consumers who were members in community mental health agencies (the rehabilitation centers or the half-way houses) in Taiwan and 26 practitioners who were familiar with these participated consumers. A series of hierarchical multiple-regression models were used to identify whether access to social capital has an independent effect on the perceptions of recovery. As expected, access …

A Phenomenological Study Of Racialized Experiences Of Asian Adopt Adoptees, Cindi Kim

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the nature and meaning of racial and ethnic identity as described by adult Asian adoptees who were transracially and internationally adopted. Particular focus of the study examined the racialization experiences and the relationships between racial and ethnic identity and socialization, and identified key influences on self-perception. The intent of this study was to gain insight into how this particular social group negotiated racial issues during different stages of development, while maintaining a sense of self. This study's approach took a narrative form, as participants described the essence of their experience contributing to their racial and ethnic identity …

A Grounded Theoretical Approach To Embodiment Among Homeless Youth, Felicia Washington Sy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Using grounded theory methodology, this research explored, described and theorized about the ways youth, specifically homeless youth; make sense of their bodies within the context of living environments. It describes the relationship between body, space, and context for homeless youth in order to inform treatment options for this population. The importance of context, setting, and participant frame of reference was stressed, because embodiment is contextually and culturally influenced. The research addressed the questions: What is the process of becoming consciously embodied for homeless youth who have experienced multiple traumas? Do homeless youth who have experienced multiple traumas perceive a role …

Male-To-Female Transsexual Individuals' Experience Of Clinical Relationships: A Phenomological Study, Karen M. Scarpella

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This phenomenological study was designed to gain insight into male-to-female transsexual clients' experience of clinical relationships. Transsexual clients who enter into a clinical relationship have an experience that is unique due to their transsexual status in society. Their circumstances warrant attention in research due to the following factors: 1) the nature of being transsexual 2) the gate-keeping requirements necessary for transition 3) their experience in society as a vulnerable and oppressed population, and, 4) the importance of understanding the transsexual individuals' experience of clinical relationships from the perspective of transsexual clients themselves. Twelve transsexual women were interviewed using semi-structured format …

The Impact Of Body Dissatisfaction On Depression And Sexual Attitudes Among College Age Women, Alesha Ianthe Marshall, Liliana Enriquetta. Llamas

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of the study was to assess the correlations between a young female's body image, the corresponding levels of depression, and the impact on her feelings about the experiences of intimate relationships. This research study examined the link between body image dissatisfaction, depression, and sexual attitudes among college women. This study hypothesized that various factors such as age, religion, and ethnicity may affect body image dissatisfaction. College women are a vulnerable population. This study utilized quantitative research methods through surveys that were administered to 120 college women between 18 and 30, with 83 women actually responding.

Children Affected By Mental Illness And Parental Involvement, Lisa Louise Pirtle

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this study was to determine if parents are involved in services provided for children with mental illnesses or Severely Emotionally Disturbed (SED). Mental health issues are becoming more and more prevalent in youth and adolescents. The study was conducted at Bilingual Family Counseling which provides individual counseling, family counseling, couple/marital counseling, school-based counseling, anger management groups, and support groups for girls.

Domestic Violence: Treatment Barriers In The Gay And Lesbian Community, Susan Crane

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this study is to investigate barriers to seeking services pertaining to domestic violence among the gay and lesbian population. The treatment barriers to seeking support and services for Same Sex Domestic Violence (SSDV) is related to fear, not feeling safe, judgmental attitudes, lack of education, and law enforcement discrimination.