A Promising Approach In Home Visiting To Support Families Affected By Maternal Substance Use., Donna M. O'Malley, Danielle F. Chiang, Emily Siedlik, Katharine Ragon, Marcia Dutcher, Oneta Templeton

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

INTRODUCTION: Many factors influence women's use of alcohol and other drugs while pregnant and postpartum. Substance use impacts the maternal-child relationship during the critical neonatal period. The first days and months of human development lay the foundation for health and well-being across the lifespan, making this period an important window of opportunity to interrupt the transmission of trauma and stress to the next generation. Pregnant and postpartum women with a history of substance use require specialized support services.

METHODS: The Team for Infants Exposed to Substance abuse (TIES) Program provides a holistic, multi-disciplinary, community-based model to address the complex needs …

The Phenomenology Of Independent Living: Examining The Lived Experience Of Young Adults From Out-Of-Home Care In Wisconsin, Mary M. Mcmanus

School of Business Student Theses and Dissertations

Abstract:

Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis was used to examine how young adults with prior out-of-home care experience make meaning of the Independent Living (IL) process (Smith, Flowers & Larkin, 2009). Participants had been in foster care, kinship care, and informal care settings. All participants were enrolled at the university or had recently graduated from the university. All participants were female, white, and from mixed geographic background. None registered as having disability, although evidence of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) was shared. Only one study participant had prior experience with an IL contractor.

Individual interviews were conducted, followed by a focus group. The …

Stories From The Rainbow Road: 2slgbtqia+ Identified Youth And Service Provider Experiences Of Mental Health Service Delivery In The Province Of Newfoundland And Labrador, Kathleen De Jong

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

ABSTRACT

Stories from the Rainbow Road: 2SLGBTQIA+ Identified Youth and Service Provider Experiences of Mental Health Service Delivery in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador

The purpose of this research project was to understand how publicly funded mental health service provision to 2SLGBTQIA+ identified youth in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) is influenced by cis and heteronormativity. In a review of the associated literature, there is a notable focus on the barriers to mental health services experienced by queer and trans youth in general; however, there is very little information about the actual service delivery experiences of those …

Unpredictable Paths Into Care: Examining Hiv And Ms Care Relationships In Southern Ontario, Melissa Popiel

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In Canada, we often speak of caring for others as more than a social obligation; it is part of how we conceptualize ourselves and our humanity. Family/friend relationships can become strained, however, when providing care and support for people with complex and unpredictable chronic episodic illnesses, here termed episodic care. Relational impacts may be understood as influences and impacts directly related to the relationship between the carer and family member/friend. The purpose of this study is to create a middle-range grounded theory of episodic caring based on the relational impacts of carers for people living with HIV and MS. …

From Tajikistan To Russia And Back: Understanding Changes In Gender Relations Through The Lived Experiences Of Tajik Migrant Workers In Russia, Tahmina Shokirova

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation is the story of Tajik migrant workers who have lived and worked in Russia. It examines how gender relations of power change in the context of labour migration through the lived experiences of the migrants. The study asks the overarching research question: How do gender relations change in the context of Tajik labour migration to Russia? Following the social constructionist epistemology, gender is framed through the lens of post-structural, intersectional, and transnational feminist theories. The study employs a conceptual framework that integrates the following into a coherent whole: feminist theories of gender relations, the general context of international …

Faith-Inspired Praxis Of Love, Monica Chi

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The motivations of people of faith in the helping field are often misunderstood. In social work, while there has been a growing interest in making space for integrating the clients’ spirituality and practice (Canda & Furman, 2010; Hodge, 2013), the role of the practitioners’ faith in practice has not received much attention. To this effect, there is a lack of conceptual framework that describes their aspirations in helping and caring and what such practice looks like in everyday reality.

This dissertation presents a two-part study each culminating in two different developments. First, in light of a missing conceptual framework, I …

Relational Engagement At The Intersection Of Personal And Professional Identities: A Phenomenological Exploration Of The Experience Of Christian Therapists, Aaron Smith

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Though Christian spirituality and therapeutic relationships are unique subjects, commonly found throughout literature pertaining to each topic is an emphasis on how people ought to approach and participate in relationship with one another. In other words, each subject represents a unique tradition of relational engagement. For therapists who practice Christian spirituality, it is possible, if not likely, that both traditions impact how they go about engaging with clients. Despite this, there is a lack of material exploring the experience of relational engagement when these traditions intersect. For this reason, I set out to explore what this experience is like for …

Research To Consider While Effectively Re-Designing Child Welfare Services, Richard P. Barth, Jill Duerr Berrick, Antonio R. Garcia, Brett Drake, Melissa Jonson-Reid, John Gyourko, Johanna K. P. Greeson

Department of Social Work - Faculty Scholarship

An intense appetite for reforming and transforming child welfare services in the United States is yielding many new initiatives. Vulnerable children and families who become involved with child welfare clearly deserve higher quality and more effective services. New policies, programs, and practices should be built on sound evidence. Reforms based on misunderstandings about what the current data show may ultimately harm families. This review highlights 10 commonly held misconceptions which we assert are inconsistent with the best available contemporary evidence. Implications for better alignment of evidence and reform are discussed.

“One Hundred And Ninety-Four Got Licensed By Monday”: Application Of Design Thinking For Foster Care Innovation And Transformation In Rhode Island, Johanna K. P. Greeson, John Gyourko, Andrew J. Ortiz, Durell Coleman, Sixto Cancel

Department of Social Work - Faculty Scholarship

The American child welfare system is in crisis. Given its history, the beleaguered state of the system evokes little surprise. There is an urgent need for new and creative approaches to problem-solving and transformation in child welfare. Design Thinking, a change management framework that prioritizes deep empathy for end user needs is one such approach, holding promise for helping child welfare systems transform to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Like many states, Rhode Island has long struggled to effectively recruit, license, and retain an adequate pool of resource families. From 2012 to 2017, Rhode Island saw a 12% …

Chapter 1: Introduction: Toward A New Era Of Human Rights, Lihua Huang

Books and Contributions to Books

Using the human rights approach, this chapter attempts to fundamentally understand more diverse, healthy, active, and unequal older Americans. It explores genesis of ageism and calls professionals to recognize and combat pervasive ageism in their own attitudes, emotion, beliefs, and behaviors as in the society and professional practice.

The Rise In Use Of Emotional Support Animals By College Students: The Impact Of Parenting Styles, Misty G. Smith, Samantha Ballard, Jill Willis

Journal of Higher Education & Student Affairs

As the generational context of higher education shifts, a rise of Emotional Support Animals (ESA) and mental health concerns are present for students on college campuses. While previous studies have aimed to address the relevancy and controversy of ESAs in higher education as well as their effectiveness in supporting individuals, less research has explored underlying factors that contribute to the use of an ESA. The purpose of this study was to explore the parenting behaviors of parents/caregivers of students with ESAs in comparison to parents/caregivers of students without ESAs. An embedded mixed methods design was used. Participants completed the Parenting …

Harming The Help-Seeking: Necessity For Assessing Harmful And Biased Attitudes Toward Clients With Substance Use Disorder, Crystal D. Mcdowell, Crystal Dawn Mcdowell

Psychology Doctoral Specialization Projects

Numerous times, as a new clinician, I have witnessed the substance use disorder population referred to as not being dependable, dangerous, burnt out, and even hopeless. Often times I have heard mental health professionals make statements amongst themselves that the client could not be helped, referred to them as a “frequent flyer,” (meant to convey they frequently present for treatment, relapse, and return for treatment), and complain how tax dollars are being wasted to support the client. I felt empathy and a sense of hopelessness for these clients as they were seeking treatment in order to get help and yet …

“Render A Service Worthy Of Me”: A Qualitative Study Of Factors Influencing Access To Lgbtq-Specific Health Services, Sara Matsuzaka, Meghan Romanelli, Kimberly D. Hudson

Department of Social Work and Child Advocacy Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

For a half-century, LGBTQ-specific health services have sought to address the unmet health care needs of LGBTQ people in the U.S. However, there is a dearth of research examining factors that influence LGBTQ care-seekers’ reasons for choosing LGBTQ-specific services and their experiences accessing care. This interview-based study explored factors that facilitate and inhibit access to LGBTQ-specific health services among a sample of 40 LGBTQ adults in a major U.S. city. Using framework analysis, emergent themes were organized into supply- and demand side factors, guided by Levesque et al.’s (2013) framework for patient-centered health care access. Supply-side factors included provider empathy …

Exploring The Religious Motives Of The Boko Haram Terrorism In Nigeria, Andrew Abah

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Boko Haram (BH) terrorism in Nigeria has persisted for over a decade, and the attacks continue to get more sophisticated, deadly, and well-coordinated with each passing year. Given the sect’s focus on religious institutions, especially churches and mosques considered not to be practicing the kind of Islam the BH expresses, the purpose of this dissertation was to explore the religious motivation that drives their terrorist activities. The primary research question that guided this qualitative study on the religious motivations, reconciliation of activities and beliefs, and perspectives regarding minimizing BH terrorism in Nigeria. The study’s theoretical framework was the frustration-aggression theory …

Citizens' Perspectives On Accountability Of Nongovernmental Organizations Providing Drinking Water In Northern Ghana, Abdul-Nashiru Mohammed

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractAccountability is an important concept in public administration and across multiple sectors. NGOs work towards achieving their social purpose and yet, they are perceived to be accountable only to their donors but not to citizens. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore perspectives of citizens in three districts: Bongo, Wa, and Sagnarigu in Northern Ghana on how NGOs demonstrate accountability in fulfilling their commitments in drinking water provision. It specifically investigated the lived experiences of citizens: local government authorities, traditional authorities, and individual citizens from the districts. Research literature emphasized upward accountability resulting in a gap observed …

Social Support Experiences Of Stably Housed Emancipated Foster Youth, Camron L. Whitacre

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Youth emancipating from foster care are at increased risk of housing instability and homelessness and have reduced access to needed social supports to aid in the difficult transition to independent living. The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to understand the lived formal social support experiences of stably housed emancipated foster youth. Purposive sampling techniques and inclusion criteria guided the recruitment of nine study participants from a state-administered postemancipation services program to take part in semistructured interviews. A conceptual framework, including social convoy and attachment theories, informed inquiry, and interpretation of findings. Participant lived experiences illuminated the importance of …

School Social Work Leadership Self-Efficacy And Perceptions Of Multidisciplinary Collaboration, Megan Pendley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

School social workers employ a variety of interventions to meet the needs of students, staff, and families. Serving as the vital link between the school, student, and community, school social workers are well positioned for leadership opportunities. Yet, school social workers continue to be marginalized and under recognized for their leadership capabilities and unique contributions to interdisciplinary collaboration in the school setting. Informed by transformational leadership theory and self-efficacy theory, this study was conducted to examine the relationship between leadership self-efficacy and perceptions of interdisciplinary collaboration of school social workers as measured by the leader efficacy questionnaire and the index …

Social Support Of Caregiver Sons Of Parents With Dementia, Ralph Callanta Pascual

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite the growing number of male caregivers, few researchers have examined social supports for caregiver sons of parents with dementia. The purpose of this qualitative interpretative phenomenological study was to contribute to the empirical literature on the social support of caregiver sons of aging parents with dementia. The research question centered on the lived experience of social support of caregiver sons of parents with dementia. The theoretical framework was the social role theory. The sample consisted of eight caregiver sons of parents with dementia. Participants were interviewed using semi-structured, researcher-developed questions. The results were generated from coding and thematizing processes, …

Supervision Needs For Social Workers Providing Home-Based Treatment For Children And Families, Magda Demerritt

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Social workers providing home-based therapy services for children and families face challenges that make it difficult to provide efficient and effective treatment. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the supervision needs of social workers who provide treatment using the home-based service delivery model. The leader-member exchange theory was used to guide the study. Data were collected from a focus group meeting with 10 master’s-level social workers in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Findings from coding and thematic analysis revealed that participants’ needs involved being educated on the value of the home-based model, receiving support and guidance related to their …

Let's Get Free: Family Policing, Prison Industrial Complex Abolition, And Transcendent Love, Emma Li

Scripps Senior Theses

My objective is to illuminate the painful, discriminatory, and avoidable effects of family separation underneath the American child welfare system and tradition of family policing. In this bureaucratically sprawling and interconnected system comprising of prisons, courts, social workers, and doctors, individual blame is assigned to parents, families, and communities facing long-running systemic problems. Family policing and the child welfare system have long been excluded from conventional discussions surrounding the harms of police and prisons. The everyday violence Black, Latinx, and low-income families face at the threat of/implementation of family separation - an immensely traumatic and agonizing process - must be …

The Growing Need For Advocacy In The Disabilities Field: An Analysis Of Existing Barriers, Lauren Kilpatrick

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The goal of this project is to describe the barriers that people with disabilities experience to better advocate for them. It will be a 16-20-page literature review based on a minimum of 30 academic articles. The articles will be analyzed, summarized, and applied to the topic of barriers and advocacy for people with developmental disabilities. A case study of a person with disabilities will be included and any gaps in the literature will be noted as well. The project is designed to equip people who have not experienced these barriers directly to better advocate for this population. This is important …

The Influence Of Colorism On The Hair Experiences Of African American Female Adolescents, Lakindra Mitchell Dove

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article addresses the prevalence of colorism among the hair care narratives of African American female adolescents. Eleven interviews were conducted to explore the connection between hair and sense of self and self-esteem. During data collection and analysis, the theme surrounding colorism emerged, as many participants discussed its influence on hair, recalling traumatic hair and colorist experiences. This article focuses on the analysis of these narratives using the colorist-historical trauma framework. Three themes emerged: (1) colorist experiences; (2) perceptions of good hair; and (3) the influence of White beauty standards. These themes reflect how participants conceptualized the implications of colorism …

Factors Associated With Poverty Among Refugees In The United States, Mitra Naseh, Miriam Potocky, Shanna L. Burke, Paul H. Stuart, Fatma Huffman

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background and Purpose: Approximately three million refugees have arrived in the United States in the past four decades. Literature suggests, after arrival in the country and in the short-term period thereafter, it is likely for refugees as New Americans to experience poverty and deprivation in different aspects of life. In this context, knowledge of factors associated with poverty among refugees is important and relevant for social workers as front-line service providers for refugees and economically disadvantaged individuals. Using social exclusion theory as a framework, this study hypothesized that the factors associated with integration in the refugee integration conceptual framework (Ager …

Ready? Set? Go?: Examining Organizational Readiness For Change In A Quality Improvement Intervention For Youth Mentoring Programs, Renee Spencer, Alison L. Drew, Carla Herrera, Bowen Mcbeath, Thomas E. Keller

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The number of youth mentoring programs has risen significantly in recent decades. This trend, coupled with evidence that programs employing a greater number of empirically supported practices achieve more positive effects for youth participants, has prompted increasing interest in how to promote more widespread use of evidence-based practice standards in mentoring programs. In an effort to describe and better understand efforts to implement recommended standards, we studied a multi-level initiative sponsored by a national advocacy organization in which its state-level Affiliates guided local mentoring programs through a structured quality improvement process. Specifically, we examined organizational readiness for change among mentoring …

A Comparative Study On The Cultivation Of Undergraduate Environmental Talents In Chinese And American Universities Based On Ecosystem Management Thought*, Qing Tian, Bowen Mcbeath, Takeo Morimo, Si Wang

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Since the Industrial Revolution, the relationship between human beings and nature has appeared unprecedented sharp contradiction. In modern times, human beings mainly respond to the contradiction in the relationship between human and nature through environmental management.

“Child Witches”: Sexual Exploitation And Abuse Of Homeless Girls In South-Southern Nigeria, Chima Agazue

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Sexual exploitation and abuse of girls is one of the endemic social problems in Nigeria. Although this problem has attracted much research attention in recent times, some newly emerged factors contributing to the problem have been mostly ignored. This study explored how the abandonment of children following their stigmatization as witches contributes to sexual exploitation and abuse of the girls in the Akwa Ibom and Cross River states of Nigeria. The study was based on the qualitative research paradigm. Data was collected via semi-structured interviews of three senior staff members of the Child’s Rights and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN)—a children’s charity …

Social Determinants Of Economic Self-Sufficiency (Ess) In Health Profession Opportunity Grants (Hpog): Focusing On The Process Of Health Care Career Pathways, Jang Ho Park

Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the social determinants of economic self-sufficiency among low-income jobseekers in a federally sponsored healthcare career pathways program. Particularly this dissertation focused on the effects of the process element of self-sufficiency called psychological self-sufficiency, which consist of perceived employment barriers (PEB) and employment hope (EH) (Hong 2013; 2016). Although many studies have evaluated the effectiveness of workforce development programs that focus on economic outcomes, little empirical research has been conducted to examine the psychological prerequisites for achieving economic self-sufficiency. To address this gap in the literature, this dissertation examined potential effect of psychological …

Review Of Sex-Positive Social Work By S. J. Dodd, Melinda M. Mccormick

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

No abstract provided.

Distress And Resilience In Resettled Refugees Of War: Implications For Screening, Michael Hollifield, Eric C. Toolson, Sasha Verbillis-Kolp, Beth Farmer, Junko Yamazaki, Tsegaba Woldehaimanot, Annette Holland

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

There is little work published about predictors of specific trajectory types of distress in refugees of war during early resettlement in a host country. Data about distress (Refugee Health Screener—15 (RHS-15)) and possible predictors of distress were collected at the domestic medical examination (T1) within 90 days of arrival and the civil surgeon examination (T2) 11–16 months after T1 for refugee groups from three countries (COU). Descriptive, correlative, analyses of variance, and regression techniques were used to determine trajectory type and their predictors. A higher percentage (7.3%) were distressed at T2 than at T1. By group, the Bhutanese became more …

Assessing The Implicit Curriculum In Social Work Education: An Examination Of The University Of Northern Iowa Students' Experiences, Madison Motz

Honors Program Theses

As part of a social work program’s accreditation process, social work programs across the United States are now being asked to assess their implicit curriculum, defined as the educational environment in which the explicit curriculum is presented, as new evidence has shown that implicit curriculum plays an important role in the learning, development, and professional outcome of social work students. Following the wake of a series of student diversity-related injustices across the state of Iowa, our team set out to create an implicit curriculum survey tool shaped by the experiences, concerns, and feedback presented by students within the social work …