Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Opioid Addiction In Rural America: The Transportation Need For Treatment Adherence, Jennifer Smith

DSW Capstone Projects

The opioid epidemic has continued to soar throughout the United States for over 20 years. While this epidemic knows no boundaries and affects all of America, rural communities have been drastically impacted by the number of persons suffering from this addiction, and the resulting staggering mortality rates. Rural populations face greater treatment barriers preventing patients from obtaining needed services as compared to other geographical locations. Patients face obstacles related to accessibility, availability, and stigmatization, placing them at higher risk for opioid misuse, abuse, and/or death. Even though this targeted population faces multiple complications in seeking treatment, transportation barriers are among …

The Role Of Organizational Leaders In Employee Self-Care: A Change Management Approach, Olivia Dawn Honaker

DSW Capstone Projects

Although literature demonstrates that helping professionals have had high levels of stress and burnout for decades, the COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated the issue. The already burdened healthcare workers, now facing increased workloads, long hours, and high-level exposure to trauma, have created an urgency to address this significant risk to helping professionals. The current capstone will bring awareness to organizational leaders regarding the importance of employee self-care and the benefits of implementing employee self-care programs. First, a systematic literature review will examine self-care in helping professions and explore how organizational leaders operationalize employee self-care programs. In addition, the capstone aims …

Bolstering Leadership Engagement To Community Coalition Work In Rural Appalachia, Melissa Slone

DSW Capstone Projects

Rural Appalachian communities are overwhelmed with high cancer rates, diabetes, disabilities, and substance use disorder. The challenges in addressing these increase when you factor in workforce shortages and limited funding. The literature documents the effectiveness of coalitions in addressing healthcare challenges within communities. The need is for leaders to reduce their hesitancy to engage in community coalition efforts and increase awareness of the impact community coalitions can have on addressing rural populations' health and well-being needs.

Product One was a systematic review focused on research that examined agency leaders’ perspectives on community coalition involvement. The purpose of conducting the systematic …

Trauma-Sensitive Leadership In Multidisciplinary Settings, Jennifer Griswold Withrow

DSW Capstone Projects

As the social work profession continues to expand into more diversified areas of practice, such as politics, environmental justice, governmental work, and international crisis work, it is critical to ensure that social workers have the tools necessary to be successful leaders in these extended areas. Utilizing Trauma-Sensitive Leadership is an important concept to incorporate into multidisciplinary teams to ensure employees and communities feel supported and understood. By implementing these concepts which are ingrained into the social work profession into expanded areas of practice, social workers can feel empowered to lead multidisciplinary teams and provide support and understanding to the staff …

Meeting The Psychosocial Needs Of Online Learners In Social Work Programs And Four-Year Universities: What Is Being Addressed And The Many Areas For Improvement, Kathryn Gould

DSW Capstone Projects

Almost half of social work students enter their program with a history of mental health diagnosis and exposure to multiple childhood traumas. Over half of students at four-year institutions are enrolled in one or more courses online, yet retention in online coursework is much lower than in in-person courses. As online programs continue to grow in the field of social work it becomes a vital requirement to address the psychosocial needs of online learners. The call of this capstone is to examine how universities and colleges of social work can meet the increasing need to improve course work and service …

Perinatal Substance Use Disorders And Co-Occurring Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Kaitlyn Dickens

DSW Capstone Projects

Pregnant and postpartum or perinatal women who experience Substance Use Disorder and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (SUD/PTSD) co-occurring are an underserved population and a gap can be observed in the research in terms of clinical presentation and treatment of SUD/PTSD among this population. Social work practitioners are at an increased probability of working with individuals who would identify as such. There are many psychosocial and health factors associated with untreated SUD/PTSD among perinatal women for both mother and baby.

Research suggests that the use of client centered approaches and narrative therapy is beneficial in working with those who experience PTSD. The …

A Pathway For Inclusive Innovation In Pediatric Mental Health: Prevention And Intervention Using Technology, Kate Corinne Bennett

DSW Capstone Projects

It is no secret that access to quality healthcare is difficult for citizens to achieve in the United States. Racism, discrimination, and oppression further exist at the root of compounding social problems, including limits in minority access to mental health services. The COVID-19 pandemic has also exacerbated mental health problems for young children, especially those who are already underserved and at risk. For these reasons, it is imperative that the social work profession emphasizes innovative approaches to equitable treatment access, including a focus on early intervention and the use of technology. Product one of this capstone engages a systematic review …

Black Men Need Love Too, Addressing Unaddressed Mental Health In African American Men, D'Quayvion Cloud

DSW Capstone Projects

The objective of this capstone is to analyze and demonstrate the importance of studies on unaddressed mental health among African American males. The major aim is to demonstrate why research, policy, and funding are vital to knowing how to work with this specific clinical group, allowing us to build effective and inclusive programs for these African American males and eliminate the stigma associated with members of this community. Due to unaddressed mental health and a lack of treatment options for our people, research has shown that African American men aged 20 to 24 had the highest suicide rate of any …

Teaching Anti-Racism Practices To White Social Work Students And Community Members, Dennis Cornell

DSW Capstone Projects

Racism continues to plague the United States and White people hold a key element to ending racism by adopting anti-racism practices in their professional and personal lives. This capstone on the findings of a comprehensive systematic literature review, examines empirically-based anti-racism interventions and practices that social work teachers and community educators can utilize in anti-racism courses and workshops for White students and community members. The final results yielded 29 peer-reviewed, qualitative/quantitative research studies within the years of 2003-2021 that can be broken down into six anti-racism intervention categories: class/educational groups, teaching methods, Implicit Association Test (IAT) usage, pro-Black stories/perspectives, interracial …

Music As An Instrument For Healing: Exploring Music Therapy For Increasing The Quality Of Life For Geriatric Veterans With Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (Ptsd), Travis Adams

DSW Capstone Projects

Military personnel can sometimes be put in dangerous situations that expose them to various types of traumas. Due to the nature of their work, veterans may be at a higher risk for developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD is a complex and challenging mental health disorder with symptoms that evolve with time. Geriatric veterans with PTSD are a particular population with unique needs that require attention and care. Music therapy is explored as a potential intervention to increase geriatric veterans' quality of life with PTSD.

Product One was a systematic review that examined the effectiveness of music therapy in improving …

Policy Change To Reduce Active Duty Suicide Rates, Michelle Rae Loper

DSW Capstone Projects

There continues to be a dramatic increase in the rates of suicide within the Active-Duty military population. There have been a number of efforts to curb the rates without any prolonged success. Several actions and studies have been conducted on risk factors, prevention efforts, and treatment interventions in an attempt to reduce the rates. This capstone comprises a sequence of academic papers: a systematic literature review, a conceptualization paper, and a practical application paper. This project aims to identify the essential policy components necessary moving forward within the Department of Defense to address this critical issue. The research question leading …

Children And High Conflict Divorce: Using Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy As Treatment, Ashley Berry

DSW Capstone Projects

The act of divorce has been commonplace throughout the world during the 20^th century, plateauing around the 1970s at around 50% of all marriages. While most divorces end peacefully, many contain ongoing conflict which can become detrimental to all involved, including the children. While historical treatment methods focus on changing the behavior of parents, there are instances where these methods may be ineffective, especially when the parents are unable or unwilling to change their conflictual behaviors. Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP), which has been used with individuals who have suffered from trauma, may be an option to use with this population …

Role Expansion Of School Social Workers: An Educational Paradigm Shift, Sara Murrell

DSW Capstone Projects

This capstone product includes three written documents. The purpose of this work was to discover and justify the role expansion of school social workers into school leaders. The first, a systematic literature review examining the roles of school social workers. This document will review the current literature describing which school social work roles promote school social workers as school leaders, and which roles act as barriers for school social workers to become school leaders. The second document is a conceptual paper. This document identifies the need for a paradigm shift in education towards a whole child perspective. This document looks …

Clinical Interventions For Developmental Trauma Disorder: How Evidence-Based Practice And Attachment Theory Can Inform Therapeutic Approach, Victoria Deveau

DSW Capstone Projects

Approximately two-thirds of U.S. children and adolescents report having experienced a traumatic event. A posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnosis requires that the youth has directly experienced a traumatic event, witnessed a traumatic event occur to others, or learned that a traumatic event has occurred to someone close. The clinician is in a diagnostic quandary, however, when the youth presents with the PTSD hallmarks of hyperarousal, avoidance, and emotional dysregulation, in absence of such life experiences. The answer to this quandary lies in an understanding of developmental trauma disorder (DTD). Clinical interventions for DTD are the focus of this capstone.

Product …

Self-Care And Cultural Humility: Expanding The Practice Of Social Work Leaders, Donia Addison

DSW Capstone Projects

Social workers experience vicarious trauma, secondary traumatic stress, and compassion fatigue regularly. Well documented in the literature, self-care has the ability to assuage these negative consequences, as well as, positively impact retention rates, decrease burnout and increase the quality of services provided to clients. Despite a burgeoning of research on self-care and burnout over the last few decades, continued empirical research is necessary. This capstone project sought to add to the knowledge base on self-care and provide pragmatic recommendations for future research and social work practice.

This capstone project was comprised of three scholarly products and focused on fostering cultural …

The Inclusion Of Black Social Workers: More Than A Seat-Creating A Culture Of Belonging, Sallie J. Ingram

DSW Capstone Projects

The social work profession has been around for at least 12 decades. During most of this time, Black and White social workers have focused on issues affecting their own races. Unfortunately, social work has been found to have some of the same biases and stereotypes as the society that it serves. Therefore, three products were developed to provide research-based evidence on the importance of inclusion of Black social workers and how this inclusion will benefit social work, and the clients served.

Product One was a systemic literature review focused on answering the research question of whether or not the social …

Meta-Practice For The Bachelor Level: A Needed Compliment To The Generalist Model, Patrick Callahan

DSW Capstone Projects

Meta-practice in this concept is the web or roadmap, that is, the interconnectedness of the three pillars of the generalist model of social work. The generalist model teaches that micro, mezzo, and macro are interconnected. However, students and new professionals often do not understand precisely what the connection is. This work gathers the available literature, the conceptual idea of the introduction for the bachelor level of education, and an application of introducing it in a course for instruction. There is a need for introducing meta-practice at the bachelor’s level because of the continued globalization of society. By teaching the concept …

The Underlying Issue: Acknowledging The Impact The Race-Based Bias Of Some White Teachers Poses For Black Adolescents, Cerenity Leavell-Barker

DSW Capstone Projects

Current literature fails to assess the race-based bias of some white teachers and its impact on the school-to-prison pipeline. The actions of some white teachers due to unconscious or conscious race-based bias can increase race-based stress experienced by Blacks students and lead to racial trauma. Racial trauma is a traumatic experience that can alter this stage of development and have significant impact on the academic achievement of Black adolescents and influence behaviors perceived as negative. The purpose of this capstone is to enhance awareness and knowledge on the traumatic impact the race-based bias of some white teachers poses for Black …

The Impact Of Bias And Historical Racial Trauma On Black Girls’ Education: Using Theory To Better Understand Benefits, Angela Fisher-Williams

DSW Capstone Projects

ABSTRACT OF CAPSTONE

Implicit biases are among the most unfair discriminating microaggressive habits; Black students face within the compulsory educational system. However, college institutions are not sufficiently preparing social work students to work with this marginalized group to help manage these needs through diversity training courses. The researcher wrote a synthesis paper that synthesized two theories, the Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome (PTSS). This research will determine if social work students who take part in diversity training embedded in their coursework could better prepare social workers for the field. This research employed a descriptive design while …

Leadership & Innovation: The Keys To Solving Wicked Social Problems, Kaye Mooney

DSW Capstone Projects

Social work leaders must utilize unique leadership styles and innovative activities to enhance human well-being and meet the basic needs of all people (NASW, 2008). Social work leaders must value and actively seek input from all people, strengthening the solutions' chance to work. Wicked social problems (WSP) plague our country, especially among marginalized groups. We must utilize a new combination of social work leadership styles to resolve WSP.

The capstone project presents significant social work leadership and social innovation findings. First, a systematic literature review synthesized how transformational, anti-oppressive, and ubuntu leadership styles impact social service organizations. The conceptual paper …

Systemic Solutions To Addressing Juvenile Sexual Offending, Alyscia Mayhugh

DSW Capstone Projects

Research on and treatment of juvenile sexual offenders has surged since the 1980s. While research on this social justice issue has expanded over the past four decades, little has been done in the United States to systemically address the recidivism rates of juvenile sexual offenders. The systematic literature review explores existing literature on this topic, with a focus on thematic categories that emerged through data extraction and analysis. The conceptual paper presents a unique idea for addressing juvenile sexual offending systemically, emphasizing the value of utilizing incrementalism and trauma theory to enact changes to existing systems. The final practice application …

Assessing Veterans For Acquired Suicide Capability: Blocking The Intersection Of Desire And Ability, Jennifer Schneider

DSW Capstone Projects

The purpose of the capstone project was to identify a procedure to increase the number of lethal means safety encounters occurring with the veteran population. Ultimately, the capstone had a dual focus to address this goal, as the systematic literature review focused on a research question separate from the remaining papers.

The systematic literature review asked, “what are veterans’ perspectives of discussing firearm safety with healthcare providers?” Through the review process, and the utilization of a meta-ethnography approach, two third-order constructs were formulated. These constructs identified that veterans view the provider as responsible for trust and rapport development, in addition …

Covid-19, Chronic Stress, And Adolescent Mental Health, Corina Barker

DSW Capstone Projects

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an undeniable impact on adolescent mental health. Though not considered to be high risk when it comes to physically contracting the virus itself, adolescents have shown to be significantly impacted by the indirect effects of the pandemic. Because of the unique and formative time, this is in their lives, adolescents are already vulnerable to the impact of social stressors. Risk factors associated with the COVID-19 pandemic such as social isolation, disruption in routine, uncertainty, fear, and chronic stress have all proven to have a profound negative impact on adolescent mental health and overall well-being. It …

Child Welfare: Workforce Retention, Competence, And The Connection To Social Work Education, Brittany Stanley

DSW Capstone Projects

While there are many avenues to discuss and explore, the key area of interest for the Capstone Project is that of retention of a competent frontline workforce. Each state has their own set of guidelines for hiring frontline workers which allows for variety in the educational backgrounds of the investigative and ongoing workers. This can become problematic when the educational background may not be the most suited for the work and challenges faced by child welfare workers.

During the development of the Capstone Project, one could not help but wonder that if workers were adequately prepared for the demands of …

Community-Oriented Policing: Building Trust And Collaborative Relationships With The Black Community, Tunice M. Cole

DSW Capstone Projects

Black people die at the hands of police at a disproportionate rate. In the United States, Black citizens are three times more likely to be killed by police than White citizens. This, along with other factors, has caused a lack of trust, legitimacy, and relationships between police and the Black community. Examining this problem from a socio-ecological and social constructivist perspective suggests that the solution encompasses the use of community feedback and experiences to build and develop a model of community-oriented policing that addresses the issues of the community being served.

Product one of this capstone was a systematic literature …

Healthcare Equity For Transgender Individuals, Mollie Staggs

DSW Capstone Projects

In the field of social justice and integrity, Social Work has dedicated itself to improving the welfare of the world, in which we all participate and interact. There are countless issues in our society that warrant professional attention for the fundamental purpose of positively impacting the livelihood of subcategories of people. For this particular Capstone Project, the focus is on transgender individuals’ systemic healthcare barriers that cisgender people within the United States do not similarly experience. The purpose is to unveil these disparities to then pose progressive alterations within the healthcare system to make the navigation and accessibility better for …

The Wheel Of Oppression: Rolling Towards Substance Use In Central Appalachia, Sydney Cox

DSW Capstone Projects

For nearly 100 years, Central Appalachia has been characterized by some of the highest poverty rates in the nation. Not coincidentally, the region has also been characterized by some of the highest rates of substance use. Despite decades of funding and support, Central Appalachia continues to foster a symbiotic relationship between poverty and substance use. The purpose of this project was to explore the missing link that ties the two poor determinants of health together and to provide a name to a phenomenon otherwise omitted from social work and policy making practice within Central Appalachia.

The first product of this …

An Integrated, Holistic Approach To Supporting The Wellbeing Of The Contemporary Social Services Workforce, Julia Moore

DSW Capstone Projects

Despite nearly 40 years of research regarding the effects of psychological distress among the social services workforce, there remains a lack of congruity among scholars and experts regarding the definition and epidemiology of the distinct constructs, including secondary traumatic stress, vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, and burnout. Current literature on these phenomena indicates that a lack of empirical methods for scientifically studying outcomes regarding effective prevention and intervention strategies have stalled efforts to advance the field of secondary trauma and create practical approaches to protecting the workforce serving trauma-exposed clients. This capstone project is focused on understanding the current literature regarding …

A Seat At The Table: Visioning Social Work’S Leadership Future, Lucas Hall

DSW Capstone Projects

This capstone focuses on the history of social work leadership, current trends in social work leadership, what is lacking and where we can go in the future. The systematic literature review was focuses on what is in the literature as it relates to social work leadership preparation. The conceptual paper proposes the creation of social work leadership fellowships and certification programs. Finally, the practice application paper is the full realization of the first two papers. A solution to the crisis of a lack of social work leadership preparation is proposed and fully fleshed out. The solution being the full-scale implementation …

Autonomous Self-Care: A Means To Mitigate Secondary Traumatic Stress Among Clinical Social Workers, Jessica Byrd

DSW Capstone Projects

Secondary traumatic stress (STS) negatively impacts the health of clinical social workers, thus, impairing their ability to provide quality services. The symptoms and consequences of STS have been discussed for decades and the conversation continues because STS is a prevalent and pervasive problem that effects social workers, clients, and organizations. For as long as STS has been recognized as a problem, self-care has been identified as a solution. Yet, clinical social workers underutilize self-care strategies to safeguard their mental, physical, and emotional well-being.

A systematic review of the literature review was conducted to explore, why self-care is underutilized among clinical …