Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Wake Up America: Conceptualizing The Social Determinants Of Sleep, Nicole Eve Bray

Masters Theses

This paper is an attempt to understand racial, ethnic and gender disparities in sleep as a sociological problem. Public health and sociological researchers have looked at the connection between sleep disparities among minorities and the impact it has on health. However, they haven’t explained and applied the social structural factors that cause these disparities, as well as address how stress can serve as a moderator. In my investigation, I found that sleep troubles differ across race, ethnicity and gender. These differences relate to the distinguishable life situations of women and minorities in American society, such as stressful life circumstances that …

Moral Discourses Of Atheist Organizations: Moral Contrasts, Symbolic Boundaries, And Collective Identities, Alexander Fether

Dissertations

This dissertation examines the ways atheist organizations construct morality and valorize atheist identities. Focusing on a discursive resources approach, wherein “atheist” is a social category whose meaning is contested, this analysis examines how representations of “atheists” are sedimented by the ways individuals and organizations communicate about atheism, religion, morality, secularism, and other relevant concepts which constitute this identity.

Examining the websites of two prominent atheist organization, Qualitative Content Analysis is used to identify the strategies used to legitimate atheist identities, discredit religion, and construct a coherent atheist morality. I describe the way atheist organizations engage in boundary work to challenge …

Sociological Viewpoint Of Intersectionality: A Focus On Class, Identity And Sexual Orientation, Sue Jiun Yap

Honors Theses

This thesis by Sue Jiun Yap examines the intersectional themes of class, identity, and sexual orientation in the films Saving Face, Crazy Rich Asians, and Everything Everywhere All At Once. The thesis paper will utilize content analysis methodology to explore the concepts listed. The analysis of these films highlights their groundbreaking works that challenge heteronormative and racial narratives in the film industry. In addition to these observations, the paper highlights Asian individuals and communities facing significant complications as a result of various intersecting identities - specifically class, identity, and sexual orientation. Furthermore, it highlights how such struggles contribute significantly …

Exploring The Use Of Cultural Values In The Evaluation Of Programs With Native American Tribes, Karen Lynn Alexander

Dissertations

This dissertation is a qualitative study that explores the importance of including cultural values in evaluation and whether this would lead to an increase in utilization of evaluation results. It was first wondered whether Native American values are included when evaluations are completed for Indigenous Tribes. A review of evaluations revealed that evaluations in the published literature are including general Native American values, although a document review alone was found to be insufficient as a method to capture the nuances related to value expression. It is suggested that more research is needed in the area of metaevaluation to include culturally …

Committed To The Cause? Examining Social Work Education's Role In Supporting Ally Behavior For Transgender And Nonbinary People And Communities, Brittanie Atteberry-Ash, N. Eugene Walls, Brendon T. Holloway, Jayme Dooley

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Transgender and nonbinary (TNB) youth and adults are under attack in the United States, with at least 300 state-level anti-transgender bills introduced thus far in 2022 (HRC, 2022). Social workers, guided by professional values and ethics, play a critical role in supporting and advocating for TNB youth and adults, clinically and through mezzo and macro approaches. Given the current political context and the goals of the social work profession, understanding correlates of ally behavior on behalf of TNB people among social work students can help guide improvements in social work education. Specifically, in this study, we examine how demographic differences, …

Applications Of Transformative Justice Principles For Centering Transgender And Gender Expansive Experiences In Social Work Education And Practice, E. Bickford, Angela Matijczak, Aaron Kemmerer, Florence Martinez, M. Alex Wagaman

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Social work education has traditionally used frameworks, such as cultural competency, to guide implicit and explicit curricula that shape how we think about communities that live and thrive outside of white supremacist and cis/heteronormative norms and values. While the cultural competency framework intends to promote a level of consciousness and attention that is required to practice with diverse individuals, families, and communities whose identities differ from that of the social worker, it instead inadvertently creates a knowledge base that reinforces harmful power dynamics between social worker and client/community. The cultural competency framework is absent of historical and structural context and …

Transphobia In Class, Anti-Trans Legislation At The State: A Commentary On Navigating Harm And Hope In A Social Work Education Program, Emera Greenwood, Megan S. Paceley

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

EG (they/them): I was misgendered on day one of my BSW program; isolation and transphobia continued for two years. While I did my best to advocate for myself, I learned that you can't fight institutionally entrenched oppression alone.

MP (they/them): EG joined my class mid-semester after repeated incidents of transphobia. For two years, during an onslaught of anti-trans policies across the U.S., we advocated for changes in our school and social work education.

EG’s experience is not unique. Numerous studies document transphobia experienced by transgender and gender expansive (TGE) social work students and the lack of TGE content, visibility, and …

"We're All We Have": Envisioning The Future Of Mutual Aid From Queer And Trans Perspectives, Brendon T. Holloway, C. Riley Hostetter, Karaya Morris, Jax Kynn, Maximillion Kilby

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Mutual aid has prevailed for as long as humans have existed. However, the concept of mutual aid became popularized in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the racial uprisings in response to the continued police brutality toward Black people, and an increase in global climate crises. Mutual aid spread as a way of survival and collective care when formal systems, such as federal and local governments within the U.S., were failing to meet people's needs. Using a subset of data from semi-structured interviews, the current study relied on a desire-based research framework and foresight lens to capture the …

An Introduction To The Special Issue, Megan S. Paceley, Candace Christensen

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

No abstract provided.

A Descriptive Account Of The Practicum Experiences Of Trans And Nonbinary Social Work Students, Jama Shelton, Sj Dodd, Jamie Borgan, Gabriel San Emeterio, Ana Rikki Wilhelm

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Current anti-transgender legislative activity necessitates social workers take action in solidarity with transgender and nonbinary (TNB) individuals and communities. Pervasive discrimination and marginalization of TNB people across multiple public domains, including education, is irrefutable (James et al, 2016). Social work education is no exception. Not only is there a documented lack of affirming educational and practicum opportunities for TNB social work students (Austin et al., 2016), social work students also report being ill-prepared to practice with TNB individuals and communities (Craig et al., 2015). Social workers are ethically obligated by their professional identification to demonstrate competency related to service provision …

“An Institution Can Have Good Intentions And Still Be Atrocious": Transgender And Gender Expansive Experiences In Social Work Education, M. Killian Kinney, Darren Cosgrove, Tayon R. Swafford, Richard A. Brandon-Friedman

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Educational settings have been found to be challenging arenas for transgender and gender expansive (TGE) youth and young adults due to misgendering, lack of affirming bathrooms, systemic exclusion (e.g., legal names and lack of inclusive gender identity demographic options), and frequent silence or avoidance related to TGE issues. Though studies of TGE adult experiences in higher education are emerging, most explore disaffirming experiences. Social work education focuses on diversity, equity, and inclusion, along with how to promote social justice, which suggests more affirming environments for TGE individuals. However, little is known about the experiences of TGE students and even less …

Teaching Beyond Trans-Competency: Exploring Trans-Affirming Pedagogy Through Applied Case Studies, Sam Harrell, Sarah Mountz, Hazel (Bobbi) Ali Zaman

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In this paper, we share two applied case studies social work instructors can use to teach trans-affirming, anti-oppressive practice. These cases span two practice arenas, child welfare and low-barrier shelter services, and are derived from practice in the authors’ personal and professional experiences in the Northeastern and Midwestern regions of the United States. For each case, we describe the accompanying class context, share our pedagogical approach, name the underlying assumptions and structures that facilitate harm, explore relevant practice skills, and identify theoretical, philosophical, and ethical commitments essential for trans-affirming practice. Our approach to social work education on transgender and gender …

Between The Noise And Silence: An Autoethnography Challenging Schools Of Social Work To Evolve For Trans Students, Isaac M. Akapnitis, G. Trey Jenkins, Natasha S. Mendoza

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Social work programs have been largely silent in the face of legislative at- tacks on transgender/nonbinary (TGNB or “trans”) communities across the U.S., which signals to TGNB students that they may not be supported in their respective programs. Consequently, TGNB students, staff, and faculty shoulder the burden to advocate for change within social work academic institutions and to speak out about violence perpetrated against TGNB communities. Using our voices as two trans doctoral students and a queer cisgender associate professor, we employed collaborative and critical autoethnography to share insights about the impact of this burden on TGNB social work students …

Volume 50, Issue 1 (2023)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

No abstract provided.

Anti-Transgender Policies And Practices In Social Work Education, Accreditation, And Licensing: A Call For Change, Darren L. Whitfield, Liam Westgate, Rachel E. Gartner, Leah A. Jacobs, Brittanie Atteberry-Ash

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The social work profession is guided by the values of social justice and the dignity and worth of the person. The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics requires that all social workers act in a professional manner consistent with these values. These values mandate that social workers “challenge social injustice on behalf of and in concert with vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups.” Yet, historically, and contemporarily, the social work profession and national professional organizations (i.e., NASW, the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), Associate of Social Work Boards (ASWB), Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR), …

“Have You Seen Me?”: Forensic Art For Human Identification, Mckenzie Stommen

Honors Theses

Forensic art for human identification is used to identify victims, suspects, and unidentified decedents. The field is highly interdisciplinary, and forensic artists draw on a broad range of skills, knowledge, and relationships with colleagues to complete this work. This paper will focus mainly on age progression and forensic facial reconstruction, although more applications of forensic art do exist. The case study in forensic art discussed here took the form of an age progression.

New developments in artificial intelligence, facial recognition, computed tomography, and DNA have implications for forensic art, and have already begun to find a place in the field. …

From The Farm To Higher Education: Interpreting The Experience Of Students With A Migrant/Seasonal Farm Working Background And Have Participated In The College Assistance Migrant Program (Camp), Elizbia Xaxni-Capula

Honors Theses

The following thesis presents research on the experience of scholars with a migrant and/or seasonal farmworker (MSFW) background and have participated in the College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) in a 4-year institution. This research begins the methodology that was used to select the subjects being interviewed individually. This is followed by a literature review of the data that is already available specific about this demographic presenting 3 common barriers. The barriers focused on this are economic constraints, family role in higher education, and the imposter syndrome. An analysis of the respondents' answers will contribute to the sections of this thesis, …

Suicide At The Intersection Of Race And Gender, Marina Geider

Masters Theses

Sociological studies have examined suicide rate differences between groups since the work of Durkheim in 1897, and current literature still draws on his classic theories and methods. Although research has begun identifying the social factors that affect the suicides of Black and White populations differentially, little progress has been made towards an understanding of Black female suicide. The present study takes an intersectional approach to Durkheim's social integration-regulation thesis to bridge this gap. Several negative binomial regression analyses were employed to model suicide counts for Black men, Black women, non-Hispanic White men, and non-Hispanic White women in the United States. …

The Communication Discipline And Peace Education: A Valuable Intersection For Disrupting Violence In Communication Centers, Victoria Mcdermott, Cortney Smith, Amy R. May

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

Violence is a significant issue impacting the physical, mental, social, and economic health of our learning communities. For decades the discipline of peace education has explored the effects of nonphysical violence on students and educators, as well as ways to create more peaceful, less violent, and equitable educational practices. While communication frameworks have been used in peace education research, no research found has theorized the potential value of peace education for the communication discipline. Using the contextual background of communication centers, this piece seeks to disrupt steadfast norms and practices within communication centers from the perspective of peace education. We …

Client-Centered Practice When Professional And Social Power Are Uncoupled: The Experiences Of Therapists From Marginalized Groups, Brenda L. Beagan, Kaitlin R. Sibbald, Tara M. Pride, Stephanie R. Bizzeth

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Background: Client-centeredness is foundational to occupational therapy, yet virtually no research has examined this aspect of practice as experienced by therapists from marginalized groups. The discourse of client-centeredness implicitly assumes a “dominant-group” therapist. Professional power is assumed to be accompanied by social power and privilege. Here, we explore what happens when professional and social power are uncoupled.

Method: In-depth interviews grounded in critical phenomenology were conducted with Canadian therapists (n = 20) who self-identified as disabled, minority sexual/gender identity (LGBTQ+), racialized, ethnic minority, and/or from working-class backgrounds. Iterative thematic analysis employed constant comparison using ATLAS.ti for team coding. …

Black (Muslim) Lives Matter: African American Muslim Social Activism, Jacob C. Riccioni

The Hilltop Review

Over the past eight years, the Black Lives Matter movement has advocated for marginalized communities within the African American population and called for police brutality and anti-black racism to be abolished. With the rise of Black Lives Matter in contemporary society, I am left wondering, do African American Muslims support the Black Lives Matter movement? There is no simple answer for African American Muslim leaders and laypeople because the Black Lives Matter movement supports LGBTQ+ rights, which some Muslims do not condone, and some rallies have broken out into riots. Religious leaders and scholars are split between supporting Black Lives …

The Weight Of The Interaction: An Exploration Of Fat Women's Experiences In Healthcare Settings, Danielle Snow

Masters Theses

Despite making up a large portion of the United States population, fat people are stigmatized, discriminated against, and treated as deviant. Though there is a large body of interdisciplinary literature on obesity and health, and a large body of sociological literature on stigma, there is little literature on fat stigma. Thus, using a Goffman’s stigma theory with the added contribution of Foucault’s concept the medical gaze and medical anthropological concept delegitimization, this qualitative thesis explores the health care experiences of 13 White and 2 Black fat women in the U.S. First, context for fatness and health is explored within chapter …

The Influence Of Integrated Behavioral Health Primary Care Setting On The Utilization Of Mental Health Services And Depression Treatment Response Among Men, Tendai Masiriri

Dissertations

The 2010-2013 National Health Interview Survey showed that nearly 9% of men had daily feelings of anxiety or depression, yet less than 41% sought help for their symptoms (Blumberg et al., 2016). Men are more reluctant than women to seek help (Angst et al., 2002; Brownhill et al., 2005). The failure to seek help among men is associated with multiple factors related to stigma and gender, yet male suicide rates are approximately 3-5 times higher than their female counterparts. However, they have a higher likelihood of seeking help from a medical provider rather than a mental health provider. If men …

Disability And Health In African Americans: Population Research And Implications For Occupational Therapy Community-Based Practice, Emily Schulz, Debarchana Ghosh, Eddie M. Clark, Beverly R. Williams, Randi Williams, Lijing Ma, Crystal L. Park, Cheryl L. Knott

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Background: Population-based research and community-based interventions are integral to occupational therapy’s scope of practice, yet they are underdeveloped in actual implementation. Therefore, this paper focuses on some health challenges facing the African American population, guided by the Person-Environment-Occupation-Performance Model.

Method: Using data from an observational cross-sectional nationwide telephone survey of African American adults, we examined differences between African Americans who are receiving disability payments (RDP) and those who are employed full time (FTE) on several physical health behaviors and psychosocial health indicators. We further compared the differences between African Americans RDP versus those FTE on those physical health …

Adult-Onset And Adolescent-Limited Suicidal Ideation: A Developmental Approach To Suicide, Brent Teasdale, Michelle N. Harris, Mindy Bradley, Suraiya H. Shammi, Jerreed D. Ivanich

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Suicidal thoughts and actions have typically been studied from an eventsbased perspective. Some emerging studies, however, have begun to examine suicide and related behaviors through a longitudinal perspective, specifically focusing on establishing trajectories of suicidal behavior. In general, this work produces three-class trajectories of suicide attempts among adolescents, including groups such as: (1) no or low suicidal behavior; (2) moderate suicidal behavior; and (3) high suicidal behavior. Less is known about potential trajectory patterns of suicidal ideation associated with later stages of the life course. Moreover, identifying a low-, moderate-, and high-risk group does not inform the developmental processes that …

Insistence: The Active Quest Of Citizens For Achieving Their Health And Justice Rights In Mexico, Julia Hernández-Gutiérrez

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In Mexico’s public healthcare and justice institutions, where insufficient infrastructure, unnecessary, confusing procedures, and mistreatment are common obstacles to fundamental rights, insistence can be interpreted as an indicator of a citizen’s active quest to ensure their rights are respected. Even if citizen dependence on the State is reinforced on a daily basis within some public institutions, service users are not inactive patients or victims waiting for their turn, but rather are active agents claiming their rights, because access to healthcare and justice cannot be achieved in Mexico without the ability to cope with bureaucratic barriers and the despotic attitude of …

Trauma And Resilience Among Migrant Children From Mexico And The Northern Triangle En Route To The United States, Georgina Sanchez Garcia, Mark Lusk, Paula Chavez Santamaria

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Children who are forced to migrate to flee violence, extreme poverty, and natural disasters are exposed to trauma in their countries of origin and on the migrant trail. Forced child migrants from Central America and Mexico who flee to the U.S. border are particularly vulnerable. In this qualitative study, we interviewed 76 migrant children from Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. We listened to their stories and assessed exposure to adverse events, traumatic stress and child resiliency. While children experienced adversity and trauma, they were protected by high levels of resiliency that is grounded in family, faith, courage and camaraderie.

Factors Associated With Receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) Among Newly Resettled Refugees In The United States, Edson Chipalo, Zainab Suntai, Simon Mwima

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In the United States, SNAP was made available to refugees in 1977, and most refugees rely heavily on SNAP to sustain themselves before becoming self-reliant. Knowledge of sociodemographic factors and chronic debilitating conditions related to receiving SNAP benefits among refugees is limited. This study aimed to examine sociodemographic factors and chronic debilitating conditions associated with receiving SNAP benefits among refugees resettled in the United States. This study used a cross-sectional, nationally representative sample (n=6,100) of the refugees who entered the U.S. between 2013 and 2017. The data were obtained from the 2018 Annual Survey of Refugees (ASR) from participants aged …

Punishment By Another Name? The Welfare State’S Disciplinary Role In The United States And Britain, Kavya Padmanabhan

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Scholarship on the changing nature of the welfare state in both the United States and in Britain has revealed how the influence of neoliberal ideologies has heightened the experience of punishment for poor mothers. Through a comparative literature review on the welfare states in the United States and in Britain, this article builds upon prior research to consider how the welfare state’s contemporary focus on discipline may be the product of neo- liberalism and may encourage similarities across different contexts. Furthermore, this article considers how the welfare state’s different agencies may be united in their goals and treatment of poor …

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

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

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