Social Welfare Commons^™

Exploring The Biocultural Profile Of The Undocumented Populations Of The Sonoran Corridor: A Skeletal Assessment Of The Prevention Through Deterrence Strategy, Mary A. Vaughn

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

Over the last thirty years the mortality rate of the undocumented population at the US-Mexico border has risen, requiring methods distinguishing US-born individuals from immigrants to improve the likelihood of identification and repatriation through foreign consulates. Forensic anthropologists with the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner (PCOME) have advocated for the use of the biocultural profile, combining the biological profile with factors including oral health, osteological stress, and personal effects. The biocultural profile serves two purposes, functioning both as a tool for identification and with which to document structural inequality within communities of origin.

This study examines changes in …

Bridging The Gap: Predictors Of Alignment Of Parent And Caseworker Perceptions Of Engagement, Jianchao Lai, Michelle I. Graef

Center on Children, Families, and the Law: Faculty Publications

This study examined predictors of alignment between parents’ and caseworkers’ perceptions of family engagement in child welfare services. Using data from 2,274 Alternative Response (AR)–eligible families randomized to AR or Traditional Response, engagement was assessed across the domains of Receptivity, Buy-in, Worker-family Relationship, and Mistrust using a modified Yatchmenoff (2005) scale. Multinomial logistic regression models identified factors associated with agreement and discrepancy between ratings of family engagement within the parent and worker dyad. While both parents and workers valued engagement, workers were more likely to provide higher overall engagement ratings, although the direction of discrepancy varied across specific subscales. Greater …

Enhancing The Eden Alternative Model With Well Standards: A Case Study Analysis, Mariah Stoner

Architecture Masters of Science Program: Theses

This thesis investigates the potential for improving the Eden Alternative Model, a person-centered approach to elder care that emphasizes creating a homelike environment and meaningful relationships, using WELL Standards, a building certification system focused on enhancing human health and well-being through improvements in environmental quality. Through a mixed-methods approach involving quantitative data analysis and qualitative case studies, this research examines how WELL Standards, which cover aspects such as air quality, water quality, lighting, and thermal comfort, can improve environmental quality and resident satisfaction within the Eden Alternative Model. This research introduces a tailored approach to elder care by combining these …

Recognizing Injustice, Reclaiming Voices: Establishing A Missing Persons Database For Missing And Murdered Indigenous Women And Children In Nebraska, Bayly W. Watson

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

Indigenous people have been the victims of harsh persecution since the time of colonization; this has negatively impacted Native communities and has contributed significantly to the ongoing crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Children (MMIWC) across the United States and Canada. Under Legislative Bill 154, Richards et al. (2021) conducted an initial study to identify missing Native cases in Nebraska and in 2023, the Attorney General appointed a Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) Liaison to help combat the number of missing Indigenous in the state. This thesis contributes to previous research by analyzing 20,049 reports from three …

Chasqui, Nicole Lachat

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Chasqui is a creative dissertation comprised of a thirteen-page critical introduction and a series of poems which consider varying forms of migration, including that of border crossings. The internalization of displacement through longing and alienation is examined in these poems. The author considers questions of inheritance through an exploration of personal, familial and sociopolitical bonds. Varying forms of violence, including colonial and gendered violence are reflected upon in the work.

Advisor: Kwame Dawes

Housing Affordability Impacting Factors In U.S. Urban Areas From 2010 To 2020: An Empirical Review Of Theoretical Factors, Colby Lee Woodson

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

This study examines housing affordability in United States Combined Statistical Areas (CSAs) and counties from 2010 to 2020, using American Community Survey and Building Permits Survey data. It evaluates theoretical frameworks from George Galster and Kwan Ok Lee. Using a multiscalar approach, affordability is assessed through a costs-over-income ratio, incorporating both supply- and demand-side factors. A novel contribution is the integration of elder dependency rates, which limit housing turnover and exacerbate supply constraints. Findings indicate that rising full homeownership—particularly among older households—has reduced tenure mobility. The study also shows that CSAs offer a stronger analytical resolution than counties. Despite home …

Social Determinants Of Health And Aging In Africa: Structural Inequality, Vulnerability, And The Future Of Care, Aremu Umor Lukman, Sunkanmi Folorunsho, Abdulrauf Olaitan Taofeeq

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Population aging is accelerating across Africa yet remains underrepresented in research, policy, and public health planning. This review critically examines how social determinants shape aging experiences across the continent, focusing on health, care systems, and structural inequalities. While traditional African societies have historically valued older adults, modernization, migration, and economic hardship have eroded support systems, leaving many to face old age with limited resources. Older Africans, particularly women and rural residents, contend with lifelong disadvantages including low education, informal labor, poverty, and gendered caregiving roles that contribute to poor health and social vulnerability. Health systems remain poorly equipped to address …

Exploring The Dynamics And Outcomes Of Family Engagement In Child Welfare Services: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach, Jianchao Lai, Michelle Graef, Todd Franke

Center on Children, Families, and the Law: Faculty Publications

Background: Engaging families effectively in child welfare services remains a persistent challenge, shaped by complex interactions between agency practices and family circumstances. While existing research has explored this issue, it has predominantly relied on data from agency and caseworker perspectives, often overlooking the crucial viewpoint of the families. Objectives: This study investigates families’ subjective experiences and perceptions within the child welfare system, focusing on their satisfaction with child welfare workers and overall engagement. Methods: The study draws on data collected through an evaluation of the implementation of Alternative Response in a Midwestern state. Agency administrative data is integrated with additional …

Praying To Tiktok, Seeking The Self: How Rhetoric Reveals And Conceals The World’S Most Powerful Guru Of The Postindustrial Age, Samantha L. Gillespie-Hoffman

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Imagine a world where the most powerful leader is a wellness guru that runs an elaborate church with millions of followers. The guru is so powerful that everyone believes they can read minds and make ordinary people rich and famous. The guru controls forms of communication, media channels, consumer tastes, and what people eat, drink, say, and even think. What if this guru was not human but actually an algorithm? Does this sound like the plot of a science fiction novel? I argue that this scenario is closer to reality than most will admit. In this project, readers encounter a …

Three Essays In Food Security And The U.S. Sugar Program, Jacob Michels

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Chapter one devises an approach to adjust estimates of the number of food insecure for changes in sedentarism over time. Existing methodologies are biased upwards and date back several decades. We build a household model utilizing a Stone-Geary utility function, which rationalizes households shifting their labor decisions towards sedentary activities. Our comparative statics examine the impacts of changes in the productivities of sedentary types, as opposed to my physically demanding types, of activities and also their returns. Our empirical approach is informed by our theoretical model and comparative statics, in which we construct a unique pseudo-panel dataset. Sitting time serves …

Examining Dietary Disparities And Associated Factors Among Young Children Across Diverse Racial, Ethnic And Immigrant Households In Nebraska, Naveta Bhatti

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Early childhood is a crucial stage for developing eating behaviors which in turn plays a major role in determining health outcomes. Assessing children’s diet plays a crucial role in tackling the obesity epidemic. One of the ways to assess children’s dietary intake is by evaluating their dietary quality. Dietary quality refers to the overall healthfulness and nutritional value of an individual's diet, considering the combination of foods consumed over time. Research has consistently demonstrated that a high-quality diet is associated with a reduced risk of several health issues, such as all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease incidence or mortality, cancer incidence or …

Towards Sustainable Development: Civic Architecture As Material Banks, Kathleen O'Gara

Masters in Architecture Program: Theses

This thesis posed the question, “How can buildings be designed to be disassembled and reused to reduce construction and demolition waste and reduce our unsustainable reliance on raw materials?” Designing for disassembly and reuse has the potential to dramatically increase the life of building materials, thus decreasing construction and demolition waste relating to architecture. When designing with deconstruction and reuse in mind, designers must consider the next life of these materials. The thesis was further narrowed to push the adaptability of these materials by designing a structural kit of parts. The structure system is often seen as a stable and …

A Compilation, Analysis, And Categorization Of 403 Atmospheric And Climate Science Misconceptions, Haeli Leighty

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT) has listed the inaccessibility of research related to misconceptions in atmospheric and climate science as a Geoscience Education Research Grand Challenge (Cervato et al. 2018). This project was a direct response to this call for research and consisted of three distinct steps: 1) data gathering, which included reviewing the literature for relevant misconception data, 2) a qualitative analysis, which included compiling, organizing, and categorizing the data collected, and 3) a quantitative analysis, which included determining the prevalence of each misconception across topic categories, demographic categories, and over time. A total of 403 misconceptions …

Between Pages And Politics: An Interdisciplinary Exploration Of Book Bans, Hannah Morrison

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Across the United States, school boards are being inundated with requests to ban books. While these conversations are often localized, what the rise in censorship across the country suggests is that there is a fierce movement behind censoring young adult literature. What is frequently erased in these campaigns are stories of people of color and queer communities, alongside topics such as sexuality, drugs, or violence. The presiding conclusion within childhood studies on how we have reached a point where censorship is abundantly common in American schools is that public discourse views children as less than or not fully formed, thus …

A Collaborative Campus Community Policing Model: A Case Study In Fostering Collective Efficacy Among Students, Faculty And Staff, Hassan Ramzah

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

This qualitative, single case study explored whether and how a campus police agency’s community policing model fostered collective efficacy among students, faculty, staff members and campus police. Using Bandura’s (2000) collective efficacy theory, this study was guided by the following questions: (1) How does a campus police department use a community policing model to build partnerships with students, faculty, and staff? (2) How do police officers, students, faculty, and staff perceive these partnership-building efforts, particularly as it relates to fostering collective efficacy within the campus community? (3) Through what processes have campus police partnerships with students, faculty, and staff contributed …

Competency-Based Personnel Selection Oklahoma - Site Intervention Logic Model, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development (Qic-Wd)

Intervention Summaries

Each QIC-WD site developed a logic model to serve as a visual representation of their selected intervention. All logic models included four main components: inputs, activities, outputs, and outcomes. Collectively, these demonstrate the resources and actions required to implement the program, as well as the associated result or changes anticipated through implementation of the program. The hypothesized relationships are represented by the pathways connecting the listed activities and anticipated outcomes. For more information see Site Overview.

Competency-Based Personnel Selection Oklahoma - Evaluation Overview, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development (Qic-Wd)

Intervention Summaries

The QIC-WD evaluation was conducted with the support of the Oklahoma Human Services (OKDHS) to determine if a Competency-based Personnel Selection process was effective in improving workforce and child welfare outcomes.

Research Questions

The primary research questions concerned the ability of the structured hiring tools to predict job performance, tenure, and turnover. It was hypothesized that the use of the standardized hiring process would result in the selection of candidates who performed better and had lower rates of turnover and longer tenure than candidates hired using existing selection processes, see Logic Model. Intermediate outcomes examined included employee feelings of …

Competency-Based Personnel Selection Oklahoma - Theory Of Change, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development (Qic-Wd)

Intervention Summaries

During the needs assessment process three areas of opportunity were discussed for possible intervention at the Oklahoma Human Services (OKDHS) Division of Child Welfare Services:

1. hiring of new workers,
2. promotion decisions for lead worker and supervisor positions, and
3. staff recognition and rewards.

Ultimately, one theory of change was developed to step through the “if, then” logic for implementation of a standardized hiring process to improve worker retention and performance.

The theory of change development process was informed by various data examined throughout the needs assessment, input from the Oklahoma QIC-WD Steering Committee, and relevant research and best practice for …

Competency-Based Personnel Selection Oklahoma - Implementation Overview, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development (Qic-Wd)

Intervention Summaries

The Implementation Team

The QIC-WD worked with Oklahoma Human Services (OKDHS) Division of Child Welfare Services to establish a team to lead the development and implementation of their competency-based personnel selection intervention. The implementation team was called the Oklahoma QIC-WD Steering Committee. It included a Programs Analyst from each of the five geographic regions of the state and one from the Foster Care and Adoptions program, the Site Implementation Manager (SIM), the Data Coordinator, project sponsor (Deputy Director), representatives from Human Resources, training partners within OKDHS and from University of Oklahoma Center for Public Management, and three members of …

Competency-Based Personnel Selection Oklahoma - Implementation Overview, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development (Qic-Wd)

Other QIC-WD Products

The Implementation Team

The QIC-WD worked with Oklahoma Human Services (OKDHS) Division of Child Welfare Services to establish a team to lead the development and implementation of their competency-based personnel selection intervention. The implementation team was called the Oklahoma QIC-WD Steering Committee. It included a Programs Analyst from each of the five geographic regions of the state and one from the Foster Care and Adoptions program, the Site Implementation Manager (SIM), the Data Coordinator, project sponsor (Deputy Director), representatives from Human Resources, training partners within OKDHS and from University of Oklahoma Center for Public Management, and three members of …

Supportive Supervision And Resiliency Ohio - Accwic Coaching Curriculum, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development (Qic-Wd)

Intervention Summaries

No abstract provided.

Supportive Supervision And Resiliency Ohio - Accwic Training Curriculum, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development (Qic-Wd)

Intervention Summaries

No abstract provided.

Supportive Supervision And Resiliency Ohio - Guidance For Coaches: Supporting Resilience, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development (Qic-Wd)

Intervention Summaries

No abstract provided.

Supportive Supervision And Resiliency Ohio - Resilience Alliance Facilitator Manual, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development (Qic-Wd)

Intervention Summaries

No abstract provided.

Supportive Supervision And Resiliency Ohio - Resilience Alliance Participant Handbook, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development (Qic-Wd)

Intervention Summaries

No abstract provided.

Supportive Supervision And Resiliency Ohio - Coaching In Child Welfare 2019 Participant Guide, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development (Qic-Wd)

Intervention Summaries

No abstract provided.

Supportive Supervision And Resiliency Ohio - Coaching To Support Resilience Chart, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development (Qic-Wd)

Intervention Summaries

No abstract provided.

Supportive Supervision And Resiliency Ohio - Coaching Ohio Flyer 2018, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development (Qic-Wd)

Intervention Summaries

No abstract provided.

Supportive Supervision And Resiliency Ohio - Coaching Ohio Flyer 2019, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development (Qic-Wd)

Intervention Summaries

No abstract provided.

Supportive Supervision And Resiliency Ohio - Final Summary, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development (Qic-Wd)

Intervention Summaries

Supportive Supervision and a Resilient Workforce

Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) is a state-led, county-administered child welfare system. Ohio’s 83 single-county agencies and two multi-county agencies are responsible for the delivery of child protective services and ongoing case management in Ohio’s 88 counties. In 2017, ODJFS had an annual turnover rate of about 27%. They applied to be a Quality Improvement Center for Workforce Development (QIC-WD) site with the goal of strengthening their child welfare workforce.

When ODJFS started working with the QIC-WD, a Workforce Implementation Team (WIT) was established to participate in a needs assessment process, …