Social Work Commons^™

Understanding Work-Related Stress And Practice Of Professional Self-Care – An Innovative Pedagogical Approach, Kam Man Kenny Kwong

Graduate School of Social Work Publications and Research

Social workers experience tremendous work-related stress - particularly among those providing direct services in healthcare settings. A review of related literature summarized several critical challenges faced by social workers who work with highly difficult clients in these settings, including (a) clients who engage in manipulative high-risk behaviors; (b) clients with serious illness who have multiple relapses; (c) clients who attempt or commit suicide; and (d) those who perpetrate violent or aggressive acts against themselves or others. This paper described and evaluated three sets of experiential learning activities with graduate level social work students, designed to increase their self-awareness and understanding …

Constructing A Deconstruction: Reflections On Dismantling Racism, Bronwyn Cross-Denny, Ashleigh Betso, Emily Cusick, Caitlin Doyle, Mikaela Marbot, Shauna Santos-Dempsey

School of Social Work Faculty Publications

The article is a reflective narrative regarding the work I do as an ally for change and social justice as a white woman. In my class on Human Diversity and Social Justice, I often discuss how I can use my white privilege to advance social justice to address racism. Several students who have taken the class offer their own reflections on taking the class. Relevant information from the literature is provided to ground the discussion and includes cultural competence, racism, white privilege, and racial identity development. Strategies for deconstructing racism are discussed.

Supporting Teen Leaders: Validation Of The I Drive Smart Survey, Cynthia M. George

Theses and Dissertations

Recent policy change allows states to spend federal dollars directly on teen-led driver safety efforts and requires regular evaluations of effectiveness. There are currently no standardized instruments to measure change in teen driving behavior relevant to teen leaders. This study serves the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security, Tennessee Highway Safety Office and their network of teen leaders to empirically test and refine the I Drive Smart survey developed by partners and grounded in the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). The survey is designed to be administered by teen leaders to their peers and produce data relevant for use …

Defining The Problem Of Consent Education In High School Across The United States, Julia Read

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Sexual education is generally thought of as something that is mentioned once in middle school, and possibly addressed in more depth in high school. Many recall a “scared straight” approach, involving an STI and STD slideshow, and countless statistics about the ineffectiveness of birth control. Some picture a more liberal approach, involving things like learning to put condoms on bananas, or learning how to obtain birth control and STD testing at Planned Parenthood. However, when many people think about their high school and middle school sex education, they do not necessarily recall explicit consent training. Why is that? Is it …

Program Evaluation Of The Wayne State University (Wsu) Transition To Independence Program (Tip), Dinah Ayna

Wayne State University Dissertations

Background: A significant number of children in the US are placed in the child welfare system every year. Among the multiple negative outcomes associated with being in the foster care system is a wide academic achievement gap between foster students and the general population, as well as other disadvantaged groups (e.g. low income). Low academic achievement is particularly pronounced in college. The government and higher education institutions are recognizing these educational gaps and developing specialized programs to address the unique needs of foster students; however, the effectiveness of these programs remains unclear. This study aims at evaluating the effectiveness of …

Engaging Msw Students In Faculty Research: Students’ Perspectives Of Involvement In A Program Evaluation, Rebecca Thomas, Christina M. Chiarelli-Helminiak, Kyle Barrette, Brunilda Ferraj

Social Work (Graduate) Faculty Publications

Engaging social work students in research is challenging, in part, because of the way research is taught in the classroom and the need for learners to effectively develop connections between the “abstract world” of research concepts with the “real world” of professional experiences. This article describes the experiences of graduate social work students involved in a process and outcome evaluation of a community-based program. Analysis of student learning outcomes and the team-based model used to engage students in the evaluation are provided to put forth a paradigm of teaching social work research through direct, supervised, and collaborative engagement.

Educational Experiences Of Foster Children And Communication Patterns Of Key Stakeholders: The Foster Parent Perspective, Teresa Hardin

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

This research explored the perspective of foster parents on the educational experiences of foster children and experiences of communication patterns with other key stakeholders (social workers, and teachers). Factors focused on were educational experience of foster children, communication patterns, the impact of communication patterns on the educational experience, and barriers to effective communication. Five individuals who were, at the time of the study, foster parents to at least one child were interviewed. Participants openly shared a variety of positive and negative experiences. This study adopted the theoretical framework of Bronfenbrenner’s cultural-ecological theory. Participant interviews were transcribed verbatim and inductive coding …

The Green Classroom Initiative: Developing A Non-Formal Educational Resource To Promote Positive Youth Development In An Elementary School In The Central Valley Region Of Costa Rica., Marlee Cea

Capstone Collection

While Costa Rica is not the most under-developed country in Central America, it still experiences poverty and school drop outs on par with neighboring countries and some exceptional regions of the United States. The primary focus of this thesis is to discuss how the “Green Classroom” initiative, a Peace Corps Volunteer’s attempt to create sustainable change, is rooted in modern educational theories; and how they have influenced the organizations and practical methodologies used to engineer this project. A secondary focus is on the process the volunteer and vital project partners experienced to create a sustainable educational resource for a primary …

Guidelines For Affirmative Social Work Education: Enhancing The Climate For Lgbqq Students, Staff, And Faculty In Social Work Education, S. L. Craig, E. J. Alessi, M. Fisher-Borne, Michael P. Dentato, A. Austin, M. Paceley, A. Wagaman, T. Arguello, T. Lewis, J.E. Balestrery, R. Van Der Horn

Social Work: School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Other Works

This report is intended to provide guidelines for the creation of social work educational environments that are affirmative of lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and questioning (LGBQQ) students, faculty, administrators, and staff. Creating affirmative social work educational environments for transgender and gender nonconforming populations is addressed in a companion document, Guidelines for Transgender and Gender Nonconforming (TGNC) Inclusive Social Work Education.

A Phenomenological Study: Foster Care Youth Aging Out Of The System, Guy Thompson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this applied dissertation was to explore the lived experiences of teens aging out of foster care, in an effort to better understand their needs. While the child welfare system is geared towards family preservation, reunification, and adoption, most young adults transitioning from the foster care system are not reunited with family members or are only reunited as a last resort. Unfortunately, every year, thousands are leaving the support of the foster care system, unprepared. Youth departing the child welfare system are not gradually transitioned into becoming self-sufficient. They do not have an effective support system available if …

Student Engagement In Undergraduate Social Work Education Among “At-Risk” Students, Ananda Newmark

Theses and Dissertations

College student engagement is an important factor that contributes to student success. This study is one of the first to explore student engagement in undergraduate social work education by examining engagement levels among at-risk social work students. In this study, two types of at-risk student groups were studied: First Generation College Students (FGCS) and transfer students. A cross sectional research design was used. Secondary analysis was performed on data gathered by the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) from five accredited, Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) programs in one southeast state. A sample of 135 BSW seniors were included in …

Technology Paved The Road For Students In A High-School Dropout Recovery Program To An Online College Class, C. Jayne Brahler

Physical Therapy Faculty Publications

Although there are Federal programs that are intended to assist a wide range of people with getting a college education, the educational attainment statistics confirm that these programs are not reaching the students who are the least apt to go to college. This chapter describes how technology enabled 52 inner-city high school students, 49% of whom had cumulative high school grade point averages (GPA) that were between 1.0 and 1.9 points, to be dually enrolled in an online college class and their online high school classes. The class average for the quizzes the students completed was 88% and the students …

Standing In The Intersection : Using Photovoice To Understand The Lived Experience Of Black Gay College Students Attending Predominantly White Postsecondary Institutions., Erica Caton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The intersection of multiple oppressed identities is characterized by the compounded effects of victimization, intimidation and continued marginalization by dominant culture groups in society. Despite a growing body of knowledge about the individual experiences of racial and sexual minorities, there remains a lack of understanding of the unique life experiences of individuals with intersecting oppressed identities, specifically Black gay youth. Failure or inability to recognize, understand and take action in response to the needs of Black gay youth in college, perpetuates a culture of oppression that compromises the physical and mental well-being, and the academic success of these students. Engaging …

Understanding Student Evaluations : A Black Faculty Perspective., Armon R. Perry, Sherri L. Wallace, Sharon E. Moore, Gwendolyn D. Perry-Burney

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Student evaluations of faculty teaching are critical components to the evaluation of faculty performance. These evaluations are used to determine teaching effectiveness and they influence tenure and promotion decisions. Although they are designed as objective assessments of teaching performance, extraneous factors, including the instructors’ race, can affect the composition and educational atmosphere at colleges and universities. In this reflection, we briefly review some literature on the use and utility of student evaluations and present narratives from social work faculty in which students’ evaluation contained perceived racial bias.

Social Work Ranks 11 Out Of 150 Programs In U.S.: Program Receives Top Marks From Social Work Degree Guide, Danni Francis

Andrews Agenda: Campus News

"The Andrews University Social Work Program ranks 11 out of 150 programs in Christian colleges across the United States, according to Social Work Degree Guide (SWDG)."

Parent Engagement At A Cristo Rey High School: Building Home-School Partnerships In A Multicultural Immigrant Community, Thomas M. Crea, Andrew D. Reynolds, Elizabeth Degnan

Journal of Catholic Education

Catholic social teaching affirms the primary role of parents in their children’s education, as well as the importance of a home-school partnership. The purposes of this article are to review the results of a mixed methods study of parent engagement at Cristo Rey Boston High School, and how the results of this study led to specific efforts to include parents more closely in the life of the school. Results suggest that parents in multicultural communities perceive their engagement to be an important part of their children’s education. Yet, this engagement may take different forms that may go unrecognized by school …

Evaluation Of The Kindergarten Readiness Partnership & Innovation Grants, Beth L. Green, Lindsey Brianna Patterson, Mackenzie Morris, Lindsey Anne Cochran, Callie H. Lambarth

Early Childhood

In July 2014, Oregon’s Early Learning Division provided first-time funding for sixteen communities across the state to implement Kindergarten Readiness Partnership & Innovation (KRPI) projects. The KRPI projects share the common goal of improving children’s school readiness and, ultimately, improving school success and reducing the achievement gap. To achieve these goals, grantees were given considerable local flexibility to implement innovative approaches in one or more of the following areas:

1. Supporting kindergarten readiness skills and smooth transitions to kindergarten;

2. Increasing family engagement in children’s learning and connecting families and schools;

3. Providing professional development to early learning and/or elementary …

Paramedicine And Social Work: Case Studies In Authentic Student Recruitment, Nathalie Collins, Lynelle Watts, Renee Strauss, David Hodgson

eCULTURE

Selling the course experience to future students has been corporatised across the Higher Education sector. At many universities marketing and sales specialists, such as ECU’s Student Recruitment Team, rather than academic staff, field prospective student enquiries. Representing courses authentically is crucial to matching future students with an appropriate course experience and career, as well is managing future students’ expectations. A challenge for academics is communicating the course/career experience to university sales agents (recruiters). A challenge for recruiters is conveying an authentic course experience to future students when they have not taken a course themselves. This paper selects two ECU courses, …

Art And..., Dayna J. Kriz

Graduate School of Art Theses

Almost anything goes in this time of contemporary artistic production as long as an artist can ‘back’ their ideas and the position they operate from. This expanding territory of production and engagement is an exciting potential for working artists, providing freedom to self-determine ones modus operandi within an expanding support system to engage the world with. While this is an exciting growth it is also potentially dangerous. The un-named and historically ambiguous position that Art1 operates from has created a rootless position to the production of culture. This rootlessness or, universal position has historically established itself as the gatekeeper and …

Resident Advisors React: Autoethnographic Reflections On High-Intensity Situations, Brenna A. Merrill

Sustainability and Social Justice

Resident Advisors (RAs) are paraprofessional peer leaders who are trained to respond to high-intensity incidents. Upon witnessing a crisis situation, I found it difficult to reflect and maintain my own personal wellness. The intent of this research has been to learn of and to give voice to the multiple ways in which RAs respond to such scenarios.

Utilizing autoethnography, I incorporate my experience with the perspectives of my coworkers and multidisciplinary literature. Seven current RAs, who had self-identified experiencing such an incident, volunteered to be interviewed. These narratives are embodied in the text in order to establish a dialogue between …

An Education Saved My Life: Silver Wolf’S Path To Promise, David Patterson Silver Wolf (Adelv Unegv Waya)

Books and Monographs

In An Education Saved My Life, Professor David A. Patterson Silver Wolf (Adelv unegv Waya) narrates his path from a difficult early family life, his introduction to alcohol and drugs as an adolescent, and a directionless early adulthood overshadowed by chemical dependency, to a series of events and encounters that transformed his life. Dr. Patterson Silver Wolf attributes not only the substance abuse, but the many turns that led to it, to what he calls a “poor belief system.” As the title suggests, by contrast, he attributes much of the success he has experienced since then to his education, but …

Towards A Deeper Understanding Of The Post-Traumatic Growth Factors Leading To An Improved Quality Of Life For Military Combat Veterans, Domonicque Tatum

All Capstone Projects

The issue of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following combat deployment among American military veterans has created significant barriers to successful reintegration. However, positive outcomes also exist in the form of posttraumatic growth. The purpose of this study was to examine Posttraumatic Growth in U.S. military combat veterans by identifying significant relationships among variables leading to successful reintegration of military personnel within the community following combat deployment. Participants in this correlational study included a total of 50 military combat veterans from various eras of conflict. Participants completed a survey battery containing the PTSD Checklist (PCLM), Combat Exposure Scale (CES), Post Deployment …

The Use Of Pbl In An Interprofessional Education Course For Health Care Professional Students, Kristine M. L'Ecuyer, David Pole, Sheila A. Leander

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

A problem-based learning (PBL) framework was utilized in a series of six interprofessional team seminars (IPTS) for postbaccalaureate students from seven health professions. The goal of IPTS was to develop a collaborative practice-ready workforce prepared to respond to patient care needs through use of concrete examples, skills development, critical thinking, and problem solving in safe, faculty-facilitated small groups. The collaborative nature of PBL closely correlates with teaching methodologies of the IPTS series. This study analyzed critical reflection assignments of nursing students in accelerated programs to determine the effectiveness of IPTS at preparing students for interprofessional collaborative practice. Findings indicated that …

2015 Massachusetts Family Impact Seminar, Emily M. Douglas Ph.D., Melinda Gushwa Ph.D., Licsw, Martha J. Henry Ph.D.

Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise

Mission Critical: Reforming Foster Care and Child Protective Services is the sixth Massachusetts Family Impact Seminar. It is designed to emphasize a family perspective in policymaking on issues related to reforming foster care and child protective services in the Commonwealth. In general, Family Impact Seminars analyze the consequences an issue, policy, or program may have for families.

Learning By Leading: Using Social Work Month Planning As Task Group Engagement, Abby M. Foreman, Erin Olson

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

No abstract provided.

Flip The Prison: Using A Holistic, Interdisciplinary Approach To Transform Closed Prisons And Adjudicated Youth, Debby Hanmer, Noran Sanford, Jason Hutchens, Michael Menefee

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

Flip the Prison: Is a collective Impact Model for transforming closed prisons into farms and educational centers utilizing mental health therapy, youth focused, sustainable agricultural entrepreneurship and service learning to stabilize adjudicated youth in the community. Of interest to educators, mental health clinicians, veterans, community leaders, clergy and entrepreneurs.

Grief And At-Risk Behavior: A Look At The Effectiveness Of Grief Counseling Groups For Adolescents In Public Schools, Kiana Battle

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

Brief Description: This presentation will explore the affects that grief has on adolescents, including at–risk behaviors, identity confusion, issues of self-worth, and many more. The presentation will illustrate the positive impact that grief counseling groups have among adolescents (with a special focus in the public school environment). Barriers that hinder the effective delivery of group counseling within the public school arena will also be addressed (such barriers are amount of time in the school day, student caseload, and administrative support). This presentation will also address the critical role that school social workers play, in effectively providing group counseling interventions to …

“Don’T Hate, Peer Mediate!” – Teaching Students To Say Yes To Non-Violent Conflict Resolution, Jocelyn Lee, Wendy Williamson

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

Rumors. Threats. Relationships. Bullying. The Mediation Center’s Peer Mediation Program has been successfully resolving these student-to-student conflicts (and more) since 2007. Through the use of non-violent conflict resolution training, Peer Mediators are helping their schools become more peaceful. Looking for a way to encourage positive student leadership and effective conflict resolution? Look no further - Peer Mediation is your answer! Target Audience: Teachers, Counselors, School Social Workers, Administrators, School Discipline Personnel.

Research-To-Practice Brief: Promising Evidence That Early Head Start Can Prevent Child Maltreatment, Rachel Chazan-Cohen, Beth L. Green, Catherine Ayoub, Jessica Dym Bartlett, Adam Von Ende, Carrie Jeanne Furrer

Child Abuse & Neglect Prevention

This brief addresses two main questions in a sample of Early Head Start eligible children: 1) the number and type of maltreatment episodes and 2) the impact of Early Head Start on child and family involvement in the child welfare system. These findings are especially important given the lack of scalable and effective preventive interventions. In addition, they are also timely given the recent interest in fostering collaborations between early care and education programs and child welfare agencies, agencies responsible for overseeing child protection from maltreatment (OHS & ACYF, 2010; ACYF & OHS, 2011; ACYF & OCC, 2011). The current …

Do Cyberbullies Really Want To Hurt Others?, Danielle Law

Clear Language Summaries

Cyberbullying occurs when computer and mobile technologies are used to intentionally harm others. When communicating online there are two basic motivations for online aggression: whether they are posting mean things with intention to harm, or whether they are engaging in these behaviours to defend themselves. This research found that the majority of teenagers are not intentionally mean; rather, they are navigating a world of miscommunication that lends itself to retaliation that spirals out of control in aggressive ways. A small percentage of teens are deliberately malicious and require special intervention. When educating teens about cyberbullying it is important to understand …