Social Work Commons^™

Peer-Led Mental Health Services On College Campuses: A Scoping Review, Anadja Tamofo

Social Work Theses - Archive

This scoping review explores peer-led mental health services on college campuses, focusing on virtual mental well-being support. It examines the implementation, effectiveness, and outcomes of these interventions, highlighting the pivotal role of peer supporters. The review identifies three key themes: the importance of structured implementation, the effectiveness of peer-led interventions in reducing stigma and improving outcomes, and the psychosocial benefits and challenges faced by peer supporters. Significant gaps remain in understanding how to train and support peer supporters effectively, especially in virtual environments. Addressing these gaps can enhance program sustainability, improve student well-being, and foster supportive campus environments.

Boiling Behind Bars: Exploring The Hidden Toll Of Extreme Heat On Mental Health In Texas Prisons, Sandra K. Miller

Social Work Theses - Archive

The State of Texas supports the largest prison system in the US and held 132,859 people in 100 units scattered across the state as of December 2023. Approximately 70% of Texas prison beds are not air conditioned, despite the state’s reputation for dangerously hot, humid summers. The State has officially recorded temperatures inside Texas prison facilities as high as 120 degrees with heat index values of over 150. Although there is a growing body of research on the negative physiological and psychological consequences of extreme heat among the general public, little is known about the physical and emotional toll of …

What Are We Waiting For? A Collection Of Poems And Essays About Family, Love, Loss, Time, And Hope, Right/Write To Heal, Skye Adams, D W, N L, D G, Jillian Foley, Madison Burke, Erica King, Becky Wurwarg

Justice Policy

This anthology is a collaboration with the Opportunity Scholars project and the Right/Write to Heal Initiative. The collection tells the stories of women and their families who have been impacted by incarceration in Maine and New York, the pathways that brought them to justice system involvement, and what inspires them to remain hopeful. These stories of family, love, loss, time, and hope were written by residents at the Southern Maine Women’s Reentry Center and the Women’s Center at the Maine Correctional Center, and partners from New York who participated in a weekly creative writing project together. The authors and editors …

Considering A Unified Model Of Artificial Intelligence Enhanced Social Work: A Systematic Review, Michael Garkish, Lauri Goldkind

Social Service Faculty Publications

Social work, as a human rights–based profession, is globally recognized as a profession committed to enhancing human well-being and helping meet the basic needs of all people, with a particular focus on those who are marginalized vulner- able, oppressed, or living in poverty. Artificial intelligence (AI), a sub-discipline of computer science, focuses on develop- ing computers with decision-making capacity. The impacts of these two disciplines on each other and the ecosystems that social work is most concerned with have considerable unrealized potential. This systematic review aims to map the research landscape of social work AI scholarship. The authors analyzed the …

Alternative Shelter Evaluation Report, Jacen Greene, Todd Ferry, Emily Leickly, Franklin H. Spurbeck

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

This report summarizes research by Portland State University’s Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative for the Joint Office of Homeless Services on the cost, participant experiences, and client outcomes in village-style and motel shelters as compared to each other and to traditional, congregate shelters.

Pressing Toward Progress: A Phenomenological Study Exploring Perceptions Of Wellness Among Black Female Non-Traditional Students, Stacey Wiggins

Theses and Dissertations

Black female nontraditional student enrollment is increasing. Black women have higher rates of preventable stress related health issues than their white counterparts. While they have shown endurance and resilience to pursue their degree, it can jeopardize their wellness. This study provides an understanding of how this population perceives their wellness and what can be done to help them matriculate higher education without violating their wellness.

What’S Harm Reduction Got To Do With It? A Study Of The Implementation Of Substance Use Management Practices Among A Sample Of U.S. Domestic Violence Programs, Stephanie H. Ratliff

Theses and Dissertations--Social Work

Domestic violence programs are essential resources for survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV). Programs offer services that go beyond providing safety and shelter. To improve outcomes, program staff have expanded services to meet the needs of survivors. One population of survivors that has gained attention in the peer-reviewed literature is survivors who use substances (SWUS). These survivors have unique needs and are at increased risk of IPV due to substance misuse. Research about the support available to SWUS after they access shelter is scarce. Using cross-sectional data from a national sample of 97 U.S. domestic violence programs, this study describes …

The Unequal Distribution Of Social Risk For Black Men Across The Life-Span. A Novel Framework., Waleed Y. Sami

Adultspan Journal

This conceptual overview offers a comprehensive overview of systemic pathways that negatively impact the mental health of Black Men throughout their lives. Our argument highlights the importance for counselors and mental health professionals to utilize a thorough social risk assessment that considers these pathways in order to effectively address the mental health needs of Black Men while fostering positive working relationships. This overview strongly advocates for the use of context and structural determinants when evaluating mental health symptoms. Without an appropriate understanding of social risk and determinants, counselors may inadvertently perpetuate disparities by decontextualizing symptomology, and reproducing racist discourse.

Advancing Strength-Based Inclusive Mental Health Research In Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities, Luther Kalb, Joan B. Beasley

Developmental Disabilities Network Journal

No abstract provided.

Acknowledgments, Matt Wappett

Developmental Disabilities Network Journal

No abstract provided.

Impacts Of Sex Work Criminalization On Sex Workers In Oregon: A Pilot Study, Stephanie Wahab, Katie Shammel

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Executive Summary

Context for the Study
In July, 2023, Oregon legislators voted to fund research exploring the impacts of the criminalization of sex work in Oregon. Unfortunately, the Governor vetoed the budget item, stating that the private sector should fund this type of public health research and noting the need for additional public discussion about the issue. To date, there have been no attempts to study the impacts of prostitution laws on the people most impacted by them in Oregon. The research presented in this report seeks to address this gap.

This qualitative pilot study was designed to better understand …

Master Of Social Work Portfolio, Amber Thornton

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

This reflection on my journey through the Master of Social Work (MSW) program highlights the transformative influence of critical self-reflection, research, policy analysis, and leadership in shaping my development as a social worker. The program has equipped me with key competencies to engage effectively with individuals, families, groups, and communities, promoting empowerment and advancing social justice. Through hands-on experiences in individual engagement, family assessment, group intervention, and organizational evaluation, I have gained a holistic understanding of social work that emphasizes empathy, tailored interventions, and systemic change. My involvement in policy practice and advocacy has underscored the importance of evidence-based research …

The Role Of Hope In The Lives Of Sexual And Gender Minority Youth: The Relationship Between Bullying And Life Satisfaction, Jedediah E. Bragg, Daniel Howell, Shane R. Brady

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Among sexual and gender minority students, 70% are bullied at school every year in the United States (2019). This study utilized a random 6% sample (n = 400) from the 2018 Washington State Healthy Youth Survey (n = 32,271), to assess the relationships between sexuality, bullying and life satisfaction, and then how hope moderates this established relationship. Results of this study illustrate the negative effects of bullying on life satisfaction for all students, while highlighting differences across sexuality. Additionally, this study illustrates that interventions to address the impacts of bullying might be best served by including the positive construct of …

Global Deaf And Disability-Led Partnerships For Accessible Emergency Response And Humanitarian Action, Alina A. Engelman, Joe Booze, Alexia Izquierdo

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Disability-serving non-profit, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) play a critical role in fostering care networks and supporting humanitarian action for disabled people before and during emergencies, particularly in the absence of targeted philanthropic and governmental support. However, relatively few NGOs serving disabled people are led or operated by people with disabilities, especially by disabled women. This analysis, based on survey and interview data with leadership, explores the impact of two disability-led operations. Findings have profound implications for how social work practice can center disability justice both in preparing for and responding to emergencies. This paper assesses the needs and impact of two …

Diverging From Conventional Autism Research Through Meaningfully Including An Adult Autism Community: Processes Of Engaging Ottawa’S Adult Autism Community In Critical And Emancipatory Autism Research, Margaret Janse Van Rensburg, Courtney Weaver

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Traditional research practices that aim to find causes, cures, and fixes for autism, without meaningful involvement of Autistic individuals, undermine disability justice and the inherent value of the Autistic perspective and Autistic contributions to society. Limited studies address the process of inclusive research and upholding disability justice principles; therefore this paper presents the process of a participatory planning stage for a research study committed to disability justice and social change for Autistic people. Drawing from the principles of disability justice, including intersectionality, leadership, anti-capitalism, cross-movement organizing, and collective liberation, the paper outlines both the successes and obstacles encountered during the …

The Potential Of Humor To Joyously Dismantle Ableism+: Considerations For Social Workers, Mia Ocean

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Social workers are often well-positioned but not adequately equipped to disrupt, unsettle, or counteract ableism. Humor is one approach to disability justice work that can move the social work profession forward in a novel way. Within this practice brief, I use first-person narrative to illustrate the potential and limitations of humor to dismantle ableism+ in everyday interactions between social workers, clinical social work practice, and policy transformation. First, I share an example of how to use humor as a direct, call-in strategy to confront social worker-initiated ableist interactions. Second, I describe how a mixed disabled/abled couple can laugh together at …

The Experience Of Growing Up Deaf In A Hearing-Abled Family: A Phenomenological Study, Alison B. Wetmur

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

d/Deaf Americans constitute a cultural and linguistic minority in America. Most d/Deaf people, 90–95%, are born to hearing-abled parents. By a wide margin, hearing-abled families prefer that their d/Deaf children learn spoken English and enroll their children in oral-education programs. Existing literature must highlight the unique struggles d/Deaf people face when growing up in hearing-abled families. By interviewing 14 d/Deaf adults born into hearing-abled families, this study explored the lived realities of growing up different in ability than other family members. These d/Deaf adults spoke about their childhood feelings of shame and isolation and ongoing frustrations. Respondents also often spoke …

Dismantling Ableism In Social Work Employment: A Call For Disability Justice, Shannon M. Trecartin, Twyla Smith, Terrance P. Trecartin

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This call to action confronts ableist employment practices in the social work profession and emphasizes the core values of the profession, the profession’s call for anti-oppressive and inclusive approaches to justice, and Principles of Disability Justice as avenues to rectify such systemic disparities. Grounded in the lived experiences of the authors, it sheds light on the barriers faced by disabled social workers seeking employment and offers context for understanding both the challenges and opportunities in the field. The authors collectively advocate for reform in social work employment to foster a more inclusive and equitable environment. Drawing on their own experiences, …

Action Steps Toward Dismantling Ableism In Social Work Education, Laura J. Wernick, Rose C. B. Singh, Natasha M. Lee-Johnson, Shanna K. Kattari, Brendon Holloway

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Despite social work’s commitment to social justice, ableism remains rampant among social work programs. Students and faculty often have to fight in order to have their basic accommodations and access needs met, disability is frequently missing from social work education’s discussions of diversity, and it is often implied that disabled people will be our clients, while social workers themselves are non-disabled. There is a glaring gap in our profession when it comes to engaging with and supporting disabled individuals. More than that, basic access is not enough; rather, we must work towards active inclusion and affirmation in order to be …

Towards Addressing Poverty And Inequality In Nigeria: Rethinking Social Protection Strategies, Olanrewaju O. Ogunnubi

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Poverty and inequality are major issues that fuel agitations and violent conflicts in Nigeria today. Although the Nigerian government continues to implement various social protection strategies, these have not been able to bridge the vast poverty and inequality gap in the country. This study examines social protection programs in Nigeria. It draws out observable challenges in the implementation of these programs and provides recommendations for improving social protection schemes in the country. The study adopts a qualitative historical analysis approach with data obtained from secondary sources. The study reveals that social protection schemes have largely failed to bridge the widening …

Unjust And Unsafe: The Eviction Experiences Of Latine Immigrant And Farmworker Tenants In Oregon, Natalie J. Cholula, Lisa K. Bates, Alex Farrington, Marisa Zapata, Jacen Greene, Azad Amir-Ghassemi, Colleen Carroll

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Latine immigrant households often face housing instability due to language barriers, immigration status, and limited access to government resources. Oregon farmworkers experience additional obstacles to safe and stable housing caused by low wages, a lack of affordable housing options, and social isolation. In light of the identified needs and lack of equitable access to resources that this group experiences, the Evicted in Oregon research team conducted focus groups with Latine immigrant and farmworker tenants in Multnomah, Washington, and Marion Counties. The aim was to gain insight into their experiences with eviction and understand how they navigated through evictions during the …

Body-Map Storytelling: A Qualitative Exploration Of The Lived Experiences Of Hospital Care Amongst Street Involved Youth, Chelsey Fedchenko

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This social work study explores the experiences of hospital care amongst street-involved (SI) youth. Given that SI youth are at a higher risk for health-related harms and experience significant barriers to health care services, they are at an increased likelihood of hospitalization. Yet, inadequate health care support for SI youth remains a critical problem in Canada. While hospital care amongst adult homeless populations has been well studied interdisciplinary, there is a scarcity of research investigating the hospital care experiences amongst SI youth. The aim of this qualitative, arts-based study was to explore how street-life contributes to hospitalization, how SI youth …

Protecting Foreign Victims Of Trafficking In Iceland: An Interpretive Analysis Of Policy Efforts, Hlin Saethorsdottir

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Social justice and human rights are fundamental principles of social work. Today’s globalized world requires social workers to expand their local perspectives and to be alert to the negative sides of globalization, such as trafficking in person (TIP), which affects all countries around the world. TIP is a severe form of exploitation and a grave human rights violation (Jones et al., 2007). Iceland has been categorized as a transit and destination country for foreign victims who are mainly trafficked for sexual and labor exploitation (U.S. Department of State, 2016b).

Although much has been written on TIP, some scholars have pointed …

"Better Equipped"? Examining The Role Of Social Work In Clinical Countering Violent Extremism, David Yuzva Clement

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Hate and violent extremism persist in communities, online environments, and societies across the globe. In addition to their most violent expressions, including hate crimes, extremist and terrorist violence, these phenomena wield severe negative, detrimental, traumatic, and intergenerational impacts. Grounded in evidenced-based policy, comprehensive prevention and intervention efforts, as well as the transfer of knowledge across scientific disciplines, a whole-of-society approach is fundamental to prevent and counter hatred, violence, and extremism. Although violent radicalization and associated societal problems are advancing at unprecedented speeds, preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) is an emerging intervention field in behavioural health and social sciences. While …

Indigenous Wholistic Abolition: Visioning Indigenous Queer, Two-Spirit & Indigiqueer Futures, Giselle Dias

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

As a queer Métis, activist and organizer in the field of prisoners’ rights, penal abolition, and transformative justice, I have been interested in learning about how Indigenous peoples’ relationship with Aki (Land) grounds abolition theory and guides the ways that I and other Indigenous abolitionists engage in abolition. As part of this process, I wanted to speak to other Indigenous queer, Two-Spirit, trans, non-binary, and/or Indigiqueer (Q2STNBI) people about their visions of abolition and abolitionist futures through a relational Land-based lens. Therefore, I used a methodology that centres Métis worldviews and community organizing and is grounded in the ethics of …

The Overture! Then Is Here-And-Now: Hindsight Is Twenty, Twenty?, Elena Kydd

Music Therapy Theses

My existence and presence as a Black woman and graduate scholar in music therapy have allowed me to share my experience of racial trauma and oppression in the hallways of GCSU’s music therapy program. Autoethnography is the method I use to write my thesis on the relationships between Blackness, pedagogy, and music therapy. Thus, I perform an evocative autoethnographic study that allows me to share my personal experience of racial trauma and oppression within the culture of music therapy and to critique the larger social structures of whiteness that disenfranchise and dominate me and other Black student music therapists (SMTs). …

Navigating Professional Paradigms: Transactional Sex, Behavior Change, And Structural Responses In Uganda, Shelley K. White, Hugo A. Kamya

Journal of Social Work in the Global Community

Professional paradigms within social work and related social service fields have been critiqued for being behaviorally focused, thereby obscuring and perhaps excusing structural determinants of health and well-being. Recent initiatives in international social work have aimed to align theory, practice, education, and research with sustainable development, reflecting the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, which aim to address structural determinants. Our qualitative research examined responses to transactional sex among Ugandan youth through in-depth interviews with 23 professionals working in social services with youth who were vulnerable to HIV. Through thematic content analysis, using deductive and inductive analysis, we examined the demographics …

Food Insecurity At Los Abuelitos, Rosalina Duran

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Food insecurity among the senior population is a social problem that can cause malnutrition, chronic conditions, and death. CHISPA Housing Management and Community Services is a non-profit organization that builds low-income senior housing in Monterey County and provides senior hot lunches to its residents. The causes of food insecurity are a lack of income, chronic conditions, and transportation issues. The consequences of food insecurity are the deterioration of their physical and mental health. This capstone project is an assessment that consists of gathering data on the residents who reside at the Los Abuelitos Townhome housing rather than taking advantage of …

Interrogating Households In Anticipation Of Disasters: The Feminization Of Preparedness, Chika Watanabe, Celie Hanson

Critical Disaster Studies

It is now a maxim among scholars and policy-makers alike that disaster preparedness needs to involve community-based approaches in order to be effective. These include preparedness strategies in the household. But how do disaster preparedness policies and public discourses define “the household” in the first place? In this article, we explore how particular gendered notions of the household are reproduced in disaster preparedness policies and activities in Japan and the UK. Drawing on historical and cross-cultural analyses, we suggest that household preparedness efforts place the burden of labor on people coded as women—a phenomenon we call “the feminization of preparedness.” …

Legal And Housing Service Providers’ Perspectives On Clients’ Experiences With Foreclosure, Cyleste C. Collins, Leaanne Derigne, Elizabeth Anthony, David Rothstein, Debbie Taylor

The Qualitative Report

Although the foreclosure crisis is considered over, some areas of the U.S. continue to suffer from high foreclosure rates. This research presents findings from in-depth interviews conducted with 18 service providers who worked with families to prevent their foreclosures in Cleveland, Ohio. The research focused on better understanding the landscape of the Cleveland foreclosure experience. Service providers provided insight into families’ experiences with the foreclosure process. The three main themes developed from the interviews included: (1) clients lacked knowledge about the mortgage process; (2) lenders exploited clients’ lack of knowledge, setting them up to fail with predatory mortgages and targeting …