Social Work Commons^™

Prescription Drug Diversion: Predictors Of Illicit Acquisition And Redistribution In Three U.S. Metropolitan Areas, Shana Harris, Valentina Nikulina, Camila Gelpi-Acosta, Cory Morton, Valerie Newsome, Alana Gunn, Heidi Hoefinger, Ross Aikins, Vivian Smith, Victoria Barry, Martin J. Downing Jr.

Publications and Research

Objective: Prescription drug diversion, the transfer of prescription drugs from lawful to unlawful channels for distribution or use, is a problem in the United States. Despite the pervasiveness of diversion, there are gaps in the literature regarding characteristics of individuals who participate in the illicit trade of prescription drugs. This study examines a range of predictors (e.g., demographics, prescription insurance coverage, perceived risk associated with prescription drug diversion) of membership in three distinct diverter groups: individuals who illicitly acquire prescription drugs, those who redistribute them, and those who engage in both behaviors.

Methods: Data were drawn from a cross-sectional Internet …

Critical Time Intervention For People Leaving Shelters In The Netherlands: Assessing Fidelity And Exploring Facilitators And Barriers, Renee De Vet, Danielle A. M. Lako, Marielle D. Beijersbergen, Linda Van Den Dries, Sarah Conover, Albert M. Van Hemert, Daniel Herman, Judith R. L. M. Wolf

Publications and Research

International dissemination of evidence-based interventions calls for rigorous evaluation. As part of an evaluation of critical time intervention (CTI) for homeless people and abused women leaving Dutch shelters, this study assessed fidelity in two service delivery systems and explored factors influencing model adherence. Data collection entailed chart review (n = 70) and two focus groups with CTI workers (n = 11). The intervention obtained an overall score of three out of five (fairly implemented) for compliance fidelity and chart quality combined. Fidelity did not differ significantly between service systems, supporting its suitability for a range of populations. The eight themes …

Chinese-American Young Adult Children's Perception Of Parental Psychological And Behavioral Control And Its Impact On Their Emotional And Social Well-Being, Wan-Hai Tseng

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The primary aim of this qualitative study was to describe the ways in which Chinese-American young adult children perceive their parent(s) and/or primary caregiver(s)' expressions of psychological and behavioral control. It also explored how they believed these types of control affected their emotional and social well-being over time. Given that it is documented that their parents are demanding, and that this may be the reason their mental health outcomes are poorer than non-Asians, this exploration was needed. This research sought to provide a better understanding of the emotional and social development of Chinese-American young adult children as it relates to …

The Fengsu-Driven Practice Of Sending Infants To China: The Experiences Of Chinese Immigrant Mothers In New York, Kitching Rhoda Wong

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation explores Fujianese women's transnational parenting experiences. Although transnational mothering is ubiquitous in an era of globalization, this study surfaces the unique aspects of this phenomenon among Chinese female migrants to New York City. These women send months-old infants to China for care expecting their return at school age. The 'satellite-baby' phenomenon (Bohr, 2009) appears unique to Chinese immigrant mothers, particularly those from the Fujian-Fuzhou region. Conducted in the phenomenological tradition of qualitative research, I sought to uncover the complex, contextual experiences mothers experienced in their migration to the US. This included their experiences as immigrants, their decisions to …

The Immigration Experience Among Elderly Egyptian Immigrants In The United States, Ihab Girgis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

An increasing mosaic of immigrants comes to the United States' shores every year for different reasons. An invisible part of those immigrants are the elderly who join their families in the United States. The story of the Egyptian elderly immigrants among them, as one representative group of Arabs, is significant and its investigation is timely. This study explores the context of exit from Egypt, the risk factors for health and mental health distress induced by this transition and how they impede the adjustment process, and the protective factors and processes that buffer the risk factors, foster resilience, and facilitate the …

Understanding Failure: Social Workers Reflect On Their Licensing Examination Experience, Scott Graybow

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Passing the social work licensing examination is a critical part of the professional development of contemporary social workers. However, the literature has consisted largely of debates over the ethical and theoretical merits of professional licensing that fail to shed light on the lived experiences of social workers sitting for the examination. This dissertation study sought to gather and analyze data about the manner in which social workers experience licensing examination failure. A series of semi-structured, narrative interviews captured the nuance, complexity and uniqueness of this experience. The study had three major objectives that gave it direction. First, the study sought …

Place Matters: New Social Indicators, Mimi Abramovitz, Jochen Albrecht

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Mothers' Mental Health Evaluations In Foster Care Practice: A Social Constructionist, Qualitative Data-Mining Study, Michelle Salvaggio

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This qualitative research study utilizes social constructionist theory and the client career perspective as a framework for developing a grounded theory that explains how mothers' mental health evaluations function in the context of foster care practice. Using clinical data-mining methodology, the foster care records of sixteen mothers were purposively selected. Selection criteria included having completed psychiatric and psychological evaluations and having one child or more in foster care. The sample was divided into subgroups of substance users (n = 9) and those who did not use substances (n = 7), mothers who acknowledged their mental illness (n …

Successful Implementation Of Solution-Based Casework; A Child Welfare Casework Practice Model?, Naomi Weisel Schear

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Across the country, child welfare agencies have started to implement casework practice models in an effort to improve the safety, permanency and well-being of vulnerable children and families. In their effort to do so, child welfare systems have faced complex contextual challenges to implementation. To date, however, there has been limited empirical research describing successful implementation of these practices. Moreover, little systematic feedback exists concerning service providers' perspectives of various aspects of the implementation process.

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore child welfare supervisors' and case workers' responses to various methods of implementation of Solution-Based Casework …

What Condoms Can't Cover: Do Structural Factors Predispose Black, African American, And Latina/O Adults In Harlem And The South Bronx To Engaging In Hiv Sex Risk Behaviors?, Fabienne Snowden

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

More than thirty years into the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Black, African American, and Latina/o communities continue to demonstrate the highest rates of HIV/AIDS in the US, accounting for 64% of all new infections and 58% of all AIDS diagnoses in 2009. Despite the longevity of this public health crisis, individually-based behavioral change approaches to HIV/AIDS prevention continue to be the most widely used and funded methods of combating HIV risk in Black, African American and Latina/o communities. These methods have been proven to lower the risk of HIV transmission, but HIV incidence in the US remains high at approximately 50, 000 …

A Replication Of Failure, Not A Failure To Replicate, Gary Holden, Kathleen Barker, Sofie Kuppens, Gary Rosenberg, Jonathan`

Publications and Research

Purpose: The increasing role of systematic reviews in knowledge production demands greater rigor in the literature search process. The performance of the Social Work Abstracts (SWA) database has been examined multiple times over the past three decades. The current study is a replication within this line of research.

Method: Issue level coverage was examined for the same 33 SWA core journals and the same time period as our 2009 study.

Results: The mean percentage of issues missing in the current study was 20%. The mean percentage of issues missing in the current study was significantly greater than …