Social Work Commons^™

Gender Maneuvering Over Coffee: Doing Gender Through Displays Of Hegemonic Masculinity And Alternative Femininity, Jedidiah Mcclean

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This research examines how individuals “do gender” in an urban coffee shop by performing gender maneuvering strategies in order to gain masculine cultural capital typically accessed through displays of hegemonic masculinity. This participant ethnography was conducted in a corporate coffee franchise over the course of eight weeks, to observe gendered interactions in a public space. Observations were made of customer and barista socialization in the store, where gender displays were maneuvered through social artifacts such as clothing and hairstyles; as well as gendered social transactions such as conversational styles and heteronormative social customs. Research findings suggest that both masculine and …

Conceptualizing Social Determinants Of Maternal And Infant Health Disparities, Susanne Klawetter

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Research demonstrates that women and children within marginalized ethnic and racial groups and those living in poverty experience disparate health outcomes. These disparities have immediate and long-term consequences. Exploring two theories used to examine social determinants of health— life course perspective and historical trauma response, this article will explain the major premises of each, provide application examples, compare and examine utility for practice, and highlight areas for future research. A theoretical critique will be included, as well as insight into how these theories together might address gaps as an approach to maternal and infant health research and practice.

Global Efforts To Engage Men In Preventing Violence Against Women: An International Survey, Ericka Kimball, Jeffrey L. Edleson, Richard M. Tolman, Tova Neugut, Juliana Carlson

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This research note expands on the limited body of knowledge about men’s engagement in preventing violence against women. One hundred and sixty-five individuals representing organizations from around the world participated in a brief online survey about their efforts to engage men in violence prevention. This study reveals a large and diverse global community working to engage men in preventing violence against women. The level of involvement is broad, from locally contained organizations to global collaborations. This study is a first step toward building a comparative knowledge base to inform program design and implementation.

What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?, Adrienne Scavera, Jo-Ann Sowers

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

What do you want to be when you grown up? This is a question most of us heard more than once when we were kids and even more when we were in high school. When we got to be in our 20s the question may have changed to something like, “What are you going to do when you finish college?” or “Now that you are an adult what kind of job or career do you want to do?” After working as a barista, receptionist, and other minimum wage jobs, one young woman in the Career Visions project said, “I am …

Implementing The Peer Support Specialist Role: Peer Support In A Youth-Led Drop-In Center, Research And Training Center For Pathways To Positive Futures, Youth Move Oregon

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This information brief gives an overview of Youth MOVE Oregon, an innovator in peer-led services for youth. The role and development of Peer Support Providers is discussed in some detail along with organizational challenges that need to be addressed.

Characteristics Of Medicaid Clients In Assisted Living, Residential Care, Memory Care, And Adult Foster Homes 2013-2014, Paula C. Carder, Jacklyn Nicole Kohon, Sheryl Dejoy Elliott, Maximilian West, Amanuel Zimam, Margaret B. Neal

Institute on Aging Publications

In collaboration with the Aging and People with Disabilities (APD) program of Oregon’s Department of Human Services (DHS), Portland State University’s Institute on Aging generated this report of Medicaid clients living in community-based care (CBC) settings in the state of Oregon. The Oregon legislature appropriated funds for DHS to collect information about these community-based care providers which will allow DHS, providers, and the public to better understand characteristics of Medicaid clients living in different CBC settings.

This report is based on an analysis of Medicaid data provided by DHS. The study goals were to:

• describe Medicaid clients’ health-related needs, service …

What Risks Do African Youth Face Of Gang Involvement? A Community Needs Assessment In Multnomah County, Marie-Elena Reyes, Ann Curry-Stevens

Center to Advance Racial Equity Publications and Reports

African youth face deep challenges in attaining success in the USA today. Opportunities for academic and economic success are limited, constrained by today’s neoliberal conservatism in public policy and facing a harsh environment for getting a foothold in employment. This report documents the risks such youth face for becoming gang-involved, drawing forth original quantitative and qualitative study of risk factors and perspectives of key local and national leaders on community needs, assets and ideas for service supports that are likely to protect African youth, and help them reach adulthood with their futures intact.

Resident And Home Characteristics Report 2014: Adult Foster Homes, Paula C. Carder, Sheryl Dejoy Elliott, Aubrey Limburg, Jacklyn Nicole Kohon, Amanuel Zimam, Maximilian West, Margaret B. Neal

Institute on Aging Publications

In collaboration with the Aging and People with Disabilities program of Oregon’s Department of Human Services (DHS), Portland State University’s Institute on Aging conducted this research study of adult foster homes (AFH) throughout the state of Oregon. The Oregon legislature appropriated funds for DHS to collect information from these community-based care providers that will allow DHS, providers, and the public to better understand resident characteristics and adult foster home services.

This report summarizes findings from the first state-wide survey of licensed adult foster homes in Oregon. The survey goals were to:

• describe resident health-related needs, service use, and demographic characteristics; …

Exploring The Effects Of Multi-Level Protective And Risk Factors On Child And Parenting Outcomes In Families Participating In Healthy Start/Healthy Families Oregon (Hs/Hfo), Peggy Nygren

Dissertations and Theses

While many studies focus on the links between multiple risk factors and negative outcomes such as child maltreatment, less is known about the influence of protective factors in the face of risks. The theoretical base of this study was a social ecological model of interactive influences including individual parent, family, and neighborhood level factors to predict outcomes. Protective Factor Index (PFI) and Risk Factor Index (RFI) predictors were developed to explore potential multi-level protective factor buffering effects on key child development and parenting outcomes. Participants were first time mothers enrolled in a randomized controlled study of the Healthy Start/ Healthy …

Patients’ Perception Of Patient–Provider Communication In Fertility Preservation Decision Making Among Young Women With Cancer, Aakrati Mathur, E. Roberto Orellana, Amy Frohnmayer, Pauline Jivanjee, Lillian Nail, Brandon Hayes-Lattin, Rebecca G. Block

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Fertility preservation (FP) for patients with cancer is an emerging field. With the advancement of technology, patients may face a complex decision-making process about whether to preserve fertility. The purpose of this article is to explore how young women with cancer perceive patient–provider communication in FP decision making. In this study, 25 women between the ages of 18 and 39 were interviewed retrospectively. They were interviewed one time to learn about their decision-making process related to FP. Results of this analysis indicate that patients seek support and involvement from providers throughout the process of decision making. They prefer providers to …

"Who Would Have Thought, With A Diagnosis Like This, I Would Be Happy?": Portraits Of Perceived Strengths And Resources In Early-Stage Dementia, Jutta Elisabeth Ataie

Dissertations and Theses

This study used photovoice methodology to explore how people with early-stage dementia use their perceived strength and resources to cope with the illness. Purposive sampling was used to recruit participants. Thirteen women and seven men age 57 to 90 (mean 73.4) with MMSE scores ranging from 20 to 28 (mean 25.6) participated in the project. Participants were provided with a disposable camera and invited to take photographs relevant to their well-being. The photographs provided the means for participants to take the lead in dialogue sessions about their coping response.

Grounded theory analysis revealed that initially, early-stage dementia precipitated a disruption …

Focal Point, Volume 27, Portland State University. Regional Research Institute

Research and Training Center - Focal Point

This special issue of Focal Point focuses on best practices for helping youth and young adults with mental health challenges reach their educational and employment goals, by highlighting preliminary results from some of our research at Pathways to Positive Futures as well as some of the work being done at the Transitions RTC at the University of Massachusetts.

Is Supported Employment Effective For Youth And Young Adults?, L. Kris Gowen

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Supported Employment (SE) is an evidence-based practice to assist people with disabilities in finding and maintaining employment. The types of services provided by SE include job coaching and training, resume development, and transportation. More recently, proof of the effectiveness of this approach for those with mental health challenges has been documented.1 The purpose of this research was to determine whether SE proved to be effective among persons with mental health challenges across different age groups.

Faq: Defining, Supporting, And Sustaining The Peer Support Specialist Role, Research And Training Center For Pathways To Positive Futures

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Pathways RTC, together with staff from the Technical Assistance Partnership and the Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health, decided to interview agencies that were developing peer support specialist (PSS) roles. The goal was to find out what these agencies were learning about defining, supporting, and sustaining the PSS role. This FAQ summarizes some of the main things that were learned.

Education & Employment, L. Kris Gowen

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The author provides an introduction to this issue of Focal Point, which focuses on the problems faced by youth with mental health challenges when attempting to choose a career. She also provides brief overviews of the articles contained in this issue, and recounts her own experiences as she embarked on her career.

Public Opinion And The Oregon Death With Dignity Act, Peggy Jo Ann Sandeen

Dissertations and Theses

Oregon voters legalized physician-assisted death in 1997 by passing the Oregon Death with Dignity Act. This law allowed terminally ill, mentally competent adult residents of the state to legally obtain a physician's prescription to hasten death under narrow sets of circumstances. The purpose of this study was twofold: to examine contemporary patterns of support for the law in Oregon and to explore how opinions have changed over time on the issue. This study examined patterns of public support among a random sample of registered Oregon voters for the state's death with dignity law, using a mixed mode (mail, online, and …

Lost In The Margins? Intersections Between Disability And Other Non-Dominant Statuses With Regard To Peer Victimization And Psychosocial Distress Among Oregon Teens, Marjorie Grace Mcgee

Dissertations and Theses

Youth with disabilities experience greater levels of victimization than non-disabled youth. However, little is known about the associations between peer victimization and disability status alone and in combination with sex and race/ethnicity, or with sex and sexual orientation. Further, little is known about the extent to which exposure to peer victimization mediates the relationship between disability status and psychosocial distress. Thus, one purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which disability status, as a marker of social difference, alone and in combination with other social identities, is associated with differential levels of exposure to peer victimization. A …

Teachers' Negative Comments Toward Youth In Foster Care With Disabilities: How Do They Relate To Youths' Problem Behaviors, School Attitudes, And School Performance?, Sunghwan Noh

Dissertations and Theses

A large proportion of youth in foster care receive special education services, and poor educational outcomes are one of the most important difficulties facing these youth. One potential risk affecting the low educational achievements of youth in foster care and special education could be teachers' negative and stigmatizing comments toward them. Teachers' negative and stigmatizing comments could have negative effects on youths' behaviors, school attitudes and school performance. Yet, research on the nature and the impact of teachers' negative and stigmatizing comments remains limited.

Based on labeling and attribution theories, this study investigated the nature and impact of teachers' negative …

Fidelity And Adaptation Of A Sibling Relationship Intervention For The Prevention Of Antisocial Behavior, Casadi "Khaki" Marino

Student Research Symposium

The Supporting Siblings in Foster Care program (SIBS) utilizes a universal recruitment strategy for a RCT skills training program for siblings in foster care at high risk of poor health, disability, and conduct issues. This poster session will examine the process of program adaptation, review the components of intervention fidelity, and explore the challenges of intervention in the context of foster children's lives. Fidelity of implementation and program adaptation are essential to prevention program design. Program adaptation may be required for cultural fit and ecological factors. Focus group data from a group of intervention staff indicated that changes were made …

Arts For All Experience: Examining The Experiences Of Individuals Who Receive Snap Benefits As They Access Arts Through The Arts For All Program, Michelle Deparrie, Jana L. Meinhold

Student Research Symposium

Status symbols, are behaviors that individuals use to communicate their place in society (Goffman, 1950). A commonly noted status symbol is participation in the high arts. A recent study described types of music in categories ranging from high-brow, to middle-brow, and low-brow. It was found that consumers of music, particularly the high-brow, were motivated to attend concerts for reasons relating to social capital (Roose & Stichele, 2010). Arts for All is a program in Portland Oregon that offers access to high art performances by making five dollar tickets available to those who qualify for SNAP (Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program). The …

Online Mental Health Information Seeking In Young Adults With Mental Health Challenges, L. Kris Gowen

Regional Research Institute for Human Services

Barriers such as stigmatization and access to health care may lead young adults with mental health conditions (YAMHC) to try to find alternatives to more traditional means of obtaining care. One possible alternative is to seek information online. The purpose of this article is to better understand how YAMHC use the Internet to access information about mental health, and the challenges they face when trying to access that information. Semistructured focus groups were conducted to investigate how YAMHC use the Internet for information and support regarding their mental health. Three major themes about mental health information seeking emerged from the …

2012 Oregon Crime Victims’ Needs Assessment Final Report, Deborah Elliott, Karen Cellarius, Tara Horn

Regional Research Institute for Human Services

On behalf of the Crime Victims’ Services Division of the Oregon Department of Justice, the Portland State University Regional Research Institute for Human Services conducted an eighteen-month needs assessment of the current state of crime victim services and crime victims’ needs in Oregon. This 2012 study was a ten-year follow-up of the 2002 statewide crime victims’ needs assessment conducted by RRI for CVSD’s predecessor, the DOJ Crime Victims’ Assistance Section. The 2012 statewide needs assessment was conducted from July 2011 through December 2012 with the primary objectives of: (1) Reviewing changes in the field of crime victim services since the …

Native American Young People In The Transition To Adulthood: Perceptions Of Challenges And Supports, Terry L. Cross, Pauline Jivanjee, Abby Bandurraga, Barbara J. Friesen, L. Kris Gowen, Cori Matthew

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This presentation focuses on native American youth and how work with this population can be improved by following the Relational World View as a theoretical framework. Discusses practice-based evidence findings and development of the NAYA Assessment Tool, and the Finding Our Way study methods. Findings of the study explore young people's perceptions of challenges, needs and supports. Finally, the presenters discuss expansion of the assessment tool to address transition domains.

The Organizational Context Of Research-Minded Practitioners: Challenges And Opportunities, Bowen Mcbeath, Michael J. Austin

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

If some practitioners are more research minded than others, then promising approaches for bridging the research to practice gap may be developed by describing research-minded practitioners and examining how to locate and support them. This article follows this basic logic in providing an overview of organizational development and practitioner support models for increasing knowledge use in human service organizations. The article begins with a conceptual profile of research-minded practi- tioners—individuals with an affinity for empirical inquiry, critical thinking, and reflection allied with a commitment to data- driven organizational improvement—and the organizational settings needed to host research-minded practice. This is followed …

Negotiating Accommodations At The Workplace: Perspectives Of Human Resource Professionals And Parents Of Children With Mental Health Disorders, Katherine J. Huffstutter, Jennifer R. Bradley, Eileen M. Brennan, Julie M. Rosenzweig

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

PDF version of a presentation given at the 11th annual conference of the Society for Social Work and Research, Bridging Disciplinary Boundaries, San Francisco, CA., Jan. 2007.

Empowerment In Community-Based Participatory Research With Persons With Developmental Disabilities: Perspectives Of Community Researchers, Erin Elizabeth Stack

Dissertations and Theses

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is a research approach that benefits from the expertise of community members being involved in the research along all stages of a project (Israel et al., 2003). CBPR is often utilized with marginalized populations in order to amplify a community's voice on important issues in their lives (Bastida, Tseng, McKeever, & Jack, 2010; Minkler & Wallerstein, 2008). In the past, persons with disability have been excluded from research in order to protect them from exploitation. This practice of exclusion undermines opportunities for persons with disabilities to be independent and make decisions that are important for themselves …

Comparison Of Healthcare Experiences In Autistic And Non-Autistic Adults: A Cross-Sectional Online Survey Facilitated By An Academic-Community Partnership, Christina Nicolaidis, Dora Raymaker, Katherine E. Mcdonald, Sebastian Dern, Cody Boisclair, Elesia Ashkenazy, Amelia E.V. Baggs

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

BACKGROUND

Little is known about the healthcare experiences of adults on the autism spectrum. Moreover, autistic adults have rarely been included as partners in autism research.

OBJECTIVE

To compare the healthcare experiences of autistic and non-autistic adults via an online survey.

METHODS

We used a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach to adapt survey instruments to be accessible to autistic adults and to conduct an online cross-sectional survey. We assessed preliminary psychometric data on the adapted scales. We used multivariate analyses to compare healthcare experiences of autistic and non-autistic participants.

RESULTS

Four hundred and thirty-seven participants completed the survey (209 autistic, …

Youth Advocate To Advocate For Youth: The Next Transition, Lacy Kendrick Burk, Johanna Bergan

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

A growing youth movement across the country has developed a vast number of youth and young adult leaders who are passionate and experienced in sharing their stories to create positive systems change. Many strong youth groups and organizations, authentic youth/adult partnerships, federal grant programs, and research and training centers across the country support this movement. Even more importantly, the movement is sustained by the energy and passion of the young leaders and those who support youth voice.

This guide is intended for young people who have chosen to utilize their lived experience as a mechanism to advocate for positive change. …

Oral Care & Asian And Pacific Islander Communities In Oregon, Amira Caluya

Center to Advance Racial Equity Publications and Reports

This report attempts to describe the current knowledge of oral health care access within Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities in Oregon based on secondary data from the Oregon Health Authority’s Smile Survey 2007, Smile Survey 2012; and the Coalition of Communities of Color’s 2012 report, The Asian and Pacific Islander Community in Multnomah County: An Unsettling Profile. To be clear, the 2012 survey report draft is cited most, as the 2012 survey reported more data on children of color compared to the 2007 survey. This paper also attempts to highlight the multifaceted aspects of access to care …

Motivating Men Who Have Sex With Men To Get Tested For Hiv Through The Internet And Mobile Phones: A Qualitative Study, Magaly M. Blas, Luis A. Menacho, Isaac E. Alva, Robinson Cabello, Edwin Roberto Orellana

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: Men who have sex with men (MSM) have the highest HIV prevalence in Peru, yet they are underserved by traditional preventive programs. In Peru, the Internet and mobile phones have emerged as an effective and convenient tool to reach this population.

Methods and Findings: From October 2010 to February 2011, we conducted eight focus groups with gay identified MSM (closeted and out-of-the-closet) and with self-identified heterosexual MSM in order to identify key features and preferences to be used to tailor culturally-appropriate messages that could be delivered through Internet and mobile phones to motivate MSM to get tested …