Social Work Commons^™

Early Psychosis Intervention And Its Implications For Mental Health Counselors, Advocates And Supervisors: Lessons And Outcomes From The East Program, Ryan P. Melton

Regional Research Institute for Human Services

This presentation focuses on early psychosis intervention, identification, prevention, and intervention.

Community Engaged Research At The Regional Research Institute For Human Services, Diane Yatchmenoff, Laurie E. Powers

Regional Research Institute for Human Services

Participatory models of research, in which communities are actively engaged in the research process through partnerships with academic institutions, are restructuring how scientific knowledge is being created. Community engaged research, also known as, community based participatory research (CBPR), and participatory action research (PAR) is increasingly recognized as a framework for high quality scientific inquiry. In community engaged research, researchers and evaluators work side‐by‐side with community members in all phases of the research process, from defining social problems and research questions, conceptualizing research design, carrying out research, and interpreting and disseminating findings. It requires partnership development, collaboration and cooperation, and commitment …

Mentoring: Meanings, Models, And Metaphors, Thomas E. Keller

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This is a PDF of a PowerPoint program presented at the UNST Peer Mentor Program, Fall Mentor Development Conference, September 2010

The Dynamics Of Autistic-Academic Partnerships, Dora Raymaker, Christina Nicolaidis

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Traditionally, research about autistics has been developed without autistics, leading to systemic problems that reinforce stereotypes and divide communities. Some academics find the idea of autistics contributing meaningfully to research unthinkable, while the autistic community is often angered by research which holds no potential benefit, or is even directly harmful, to community aims. Problematic dynamics between academics and minority populations are neither new nor specific to autism research. Research approaches involving academic-community partnerships can change these dynamics to benefit all partners. Academic-community partnerships empower minorities to execute research relevant to community priorities and enable academics to perform high-quality, ethical science. …

Is School-Based Mentoring Effective? Making Sense Of Mixed Findings, Marc E. Wheeler, Thomas E. Keller, David L. Dubois

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This presentation summarizes the findings and conclusion of a recent issue of the Social Policy Report, a publication of the Society for Research on Child Development, that was co-authored by Mr. Wheeler and Drs. DuBois and Keller.

Failure Of Intimate Partner Violence Screening Among Patients With Substance Use Disorders, Esther K. Choo, Christina Nicolaidis, Robert H. Jenkinson, Jessi M. Cox, Kenneth J. Mcconnell

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Objectives: This study examined the relationship between substance use disorder (SUD) and intimate partner violence screening (IPV) and management practices in the emergency department (ED). Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of adult ED patients presenting to an urban, tertiary care teaching hospital over a 4-month period. An automated electronic data abstraction process identified consecutive patients and retrieved visit characteristics, including results of three violence screening questions, demographic data, triage acuity, time of visit, and ICD-9 diagnosis codes. Data on management were collected using a standardized abstraction tool by two reviewers masked to the study question. Multivariate logistic regression …

How Young Adults With Mental Health Conditions Use The Internet To Access Mental Health Information And Support, L. Kris Gowen, Matthew Deschaine

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Presentation that probes how young adults with significant mental health challenges use the internet, specifically as it relates to finding information and "self-diagnosis." The authors explore how youth with mental health challenges use the internet, and share the results of three Oregon focus groups. Also discussed is how online sources are evaluated, and barriers facing seekers of health information online.

Focal Point, Volume 24, Portland State University. Regional Research Institute

Research and Training Center - Focal Point

The articles included in this inaugural issue of the "new" Focal Point address "Transitions to Adulthood" from the perspectives of researchers, youth, family, and professionals. [This is the first issue of Focal Point as published by the Research and Training Center for Pathways to Positive Futures; previous issues had been published under the preceding RTC for Family Support and Children's Mental Health.]

Supporting Transition-Aged Youth: One State's Efforts, L. Kris Gowen

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Young adults need specialized services as they age out of children’s mental health care and into adult services. Starting in 1997, Connecticut began to address this need by creating a Young Adult Services (YAS) program, designed to assist those over 18 who had moderate to severe symptoms of mental illness. YAS provides comprehensive service delivery that includes clinical, residential, case management, vocational, and social rehabilitation supports. Major principles that guide the YAS program include: (1) services must be comprehensive and integrated—focusing on one issue without supporting a young adult in other aspects of his or her life is ineffective; (2) …

Weku: Trauma-Informed Residential Treatment For Pregnant And Post-Partum Women In Portland, Or, Deborah Elliott, Karen Cellarius

Regional Research Institute for Human Services

This poster describes a trauma-informed residential treatment program for pregnant and post-partum women in Portland, Oregon and the subsequent reductions in substance use, addiction severity and trauma symptoms at 6-months post-intake.

Family Group Conferencing Practice, Angela Rodgers, Katharine Cahn

Child Welfare

Oregon has long been known as a site for innovative family engagement practice. Multiple forms of family meetings have been implemented in Oregon over the years and many child welfare offices use some form of intensive efforts to find family for children in care. Beginning in the Fall 2012 and over the next three years, Oregon implemented a federally funded (Children's Bureau) demonstration project, Family Connections Oregon, to test a model intervention, to develop a supportive infrastructure for sustaining family connections practice, and to establish a family voice association at the policy level. These practices are continuing in Oregon through …

Early Psychosis Intervention In Oregon: Building A Positive Future For This Generation, Ryan P. Melton, Tamara Sale

Regional Research Institute for Human Services

The article focuses on the importance of early Schizophrenia intervention.

Solving The Childcare And Flexibility Puzzle: How Working Parents Make The Best Feasible Choices And What That Means For Public Policy, Arthur C. Emlen

Regional Research Institute for Human Services

This monograph’s contribution to knowledge was two-fold: 1) reliable measures of the quality of childcare as perceived and assessed by the parents themselves; and 2) discovery that the quality of the care chosen by working parents depends upon the amount of flexibility they can muster from their immediate environment at work, at home, or from accommodating childcare providers. It doesn’t matter which source of flexibility works best for them. It’s the flexibility that allows optimum choice. The findings suggest that public policy should recognize the vast diversity of parental choices and the flexibility needed to improve their choices. That means …

Work-Life Integration And The Path To Social Sustainability, Eileen M. Brennan

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

PDF version of a presentation given at Understanding Sustainability: Perspectives from the Humanities - The Second International Conference, Portland, OR, May 2010.

Review Of Three Recent Randomized Trials Of School-Based Mentoring: Making Sense Of Mixed Findings, Marc E. Wheeler, Thomas E. Keller, David L. Dubois

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Between 2007 and 2009, reports were released on the results of three separate large-scale random assignment studies of the effectiveness of school-based mentoring programs for youth. The studies evaluated programs implemented by Big Brothers Big Sisters of America (BBBSA) affiliates (Herrera et al., 2007), Communities in Schools of San Antonio, Texas (Karcher, 2008), and grantees of the U.S. Department of Education's Student Mentoring Program (Bernstein et al., 2009). Differences in the findings and conclusions of the studies have led to varying responses by those in practice and policy roles. The results of the BBBSA trial led the organization to undertake …

Communities Of Color In Multnomah County: An Unsettling Profile, Ann Curry-Stevens, Amanda Cross-Hemmer, Coalition Of Communities Of Color

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Existing data that informs decision making in Multnomah County inadequately captures the lived experiences of communities of color. Rarely do existing reports include dimensions of race and ethnicity. Much research has been undertaken without the involvement of those most affected by the decisions guided by the research. The impact is that communities of color are rarely visible at the level of policy. Data has been used to obscure and oppress rather than to empower communities and eliminate disparities. This is not acceptable, and leads to inequitable policy and devastating outcomes for people of color.

"Communities of Color in Multnomah County: …

Infusing Culture Into Practice: Developing And Implementing Evidence-Based Mental Health Services For African American Foster Youth, Harold E. Briggs, Bowen Mcbeath

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The lack of culturally appropriate health and mental health care has contributed to the large number of African American youth and families involved in the child welfare system. This article reviews the consequences of the insufficient access to culturally sensitive, evidence-supported interventions for African American foster youth. The authors describe a framework for the development of culturally appropriate mental health interventions responsive to the needs of African Americans.

Journeying Toward Humility: Complexities In Advancing Pedagogy For The Privileged, Ann Curry-Stevens

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This narrative describes the author's journey away from a stance of innocence, toward one of humility in her engagement with pedagogy for the privileged. With deep attention to her identity, the contentious dimensions of this pedagogy have compelled her towards a much more troubled relationship with this practice. The following narrative profiles key contributions of pedagogy for the privileged, and articulates the contentions embedded within. It concludes with three essential ingredients to moderate her privilege: practicing from a stance of humility and "not knowing, " advancing research into the practice outcomes of such courses, and accountability structures where communities hold …

The Military Genogram: A Solution-Focused Approach For Resiliency Building In Service Members And Their Families, Eugenia Weiss, Jose Coll, Jennifer Gerbauer, Kate Smiley, Ed Carillo

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

In recent decades, it has become evident among mental health practitioners that the military is a unique culture that is comprised of distinct ethics, core values, codes of conduct, and strict hierarchical roles. In light of the war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq, veterans and their families are seeking mental health services due to a variety of psychosocial issues; however, mental health practitioners are lacking military-specific knowledge in understanding individuals within the military subculture. In addition, they are ill-equipped with interventions aimed at supporting the military family. Historically, the genogram has been an effective tool in delineating intergenerational …

Health-Related Needs Assessment Of Older Residents In Subsidized Housing, Victoria Cotrell, Paula C. Carder

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

When a nonprofit organization with nursing-home and assisted-living experience purchased a 30-year-old highrise apartment building in downtown Portland, Oregon, the new owners were faced with how to manage a building that provided housing to more than 200 older residents whom they knew very little about. As long-term care providers, they knew that older people were at risk for developing chronic illnesses, disabilities, and other factors that could result in moves to nursing homes, hospitalizations, and early death. They also knew that older adults in subsidized housing, such as this Section 8 building, have higher levels of disability than their age …

Children/Youth With Disabilities: Their Parents Are Your Employees Training Manual And Workbook, Julie M. Rosenzweig, Anna M. Malsch, Eileen M. Brennan, Kathryn L. Mills, Lisa Maureen Stewart

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The training manual and workbook, including the survey, were originally designed as supplemental materials to a workshop delivered to human resource professionals by the Work-Life Integration Project. Once the materials were compiled and reviewed, we decided to make the document available as a printed resource for a more general audience. While the materials were initially developed for use with human resource professionals, they are readily adaptable for use with other groups of employees, such as supervisors, managers, or teams of co-workers. The manual is also suitable to be used by members of family support organizations and other individuals interested in …

Indigenous And Mestizo Mexican Migrant Farmworkers: A Comparative Mental Health Analysis, William Donlan, Junghee Lee

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Mexican-origin migrant farmworkers using: (a) lifetime prevalence of culture-bound syndromes, (b) self-rated emotional/mental health, (c) depression measured by PHQ-9, (d) stress level. Demographic and psychosocial variables were examined by ethnicity and gender using Chi square and independent t-tests. Logistic and linear regression models were constructed for mental health variables. Indigenous participants reported significantly higher stress compared to mestizos, and indigenous women reported significantly higher stress compared to all groups. Prevalence of culture-bound syndromes and mean PHQ-9 severity score was highest for indigenous females. Mean self-rated emotional/mental health was lowest among indigenous females. Controlling for main effects and other interactions, (a) …

Governance In Motion: Service Provision And Child Welfare Outcomes In A Performance-Based, Managed Care Contracting Environment, Bowen Mcbeath, William Meezan

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Examining the linkage between service provision and client outcomes is important in performance-based human service environments. Since most performance initiatives reward agencies for improving client outcomes rather than providing specific services, managers may have incentives to streamline workers’ efforts and reduce resources devoted to services considered nonessential. This article uses data from a performance-based child welfare initiative to examine the relationship between child permanency outcomes, the services provided by caseworkers, and the environment surrounding frontline service provision. Findings indicate that greater service efforts are required to reunify children with parents than to reach other outcomes, including adoption and placement with …

Focal Point, Volume 23 Number 02, Portland State University. Regional Research Institute

Research and Training Center - Focal Point

This issue of Focal Point highlights a number of successful and innovative efforts to promote youth voice and youth empowerment. Many of the articles are authored by or include contributions from youth who are directly involved in the featured programs.

Mapping The Participatory Process, Barbara J. Friesen, L. Kris Gowen, Pauline Jivanjee, Abby Bandurraga

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This presentation explores the use of Practice-Based Evidence methodologies to support social work with Native American youth. It is based on a five-year collaborative effort between the Native American Youth and Family Center, National Indian Child Welfare Association, and the Research and Training Center on Family Support and Children's Mental Health. The researchers aims were to develop strategies for documenting the effectiveness of services, and to develop a process for conducting evaluations based on known outcomes of community based programs.

Primary Care, Males, Masculinity, And Suicide : A Grounded Theory Study, John Thomas Casey

Dissertations and Theses

Suicide completion in the United States is a public health problem that claims over 30,000 lives annually. Most of these suicide victims are white males who die by firearm, and who typically are not taking antidepressant medication and are not involved in mental health treatment at the time of death. Depression is closely linked to suicide death, and treatment for depression is provided mainly within primary health care settings where most suicide decedents have been seen at some point in the year prior to their death. The rate of male depression is likely under-reported, partly due to gender-bias within primary …

Developing One's Self: Adoption And Identity Formation Through The Eyes Of Transracially Adopted Native American Adults, Jody Becker-Green

Dissertations and Theses

Life story methods were used to explore the contextual factors that influenced the experiences and identity formation of seven Native American adults who were transracially adopted prior to the passage of the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978. These methods provided a deeper understanding of how these individuals have integrated their adoption experiences into their evolving sense of self. The life story methodology offered a way to acknowledge and validate participants' life experiences and allowed for the collection of rich information from the perspectives of the adoptees.

The life story interviews were structured to gather information on the influence of …

Dependent Care And Work-Life Outcomes : Comparing Exceptional Care And Typical Care Responsibilities, Lisa Maureen Stewart

Dissertations and Theses

Exceptional care responsibilities describe the experiences of caring for a dependent with a chronic illness or disability (Roundtree & Lynch, 2006). To date research on exceptional care responsibilities has occurred outside of the traditional work-life field. This study positions exceptional care responsibilities as a type of dependent care that goes beyond that of typical care responsibilities and argues efforts are needed both within the workplace and the community to address the challenges faced by employees with disability-related dependent care responsibilities.

The influence of supports within the workplace on the work-life barriers and related outcomes of employees with typical care and …

Policy Brief: Strengthening Mentoring Opportunities For At-Risk Youth, Timothy A. Cavell, David L. Dubois, Michael J. Karcher, Thomas E. Keller, Jean E. Rhodes

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Mentoring the next generation of youth is critical to the future health and prosperity of our nation. Yet, millions of young people are currently growing up without the guidance and support from parents or others that is needed to prepare them to become well-adjusted and contributing members of society. Making progress in addressing this need will require substantial commitments of time and resources at all levels-from individuals to communities to government. These investments must be made carefully and strategically. For guidance, this brief summarizes the latest research on youth mentoring. Several new directions for programs and policies aimed at connecting …

Focal Point, Volume 23 Number 01, Portland State University. Regional Research Institute

Research and Training Center - Focal Point

Stigmatization can result in exclusion of and discrimination against the stigmatized individual. This issue of Focal Point provides state-of-the-art information about stigmatization, its causes and consequences, and strategies and programs for alleviating it.