Social Work Commons^™

Approaching The Transition To Adulthood: Distinctive Profiles Of Adolescents Aging Out Of The Child Welfare System, Thomas E. Keller, Gretchen Ruth Cusick, Mark E. Courtney

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The transition to adulthood is marked by new roles and responsibilities in such interrelated domains as education, employment, and family formation. This study investigates the capacity of adolescents on the verge of emancipation from the child welfare system to navigate this transition. To explore heterogeneity in adolescents' preparation for independent living, person-oriented methods are applied to a large, representative sample of youth about to exit foster care. The analysis suggests four subpopulations defined by distinctive profiles on indicators reflecting multiple domains of life experience. Identifying the particular needs and challenges of subpopulations has implications for efforts to match adolescents aging …

Food Security And Hunger Among Low Income Us Households: Relations To Federal Food Assistance Program Participation, Rebecca Elizabeth Sanders

Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation describes the conceptual and empirical framework that guides the definition of food insecurity and hunger, the present status of federal programmatic responses, and the status of current research on the topic. It also examines relations between hunger and federal food assistance program participation. Logistic regression is utilized to build two predictor models. Model 1 predicts federal food assistance program participation from household structure, income, community characteristics, and demographics. Model 2 predicts food insecurity/hunger from household structure, income, community characteristics, demographics, and federal food assistance program participation. Results are based on 2004 Current Population Survey data from low income …

Focal Point, Volume 21 Number 02, Portland State University. Regional Research Institute

Research and Training Center - Focal Point

Evidence–based programs produce positive outcomes for consumers, providers, and the greater public. However, not all evidence–based programs have been proven to work with diverse groups. This issue of Focal Point features programs that have been developed specifically to meet the needs of underserved youth such as immigrants, rural or homeless youth, and those from racial or sexual minority groups.

Family-Friendly Workplace Culture, Flexibility, And Workplace Support For Dependent Care : The Perspectives Of Human Resource Professionals, Katherine June Huffstutter

Dissertations and Theses

Integration of family responsibilities and employment demands is challenging for all families, but particularly for those families with extraordinary care requirements of children with mental health disabilities. Utilization of workplace supports, such as flexible work arrangements, has been identified in the work-family literature as an important indicator of organizational responsiveness to employee's family needs (Allen, 2001; Eaton, 2003; Hammer, Neal, Newsom, Brockwood, & Colton, 2005; Secret, 2000). A better understanding of which organizational conditions may improve utilization of available family-friendly supports by employees caring for children with mental health disorders can improve work-life integration for these families. This study examines …

Family Participation : Exploring The Role It Plays In Outcomes For Youth With Serious Emotional Disorders, Jodi Lee Kerbs

Dissertations and Theses

The participation of families of children with emotional or behavioral disorders is increasingly seen as an essential component of children's mental health services. Although it is frequently discussed in the literature, family participation has not been a major focus of most research surrounding youth with serious emotional disorders (SED). This gap in research is particularly evident in the literature related to those youth who are also in the juvenile justice system. This study explored the concept of family participation in the context of services for youth with SED and examined the relationship between family participation in treatment planning and child …

Determinants Of Substance Abuse Among Incarcerated Adolescents: Implications For Brief Treatment And Crisis Intervention, Stephen J. Tripodi, David W. Springer, Kevin Corcoran

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study assessed the determinants of substance abuse among incarcerated youth. Because substance abuse is a predictor of incarceration and conduct disorder is known to increase the chances of youth abusing substances, the purpose of this study was to determine what seminal symptoms of conduct disorder seem to be the risk factors for substance abusers among incarcerated youth. Data were collected on 83 youth in southern Oregon, 74 males and 9 females. Logistic regression found the overall model containing 6 symptoms of conduct disorder to be significantly related to substance abuse (p , .001). When looking at the 6 symptoms …

Focal Point, Volume 21 Number 01, Portland State University. Regional Research Institute

Research and Training Center - Focal Point

This Focal Point issue focuses on child traumatic stress, particularly as experienced by children involved in the child welfare system. The causes and effects of traumatic stress are discussed, as are evidence-based treatments, and prevention strategies.

Parents As Navigators: How Caregivers Of Children With Mental Health Difficulties Find Supports In The Workplace, Katherine J. Huffstutter, Jennifer R. Bradley, Eileen M. Brennan, Marlene Penn, Julie M. Rosenzweig

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

For some parents, the gap between the demands of work and family and the resources they have available to meet these responsibilities is too great, particularly for employed parents of children with emotional or behavioral disorders (Brennan & Brannan, 2005). While responding to the increasing demands of the workplace for dedicated performance and significant facetime, parents must also arrange for their children's treatment, see that their educational needs are met, and provide enrichment opportunities in the community (Huang et al., 2005). Despite challenges, these parents have used creative approaches to "cobble together" flexible arrangements that work for both their families …

How Human Resource Professionals Manage Diversity: Decisions On Flexible Work Arrangements For Parents Of Children With Disabilities, Julie M. Rosenzweig, Eileen M. Brennan, Katherine J. Huffstutter, Daniel Coleman

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

PDF version of a presentation given at the Community, Work and Family II International Conference, Lisbon, Portugal, April 2007.

Access To Child Care For Children With Emotional Or Behavioral Challenges: An Essential Element Of Family Support, Eileen M. Brennan, Julie M. Rosenzweig, Anna M. Malsch, Katherine J. Huffstutter, Lisa Maureen Stewart, John Conley

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Parents don't always feel they can disclose the special needs of their children to other families or even caregivers unless it is obvious they have had the training and skills to handle the situation. They also may not disclose their children's special needs to their employer, unless difficulties arranging and keeping child care make disclosure necessary. Major policy issue but unknown to public because many families do not disclose. Reality is that 1 in 5 families have a child with special needs. Research implications---parents develop strategies to keep their jobs and keep child care. Parents often have to choose between …

Taking It On: Disclosure, Stigmatization, And Self-Esteem, Eileen M. Brennan, Julie M. Rosenzweig, Anna M. Malsch, Lisa Maureen Stewart, John Conley

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

PDF version of a presentation given at the Building on Family Strengths: State of the Science Conference, Research and Training Center on Family Support and Children's Mental Health, Portland, OR, in May 2007.

Assessing The Business Case For Flexible Work Arrangements, Eileen M. Brennan, Julie M. Rosenzweig, Katherine J. Huffstutter, Lisa Maureen Stewart, Daniel Coleman

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

PDF version of a presentation given at the 87th Annual Convention of the Western Psychological Association. Vancouver, BC, May 2007.

What Makes Mentoring Effective? How Research Can Guide You In Selecting A Program, Julia M. Pryce, Michael Stokely Kelly, Thomas E. Keller

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article focuses on how mentoring can be made more effective through research which would allow a better means for evaluating various mentoring programs

Program Staff In Youth Mentoring Programs: Qualifications, Training, And Retention, Thomas E. Keller

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Considering the many ways in which program staff may influence the experiences of mentors, youth, and parents in mentoring interventions, the author advocates that greater attention be devoted to the recruitment, training, and retention of qualified and competent program professionals in the field of youth mentoring. Research from similar fields is informative, but inferences and implications drawn from these studies may not translate directly to the realities of youth mentoring programs. The investigation of staffing issues in youth mentoring presents an opportunity to guide investment in the infrastructure of the youth mentoring movement and to ultimately improve the quality and …

Partner Interference With Health Care: Do We Want One More Piece Of A Complex Puzzle?, Christina Nicolaidis

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

As I sit down to write, scattered images of former patients fill my mind: a well-educated, elderly woman presenting to the hospital 2 days after having a large myocardial infarction; a young diabetic woman with erratic blood glucose control; one of my colleague’s “frequent flyers” coming in to see me on a Friday afternoon, panicked, asking for yet another early refill of her hydrocodone; a very ill, middle-aged woman whose doting husband kept immaculate notes on her many medical issues and 12 medications. Each of these women has her own, complex story. Each had a partner who negatively interfered with …

Best Practices For Increasing Meaningful Youth Participation In Collaborative Team Planning, Janet S. Walker, Barbara J. Friesen, Rujuta Gaonkar, Beckie Child, Laurie E. Powers, Ariel Holman

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Human service and educational agencies and systems often convene teams to work collaboratively on plans for serving children or youth. This is particularly true for children and youth who are involved with multiple systems or who are felt to be in need of intensive intervention. hese kinds of planning teams include IEP (Individualized Education Plan) teams, wraparound teams, foster care Independent Living Program teams, transition planning teams, youth/family decision teams, and other teams that create service or treatment plans. Unfortunately, it is often true that these plans are created for youth, with little input or buy-in from the young people …

Book Review Of, Foundations Of Evidence Based Social Work Practice, Daniel Coleman

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Reviews the book "Foundations of Evidence Based Social Work Practice", by Albert R. Roberts and Kenneth R. Yeager

Engaging Our Workforce: How Job Demands And Resources Contribute To Social Worker Burnout, Engagement And Intent To Leave, Sara Laura Schwartz

Dissertations and Theses

Social worker stress and burnout are pervasive problems that harm workers, organizations, and clients. Past research has identified burnout, a psychological response to work stress, as an important predictor of intent to leave and ultimate turnover. An emerging body of research has examined work engagement, considered to be the opposite of burnout, as a predictor of retention. The problem of burnout and turnover within organizations employing social workers has been addressed in the literature for many years. This dissertation responded to a call in the literature for a greater emphasis on burnout prevention and enhancement of workforce engagement and retention. …

Social Workers Addressing Student-Perpetrated Interpersonal Violence In The School Context : Awareness And Use Of Evidence-Supported Programs, Natalie Diane Cawood

Dissertations and Theses

Researchers have argued that there is a research-practice gap in the delivery of prevention and mental health services in the school setting. An extension of the work of Astor and his colleagues (Astor et al., 1997, 1998, 2000), this study addresses that gap by examining the extent to which evidence-supported school violence intervention programs (ESP) are known and used by school social workers, and the barriers that are related to the use of ESPs.

A cross-sectional, web-based survey was completed by 250 members of the School Social Work Association of America, the majority having an MSW as their highest degree. …

Sons Providing Care At End-Of-Life: Common Threads And Nuances, Patricia Ebert

Dissertations and Theses

Family care is common in the majority of families in the United States, the primary care providers for older adult family members most often are wives, daughters or daughters-in-law. As the proportion of the oldest old continues to expand so too will the need for family careproviders. Recent demographic changes have served to deplete the pool of available caregivers. Caregiving research has naturally evolved into investigations into the experiences of women with little attention paid to the care contributions men make.

This investigation examined the perceptions of sons who served as primary caregivers for their dying elderly parents. It was …

Relationship Between Resident Workload And Self-Perceived Learning On Inpatient Medicine Wards: A Longitudinal Study, Elizabeth M. Haney, Christina Nicolaidis, Alan Hunter, Benjamin K. Chan, Thomas G. Cooney, Judith L. Bowen

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: Despite recent residency workload and hour limitations, little research on the relationship between workload and learning has been done. We sought to define residents' perceptions of the optimal patient workload for learning, and to determine how certain variables contribute to those perceptions. Our hypothesis was that the relationship between perceived workload and learning has a maximum point (forming a parabolic curve): that either too many or too few patients results in sub-optimal learning.

Methods: Residents on inpatient services at two academic teaching hospitals reported their team and individual patient censuses, and rated their perception of their learning; the patient …

Focal Point, Volume 20 Number 02, Portland State University. Regional Research Institute

Research and Training Center - Focal Point

This issue of Focal Point describes the need for, and provides examples of, new strategies for meeting the mental health needs of children and adolescents involved with the juvenile justice system.

Is It Just Me? Felt Hiv -Related Stigma Among Adults With Hiv, Rebecca Gila Block

Dissertations and Theses

HIV carries a significant social stigma in the United States based on the virus being contagious, incurable, visually apparent, and still somewhat mysterious to the public. People who are HIV positive, people who love them and people who work with them may all experience HIV-related stigma. The effects of HIV-related stigma vary from individual to individual; from community to community. The magnitude of feeling stigmatized and experiencing stigmatizing behaviors such as discrimination and exclusion also vary among individuals. Individuals experience stigma differently and respond to the experience in diverse ways.

The objective of this study was to explore felt HIV-related …

School Counselor Confidence Designing And Implementing A Measure: Experiences From Washington State, Tina M. Anctil, Todd E. Johnson

Counselor Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

Overview of a study that was conducted at the WSU School Counseling Summit, Spring 2005. Participants designed a MEASURE to be implemented in the 2005-2006 school year. This presentation discusses the results.

Focal Point, Volume 20 Number 01, Portland State University. Regional Research Institute

Research and Training Center - Focal Point

This issue of Focal Point discusses how social support can be harnessed to improve children's mental health. Articles in this issue define and recommend various methods of establishing and improving social support among families, mentors, and peers. Types of support examined include family–to–family support, wraparound, peer support, and natural support.

Parents As Navigators: How Caregivers Of Children With Mental Health Difficulties Find Supports In The Workplace, Eileen M. Brennan, Marlene Penn, Katherine J. Huffstutter, Jennifer R. Bradley, Julie M. Rosenzweig

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Presentation given at the 19th Annual Research Conference: A System of Care for Children's Mental Health: Expanding the Research Base, Tampa, FL, February 2006.

"Come Pick Up Your Child!" Integrating Work And Family Life For Parents Of School-Aged Children With Mental Health Challenges, Eileen M. Brennan, Ana Maria Brannan, Judy Kendall, Jennifer R. Bradley, Katherine J. Huffstutter

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Our research team sought to discover the factors that lead to the unemployment of parents of children with mental health disorders. Our preliminary analyses and findings are reported in this presentation. We controlled for factors that affect participation in the paid workforce for parents in general: (a) child age, (b) level of caregiver education, and (c) the number of children in the household. We also introduced factors that pertain specifically to families that have children with emotional or behavioral disorders: the level of the child's internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and the number of child absences from school. Our research was …

Managing Employees Dependent Care Challenges: Human Resource Professionals' Perspectives, Jennifer R. Bradley, Katherine J. Huffstutter, Eileen M. Brennan, Julie M. Rosenzweig

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

PDF version of a presentation given at the 86th annual meeting of the Western Psychological Association, Palm Springs, CA.

Families Challenged By Children's Mental Health: Employment And Community Integration, Eileen M. Brennan, Katherine J. Huffstutter, Julie M. Rosenzweig, Jennifer R. Bradley

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Slides of a presentation given to the conference 'Work, Stress, and Health 2006: Making a Difference in the Workplace' held in Miami, FL, in 2006.

Patterns Of Risk And Trajectories Of Preschool Problem Behaviors: A Person-Oriented Analysis Of Attachment In Context, Thomas E. Keller, Susan J. Spieker, Lewayne D. Gilchrist

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

A small proportion of children exhibit extreme and persistent conduct problems through childhood. The present study employed the multiple-domain model of Greenberg and colleagues as the framework for person-oriented analyses examining whether parents' child attachment combines with parenting, family ecology, and child characteristics in particular configurations of risk that are linked to this problematic developmental pathway. Using prospective data from a community sample of adolescent mothers and their children, latent variable growth mixture modeling identified a normative trajectory with declining problem behaviors during the preschool period. Consistent with research on early-starter pathways, a distinct group of children featured a higher …