Social Work Commons^™

Patient Initiation Of Information: Exploring Its Role During The Mental Health Intake Visit, Ora Nakash, Sarah Dargouth, Vanessa Oddo, Shan Gao, Margarita Alegría

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

Objective: Describe the role of patients' initiation of information in patient-provider communication during mental health intake visits. Methods: One hundred and twenty-nine mental health intake visits of diverse racial/ethnic patients were videotaped. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with patients and providers following each intake visit. We qualitatively analyzed the interviews to identify themes related to patients' initiation of information. We quantitatively analyzed the videos of the intake visits utilizing a checklist that identified whether the patient or the provider initiated the information exchanged. Results: Patient initiation of information affected providers' evaluation of the credence of the information, assessment of rapport and …

Discourses For Social Justice Education: The Web Of Racism And The Web Of Resistance, Lisa Werkmeister Rozas, Joshua Miller

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

This article presents two conceptual frames to help with teaching about issues of race and racism. First the concept of the web of racism describes a matrix that helps students understand the depth of damage racism has instilled in contemporary U.S. society. Second, the web of resistance offers a model of anti-racist activities to help students participate in the fight to end systemic racism. The importance of placing racism in a historical context is emphasized as are the differential reactions of white students and students of color to this material.

An Approach To Preventing Coparenting Conflict And Divorce In Low-Income Families: Strengthening Couple Relationships And Fostering Fathers' Involvement, Carolyn Pape Cowan, Philip A. Cowan, Marsha Kline Pruett, Kyle Pruett

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

In the context of current concern about levels of marital distress, family violence, and divorce, the SFI study is evaluating the effectiveness of an intervention to facilitate the positive involvement of low-income Mexican American and European American fathers with their children, in part by strengthening the men's relationships with their children's mothers. The study design involves a randomized clinical trial that includes assignment to a 16-week couples group, a 16-week fathers group, or a single-session control group. Couples in both group interventions and the control condition include partners who are married, cohabiting, and living separately but raising a young child …

The Social Ecology Of Hurricane Katrina Re-Writing The Discourse Of “Natural” Disasters, Yoosun Park, Joshua Miller

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

It is increasingly difficult to distinguish natural events from those influenced by human actions. Furthermore, researchers in various fields have established that the level of devastation and the predicted likelihood of recovery of neighborhoods and communities correspond with the amount of political and socioeconomic capital held by neighborhoods and communities prior to disasters such as the Hurricane Katrina. In this paper we analyze the significance of the discourse of “natural disasters” through the framework of social ecology. We contest the neutralist discourse of “natural disasters” by underscoring the numerous interdependent sociopolitical forces, which shape the context in which disasters occur.

Talking When Talking Is Tough: Taking On Conversations About Race, Sexual Orientation, Gender, Class, And Other Aspects Of Social Identity, Joshua Miller, Susan Donner, Edith Fraser

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Racism In Assisted Living Facilities : A Comparative Study, Alissa Lee Nickey

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This exploratory, comparative study was undertaken in two separate assisted living facilities, a for-profit facility and a non-profit facility, located in the City of Atlanta, Georgia to determine if employees in both settings experience the same or similar level of racism within their work environment. The following six research questions guided this study: Is there a relationship between type of racism in non-profit and for-profit assisted living facilities? Is there a relationship between healthcare provider age and perceived racism in non-profit and for-profit assisted living facilities? Is there a relationship between healthcare provider educational level and perceived racism in nonprofit …

Race, Menopause, Health-Related Quality Of Life, And Psychological Well-Being In Obese Women, Blandine Laferrère, Shankuan Zhu, Jennifer R. Clarkson, Marianne R.M. Yoshioka, Katherine Krauskopf, John C. Thornton, F. Xavier Pi-Sunyer

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

Race, menopause, health-related quality of life, and psychological well-being in obese women. Obes Res. 2002;10:1270 –1275.

Objective: To investigate the health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) in African-American (AA) and white (W) obese women.

Research Methods and Procedures: Participants were 145 obese women (80 AA and 65 W; 87 premenopausal and 58 postmenopausal) who completed the Medical Outcomes Study short form, the Brief Symptom Inventory, the Life Distress Inventory, the Satisfaction With Life Scale, and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale before entering a weight-loss study. The mean age of the subjects was 46.3   11.1 years and the mean body mass index was …

The Discourse Of Denigration And The Creation Of “Other”, Joshua Miller, Gerald Schamess

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

This paper attempts to reduce the distance between intellectual frameworks that inform different fields of social work practice by exploring the relationships between intrapsychic mechanisms, family dynamics, small group processes and such society wide phenomena as public denigration, scapegoating, and the systematic oppression of politically targeted population subgroups. Clinical theories are used to explore disturbing social trends such as the redistribution of wealth while cutting services to the needy, the growth of prisons and disproportionate numbers of incarcerated people of color, societal retreat from social obligation and commitment and divisive political rhetoric. Suggestions are made about how clinical social workers …

Only God Decides': Young Children's Perceptions Of Divorce And The Legal System, Kyle D. Pruett, Marsha Kline Pruett

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

Objective: To describe research on perceptions of children aged 6 and younger from 21 families of their parents' divorce, of its impact on their families, and of legal officials. Method: Semistructured play interviews were conducted during home visits as parents were conjointly interviewed as part of a larger study on divorce in legal context. Results: Children had much misinformation about divorce as an event and process. What they did know was often inappropriate, frightening, and confusing. They resented how the process 'ruined their parents' being friends any more' and proposed reforms based on their wishes and observations. Conclusions: Greater awareness …

The Applicability Of William E. Cross’S Model Of Black Identity Development And Vivienne Cass’S Model Of Lesbian/Gay Identity Formation To The Experience Of Black Lesbians, Lisa Lynelle Moore

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

The purpose of this research was to explore the applicability of William E. Cross' Black identity development model and Vivienne Cass' model of lesbian/ gay identity formation to the experience of Black lesbians. Through evaluating their applicability the experience of identity integration was addressed in the experience of Black lesbians whose intersections of identity may conflict within a predominately heterosexual Black community and in the visible lesbian community which is often perceived as predominately White.

Through using an interview guide comprised of ten open-ended questions developed by the researcher, sixteen women between the ages of nineteen and forty-nine participated in …

Re-Envisioning Family: Voices Of Lesbian Mothers Adopting Across Racial Lines, Robin Rice Chalfin

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

No abstract provided.

Spouse Enabling Of Alcohol Abuse: Conception, Assessment, And Modification, Edwin J. Thomas, Marianne Yoshioka, Richard D. Ager

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

This article presents a conception of spouse enabling of partner alcohol abuse, a review of its dysfunctions, and an approach to assessment and modification to reduce spouse enabling behavior. Based on experience with its use in unilateral family therapy with many spouses of treatment-refusing alcohol abusers, procedural guidelines, treatment methods, two case examples from a crossover experimental dyad, and clinical results for the two cases in the dyad are described. Also presented are practice issues, characteristics of spouse enabling as the), relate to disenabling intervention, and areas of possible application of the disenahling program.

The Effect Of Movie Portrayals Of Therapy And Therapists On College Students' View Of Therapy And Therapists, Karin Perlman

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This study was undertaken to explore the effects of movie portrayals of therapy and therapists on the public's view of therapy and therapists. lt was hypothesized that much of the information that forms individuals' views of therapy comes from the media, specifically the portrayals they see in movies.

To explore to what extent subjects felt their impressions of therapy and therapists were informed by movies and by other sources, volunteers were enlisted to fill out questionnaires. The questionnaire asked subjects to identify and then describe the sources of information that they felt have formed their understanding of therapy and therapists. …

Nagging And Other Drinking Control Efforts Of Spouses Of Uncooperative Alcohol Abusers: Assessment And Modification, Marianne R. Yoshioka, Edwin J. Thomas, Richard D. Ager

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

This article presents a conception of spouse drinking control and an approach to assessment and modification to reduce the customary drinking control efforts of spouses of alcohol abusers unmotivated to enter treatment. Modification of the nonalcoholic spouse’s customary drinking control is offered as an important early step in helping to prepare him or her to become a positive rehabilitative influence. Based on its use in unilateral family therapy with 68 spouses of uncooperative alcohol abusers, procedural guidelines, criteria for use, and two case examples from a crossover experimental dyad are described. Also presented are clinical results illustrating the success of …

Whose Daughter Are You? : Exploring Identity Issues Of Lesbians Who Are Adopted : A Project Based Upon An Independent Investigation, Anne Mi Ok Bruining

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

No abstract provided.

Experience Of Stigmatization And Discrimination Of Former Psychiatric Inpatients, Amy Rappaport

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

In our culture as well as other cultures, there are social norms that are prescribed and expected to be followed. If an individual does not act in accordance with these social norms, there are often consequences. In Edgerton's (1971) article, "Anthropology, Psychiatry, and Man's Nature," he states, "Sometimes, of course, the sanctions against deviant behavior are supernatural, consisting of immediate and horrible punishment by gods, spirits, ancestors or the like" (p. 45). In present day culture in the United States, the researcher contends that there are both traditional and modern belief systems that serve to ostracize the stigmatized deviant.

An Exploratory Study Of Men In The Anti-Abortion Movement: A Project Based Upon An Independent Investigation, Laura E. Sabatini

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This study was undertaken to examine the characteristics and possible motivations of male anti-abortion activists. Specifically, this study explored the following questions:

1. How is the intense dedication of these men to the anti-abortion movement related to their perceptions of current societal structures? Do they experience legalized abortion as a threat to their external world views?

2. How is their behavior related to them as individuals, with unique gender role ideology? Do they experience legalized abortion as a threat to their internal world views?

3. Is their behavior related to an internal character rigidity separate from apparent beliefs and values? …

Clinical Dilemmas And Countertransference Reactions For Therapists Of Pre-Operative Transexual Clients, Rachel Lynne Wichman

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

An exploratory study was undertaken to examine the clinical dilemmas that are inherent to working with a pre operative transsexual population, and associated countertransference reactions. Interviews were conducted with twelve therapists who had treated pre-operative transsexual clients. The interviews revealed that three clinical dilemmas were significantly referred to by the subjects as they described their countertransference reactions—diagnostic considerations, the therapists' clinical role in treatment of transsexual clients, and therapists' traditional sex role conditioning. The findings indicated that countertransference reactions for therapists working with pre-operative transsexual clients were an outgrowth of the clinical dilemmas found in treating this client population.

Obsessive Compulsive Personality Traits In Marathon And Recreational Runners, Amy C. Sterling

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether marathon runners exhibit a higher degree of obsessive compulsive personality traits than do recreational runners. Because competing in a marathon requires a great amount of energy and discipline, incidences of traits such as perseverance, rigidity, orderliness and drive were examined in both male and female marathon and recreational runners. To carry ·out this investigation, semi-structured interviews regarding running history were conducted with two non-probability sample groups of 12 marathon and 12 recreational runners; each group consisted of seven men and five women. In addition~ each runner completed a true/ false test …

The Altering Of Family Attitudes Toward The Child With Prolonged Illness As A Causative Factor Of Behavior Problems, Harriett Rinaldo

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

No abstract provided.

A Study Of Forty Problem Children Of Sephardic Extraction, To Determine The Special Problems They Present To A Jewish Agency And To Discover Methods Of Dealing With These Problems, Lucille Shyev

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

No abstract provided.