Social Work Commons^™

Older Mexican Americans: Role Of The Family And Mental Health Service Utilization, John M. Gonzalez, Denise Longoria, Romeo Escobar, Leyla Feize

School of Social Work Faculty Publications

This study explored role of the family and mental health service utilization by older Mexican-Americans. Using qualitative exploration, the study investigated family factors influencing their mental health service utilization. The researcher used a purposive sample and interviewed 20 older Mexican Americans, who completed outpatient mental health services located in Texas. Kleinman’s explanatory model (1980) guided the ethnographic content analysis. Findings show the family took several roles to facilitate use of mental health services. The family was involved with respondents throughout the process of help-seeking and accessing mental health services. Family members helped respondents recognize their mental distress by noticing behavior …

The Influence Of Domestic Living Arrangement And Neighborhood Identity On Mental Health Among Urban Chinese Elders, Minzhi Ye, Yiwei Chen

School of Social Work Faculty Publications

Objectives: The primary purposes of the present study were (1) to assess the living arrangements among urban Chinese elders, (2) to examine the relationship between household living arrangement and elders’ mental health, and (3) to investigate how individuals’ neighborhood identity affects their mental health.

Method: The random sample was collected in 2011, including 939 respondents aged 60 and above who lived in the Jing’an district of Shanghai, China. The study examined well-being and depression of elders. The domestic living arrangements were assessed by a single item with five options: ‘With whom are you living together?’ The neighborhood identity was measured …

The Role Of Children’S Support In Elders’ Decisions To Live In A Yanglaoyuan (Residential Long-Term Care), Lin Chen, Minzhi Ye

School of Social Work Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of children’s support in elders’ decisions to live in a yanglaoyuan (residential long-term care) in Shanghai based on their intentions and actual experiences, drawing on both quantitative and qualitative data. The 2005 Shanghai Elderly Citizen Longitudinal Tracking Study (SECLTS) examines a stratified sample of community-dwelling elders and their intention to live in a yanglaoyuan (N = 1,512). Eleven semi-structured, retrospective interviews described how children participated in residents’ decision-making to live in a yanglaoyuan. Logistic regression analyses reveal that satisfaction with children’s support—financial, instrumental, and emotional—is negatively associated with …

Ecological Systems Theory In Social Work, Max Siporin

School of Social Work Faculty Publications

Ecological systems theory is explicated as a current form of successive systems models used in social work. Behavior principles assumptive in this model are identified: of exchange balance, inner consistency, and dialectial change. Several misconceptions of ecological systems theory and a cultist aspect of its current popularity are addressed. Advantages, including the emergence of practice principles deriVed from this model, as well as its limitations are then discussed. The charge that systems theory helps maintain the status quo and the use of systems theory by radical proponents of system change are considered in terms of the dual function of social …