Social Work Commons^™

The Latino Community 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

Our report, "The Latino Community in Multnomah County: An Unsettling Profile" uncovers an array of racial inequities across the systems of income, employment, education, juvenile justice, corrections, child welfare, philanthropic giving, housing, immigration, research practices (particularly population measurement), wealth, health, health insurance coverage, racial harassment, public service and voter registration. These systems maintain our second-class status and serve to limit our current well being and the prospects for a bright future for our children.

Strategic Sharing Workbook: Youth Voice In Advocacy, Eric Lulow

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This workbook is for individuals who have experienced traumatic life experiences and are interested in sharing their stories in an effort to promote change. Training in Strategic Sharing is an important part of advocacy – we encourage anyone who has experienced traumatic life events and wishes to share those experiences in an effort to promote positive changes for yourself and/or others, to do so with the help of this guide.

As you will see mentioned several times in this workbook, it is really important that you take the time to take care of yourself. This training was not developed to …

Factors Predicting Difficulty Combining Work And Family Responsibilities For Mothers Raising Children With Adhd, Eileen M. Brennan, Judy Kendall, Gail M. Houck, Michael Charles Leo, Claudia Sellmaier

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

PDF version of presentation given at the Work and Family Researchers Network Conference in New York, NY, June 16, 2012.

The Social Nature Of Male Suicide: A New Analytic Model, Daniel Coleman, John T. Casey

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Suicide is one of the leading causes of male mortality. In nearly every country in the world, more males than females end their life by suicide. Previous research indicates male-specific risk factors include social factors such as being unmarried, low income, and unemployment. An analytic model of male suicide is developed, proposing that the traditional male gender role creates a culturally-conditioned narrowing of perceived options and cognitive rigidity when under stress that increases male suicide risk. Suicide prevention and intervention require recognition of the role of high traditional masculinity, situating individual explanations within a broader social context. Based on this …

The Politics Of Data: Uncovering Whiteness In Conventional Social Policy And Social Work Research, Ann Curry-Stevens, Amanda Cross-Hemmer, Nichole Maher, Julia Meier

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The implementation of a robust community based participatory research (CBPR) study in Multnomah County, Oregon, has detailed broad and deep racial disparities across 27 institutions and systems. The process of this research has led to the identification of numerous practices that misrepresent and negate the experiences and very identity of communities of color. The research draws from engagement with numerous databases from the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and various administrative databases. The core issues at hand are population undercounts, understudy of the unique characteristics of these communities, inaccuracies in …

Creating Inclusive Programming And Practice For Lgbtqq Youth Through Awareness, L. Kris Gowen, Christian L. Rummell

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Slides from a webinar which presents information and key definitions for organizations that provide programs and services in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning (LGBTQ) youth. Research data and studies; causes of health and system disparities; risk and protective factors; policies and theories; the identity development stages and process; and support strategies are discussed. In addition, audience questions are answered and mentoring specific organizational resources are given. Agencies and organizations can gain a greater awareness of the LGBTQ community which leads to the creation of a more inclusive and responsive approach to youth development for this population.

Innovation In Collaboration: The Summer Institute On Youth Mentoring As A University-Community Partnership, Kevin R. Jones, Thomas E. Keller, Marc E. Wheeler

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The article explores the utility and flexibility of one of the more comprehensive partnership frameworks by using it to a university-based summer institute designed to foster the exchange of knowledge between practitioners and researchers in the field of youth mentoring. It states that youth mentoring is a well-known and prevalent mode of intervention with youth and children across the U.S. The Summer Institute on Youth Mentoring at Portland State University was developed to provide a new and distinctive educational chance for experienced youth and mentoring experts. Portland State University became known as a pioneer in facilitating collaboration between youth mentoring …

Associations Between Childhood Maltreatment And Young Adult Romantic Relationships: A Focus On Gender Differences, L. Kris Gowen, Celina Kishna

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Two recent studies investigated the associations between experiencing maltreatment in childhood and dating aggression and interpersonal problems in young adult romantic relationships, with a focus on gender differences.

Healthy Relationships, L. Kris Gowen

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The author's introduction to this issue of Focal Point, focused on healthy relationships. Offers background information and brief synopses of the articles contained in this issue.

How Mental Health Challenges Impact The Sexual And Relational Health Of Young Adults, L. Kris Gowen

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Sexual behavior is a normative aspect of young adulthood—90% of young adults have had vaginal intercourse and/or oral sex before the age of 30.1 Similarly, engaging in romantic and/or intimate relationships is seen as an essential developmental task of young adulthood. However, little is known about the sexual and romantic relationships of young adults with serious mental health conditions (SMHC), despite the fact that there is evidence that this population is disproportionately affected by poor sexual health. This article will outline what is known about the sexual and romantic relationships of young adults with SMHC and highlight the importance of …

Development And Preliminary Psychometric Testing Of The Centrality Of Pain Scale, Christina Nicolaidis, Teresa Chianello, Martha Gerrity

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Objective: To develop and begin to evaluate a new measure of the centrality of pain in patients' lives.

Design: Cross-sectional survey and cognitive interviews.

Setting: Academic general internal medicine clinic.

Patients: 65 adult internal medicine patients with chronic non-malignant pain (CNMP).

Outcome measures: We assessed content validity and clarity of the 10-item Centrality of Pain Scale (COPS) by soliciting feedback from chronic pain experts and by conducting cognitive interviews with patients with CNMP. We assessed internal consistency reliability using Cronbach's alpha. We assessed construct validity by comparing the COPS with other measures of chronic pain …

Collaboration Strategies In Non-Traditional Cbpr Partnerships: Lessons From An Academic-Community Partnership With Autistic Self-Advocates, Christina Nicolaidis, Dora Raymaker, Katherine Mcdonald, Sebastian Dern, Elesia Ashkenazy, Cody Boisclair, Scott Robertson, Amelia E.V. Baggs

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: Most community-based participatory research (CBPR) projects involve local communities defined by race, ethnicity, geography, or occupation. Autistic self-advocates, a geographically dispersed community defined by disability, experience issues in research similar to those expressed by more traditional minorities.

Objectives: We sought to build an academic-community partnership that uses CBPR to improve the lives of people on the autistic spectrum.

Methods: The Academic Autistic Spectrum Partnership in Research and Education (AASPIRE) includes representatives from academic, self-advocate, family, and professional communities. We are currently conducting several studies about the health care experiences and well-being of autistic adults.

Lessons Learned: We have learned …

Community-Based Approaches For Supporting Positive Development In Youth And Young Adults With Serious Mental Health Conditions, Janet S. Walker, L. Kris Gowen

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Our goal in this chapter is to describe empirically- supported and promising community-based programs or approaches that are designed to promote positive development and to achieve better outcomes for young people with SMHC. We begin by providing more detail regarding the nature of the challenges that these young people face, as well as some of the challenges that systems and providers currently face in trying to serve the population. We then go on to describe recent theory and research on positive development, particularly as it applies to older adolescents and young or “emerging” adults. The next sections of the chapter …

The Sexual Health Of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, And Questioning Youth, L. Kris Gowen

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Although persons of different sexual and gender orientations often get grouped together under the term “LGBTQ” (for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning), it is important to distinguish between subpopulations based on sexual vs. gender orientation. A person’s sexual orientation is the gender to which a person is emotionally, romantically, and sexually attracted. Gender identity is how a person self-identifies as a particular gender regardless of biological sex characteristics. “Transgender” describes persons who are born a certain sex, but identify with, and consequently wish to live as, a different gender than the sex their anatomy dictates. According to data from …

The Influence Of Military Culture And Veteran Worldviews On Mental Health Treatment: Practice Implications For Combat Veteran Help-Seeking And Wellness, Eugenia Weiss, Jose E. Coll

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The influence of military cultural values consisting of unit cohesion (or the subordination of individual needs over the needs of the collective)the devotion to duty and to the mission,stoicism (emotional restraint)and the importance of adhering to the chain of command become guiding belief systems for military personnel.In fact,military culture has been recognized as a distinct sub-culture of American civilian society.

Strengths-Based Practice And Motivational Interviewing, Trevor Jay Manthey, Bryan Knowles, Dianne Asher, Stéphanie Wahab

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

There has been recent concern that many practices and programs erroneously claim to be strengths-based. In reaction some have called for researchers to make systematic comparisons to the tenets of strengths-based practice (SBP) before making the contention that an intervention is strengths-based. Motivational interviewing (MI) is an intervention which has been described as being strengths-based; however, no systematic efforts have yet been made to compare the two. This article takes a methodical approach to comparing SBP and MI to determine level of cohesion and how they might be used together. A case-example is used to illustrate how MI and SBP …

Work-Life Integration Issues For Parents Raising Children With Adhd. Community, Work And Family, Eileen M. Brennan, Judy Kendall, Gail M. Houck, Michael Charles Leo

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

PDF version of a presentation given at Community, Work and Family: IV International Conference Actors, Structures, and Theories. Tampere, Finland, May 2011.

Veterans In Higher Education: What Every Adviser May Want To Know, Jose Coll, Hans Oh, Craig Joyce, Lazara C. Coll

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

With the current influx of soldiers returning from war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the newly revised Post-9/11 GI Bill affords veterans the opportunity to attend state colleges free of charge, which may result in a dramatic increase in enrollment of veterans in colleges across the country. However, most learning institutions are ill-equipped to accommodate the special needs of those veteran students who may experience adjustment problems when reintegrating into a civilian setting. Veterans return with a newly acquired value system shaped by military service that can create dissonance when interacting with non-military people. Moreover, veterans may suffer from complex physical …

Building Layers Of Support At Kpmg Llp: Training Human Resource Professionals For Collaborative Conversations, Eileen M. Brennan, Barbara C. Wankoff, Julie M. Rosenzweig

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

When an employed parent is raising a child with mental health difficulties, there are times when reaching out for support at the workplace is essential. At crisis points when family members must leave work to arrange for immediate mental health assistance and at times when special child care arrangements break down or when children or young people have difficulty at school or in the community, workplace support can be a life saver. KPMG LLP and Portland State University partnered to develop and test a new training program to prepare human resource (HR) professionals to confidently provide workplace supports for the …

Resolving Work-Family Issues Of Parents Raising Children With Disabilities: A Human Resource Training Intervention, Eileen M. Brennan, Julie M. Rosenzweig, Anna M. Malsch, Lisa Maureen Stewart

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

PDF version of a presentation given at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Social Work and Social Research, Tampa, FL, Jan. 2011.

The Native American Community 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

This report is the result of three years of work of true partnership between the Native American community, the Coalition of Communities of Color and Portland State University. The Portland Indian Leaders’ Roundtable, an alliance of 28 local Native American organizations, tribal organizations and Native focused programs within larger institutions, took a lead role in the implementation of the Native American research. Elders of the community reviewed the work and provided invaluable knowledge and historical context.

Our main priority is to advocate for policy decisions that improve outcomes for the Native American community. We hold institutional reform and the formation …

Patients Reasons For Choosing Office-Based Buprenorphine: Preference For Patient-Centered Care, P. Todd Korthuis, Jessica Gregg, Wendy E. Rogers, Dennis Mccarty, Christina Nicolaidis, Joshua Boverman

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Objectives - To explore HIV-infected patients' attitudes about buprenorphine treatment in office-based and opioid treatment program (OTP) settings.

Methods - We conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with 29 patients with co-existing HIV infection and opioid dependence seeking buprenorphine maintenance therapy in office-based and OTP settings. We used thematic analysis of transcribed audiorecorded interviews to identify themes.

Results - Patients voiced a strong preference for office-based treatment. Four themes emerged to explain this preference. First, patients perceived the greater convenience of office-based treatment as improving their ability to address HIV and other healthcare issues. Second, they perceived a strong patient-focused orientation in …

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. …

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

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.

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) …

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 …