Social Work Commons^™

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

Social Theory & Its Relation To Social Problems: An Essay About Theory And Research With Social Justice In Mind, Richard K. Caputo

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This essay examines the relationship between social theory and social problems, the truth-value of theories, and the importance of theorizing about the role of the state, i.e., national government, in the resolution of social problems and the achievement of social justice. The author argues that much contemporary social theory has lost its moorings in regard to amelioration ofsocial problems, that Popper's criterion offalsification is a requisitefor more meaningfully applied social theory, and that the state should be part of any social theory meant to address social problems. Moral and political philosophy is used to provide criteria to justify a positive …

Two-Faced Racism: Whites In The Backstage And Frontstage, Leslie H. Picca, Joe R. Feagin

Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work Faculty Publications

Racial events that reveal the larger forces of racism in society are common and obvious in the sociospatial realm we term the backstage, especially in situations where whites interact with white friends and relatives. Backstage settings, where interactions typically take place among whites only, involve an array of complex interactions and performances. There we observe all dimensions of racial events-- indications of who is allowed and not allowed in the backstage, what racialized performances are tolerated or expected there, the sociospatial character of contexts, the impact of conventional racial framing, and the pervasive influence of the larger society. Here we …

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. …

Children's Rights Are Human Rights- An Introductory Handbook For Students And Professionals, Claire Bedard

Center for the Human Rights of Children

This handbook is intended for students and professionals of all disciplines- either closely or remotely connected to serving the needs of children. The goal of this handbook is to advance the cause of children everywhere.

Victims' Perspectives On The Process Of Seeking A Protective Order: Predictors Of Perceived Empowerment, Sara-Beth Plummer

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined victims' perceived sense of empowerment during the process of seeking a Preliminary Protective Order. A cross sectional survey design with stratified sampling was used to gather information from women seeking Preliminary Protective Orders in Richmond City, Virginia. During a six month period 89 women agreed to participate, for a response rate of 83 percent. In general, the sample consisted of women who identified themselves as African-American, single, with either a high school/GED degree, and/or some college education.Overall, the women found the steps during the process of seeking an Order, either easy or very easy. In general, the …

Constraints On Breastfeeding Choices For Low Income Mothers, Carol Grace Hurst

Theses and Dissertations

The choice to breastfeed a baby is a woman's concern with impact reaching beyond each individual mother and child to longer term health and mental health outcomes for society. The U.S. government has made increasing breastfeeding rates one of its major public health goals for 2010. Breastfeeding is a health disparity issue with mothers who are poor, young, less educated or Black less likely to breastfeed. This project examined impacts of sexual perceptions of breastfeeding, social support, and work on breastfeeding choices made by a sample of low income mothers. A cross-sectional survey design was employed to examine potential barriers …

The Multiple Meanings Of Domestic Violence: A Constructivist Inquiry, Monica Rene' Leisey

Theses and Dissertations

Spurred by the work of the Battered Women's Movement, domestic violence has been responded to since it emerged as a problem in the 1970s. At first the response was providing places for victims to stay and recover from the violence while also providing opportunities for consciousness raising and empowerment work. As domestic violence became a more recognized problem, policies were created and enacted to end the problem. Through the 1980s and 1990s, changes in federal policies in regards to domestic violence were incorporated. The criminal justice system began incorporating such policies as mandatory arrest and no-drop prosecution policies as well …

Interrelationships Between Demographic, Psychosocial, And Academic Characteristics And Ged Attainment Among At-Risk Youth, Judith L. Rhodes

LSU Master's Theses

This exploratory-descriptive research examines demographic, psychosocial, and academic characteristics of at-risk youth (N = 111) who attempted the General Educational Development (GED) Tests. Among students who passed and did not pass the GED Tests, numerous significant relationships emerged. Non-passers were more likely than passers to leave school for academic environment reasons (t = 2.21, df = 109, p < .05). As compared with those who passed the GED Tests, a greater number of moderately strong interrelationships among demographic, psychosocial, and academic characteristics emerged among students who did not pass. Most notably, for non-passers, significantly strong and positive relationships emerged between academic environment reasons for leaving school and two other variables: family reasons for leaving school (r = .55, p < .01) and psychosocial reasons for leaving school (r = .57, p < .05). In addition, a very strong and negative interrelationship emerged among non-passers between academic environment reasons for leaving school and the poverty indicator of status (r = -.68, p < .01). A multivariate perspective is critical for increasing knowledge regarding the social problem of dropout. Such knowledge is crucial for research and policy formation at the local, state, and national levels as well as for school social work practice and education.

Ida Accessibility: Learning More About Whether Individual Development Accounts Can Work For Canada’S Poor, Molly Elliott

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) or matched saving accounts are programs designed to facilitate the building of capital and assets in low-income households. Based on the model of asset-based welfare policy, these programs propose to combat poverty through inclusion of the poor in asset building opportunities, which traditionally have been available to only middle and upper income households. Described as an anti-poverty strategy, Individual Development Accounts are growing in international popularity with asset-based policies already being included in Canadian income assistance programs. In order to better understand what some of the barriers might be to this anti-poverty program structure, this thesis …

“To Thine Own Self Be True”: A Narrative Analysis Of Social Group Disengagement And Associated Identity Implications, Catherine De Boer

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the experiences of individuals who had voluntarily disengaged from social groups that had once been central to their self-understandings. Theoretical underpinnings of the study proceeded from the distinction made by social psychologists between personal identity, self-definitions derived from an understanding of one’s self as unique, and social identity, self-definitions derived from an understanding and identification of one’s self as a member of social groups. The overarching aims were to: 1) determine if a disengagement process exists, and if so, to discover its defining characteristics and phenomenological aspects; 2) describe the shifts …

An Exploration Of Bullying As Experienced By Sudanese Refugee Youths, Aislinn Clancy

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The purpose of this research is to explore the experience of bullying among Sudanese refugee youths living in Kitchener-Waterloo. Voices in the literature assert that bullying is experienced differently by different social groups. This study proposes to understand the phenomenon of bullying from the unique perspectives of Sudanese refugee youths. As a White middle-class Canadian-born woman, I consider myself a partial outsider to this group. As a partial outsider, I use reflexive strategies to constantly reflect on the impact of my social location on the participants and on the whole research process. To understand how Sudanese youths experienced bullying, I …

Who Has Seen What When? Pornography’S Contribution To The Social Construction Of Sexuality During Childhood And Adolescence, Bente Skau

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Pornography has a ubiquitous place in contemporary Canadian Society. With or without intention, children and youth are frequently exposed to pornographic images and depictions. There is little research detailing the types of exposure that occur and the impact of said exposure on this population. Through a detailed survey administered to approximately 450 first-year college and university students in Ontario, this retrospective and exploratory study answers the query, “when and to what type of pronography are children and young adults exposed and how does this exposure relate to subsequent sexual behaviours and attitudes?” Following a deatiled escription of pornography exposure, indicating …

A Qualitative Study Of Experiences Of Aboriginal Caregivers Of Children With Developmental Disabilities, Joyce Ellen Clouston

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

A qualitative study of 20 caregivers of Aboriginal children with developmental disabilities revealed that caregivers continue to be guided by values rooted in traditional Aboriginal societies where all children were considered gifts of the Creator. The lives of vulnerable children had purpose, they were treated with respect, and the self-growth of the caregiver was connected to care of the child. The needs of young families were supported within a web of relationships in family and community. Disruptions to traditional family relationships began in the colonial era with the negation of Aboriginal culture and spirituality, and continue in many communities in …

Assessing The Need For And Impact Of An Emotions Regulation Booster Program For Elementary School Aged Children, Angela Hammond

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

K-W Counselling Services has offered emotions management programs to children ages 6-15 in the Waterloo region for the last 10 years. This mixed methods study was conducted in two phases. Phase One explored whether the parents of children who had participated in S.T.E.A.M. or Temper Taming groups three years prior felt there was a need for a “booster program” to help refresh their child’s memory about the concepts. Twenty-two parents were interviewed, two of whom had two children in the programs. This meant that feedback was offered in relation to twenty four children participants. The parents were asked with open …

The Relationship Between Homelessness And Women’S Health, Christine Paramonczyk

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Women are increasingly experiencing poverty in Canada (Townson, 2000). This study seeks to gain an understanding of how women experience an extreme form of poverty—homelessness—within Kitchener, a mid-sized city located within the Waterloo region in southern Ontario, and the relationship of this experience to health.

Employing social determinants of health (SDOH) theory, this study examines the relationship between homelessness in Kitchener and one focus group was held.

This study indicates that homelessness had an all-encompassing influence on women’s health. Women experienced both impeding and promoting factors influecing their access to housing, healthy food, employment, health care, income, and social support, …

An Exploration Of Immigrant Women’S Experiences With Social Service Agencies In The Region Of Waterloo, Gillian Wells

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The pupose of this qualitative research project is to explore the experiences of immigrant women as they relate to their interactions with social service agencies, in an effort to understand how these women give meaning to their experiences and how those experiences impact their future behaviour. It is hoped that this study will provide an increased understanding of immigrant women’s interactions with service agencies for the benefit of social service providers aiming to apply a best practice approach in their service to newcomers.

This qualitative study consists of semi-structure interviews with 25 women representing 21 different countries. This research was …