Social Work Commons^™

Social Impact, Edward F. Lawler, Keith Negley, Ellen Rostand, Julie Kennedy, Toky Branding + Design, Jessica Martin

Social Impact Publication

From the Dean: It's a "Go-Go" Place;

Perspectives: Michael Sherraden: Policy Innovator: The Key to Our Children's Future;

Interview: Q&A with Robert Joiner;

Bookshelf: Latina Suicide;

Bookshelf: A Mini MPH;

The Rise of the Social Entrepreneur: A new social work specialization arms socially minded entrepreneurs and creates an evidence base for an exploding field.;

Scaling Up Abroad: As demand for international service opportunities grows, academic and policy leaders determine how to expand availability and measure impact.;

Tip of the Iceberg: The Affordable Care Act's sweeping changes are already reshaping America's health care, and there is so much more to go …

School-Based Juvenile Probation And Police Partnerships For Truancy Reduction, Leanne F. Alarid, Barbara A. Sims, James Ruiz

Contemporary Issues in Juvenile Justice

Truancy places students at risk in primary and secondary education and is linked to conduct disorder, drug use, and delinquency. To prevent truancy and reduce risk, school-based proba-tion supervision has emerged within school districts in partnership with local law enforcement officers in an effort to enforce probation conditions for truant youths and prevent future delin-quency. This research uses key information interviews of knowledgeable stakeholders to examine the delivery of school-based probation supervision. Home visits and court hearings were perceived to be effective at reducing truancy and tardiness. This study affirms that strong lead-ership, information sharing, and involvement of parents were …

The Role Of Evaluations In Community Foundations, Brad R. Watts

Dissertations

Each year, U.S. community foundations are responsible for billions of dollars in philanthropy, yet the outcomes associated with these efforts often remain unknown. Previous research supports the importance of evaluating philanthropic activities and shows that community foundations express a strong interest in evaluation; however, the limited available evidence suggests that evaluation practice is still not widespread.

This study reports the findings from a national survey of community foundations on evaluation practice. The findings indicate that a substantial share of community foundations do not formally evaluate the outcomes of their philanthropic work. Additionally, although previous research has suggested that community foundation …

Risk Factors For Running Away Among A General Population Sample Of Males And Females, Kimberly A. Tyler, Kellie J. Hagewen, Lisa A. Melander

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

The present study examines risk factors for running away and homelessness among a sample of more than 7,000 currently housed youth using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Structural equation modeling results revealed that those with greater levels of family instability and those who ran away at Wave 2 were significantly more likely to run away and/or become homeless 5 years later at Wave 3. Family instability also had a significant indirect effect on running away and/or being homeless at Wave 3 through greater levels of problem behaviors and running away at Wave 2. Running away at …

Exploiting Borders: The Political Economy Of Local Backlash Against Undocumented Immigrants, Jamie Longazel, Benjamin Fleury-Steiner

Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work Faculty Publications

Four years prior to Arizona's passage of one of the most far-reaching pieces of anti-Latino immigrant legislation signed into law in decades,3 demands to "seal off the border"4 were being made thousands of miles from the U.S.-Mexico divide. In 2006, Hazleton, Pennsylvania, passed equally harsh legislation aimed at keeping undocumented immigrants out of their community. During this time, commentators described the local backlash in Hazleton and other small cities across the United States as akin to "the opening of a deep and profound fissure in the American landscape" 5 wherein "all immigration politics is local." 6 Yet, as the so-called …

Best Practice In Working With The Somali Population, Ilhan Duale

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Since the early 1990s, the state of Minnesota has had an unprecedented increase in refugees from Somalia. These individuals have emigrated from a war-zone country and arrived in the United States with a range of trauma-related injuries and mental health issues. As a result, Somali individuals and families who have migrated to the United States will require physical and mental health support. There is, however, a lack of research on effective interventions with Somali individuals and families. With the stigma that surrounds mental health and negative cultural views of mental health in the Somali population, practitioners at Comunidades Latinas Unidas …

Natural Connections: A Recommendation To Implement An Animal Assisted Therapy (Aat) Program Within The Shakopee Mdewakantonsioux Community, Heidi Simon

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Currently the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community does not have an Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) program. The purpose of this project was to research AAT programs that exist in First Nation Communities. The ultimate goal was to present evidence to support the implementation of a culturally based AAT program into the current mental health model within the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community. The Animal Assisted Therapeutic Learning (ATTL) program would incorporate traditional beliefs with contemporary ways of life in regard to healing and mental health.

Diversity Within Bachelor Of Social Work Programs: Perspectives And Interventions, Brian Warner

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Diversity is a term that has become increasingly relevant in the field of social work. Perhaps there is no other sector of the social work profession where diversity is more relevant than in higher education. With the ever changing ethnic and racial make-up of the United States, it is imperative that social work educators are able to convey the differences and/or challenges that working with diverse individuals will present. One of the easiest and most direct ways for this to occur is for the student body itself to be diverse. Yet, many social work programs have remained ethnically and racially …

The Power Of Service Work: Developing A Consumer Volunteer Program For The House Of Hope, Inc., Darcy Wennes

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

House of Hope, Inc. (HOH) is a rural residential chemical dependency treatment center serving adults over the age of 18. HOH is a non-profit non-sectarian agency. Many clients at HOH have a dual diagnosis of chemical dependency and mental illness. Consumers at HOH are encouraged to volunteer, but are given limited support to do so. They have several hours in their day where there is no programming, and many consumers feel bored and unproductive. The literature suggests that there is a relationship between volunteer work carried out by consumers and their personal feelings of empowerment (Cohen, 2009) . Consumers’ feelings …

Mechanisms Linking Violence Exposure And School Engagement Among African American Adolescents: Examining The Roles Of Psychological Problem Behaviors And Gender, Dexter R. Voisin

Faculty Scholarship

This study examines whether the relationship between violence exposure and school engagement is mediated by psychological problem behaviors and whether such relationships are gendered. Five hundred and sixty-three high school African American adolescents (ages 13-19 years) completed questionnaires that assessed two types of violence exposure (community violence and marital conflict), psychological problem behaviors (e.g., posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, anxiety, withdrawal, and aggressive behaviors), and school engagement (i.e., student-teacher connectedness and grade point average [GPA] obtained from school records). For male adolescents, psychological problem behaviors collectively mediated the relationship between community violence exposure and student-teacher connectedness. For female adolescents, both community …

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.

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 …

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 …

Intrapsychic Predictors Of Professional Quality Of Life: Mindfulness, Empathy, And Emotional Separation, Jacky T. Thomas

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

A growing literature documents the inherently stressful nature of working with persons who are suffering or traumatized, and the potential for the development of stress disorders among social workers and other helpers. Previous studies of compassion fatigue and burnout have provided important information about professional and workplace variables that might influence risk, but little attention has been given to studying intrapersonal skills/abilities that might reduce risk and/or increase resilience and work satisfaction among helping professionals. This exploratory study asked whether levels of mindfulness, empathy, and emotional separation would influence professional quality of life, including compassion fatigue, burnout, and compassion satisfaction. …

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.

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 …

The Foster Care And Adoption Process Through The Eyes Of Prospective Parents, Nancy Hocking Berger

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Every year, thousands of children wait in the Michigan foster care system for a permanent family. Families that express interest in foster care or adoption encounter a complicated and complex child welfare system. In the end, the majority of families that express interest do no progress to fostering or adopting (Katz, Wilson & Green, 2005). There are potential barriers at every step of the process that can impact a family's progress towards providing a home and a family for a waiting child (McRoy, 2007). This study seeks to answer the question: Once interest has been expressed, what are the reasons …

Girls Group Survey On Adolescent Substance Use/Abuse, Heather Messina

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

This research study focuses on adolescent substance abuse prevention. By involving a convenience sample of African American high school girls from an Ann Arbor nonprofit organization names, "Girls Group", a survey asked about their involvement in the after school program, their exposure to alcohol and drug use, influence, attitudes, coping skill and drinking context. A prevention-based educational workshop will later be designed and customized in response to the data from this survey. A cross-cultural comparison of the prevention of substance abuse in youth was approached by interviewing a substance abuse prevention specialist from Savannah-la-mar, Jamaica who conducts similar prevention workshops …

Disabilities Through The Capability Approach Lens: Implications For Public Policies Handicap Au Travers De L’Approche Par Les Capabilités: Quelles Implications Pour Les Politiques Publiques ?, Jean-Francois Trani, Parul Bakhshi, Nicol Bellanca, Mario Biggeri, Francesca Marchetta

Brown School Faculty Publications

This paper explores the contribution of the capability approach of Amartya Sen and other authors to policy making in the specific case of disability policy. After reviewing existing models, their translation into action and their limitations in this regard, the paper introduces a new policy framework based on the capability approach. In particular, we introduce a new measure of functionings and capabilities. We investigate ways of measuring the gap between functionings, what people are able to do and be, and capabilities – the valuable practical opportunities people have and choose from. The possibility of the elaboration of such a disability …

Best Practices For Working With Undocumented Latino Youth, Elizabeth J. Braun

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Research Question: What are evidence supported individual, group and community practices to address the needs of Latino youth experiencing mental health issues related to undocumented legal status and risk of deportation?

Best Practices For Treating Co-Occuring Disorders In A Chemical Dependency Treatment Setting, Michelle Dick

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of this capstone project was to identify best practices for treating co-occurring disorders that could be utilized with adult males being treated for chemical dependency at the House of Hope, Inc. Identification of these practices will more effectively meet the needs of the clients served at House of Hope, Inc. and allow the agency to increase their capacity to better service clients with co-occurring disorders.

Evidence-Based Strategies For Working With Veterans, Bethany Fopma

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

According to the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), 3.3 million veterans (41%) live in rural areas. Due to geographical barriers, these veterans often lack access to needed services and providers. This research project analyzed studies that utilized telehealth in delivering services to veterans with PTSD. While more research in this area needs to be conducted, telehealth technology shows promising results for improving veterans’ symptoms and providing veterans with satisfactory services. Research Question: Is telehealth medicine an effective intervention in treating veterans with PTSD?

Assessing The Needs Of Students Identified With Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder At Minnesota State University, Mankato, Jenny A. Goff

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

A considerable number of students with a diagnosis of ADHD are represented within the Minnesota State University, Mankato student population. Research indicates that college students with an ADHD diagnosis face unique and challenging experiences in the collegiate environment. In addition to these unique stressors, research indicates that college students with ADHD may benefit from supportive services that can be offered in a University Counseling Center. A survey of the perceived needs for counseling services and utilization of counseling services among students identified with ADHD at MSU, Mankato is useful in determining current trends and informs future Counseling Center service planning.

Factors That Contribute To Patient Length Of Stay At St. Peter Regional Treatment Center, Brenda Karch

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This research project employed a quantitative review of archived data comprised of patients that had been discharged from St. Peter Regional Treatment Center between 2002-2010. These patients were admitted to Minnesota Security Hospital for treatment and progressed through the program to Forensic Transition Services and eventually discharged to the community.

Effectiveness Of The Whytry Curriculum With Adults Participating In A Vocational Training Program, Erika Kern

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of this research project is to evaluate the effectiveness of the WhyTry curriculum with adults participating in a vocational training program specifically to develop retail skills. WhyTry is an interactive, multisensory program used to motivate participants to change patterns of indifference by using analogies, videos, and music to stimulate and inspire them to succeed. The curriculum has elements of Solution Focused Brief Therapy, Social and Emotional Intelligence, and multi-sensory learning (WhyTry, 2011). My research question is as follows: Is the WhyTry curriculum effective in increasing self-esteem and self-efficacy with adults who are participating in a vocational training program? …

Understanding The Role Of Attachments And Schemas: A Model For Working With Sex Offenders, Carol J. Ries

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of this project is to research, develop, present, and evaluate a training module to increase knowledge of the role of attachments and schemas in working with sex offenders and to provide a model for working with sex offenders. Research Questions: 1. To what extent will a training module on the role of attachments and schemas increase attendees’ understanding of these topics? 2. Will a training module increase the likelihood that attendees will apply this knowledge of attachments and schemas in their work with clients?

A Social And Emotional Learning Curriculm Recommendation For Nicollet Public School District, Christina R. Rosamond

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of this literature review, curriculum evaluation and subsequent curriculum recommendation is to provide Nicollet Public School District with an overview of a social and emotional learning Program that meets the current needs of the school.