Social Work Commons^™

Growing Up In The Inner City: Exploring The Adolescent Development And Acculturation Of Urban Suicidal Latinas., Carolina Hausmann-Stabile, Lauren Gulbas, Luis H. Zayas

Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research Faculty Research and Scholarship

This chapter examines how adolescent development and acculturation impact suicidal behavior among Latinas living in the US inner city. After providing an overview of conceptual and empirical premises underlying immigrant youth development, acculturation, and suicidal behaviors, the article discusses cultural influences on Latina adolescents and their families. Drawing on data collected between 2005 and 2009, it then explores the various individual and interpersonal changes that Latina teens go through as a result of developmental and acculturative processes and how these changes relate to risks for suicide attempts. Based on cases that illustrate the developmental and acculturation trajectories of Latina nonattempters …

Policy Advocacy And Leadership Training For Formerly Incarcerated Women: An Empowerment Evaluation Of Reconnect, A Program Of The Women In Prison Project, Correctional Association Of New York, Rahbel Rahman

Social Work Faculty Scholarship

There is limited knowledge on re-entry initiatives for formerly incarcerated women specifically focusing on building women’s advocacy and leadership skills. Our research highlights ReConnect, a 12-session, innovative advocacy and leadership development program rooted in an integrated framework of empowerment, and transformational leadership theories. Based on CBPR principles, we conducted an empowerment evaluation where ReConnect graduates, staff members, and evaluators in an egalitarian process designed, collected, and analyzed data on how ReConnect assists formerly incarcerated women in the reentry process. The evaluation’s purpose is to offer practitioners and researchers an explanatory model on how to help formerly incarcerate women access …

Changing Organisational Routines In Doctoral Education: An Intervention To Infuse Social Justice Into A Social Welfare Curriculum, Valerie B. Shapiro, Kimberly D. Hudson, Carrie A. Moylan, Amelia S. Derr

Social Work Faculty Scholarship

This paper describes one effort to infuse a social justice framework into a social work doctoral education programme in a prominent research university of the United States. The "Social Justice in Doctoral Education" (SJDE) Project identified Social Justice Learning Objectives (SJLOs) in the categories of scholarship, teaching, and service. Doctoral students were surveyed in 2010 to determine the extent to which the SJLOs were being systematically facilitated by their doctoral programme. The forms that guide and shape the milestones of doctoral education at that institution were revised in 2011 in an attempt to create new opportunities for social justice learning. …

Hope-Focused Solutions: A Relational Hope Focus Of The Solution-Building Stages In Solution-Focused Brief Therapy, Jenna A. Wilson

Department of Family Therapy Dissertations and Applied Clinical Projects

The positive psychotherapy focused on for this study is Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT). Insoo Kim Berg and Yvonne Dolan (2001) once described the essence of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) as the “pragmatics of hope and respect” (p. 1) and despite Berg and Dolan’s declaration of hope’s importance in SFBT, little process research has been published looking at the “pragmatics” of hope in SFBT practice. Hope is seen as a common factor in psychotherapy since the human relationship, also known as the therapeutic alliance, is a foundation of psychotherapy. Hope plays a significant role in every human interaction and it is …

Children's Experiences Of Companion Animal Maltreatment In Households Characterized By Intimate Partner Violence, Shelby Elaine Mcdonald, Elizabeth A. Collins, Nicole Nicotera, Tina O. Hageman, Frank R. Ascione, James Herbert Williams, Sandra A. Graham-Bermann

Social Work Publications

Cruelty toward companion animals is a well-documented, coercive tactic used by abusive partners to intimidate and control their intimate partners. Experiences of co-occurring violence are common for children living in families with intimate partner violence (IPV) and surveys show that more than half are also exposed to abuse of their pets. Given children's relationships with their pets, witnessing such abuse may be traumatic for them. Yet little is known about the prevalence and significance of this issue for children. The present study examines the experiences of children in families with co-occurring pet abuse and IPV. Using qualitative methods, 58 children …

A Replication Of Failure, Not A Failure To Replicate, Gary Holden, Kathleen Barker, Sofie Kuppens, Gary Rosenberg, Jonathan`

Publications and Research

Purpose: The increasing role of systematic reviews in knowledge production demands greater rigor in the literature search process. The performance of the Social Work Abstracts (SWA) database has been examined multiple times over the past three decades. The current study is a replication within this line of research.

Method: Issue level coverage was examined for the same 33 SWA core journals and the same time period as our 2009 study.

Results: The mean percentage of issues missing in the current study was 20%. The mean percentage of issues missing in the current study was significantly greater than …

The Bes Model: Student Support And Gatekeeping Tool, Patricia Desrosiers, Amy Cappiccie

Social Work Faculty Publications

Universities are ill equipped to handle the specialized nature of students with psychiatric disabilities. Dueto the increasing numbers of students with both identified and unidentified psychiatric disabilities, thiscase study provides guidance through a description and application of the Behavioral EcologicalStrengths-Focused (BES) Model. Use of the BES Model assists administrators and faculty tosimultaneously support students with psychiatric disabilities while maintaining standards for gatekeepingrequired in master’s level programs.

Organizational Strategies For Addressing Disparities Among Marginalized Older Adults, Jennifer L. Martin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As the United States older adult population expands, it is also becoming more diverse in terms of race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). This increased diversity necessitates that social workers research issues of cultural competency at the organizational level to ensure that community based organizations are able to meet the unique needs of a heterogeneous population of American elders. This qualitative study utilized a modified grounded theory approach to conduct individual interviews and focus groups with over 25 community based organizations serving diverse elders. This study also included analysis of over 100 agency documents, such as mission …

Return With Trauma: Understanding The Experiences Of Early Returned Missionaries, Kristine J. Doty, S. Zachary Bullock, Harmony Packer, Russell T. Warner, James Westwood, Thomas Ash, Heather Hirsch

Issues in Religion and Psychotherapy

No abstract provided.

Improving Social Work Education In Vietnam Through International Cooperation: The ‘Social Work Education Enhancement Program’, Alice Hines, Edward Cohen, Hoa Nguyen, Laurie Drabble, Meekyung Han, Soma Sen, Tuâán Trâàn

Faculty Publications

This paper describes an initiative to improve social work education in Vietnam through a three-year international collaborative, including US Aid for International Development, San José State University, eight universities in Vietnam, Vietnam's government ministries, and Cisco Systems, Inc. The social work profession was officially recognized by the Vietnamese government in 2010. Despite the rapid expansion of social work education programs, there are significant limitations in the universities' ability to provide social work education. The goal of the Social Work Education Enhancement Program (SWEEP) is to strengthen the capacity of Vietnam's undergraduate social work programs to deliver quality education and prepare …

Mental Health Help-Seeking Behaviors Among Asian American Community College Students: The Effect Of Stigma, Cultural Barriers, And Acculturation, Meekyung Han, Helen Pong

Faculty Publications

According to the 2008 U.S. Census, there are 15.5 million Asian Americans in the United States, and 17% are students enrolled in a university (Shea & Yeh, 2008). Asian American college students in higher education are oftentimes perceived as the “model minority” with high academic achievements and few mental and/or behavioral problems (Park, 2010). In contrast to this general assumption, studies have shown that many Asian American college students suffer from psychological distress (Abe-Kim et al., 2007; Breaux, Matsuoka, & Ryujin, 1997; Lee et al., 2009; Mallinckrodt, Shigeoka, & Suzuki, 2005; Nguyen & Anderson, 2005). In fact, the Centers for …

Book Review: Social Justice In Clinical Practice: A Liberation Health Framework For Social Work, Nancy Feldman

Graduate School of Social Work Publications and Research

The author presents a review of the book Social Justice in Clinical Practice: A Liberation Health Framework for Social Work.

A Systematic Evaluation Of A Multidisciplinary Social Work– Lawyer Elder Mistreatment Intervention Model, Victoria M. Rizzo, David Burnes, Amy Chaify

Social Work Faculty Scholarship

This study introduces a conceptually based, systematic evaluation process employing multivariate techniques to evaluate a multidisciplinary social work–lawyer intervention model (JASA-LEAP). Logistic regression analyses were used with a random sample of case records (n = 250) from three intervention sites. Client retention, program fidelity, and exposure to multidisciplinary services were significantly related to reduction in mistreatment risk at case closure. Female gender, married status, and living with perpetrator significantly predicted unfavorable outcomes. This study extends the elder mistreatment program evaluation literature beyond descriptive/bivariate evaluation strategies. Findings suggest that a multidisciplinary social work–lawyer elder mistreatment intervention model is a successful …

From The Editor, Peggy Pittman-Munke Ph.D.

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

Journal of Contemporary Rural Social Work

Volume 7, Number 1: Special Issue

2015

From the Editor-in-Chief: Peggy Pittman-Munke, Murray State University

Social Action Meets Social Media: Environmental Justice In West Virginia, Debra Hunt Young, Samantha Teixeira, Helen Hartnett

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

This article presents a case study of a community organizing effort known as Citizens Actively Protecting the Environment (CAPE). Led by rural West Virginians in response to the Elk River chemical spill of 2013, this environmental justice movement was novel in that it harnessed social media, specifically Facebook, to catalyze advocacy and change efforts in a rural area. The literature on environmental health disparities and environmental justice in rural communities is reviewed. Then authors describe how resident-led organizing in rural areas was effective in promoting environmental justice. Details of the CAPE project are presented, as well as ways social media …

Social And Environmental Justice And The Water-Energy Nexus: A Quest In Progress For Rural People, Karen V. Harper-Dorton Ph.D., Stacia J. Harper

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

Access to affordable and reliable clean water and energy is necessary for economic development, health, and well-being of all people worldwide. Unavailable, unaffordable, or unreliable water and energy resources represent social and environmental injustices that disproportionately burden poor people, especially those in rural areas. Furthermore, there is an inextricable link between water and energy: clean water requires power for delivery and sanitation, and power production requires large amounts of water. This water-energy nexus connects two vital resources for humanity with more attention to economic concerns than to human or environmental issues. This paper addresses social and environmental justice issues that …

Ecology And Social Justice: A Course Designed For Environmental Social Work In Rural Spaces, Arielle Dylan

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

This article describes a course developed by the author that responds to the stated social justice aims of the social work profession. If social workers are to advocate successfully for environments conducive to the general welfare of all people, promote social justice, equitable distribution of resources, and just environmental management, environmental social work scholarship needs to move beyond theorizing and suggestions itemizing broad responses, and provide instead illustrative examples of interventions and alternative practices. The trend in very recent years of environmental social work scholarship has done just this. Education, in particular in the classroom setting, provides an opportunity to …

The Slow Violence Of Climate Change In Poor Rural Kenyan Communities: “Water Is Life. Water Is Everything.”, Jennifer L. Willett

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

Climate change is the most pressing global environmental problem and the most unyielding worldwide environmental injustice of our time. Although some social workers have begun to address climate change, this literature is centered on its generalized impact, rather than its specific effects on vulnerable populations. As a concept, slow violence offers a frame to understand the slow occurring effects of climate change on the global poor. This study used an ethnographic approach to examine the effects of climate change on two poor rural Kenyan communities. Findings discussed include the consequences of droughts, the connection between droughts and deforestation, failed governmental …

Rural Community Transition And Resilience: What Now For Social Work?, Jonathan Scherch

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

Rural communities, like all communities, face myriad social, economic and ecological challenges as they endeavor to resolve precarious dependencies on critical, energy-intensive and supply-chain extensive resource systems. With increasing impacts of climate change and related incidents of human and more-than-human displacements, including losses of life and habitat, rural communities have become beset with frequent, prolonged and persistent recovery and coping obligations. The progressive resolution of injustices will need to occur in the face of serious ecological stressors. Designing for and increasingly demonstrating social work practices that prioritize the multi-modal skills of sustainable living may well be the most effective means …

Book Review: Transforming Places: Lessons From Appalachia, Katherine Perone

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

Book Review: Transforming Places: Lessons from Appalachia Stephen L. Fisher & Barbara Ellen Smith 2012 Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press 322 pages Softcover: $ 27.00 Kindle: $14.00 ISBN-13: 0252078381 ISBN-13: 978-0-252-07838-5

Contemporary Rural Social Work - 2015 (Volume 7, Number 1)

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

Contemporary Rural Social Work - 2015 (Volume 7, Number 1: Special Issue)

Full issue

Men And Women From The Stride Clinical Trial: An Assessment Of Stimulant Abstinence Symptom Severity At Residential Treatment Entry, Karen G. Chartier, Katherine Sanchez, Therese K. Killeen, Allison Burrow, Thomas Carmody, Tracy L. Greer, Madhukar H. Trivedi

Social Work Publications

Background and Objectives

Gender‐specific factors associated with stimulant abstinence severity were examined in a stimulant abusing or dependent residential treatment sample (N = 302).

Method

Bivariate statistics tested gender differences in stimulant abstinence symptoms, measured by participant‐reported experiences of early withdrawal. Multivariate linear regression examined gender and other predictors of stimulant abstinence symptom severity.

Results

Women compared to men reported greater stimulant abstinence symptom severity. Anxiety disorders and individual anxiety‐related abstinence symptoms accounted for this difference. African American race/ethnicity was predictive of lower stimulant abstinence severity.

Discussion and Conclusions

Women were more sensitive to anxiety‐related stimulant withdrawal symptoms.

Scientific …

Explaining The Frequency Of Alcohol Consumption In A Conflict Zone: Jews And Palestinians In Israel, Zohar Massey, Karen G. Chartier, Mary B. Stebbins, Daphna Canetti, Stevan E. Hobfoll, Brian J. Hall, Kerem Shuval

Social Work Publications

Experiencing stress and exposure to terrorism may have an adverse effect on health risk behaviors. Few studies have examined alcohol use among adults living in Israel under chronic, stressful terrorism-related conditions. In this study, we examined the relationships of demographics, past stressful events, and terrorism exposure to the frequency of alcohol use and the mediating roles of depressive and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. We used three waves of data from a 2007–2008 nationally representative sample of Jewish and Palestinian adults in Israel. We assessed past stressful events, in addition to direct and indirect exposures to terrorism. Results indicated that …

Exploring A School-University Model For Professional Development With Classroom Staff: Teaching Trauma-Informed Approaches, Elizabeth M. Anderson, Lisa V. Blitz, Monique Saastamoinen

Social Work Faculty Scholarship

Schools serving communities with high rates of poverty face the profound challenge of meeting the needs of students who are often exposed to significant family and environmental stressors and trauma. Classroom staff are vital members of schoolcommunities who often work closely with students with the highest needs, but they are typically not provided with professionaldevelopment opportunities to develop skills for social-emotional learning intervention. This study, conducted in three parts, describes (1) a needs assessment with classroom staff to determine their learning needs, (2) the development and implementation of a series ofprofessional development workshops that incorporated findings from the needs assessment, …

Waiver Iii: Parent Mentor & Relationship Based Visitation, Beth L. Green, Anna Rockhill, Carrie Jeanne Furrer, Angela Rodgers, Thuan Duong, Amanda Cross-Hemmer, Christine Cooper, Kevin Cherry

Child Welfare

The Center for the Improvement of Child and Family Services at Portland State University was contracted by the Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS), Child Welfare Division to conduct the evaluation of the Title IV-E Waiver Demonstration Project. The project was funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, through the Children’s Bureau. Oregon’s IV-E Waiver Demonstration involved the implementation and evaluation of two innovative service models for families involved in the child welfare system: (1) RelationshipBased Visitation (RBV); and (2) Parent Mentoring (PM). Relationship-Based Visitation (RBV) was provided in 13 Districts and 29 counties; Parent Mentoring was …

Family Connections Research Capsules, Center For Improvement Of Child And Family Services

Child Welfare

Family Connections Oregon (FCO) was a three-year demonstration project funded by the Children’s Bureau in which a co-located coordinator provided a package of services - intensive family finding and engagement, family group conferencing, and follow-up - within the first 60 days of a child’s out-of-home placement. These practices are continuing in Oregon through a IV-E waiver demonstration project called Leveraging Intensive Family Engagement (LIFE).

The Research Capsules associated with this project are included in this record.

Child And Maternal Health In The Slavic Community: Insights On Assets And Priorities, Marie-Elena Reyes, Ann Curry-Stevens

Center to Advance Racial Equity Publications and Reports

The Slavic community’s health is impacted by race and ethnicity, and also by issues that flow from being a newcomer community, and also from their status as refugees. They also bring to the U.S.A. cultural orientation that is collectivist, and shared experiences of persecution and deep distrust of the government. As is detailed in this report, these experiences have an impact on health and wellbeing, and simultaneously have a detrimental effect on the economic stature of the community.

This Community Needs Assessment on the Health of Slavic Children (ages 0-5 years) was conducted to produce a “needs assessment” report outlining …

Quality Of Life And Mental Health Outcomes In Implanted Cardioverter Defibrillator Treatment: Potential Effects Of Informational Media History And Treatment Knowledge, Christopher E. Knoepke

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Social workers in all care venues are increasingly responsible for clinical and case management services for people being treated with sophisticated medical interventions. Unfortunately, opportunities to aid in the promotion of quality of life (QOL), mental health, and informed consent are often not understood by social workers, other care providers, or patients. These missed opportunities may lead to attenuated effectiveness of medical interventions and negative impact on patients' QOL. One such technological treatment is the implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), a lifesaving therapy which carries risk to patients' QOL. Moreover, patients frequently do not accurately understand the benefits, limitations, and possible …

Ua68/10/1 Potter College Of Arts & Letters Sociology Publications, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Publications created by and about Sociology. Including Sociology, Anthropology & Social Work while a part of Potter College.

Ua68/10/2 Potter College Of Arts & Letters Sociology Administration, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Records created by and about the administration of the Department of Sociology. Including Sociology, Anthropology & Social Work while a part of Potter College.