Social Work Commons^™

Stigma Towards Hiv Positive People In The El Paso Community, Evdokia Romanova

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Stigma and discrimination towards individuals living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a serious issue. The stigma experienced by people with HIV relates to how the virus has been primary associated with so-called deviant behaviors (e.g. promiscuity and homosexuality). Stigma may isolate infected individuals from society and create barriers when accessing medical care and seeking social support. Conducted in El Paso, Texas, this study aims to better understand the issue of stigma through the life stories of individuals living with HIV and to test an exploratory model of a community-based intervention for fighting self-stigma. This research project is divided into …

The Misallocation Of Federal Funds In The U.S. Child Welfare System, Lauren A. Brown

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This research paper will explore the impact that the federal financing structure has on the child welfare system in the United States. First, a historical policy analysis of the changing goals of child welfare and an overview of the current federal funding structure will be provided. Subsequently, the consequences of having a changing system with an unchanging funding structure will be explored. Finally, proposed solutions will be explored in terms of their impact on the field of child welfare as well as society as a whole. Unfortunately, antiquated federal programs are being used to fund progressive and innovative child welfare …

Culturally Sensitive Social Work And Mental Health Practice With The Amish, Julissa J. Coblentz Ms.

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

With the growing number of Amish in the United States today, it is important for social workers and mental health practitioners serving this population to do so in a way that is sensitive to their culture. Even though the Amish live a unique, simplistic lifestyle which enables them to focus on the things which they value such as church membership and family, occasionally, they do have mental health and social service needs. This study attempts to explore specific culturally sensitive behaviors which social workers and mental health practitioners can utilize in striving to meet these needs. The researcher compiled a …

Community-Based Participatory Research With Communities Defined By Race, Ethnicity, And Disability: Translating Theory To Practice, Christina Nicolaidis, Dora Raymaker

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is an increasingly popular participatory research approach where community members and academics collaborate as equal partners to conduct research for improving health and wellbeing through action (Isreal et al., 2003; Wallerstein and Duran, 2003). It is a branch of action research in the tradition of emancipatory practice. CBPR grew within the health sciences in the 1990s in response to a number of issues with mainstream health science research and minority communities …

Getting The Most Out Of Vocational Rehabilitation, Research And Training Center For Pathways To Positive Futures, Portland State University

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Your state Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) program is an important resource for people with disabilities. VR counselors are available to assist young adults with physical, emotional or mental health challenges to successfully pursue their job or career goals. The purpose of this Tip Sheet is to optimize your VR experience. Your counselor wants to see you succeed and will provide information and support to assist you in exercising informed choice throughout the rehabilitation process as you work towards your employment goal.

Mental Health Administrators' Knowledge And Perceptions Of Delivery Of Relationship-Based Services, Alan Frank Singer

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Past research has recommended that clinical mental health (CMHC) administrators employ a relational focus to their work, but little evidence exists that such a relational focus is actually being utilized. Guided by Rogers' principles of client-centered therapy, this study examined whether CMHC administrators possessed the knowledge and attitudes to utilize the recommendation of relational based therapy and whether implementation in the CMHC was feasible. A qualitative multiple case study design was utilized to collect personal interviews with 12 CMHC administrators who could discuss Norcross and Wampold's single recommendation about therapeutic relationships. Results were triangulated with the guide for CMHC financing, …

Identifying Differences Between Privatized, Partially Privatized, And Non-Privatized State Foster Care Systems: A Comparative Study Examining Efficiency And Effectiveness, Dorothy C. Coles

Theses and Dissertations

Privatization of the public child welfare system has become increasingly popular since its introduction in the early 1990s. State governments that initiate the privatization of foster care services rationalize the changes with claims of effectiveness and/or increased efficiency of services for children and families. There has been no real focus on identifying what efficiency of the system means for children and their families, nor what aspects of effectiveness focuses on children in foster care. As a result, the unintended consequences of this total restructuring of foster care bureaucracy, through the privatization of the state foster care system – and its …

Youth & Young Adult Peer Support: What Research Tells Us About Its Effectiveness In Mental Health Services, Sharice Jackson, Janet S. Walker, Celeste Seibel

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Increasing the availability of peer support for youth and young adults with serious mental health conditions has been advocated by service users, researchers, and government commissions. Efforts to provide peer support for young people are becoming more and more common. This FAQ describes the research evidence for peer support, as well as some of the challenges that can be expected when peer support is implemented.

Human Service Professionals' Practice With Families After Parental Incarceration, Renata Aloma Hedrington Jones

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Social workers and other human services professionals helping families reintegrate after parental incarceration deal with multiple issues without a model of for facilitating family resilience. The purpose of this phenomenological research study was to explore the essence of the perceived role, activities, and practices of a sample of social workers and other human service professionals engaged in the use of family group conferences (FGCs). FGCs are also referred to as restorative justice, as they inform and assist human service professionals in developing clinical interventions and best practices to support reintegration, family preservation, and stabilization. The framework for this study was …

The Emotional Impact On Elderly Spouses Who Placed Their Loved Ones In Long-Term, Barbara Hunt

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Aging may bring mental and/or physical decline. There may come a point when a loved

one needs long-term care in a nursing home. The purpose of this phenomenological study

was to examine the community dwelling spouses' emotional state. A study was

conducted with 10 individuals (5 men and 5 women) who had a spouse in long-term

nursing care. Inclusion criteria was to be at least 65-years old, have been married at least

30 years, and reside alone in his or her own home. The social emotional selectivity theory

and the construct of boundary ambiguity were applied to view the epoch. …

Knowledge Of Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Among African American Parents, Jamille T. Harrell

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Abstract Domestic minor sex trafficking in the United States is a human rights issue and social problem affecting over 300,000 children ages 12-17, 43% of whom are African American girls. This survey was an exploration of domestic minor sex trafficking knowledge among African American parents and their protective strategies to prevent victimization. Ecological systems theory provided a conceptual framework to examine the environmental factors shaping parental knowledge. The sample consisted of 2 Southern California African American churches (n = 38, n = 32) that served different socioeconomic groups. The African American Sex Trafficking Knowledge survey was researcher designed and pretested …

Therapeutic Foster Parents' Perspectives Of The Efficacy Of Preservice Training, Mirae Jean Grant

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Preservice training programs offered in a city in the Pacific Northwest have not been assessed to determine whether they adequately prepare therapeutic foster parents (TFPs). This phenomenological study identified factors that influenced the impact of preservice training on parents' preparation to manage their foster children's behavior, foster parent attrition, and multiple moves of the foster children. Chamberlain, Rork, McNeil, and Christenson's work linking training programs with the success of foster children was used to frame this study. Data were generated from semistructured interviews of 12 certified local TFPs who had completed preservice training and had at least one child placed …

Improving Depression Care For Older Home Health Patients, Sarah R. Schirmer

DNP Projects

Rates of depression in older home healthcare (HH) patients are highly prevalent. Although depression in this population is associated with increased rates of re-hospitalization, falls, and suicides, it is frequently under diagnosed and under treated. This Capstone Report examined this problem through three interrelated manuscripts. The first manuscript explored the problem through a review of the literature. This review determined that while there are many barriers to adequate depression care, programs that train clinicians to screen for depression and connect patients to depression care encourage adequate evaluation and treatment and can result in clinically significant changes in depression scores. This …

Influx Of Child Immigrants To The United States: Policy & Practice Implications, Megan Vogt

Graduate Research Papers

Beginning in 2012, an influx of immigrant children from the countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras arrived in the United States from their home countries searching for safety and security. As the federal government stepped in to help place the children throughout the states, the governor of Iowa made a stance refusing to provide funding to these children leaving non-profits and faith-based organizations to provide the necessary resources. This study examines the options, services, and resources the children have accessed or are capable of accessing after arriving in the United States. Through interviews with agencies, groups, and organizations in …

Twenty Years Of Virginia Organizing: A Historical Analysis, Ruth Berta

Graduate Research Posters

Virginia Organizing is a non-profit, non-partisan statewide grassroots community organization aimed at empowering people to affect change in their communities. They celebrated their 20^th anniversary in 2015 and this process evaluation identifies the unique role that the Virginia Organizing State Governing Board has had in governing the organization. It determined the historical themes from this governing body’s 20 years of meeting minutes and assessed its membership diversity over time. In attempting to answer these questions: What themes emerge from the first 20 years of Virginia Organizing State Governing Board meeting minutes? How has the diversity of the membership of …

Successful Approaches To Ending Female Genital Cutting, Kay Young Mcchesney

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Female genital cutting (FGC) is practiced in 28 African countries; infibulation is practiced in nine African countries. Six unsuccessful approaches to ending FGC are reviewed: cultural absolutism, cultural relativism, health education, feminism, human rights legislation, and psychosocial approaches. Two successful programs that have resulted in communities abandoning FGC, including Tostan in Senegal, are described. Successful programs are community-led, aim to change social norms in the whole community, and empower women. Governments and NGOs should use community-led programs based on participatory methods as recommended interventions in order to promote community-wide abandonment of FGC.

Review Of Social Protection, Economic Growth And Social Change: Goals, Issues And Trajectories In China, India, Brazil And South Africa. James Midgley And David Piachaud (Eds.). Reviewed By Tanusha Raniga., Tanusha Raniga

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

James Midgley & David Piachaud (Eds.), Social Protection, Economic Growth and Social Change: Goals, Issues and Trajectories in China, India, Brazil and South Africa. Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd., (2013), 296 pages, $120.60 (hardback).

Review Of Migrant Youth, Transnational Families, And The State. Lauren Heidbrink. Reviewed By Laurie Melrood, Laurie Melrood

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Lauren Heidbrink, Migrant Youth, Transnational Families, and the State. University of Pennsylvania Press (2014), 208 pages $49.95, cloth.

Journal Of Sociology And Social Welfare Vol. 42 No. 2 (June 2015)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION TO THE SPECIAL ISSUE: NEW SCHOLARSHIP IN INSTITUTIONAL ETHNOGRAPHY Paul C. Luken and Suzanne Vaughan

CAPTURED BY CARE: AN INSTITUTIONAL ETHNOGRAPHY ON THE WORK OF BEING IN A REHABILITATION PROCESS IN NORWAY Janne Paulsen Breimo

A SERVICE DISPARITY FOR RURAL YOUTH: THE ORGANIZATION OF SOCIAL SERVICES ACROSS THE URBAN YOUTH CENTRE AND ITS RURAL BRANCH Jessica Braimoh

CATEGORIES OF EXCLUSION: THE TRANSFORMATION OF FORMERLY INCARCERATED WOMEN INTO "ABLE-BODIED ADULTS WITHOUT DEPENDENTS" IN WELFARE PROCESSING Megan Welsh

INTERROGATING THE RULING RELATIONS OF THAILAND'S POST-TSUNAMI RECONSTRUCTION: EMPIRICALLY TRACKING SOCIAL RELATIONS IN THE ABSENCE OF CONVENTIONAL TEXTS Aaron Williams …

Captured By Care: An Institutional Ethnography On The Work Of Being In A Rehabilitation Process In Norway, Janne I. Paulsen Breimo

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The Norwegian rehabilitation policies and new public management reforms share some features and are divided by others. The features that divide them are so contradictory that they create difficulties for people who are in a process of rehabilitation. Having studied the everyday life of people being in a process of rehabilitation, I argue that the continuous change in organizational structures in general makes the processes hard to endure for service users, specifically the reforms characterized by neoliberalism, because they, to a large extent, contradict the holistic rehabilitation ideology. This further illuminates the paradox that the greater and more complicated the …

Categories Of Exclusion: The Transformation Of Formerly Incarcerated Women Into “Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents” In Welfare Processing, Megan Welsh

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

For people who have just been released from incarceration, the work of getting out and resuming life on the outside often includes numerous institutional contacts. Applying for and maintaining public assistance—cash aid and food stamps, commonly referred to as welfare— is a central component of what I call “reentry work.” I argue that discourses around welfare and punishment have perpetuated the erasure of formerly incarcerated women’s experiences. Utilizing an institutional ethnographic perspective, I show how the work of applying for and maintaining welfare is organized around a standardized textual discourse of children, and women as caretakers of children. Formerly incarcerated …

Review Of The Black Power Movement And American Social Work. Joyce Bell. Reviewed By Wilma Peebles-Wilkins., Wilma Peebles-Wilkins

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Joyce Bell, The Black Power Movement and American Social Work. (2014). Columbia University Press. $50.00 (hardcover), 256 pages.

Review Of Flawed System/Flawed Self: Job Searching And Unemployment Experiences. Ofer Sharone. Reviewed By Randall P. Wilson, Randall Wilson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Ofer Sharone, Flawed System/Flawed Self: Job Searching and Unemployment Experiences. (2013). University of Chicago Press. $85 (hardcover), $27.50 (paperback), 240 pages.

Journal Of Sociology And Social Welfare Vol. 42 No. 3 (September 2015)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

AN EXAMINATION OF THE NEW YORK STATE WORKERS' COMPENSATION REFORM ACT OF 2007 Julia Ostrov

REFRAMING NEW FRONTIERS FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLES Hilary Weaver

SOCIAL WORK ADVOCACY: PROFESSIONAL SELF-INTEREST AND SOCIAL JUSTICE Mary Ellen Brown, Michelle Livermore, and Annahita Ball

WHO'S LEFT OUT: CHARACTERISTICS OF HOUSEHOLDS IN ECONOMIC NEED NOT RECEIVING PUBLIC SUPPORT Vincent A. Fusaro

APPLYING SEN'S CAPABILITY APPROACH TO UNDERSTAND WORK AND INCOME AMONG POOR PEOPLE IN INDIA Mahasweta M. Banerjee

RELATIONSHIP-BASED JUSTICE FOR GENDER RESPONSIVE SPECIALTY COURTS Margaret H. Lloyd

RACE-GENDER DIFFERENCES IN THE IMPACT OF HISTORY OF HEAVY DRINKING ON CURRENT ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION DURING THE TRANSITION TO …

Who's Left Out: Characteristics Of Households In Economic Need Not Receiving Public Support, Vincent A. Fusaro

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The American welfare state is often referred to as a social safety net, yet many in economic need do not receive public benefits. This article examines the characteristics of low-income households in the United States that do not participate in any of several public cash or near-cash support programs. Using the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) 2008 panel—a representative sample of U.S. households—households below the federal poverty threshold but not participating in any of eleven different income support programs were identified. Over a third (38.02%) of households in poverty did not receive any assistance from the examined programs. …

Applying Sen's Capability Approach To Understand Work And Income Among Poor People In India, Mahasweta M. Banerjee

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Applying Sen's capability approach, this paper explores income poor individuals' capabilities—abilities, skills, resources, and opportunities at personal, inter-personal, and structural levels—for work and income. It reports on data collected from 92 individuals identified through purposive sampling and interviewed face-to- face. The study found that 11% of respondents had varied work capabilities and earned a relatively high income; 49% of respondents had some work capabilities and were in the medium income bracket; 40% of respondents had few work capabilities and remained below the poverty line; and 8% of respondents with even fewer work capabilities were not working. Implications include expansion of …

Review Of All I Want Is A Job: Unemployed Women Navigating The Public Workforce System. Mary Gatta. Reviewed By Joyce Bialik., Joyce Bialik

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Mary Gatta, All I Want is a Job: Unemployed Women Navigating the Public Workforce System. Stanford University Press (2014), 168 pages, $19.95 (paperback).

Review Of Can’T Catch A Break: Gender, Jail, Drugs, And The Limits Of Personal Responsibility. Susan Starr Sered And Maureen Norton-Hawk. Reviewed By Brandy Henry, Brandy Henry

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Susan Starr Sered and Maureen Norton-Hawk, Can’t Catch a Break: Gender, Jail, Drugs, and the Limits of Personal Responsibility. University of California Press (2014), 216 pages, $29.95 (paperback).

Review Of Ghettoside: A True Story Of Murder In America. Jill Leovy. Reviewed By John Decarlo., John Decarlo

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Jill Leovy, Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America. Spiegel & Grau (2015), 386 pages, $28.00 (hardcover).

Review Of Café Culture In Pune: Being Young And Middle Class In Urban India. Teresa Platz Robinson. Reviewed By Michael Gilbert, Michael Gilbert

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Teresa Platz Robinson, Café Culture in Pune: Being Young and Middle Class in Urban India. Oxford University Press (2014), 320 pages, $55.00 (hardcover).