Social Work Commons^™

Supporting College Student Success Through Connections To Mentors And Campus Champions, Rebecca Miller, Jennifer E. Blakeslee, B. Hope

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This brief shares best practices learned on the Project Futures research study being conducted at Portland State University and local community colleges in Portland, Oregon. The study is testing evidence-based mentoring strategies for underserved students, in this case college freshmen with lived experience in foster care and with mental health stressors. Campus-based mentoring is an increasingly popular strategy to better support under-represented students, who in addition to navigating the typical challenges of college life, may face additional barriers to student success, such as:

• Homelessness or housing instability and/or financial insecurity with no safety net,
• Mental health and trauma,
• Starting college …

Transition Mental Health Service Provider Core Competencies, Pauline Jivanjee, Eileen Brennan, Leigh Grover, Claudia Sellmaier, Eliz Roser

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

From 2010 through 2012, the Pathways Transition Training Collaborative (PTTC) worked collaboratively to identify core competencies for service providers working in mental health services with young adults of transition age. Since then, the Pathways Transition Training Partnership (PTTP) has collaborated with partners to update and clarify the core competencies. Competencies include the values, attitudes, knowledge, and skills needed to engage youth and young adults and provide effective services and supports to young people and families. Each of the 15 core competencies is defined, followed by the attitudes, knowledge and skills needed to demonstrate it, and an example of the competency …

Calling Attention To The Growing Heroin Epidemic And How To Fight It, Kendal Rozaieski

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of this study was to explore the experience of creating a grassroots heroin awareness organization on a university campus through qualitative research. Various meeting types were attended as the grassroots efforts began: a student organization dedicated to the cause, the campus Alcohol and Other Drug Board, a local community treatment center agency, multiple University of Akron faculty members, and other heroin awareness groups in the community. Through observation and journaling of these meetings, I am sharing my experience based off analyzed field notes. After analyzation of these notes, common themes related to the formation of this kind of …

Case Management And Social Work Practice In Public Schools, Grace Charriez Rivera

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the United States, 66% of elementary and secondary school students experience academic difficulties. Evidence-based implementation and data-driven practices in the field of school social work to address these academic difficulties are lacking. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the perceptions of school social workers in a public school division in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States regarding the use and effectiveness of case management strategies with at-risk students. Ecological theory and social constructionism theory provided the framework for the study. Qualitative focus group discussion involving 8 social workers in the division was used to collect …

Practice Challenges Among Social Work Mitigation Specialists And Interprofessional Supervision Methods, Nicole Denise Jackson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Social work supervision is a core component of the social work profession that is often absent for social workers in interprofessional teams. In capital defense practice settings, social workers are hired as mitigation specialists to work as members of the legal team. Informed by systems theory, the purpose of this action research study was to explore the practice challenges of social work mitigation specialists (SWMS) and how an interprofessional-focused supervision approach could be applied to resolve those issues. Six SWMS employed with capital defense agencies in Georgia and Texas were interviewed. Using a thematic coding analysis, several key themes emerged: …

Editorial: Dismantling Children’S Rights In The Global North, Kiaras Gharabaghi, Ben Anderson-Nathe

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Editorial. The article discusses children's rights in the global North. Topics discussed include responsibility of all states and their governments to protect those rights, need to mitigate infringements on the rights of children and youth, and dependency of children and youth on their families and families are willing to take to provide them with opportunities for health, education and safety.

Housing And Transition: Meeting The Needs Of Young Adults With Mental Health Conditions, Barbara J. Friesen, Nancy Koroloff

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This report addresses challenges faced by transition-age youth and young adults with mental health conditions as they try to find and maintain stable housing. This document was written specifically for program designers, administrators, and policy-makers, and others who are planning to develop or modify housing supports that are available to young adults. It may also be of interest to advocates and young people working to improve housing policy and program options for young people. The document is grounded in two critical considerations: 1) the current political and economic conditions that affect the availability of affordable housing also restrict the availability …

Social Network Enhancement Strategies To Address Limited Support Networks In Young Adulthood: State Of The Science, Jennifer E. Blakeslee

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This review focuses on populations where systems involvement is presumed to impact the size, strength, and supportiveness of social networks, including young people who have experienced out-of-home placement in foster care, juvenile justice, or residential treatment.

Child Abuse, Mental Health And Sleeping Arrangements Among Homeless Youth: Links To Physical And Sexual Street Victimization, Kimberly A. Tyler, Rachel Schmitz

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Physical safety is a primary concern among homeless youth because they struggle to secure basic necessities and a permanent place to live. Despite this, studies have not fully examined the numerous linkages that might explain risk for victimization within the context of material insecurity. In this study, we examine multiple levels of both proximal and distal risk factors at the individual (e.g. mental health), family (e.g. child abuse), and environmental levels (e.g. finding necessities) and their associations with physical and sexual street victimization among 150 Midwestern homeless youth. Results from path analyses show that child physical abuse is positively associated …

Family Reunification Among Women In Recovery From Substance Abuse And Complex Trauma, Cesha Tiffany Reese

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

For women in recovery from complex trauma and substance abuse, the lack of posttreatment family reunification services such as family engagement, service delivery, and aftercare planning increase the likelihood of parental relapse and children reentering foster care. A primary caregiver's continued relapse can lead to longer out of home placement for minor children and a loss of parental rights, with a negative impact on both children and parents. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to examine the lived experiences of women in recovery, their sobriety practices, and how they reunified their families. The theoretical framework was Herman's trauma …

Relational Aggression Among Adolescent African American Females, Latoshia S. Daniels

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Relational aggression includes manipulative behaviors such as gossiping, spreading rumors, or practicing exclusion to intentionally destroy a peer's social reputation. Aggressive behaviors such as those found in relational aggression contribute to unsafe school environments. Research on relational aggression has increased in recent years, yet there is minimal research on relational aggression among African American adolescent females. The research questions were What is social workers' understanding of relational aggression? and How do social workers' cultural awareness and general understanding of African American females' relationships and interpersonal connections impact their ability to connect with their clients in the therapeutic relationship? The purpose …

Custodial Parental Perceptions And Experiences Of Noncustodial Parents And Child Support, Breanne Marie Nguyen

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Child support is a means to financially support children, yet fewer than half of children eligible for child support receive full payment, with many receiving none. Child support nonpayment is a national concern that has led to negative repercussions for non-intact families, the community, and economic system. In some cases, noncustodial parents have an inability to pay. The purpose of this descriptive, phenomenological study was to understand custodial parental perceptions and experiences of noncustodial parent's inability to pay their child support. Social learning theory served as the conceptual framework for the study. In-depth interviews were conducted with a sample of …

Understanding Social Workers' Knowledge Of Foster Care Drift, Joey Gardner

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Foster care drift is the extended stay in foster care without attaining family reunification or permanency with another placement. When foster care youth experience foster care drift, they face the possibility of aging out of the foster care system. Interventions and policies have been implemented to aid family service workers during the process of permanency planning; however, a great number of foster care youth remain in care. This study explored the perceptions of social work professionals regarding foster care drift regarding issues and challenges that social workers engaged in foster care placement face regarding foster care drift. The ecological system …

Factors Impacting The Financial Independence Of Women Who Were Teenage Mothers, Jeanette Parker

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Teenage pregnancy in the United States is a national concern because of negative outcomes for teen mothers and their children of teen mothers. There is ample research on the negative outcomes associated with teen pregnancy: however, there is little research on the success of teenage mothers. This transcendental, phenomenological study examined how former teenage mothers overcame challenges of teen pregnancy to become financially independent adults. The research question for this study was: What factors enabled former teen mothers to overcome challenges of teen pregnancy to become financially independent adults? Principles from social learning theory and resilience theory provided the conceptual …

Generational Homelessness In New York City Family Homeless Shelters, Deborah Johnson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Homelessness has been a problem in New York City (NYC) for decades. Part of the problem is children who grew up in the shelter system and then returned as adults, a phenomenon known as 2nd-generation homelessness. Literature indicates that no researchers have interviewed second-generation homeless adults about their experiences. The purpose of this study was to explore the experience of 2nd-generation homelessness from the perspective of homeless adults returning to the shelter system. The sample included 1 second-generation homeless adult and 10 case managers at Tier II homeless shelters. Interviews were conducted and data were analyzed using hand coding to …

The Impact Of Caseworkers' Educational Background And Placement Outcomes For Foster Children, Katrina Haynes

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Decades of data document that permanent placements of children in the welfare system has been a concern in Mississippi. As foster care rates increase, more children are awaiting placement. Researchers have linked child welfare workers' educational background to placement outcomes for foster care children; however, researchers have not addressed the relationship between child welfare workers' educational backgrounds and foster care placement outcomes in Mississippi. This quantitative study examined the educational backgrounds of social work and nonsocial work child welfare caseworkers and other factors such as children's gender and race as predictors in placement outcomes for children in welfare custody. Attachment …

Interrupting The School-To-Prison Pipeline: Are We Educating Or Incarcerating Our Youth, Gayle R. Springer

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Zero tolerance policies in schools have led to substantial financial, personal, and social costs. These policies are widely criticized for being discriminatory, particularly among youth from minority backgrounds. The ways we have responded to behaviors in school has changed dramatically over the years. Today, harsh discipline measures result in lengthy out of school suspensions for minor infractions. This literature review examines the school-to-prison pipeline is and how zero tolerance policies have contributed to this social justice issue. Strategies designed to interrupt the school-to-prison pipeline are also discussed.

Age, Gender, Income, And Social Support As Predictors Of Single Parent Resiliency, Ebonnie Leavern Simmons-Hall

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Nearly 50% of children younger than 18 years will be raised by a single parent at some point prior to adulthood. Of developed countries, the United States currently has the highest percentage of single parents. Although much research has examined factors that contribute toward the negative outcomes of single parents, few studies have focused on factors that contribute toward positive outcomes for single parents. Using the strength-based construct of resiliency as a theoretical framework, this study examined whether gender, age, income, and perceived familial social support individually or in linear combination could predict resiliency in single parents. This study involved …

Mental Health Difficulties And Service Use Of Incarcerated Women: The Influence Of Violence Perpetration And Victimization, Rachel C. Casey

Graduate Research Posters

The study investigated the relationships between incarcerated women’s experiences with violence and their mental health with the goal of identifying avenues for more tailored, compassionate responses to their mental health difficulties during incarceration. To achieve this aim, a secondary data analysis was performed using data from the Survey of Inmates in State Correctional Facilities completed by the Bureau of Justice Statistics in 2004 (N=2553). Six research questions guided the inquiry, which involved univariate, bivariate, and multivariate statistical analyses, including latent class analysis—performed to identify patterns in mental health difficulties among incarcerated women—and multiple logistic regression procedures. The latent class analysis …

Dimensions Of Charity Versus Development: The Century-Old Debate In The Profession Of Social Work, Héctor Luis Díaz, Antonio López Peláez

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The social work profession seeks different objectives and utilizes different methodologies and interventions in the countries in which it operates around the world. Furthermore, it operates within drastically different political, economic and cultural contexts. For these reasons, it is difficult to identify an ideal universal method of intervention.For approximately a century, social work practitioners and academicians have debated whether the profession should focus its efforts on providing charity and relief services or promoting socio-economic development and self-sufficiency. This article defines the concepts of charity and socioeconomic development and analyzes the main dimensions of this debate in an effort to deepen …

International Service-Learning Trips: A Framework For Developing Cross-Cultural Competence, Mioara Diaconu, Laura Racovita-Szilagyi, Aida Neacsu

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The International Federation of Social Workers (2017) calls for social work professionals to be empowering agents who understand the context and diversity of their client populations. At the same time, research on evidence-based practice suggests that cultural immersion is one of the best ways for students to develop much-needed cultural competence and appreciation for diversity (Anderson, Lawton, Rexeisen, & Hubbard, 2006; Pence & Macgillivray, 2008). This article proposes that students would benefit more from having the opportunity to get hands-on experience in needs assessments, appreciative inquiry, program designs, implementations, and evaluations of grassroots sustainable development programs than simply being involved …

Knowledge Transfer For Full Citizenship: The Educational Model Of Innovation In Social Work, Francisco Javier García-Castilla, Eloy Vírseda

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Knowledge is the central axis of human experience, especially in view of the current culture of information and knowledge in a highly interfaced and technical globalized world. Increased access to information and knowledge are essential prerequisites for the development of all aspects of modern societies. Teaching and research are two of the main functions of modern universities. As a result, two of their fundamental pillars are the creation and transfer of knowledge. Such transfer of knowledge, in turn, requires maintaining effective channels of communication with the public and private sectors of the labor market. Social workers are encouraged to maintain …

Social Work And Accessibility Of Persons With Disabilities In Mexico: Hidden Barriers, María Del Carmen Martín Cano, Yolanda María De La Fuente Robles

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article proposes that a thorough understanding of the concept of diversity should facilitate the full inclusion of all people in society. Furthermore, it proposes that we should look at diversity and inclusion from a community perspective. Consistent with these premises, Mexico has recently taken a significant leap forward by developing programs to serve functionally diverse people. Most significantly, the federal government has created the National Program for the Wellbeing and Development of People with Disabilities that is sponsored by the executive branch of government. The creation of this program followed the dissemination by the National System for the Integral …

Journal Of Sociology And Social Welfare Vol. 45 No. 2

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

No abstract provided.

The Welfare Subject In The “One-Stop Shop”: Agency In Troublesome Welfare Encounters, Kjetil Lundberg

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The purpose of this article is to investigate the agency of “welfare subjects” in welfare encounters, situated in a “one-stop shop” reform context, thereby providing increased theoretical sensitivity into the field of welfare encounters’ research. Anchored in a Norwegian reform context, this article analyses agency related to welfare encounters, including welfare subjects’ attempts to hold NAV (the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration) accountable to help them. Shifting agency positions are located, the lines of responsibility in the welfare encounters are found to be unclear, and there are indications that this may contribute to the production of destructive agency positions.

Is It Just Enough?, John Solas

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Since its inception, social work has professed an abiding commitment to social justice. Indeed, it is perhaps one of the few professions to have maintained such an obligation. This pledge is officially inscribed in the Code of Ethics of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW). This document affirms the pursuit of social justice as a core value, not just for members of the Association, but also for social workers in general. However, what kind of social justice does the Association advocate and how just is it? While answers to these questions are critical to the Association’s members and broader …

Journal Of Sociology And Social Welfare Vol. 45 No. 3

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

No abstract provided.

Financial Capability As Social Investment, Mary Caplan, Margaret Sherraden, Junghee Bae

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

People are increasingly part of a complex landscape of financial transactions, services, and institutions across nearly all realms of everyday life. They face an often confusing array of choices of products, and the consequences of those choices can both reflect and exacerbate social and economic inequalities. In response to these contemporary conditions, there are global efforts to increase peoples’ financial capability, which is composed of the interrelated concepts of financial literacy and financial inclusion. The term financial capability includes a person’s ability to act (knowledge, skills, confidence, and motivation) and his or her opportunity to act (access to quality financial …

Review Of Ghettos, Tramps, And Welfare Queens: Down And Out On The Silver Screen. By Stephen Pimpare, Melanie Lynn Carlson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Review or: Stephen Pimpare, Ghettos, Tramps, and Welfare Queens: Down and Out on the Silver Screen. Oxford University Press (2017), 342 pages, $35 (hardcover).

Role Of Marital Quality In Explaining Depressive Symptoms After Marital Termination Among Older Adults, Minzhi Ye, Alfred Demaris, Monica A. Longmore

School of Social Work Faculty Publications

This study assesses whether prior marital quality moderates the impact of divorce or widowhood on subsequent depression. Poor marital quality may buffer depression associated with divorce/widowhood; conversely, the effect of divorce/widowhood on depression could be exacerbated by previous marital quality. Three waves from the National Survey of Families and Households based on respondents, ages 50 and older, (N = 2,570) included eight marital quality measures. We find limited evidence suggesting higher marital quality elevates, while lower marital quality decreases, depression after divorce. No moderating effects were found for widowhood. Additionally, health condition is more important than current marital status …