Social Work Commons^™

The Intersection Between Harm Reduction And Social Work, Sydney Biondi

Undergraduate Research Posters

This qualitative study explores the intersection of harm reduction and social work. Social workers who practice harm reduction were recruited to participate in interviews. In the field of social work, harm reduction is seen as a promising practice, but we do not know very much about what it looks like in practice. The purpose of this research study is to find out how the perceptions of social workers of harm reduction aid or inhibit community harm reduction efforts. We think that the geographical location of a social worker impacts the perceptions and experiences of harm reduction, because of the resources …

Annual Credit Checks For Adolescent Youth In Foster Care: Factors Associated With Identity Fraud Victimization, John Gyourko, Johanna K. P. Greeson

Department of Social Work - Faculty Scholarship

Child identity fraud, or the criminal exploitation of a child’s personal data, poses serious risks and challenges for youth in foster care. Despite the 10-year history of a federal mandate requiring state child welfare agencies to conduct annual credit checks for adolescent foster youth (42 U.S.C. § 675), identity fraud has received scant attention in child welfare research. Analyzing a state-level administrative dataset with linked child welfare and consumer credit records, we employed logistic regression to assess demographic and foster care placement factors associated with identity fraud victimization among a statewide population cohort of 1,176 youth (age 14 to …

Racial/Ethnic Differences In Child Protective Services Reporting, Substantiation, And Placement, With Comparison To Non-Cps Risks And Outcomes: 2005—2019, Brett Drake, Dylan Jones, Hyunil Kim, John Gyourko, Antonio R. Garcia, Richard P. Barth, Sarah Font, Emily Putnam-Hornstein, Jill Duerr Berrick, Johanna K. P. Greeson, Victoria Cook, Patricia Kohl, Melissa Jonson-Reid

Department of Social Work - Faculty Scholarship

We used National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System and Census data to examine Black–White and Hispanic–White disparities in reporting, substantiation, and out-of-home placement both descriptively from 2005–2019 and in multivariate models from 2007–2017. We also tracked contemporaneous social risk (e.g., child poverty) and child harm (e.g., infant mortality) disparities using non-child protective services (CPS) sources and compared them to CPS reporting rate disparities. Black–White CPS reporting disparities were lower than found in non-CPS risk and harm benchmarks. Consistent with the Hispanic paradox, Hispanic–White CPS reporting disparities were lower than risk disparities but similar to harm disparities. Descriptive and multivariate …

Double Burden Of Malnutrition Workshop Facilitation Manual: Lima, Peru, Carmen Quinteros-Reyes, Pavarskevi Seferidi, Laura Guzman-Abello, Christopher Millett, Antonio Bernabé-Ortiz, Lindsey Pawlowski, Ellis Ballard

Social System Design Lab

This is a facilitation manual for workshops in Lima, Peru as part of the project “Addressing the double burden of malnutrition in Peru: using a community-based system dynamics approach to improve food systems”. The project is a collaboration between investigators at the Center of Excellence in Chronic Diseases (CRONICAS) at the University of Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Universidad de los Andes in Bogota, Peru, the Social System Design Lab at Washington University in St. Louis, USA and Imperial College London funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council (Grant Ref: BB/T009004/1). It is a supplemental document associated with the paper …

Double Burden Of Malnutrition Workshop Facilitation Manual: Iquitos, Peru, Carmen Quinteros-Reyes, Paraskevi Seferidi, Laura Guzman-Abello, Christopher Millett, Antonio Bernabé-Ortiz, Lindsey Pawloski, Ellis Ballard

Social System Design Lab

This is a facilitation manual for workshops in Lima, Peru as part of the project “Addressing the double burden of malnutrition in Peru: using a community-based system dynamics approach to improve food systems”. The project is a collaboration between investigators at the Center of Excellence in Chronic Diseases (CRONICAS) at the University of Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Universidad de los Andes in Bogota, Peru, the Social System Design Lab at Washington University in St. Louis, USA and Imperial College London funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council (Grant Ref: BB/T009004/1). It is a supplemental document associated with the paper …

Family Drug Treatment Court Program Effectiveness As A Protective Factor For Parents In Prevention Of Substance Abuse Foster Care Re-Entries: A Mixed Methods Study, Eugenia Ann Richardson

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Foster care re-entry rates are high. Studies show that many foster care entries are due to substance abuse. These parents may enter a Family Drug Treatment Court Program that offers intensive therapy for the parent as well as services for the family. This study looks at the effectiveness of a Missouri County Family Drug Treatment Court Program at preventing foster care re-entry for those who graduate the program. This study uses a mixed methods research design. Caseworkers for the Missouri County Family Drug Treatment Court were interviewed. Quantitative secondary data was also obtained from the Missouri County Juvenile Office. Results …

Mapping Communities Of Mothering: Where Race, Class, Gender, And Space Intersect, Cynthia Edmonds-Cady

Faculty Publications - Social Work

This manuscript explores the unique construction of community that young, low-income, women create, based on the embodied internal and external spaces they occupy as lone mothers. Issues related to diverse women’s representation, voice, and power, within these socially constructed communities are examined. Attention is paid to how young low-income mothers experience and actively create their own supportive community within both geographic and social boundaries, in active resistance to dominant and oppressive assumptions. To explore these concepts in-depth, results are presented from an ethnographic study that examined the community participation of eleven young, low-income, racially diverse single mothers living in a …

Black Women’S Social Media Use Integration And Social Media Addiction, Sara Matsuzaka, Lanice R. Avery, Alexis G. Stanton

Department of Social Work and Child Advocacy Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Black American women are among the largest consumer groups of social media in the United States. In recent years, Black American women have curated spaces on social media platforms to authentically converse about Black womanhood and resist structural gendered racism. Still, there is a dearth of research on the subjective importance of Black American women’s social media use and risks for social media addiction. This study tested the association between social media use integration and social media addiction, and whether connectedness to Black women moderated this relationship. Data from 354 Black American women (Mage = 24.34 years) were collected using …

Intimate Partner Violence: The Silent Enemy Among African Immigrant Women, Omoniyi Anne Bello

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Intimate partner violence among immigrant and minority groups remains a social and health problem that has garnered little attention. African immigrant women particularly face intersectional challenges (e.g., language barriers, unemployment, and lack of access to health care, resources, and services) that heighten their vulnerability to partner violence. Yet, knowledge about their experiences remains elusive in empirical research. Examining the nature and extent of their experience can provide valuable insights that could enhance research and practice on partner violence. The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to explore the experiences of African immigrant women survivors of partner violence in Edmonton, …

Help-Seeking Behaviors And Employment Hope Among Depressed Black Male Foster Care Alumni, Vanessa Jennings

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Traumatic depression is a system of experiences where the mind, heart, and gut track happenings lingering among systemic models of prevention and intervention and personal stories. This nonexperimental correlational study aimed to provide insights into mental help-seeking and employment hope among depressed Black/African American foster care male alums. The central research question was to what degree, if any, a positive relationship exists between employment hope and seeking access to mental health-related services among male foster care alums who identify with depression. It was hypothesized that a statistically significant relationship exists. The social cognitive career theory and theory of planned behavior …

A Qualitative Study On The Financial Education Of Young Black Men, Sue M. May

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Financial literacy awareness is low among young adults, and financial literacy among Black college students is significantly lower than in other groups (Singh, 2018). However, there is little to no research on why financial literacy is so low among young Black men between 18 and 25. Few studies specifically show how financial literacy and decision-making may be related to their family economics and socialization for young Black men. Using Critical Race Theory and Family Financial Socialization theoretical frameworks, this dissertation project examined a sample of seven young self-identified Black men ages 24 to 25 years old in Northern California Bay …

Social Workers’ Philosophical Attitudes Towards Harm Reduction Services In Housing First Organizations, John Gay Woolley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractOver the past three decades, harm reduction has gradually become more prevalent among social workers and is now viewed as an instrumental approach in treating people with drug and alcohol problems. Although there have been several studies that described how harm reduction approaches were applied in Housing First (HF) settings, there are few studies that have described social workers’ perspectives of their philosophical attitudes regarding harm reduction in HF settings. The purpose of this study was to understand social workers’ perspectives of their philosophical attitudes toward harm reduction services and how those attitudes were apparent in their interactions with substance-using …

Intimate Partner Violence: The Silent Enemy Among African Immigrant Women, Omoniyi Anne Bello

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Intimate partner violence among immigrant and minority groups remains a social and health problem that has garnered little attention. African immigrant women particularly face intersectional challenges (e.g., language barriers, unemployment, and lack of access to health care, resources, and services) that heighten their vulnerability to partner violence. Yet, knowledge about their experiences remains elusive in empirical research. Examining the nature and extent of their experience can provide valuable insights that could enhance research and practice on partner violence. The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to explore the experiences of African immigrant women survivors of partner violence in Edmonton, …

An Evaluation Of A School-Based School Connectedness Program, John G. Emmerich

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the United States, approximately 45% of high school students are either not engaged (28%) or actively disengaged (17%) in the academic process. Increasing a school's average student engagement yields an increase in reading and math achievement. This study evaluates a school connectedness program, Promoting Positive School Engagement (PPSE) program using a convergent mixed methods model to determine the degree of effectiveness measured by the Hemingway measure of adolescent connectedness instrument in an Urban, Midwest public middle school. Quantitative data were collected from 20 students who participated in the program and 20 students who did not (control group). Analyzed using …

Help-Seeking Behaviors And Employment Hope Among Depressed Black Male Foster Care Alumni, Vanessa Jennings

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Traumatic depression is a system of experiences where the mind, heart, and gut track happenings lingering among systemic models of prevention and intervention and personal stories. This nonexperimental correlational study aimed to provide insights into mental help-seeking and employment hope among depressed Black/African American foster care male alums. The central research question was to what degree, if any, a positive relationship exists between employment hope and seeking access to mental health-related services among male foster care alums who identify with depression. It was hypothesized that a statistically significant relationship exists. The social cognitive career theory and theory of planned behavior …

Occupational Stress Of Adult Protective Service Workers, Tiffany Taylor

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Research has revealed that adult protective service workers experience high levels of occupational stress that often result in health complications such as burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and compassion fatigue. Although several qualitative studies have been conducted over the past decade, there was limited information on the phenomenon of how stress is experienced by adult protective service workers investigating cases of alleged elder abuse. The purpose of this study was to examine the lived experiences of a sample of adult protective service caseworkers from the southwestern United States that have experienced occupational stress while investigating cases of elder abuse. This study …

Experiences Of Older Adults With Hiv/Aids Enrolled In Case Management Programs In Northwest Indiana, Antoinette Cardenas

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractIn 2016, more than half of those infected with HIV/AIDS were age 50 years or older. Since the introduction of antiretroviral therapy, the survival rate of HIV patients has been on the rise with a predicted increase by 2030, but this has also contributed to early onset of comorbidities such as cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and kidney failure. The purpose of this generic qualitative study, driven by ecological systems theory, was to explore the experiences of older adults (age 50 and older) with HIV/AIDS who were enrolled in case management programs in Northwest Indiana. Data were collected from semi structured interviews …

Student Perspective Of Alternative Education Characteristics Implemented By Public School Social Workers, Jennifer M. Fields

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Public schools are facing increased challenges to address the needs of students with significant behavioral issues. In response, Alternative education (AE) programs are used to reengage students in learning and enhance personal development, through a combination of academic and therapeutic strategies. AE placement is intended to be short-term, with the goal of returning students to public school. However, the differences between these two settings make it difficult for students to sustain achievements made in AE upon reentry. The purpose of this qualitative research was to use the student perspective to identify the social-emotional characteristics of AE that have influenced change, …

Risk At The Boundaries Of Social Work: An Editorial, Rory Crath, Jeremy Dixon, Jo Warner

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

In this editorial we introduce a special thematic collection of articles which focus on how risk operates, or is conceptualised, at the boundaries of social work practice. The collection includes theoretical, empirical, and practice-oriented articles, each of which critically engages with contemporary debates about risk and social work and its complex intersections with boundary making in diverse fields. These fields include social work with older people, child sexual abuse and exploitation, and people with learning disabilities. We begin the editorial with a brief account of how social work can be defined and the competing ideological traditions that underpin differing forms …

Integrating Feminist Approaches In Counseling Work With Adult Women, Kristen M. Toole

Adultspan Journal

The scope of ‘women’s issues’ in counseling is an ever-evolving landscape. Recent events such as the reversal of Roe v. Wade and the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on women serve as powerful reminders of the necessity of this focus while underscoring a deep-rooted history of oppressive patriarchal structures. Therefore, counselors must remain informed of the unique considerations surrounding adult women in counseling and acquire proficiency in versatile techniques to meet this population’s nuanced needs. This article examines the complexity of contemporary womanhood and explores the fundamentals of Feminist Counseling Theory (FCT), a holistic, multiculturally conscious, social justice theory in counseling. …

Bibliography, Gayle Mallinger

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

Bibliography of publications by Gayle Mallinger.

The Effect Of Federal And State-Level Policy On Undocumented Childhood Arrivals, Kim Kaczmarowski

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) provides a 2-year reprieve from deportation and a work permit for eligible undocumented childhood arrivals. It does not provide a pathway to citizenship or confer rights or protections enjoyed by those with permanent legal status leaving recipients in a constant state of legal limbo. State-level policy can mitigate or exacerbate obstacles faced by this population. The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to explore how federal and state-level policy in a conservative location shaped experiences of membership or exclusion. Responses were examined using segmented assimilation theory to identify layered contexts of reception. The …

Professional Discretion Of Child Protective Services Investigators In Foster Care Placements, Leonard Fikes

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Families of color in North Carolina have been disproportionately affected in the child welfare system, particularly in the foster care system. The purpose of this qualitative research study examined the discretionary powers of Child Protective Services (CPS) investigators and how they interpreted and applied child welfare policies that disproportionally impacted African American families from marginalized, underrepresented communities. Guided by Wallander and Molander’s professional discretion as the framework, this research expanded the current literature and increased awareness of racial disproportionality and the continued disproportionality of African American children in the child welfare system, especially foster care placements. The central research question …

Social Worker Perspectives On Implementation Of Harm Reduction Into Abstinence-Based Substance Abuse Programs, Susan Woomer

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Opioid addiction is a growing epidemic in the United States and was declared a public health emergency by the Department of Health and Human Services in October of 2017. There is a growing recognition that the current treatment for heroin and opioid addiction, abstinence-based treatment programs, is not readily available and has minimal success in addressing the epidemic. Harm reduction therapy is recognized as an effective way to address the opioid epidemic. This study aimed to develop further insight and understanding of how to integrate harm reduction therapy in abstinence-based treatment programs. The theoretical framework for this study was the …

I’M Ok: Black Women’S Perceptions Of Vulnerability And Coping, Bridget Lewis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Within the social work profession, there has been limited understanding of tailoring treatment and coping strategies specific to Black women. The parallelism of Black women and strength has created a generational, internal conflict with maintaining the cultural label known as the strong Black woman (SBW) and stigma related to seeking help to improve mental health. The stigma associated with seeking help has hindered Black women from communicating thoughts or behaviors that categorize vulnerability. Grounded in the SBW collective theory and Black womanist theory, this study explored how the SBW stereotype impacts the communication on vulnerability and coping strategies Black women …

Challenges In Discharge Planning For Adults Transitioning From An Inpatient Psychiatric Level Of Care Experiencing Homelessness, Deanna` R. Mccaskill

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Mental illness and the homeless population are a growing concern in the United States. Homeless individuals utilize emergency rooms and acute inpatient stays more than those with housing. Social workers play a vital role in discharge planning, starting on the first day of admission. This action research study explored the challenges of social workers developing discharge plans for adults transitioning from an inpatient psychiatric level of care experiencing homeless. The theoretical framework implemented in this study was systems theory. Data were collected from 12 purposively selected master’s level social workers in the format of individual and focus group interviews. Eight …

Effect Of Family Engagement On The Behavioral Health Of Mentally Ill Offenders, Jessica Rae Horn

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the United States, 40% of incarcerated individuals have been diagnosed with a mental health disorder, but they often lack the support system needed to navigate their incarceration. This study addressed ways to understand how family engagement opportunities can improve the behavioral health of mentally ill offenders. Specifically, five research questions were used to explore the degree to which the practice of family engagement was understood as a method for providing support to mentally ill incarcerated individuals. The study followed the Baldrige Framework of Excellence to identify current organizational leadership and management issues that can help reach its goals, improve …

Transphobia In Class, Anti-Trans Legislation At The State: A Commentary On Navigating Harm And Hope In A Social Work Education Program, Emera Greenwood, Megan S. Paceley

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

EG (they/them): I was misgendered on day one of my BSW program; isolation and transphobia continued for two years. While I did my best to advocate for myself, I learned that you can't fight institutionally entrenched oppression alone.

MP (they/them): EG joined my class mid-semester after repeated incidents of transphobia. For two years, during an onslaught of anti-trans policies across the U.S., we advocated for changes in our school and social work education.

EG’s experience is not unique. Numerous studies document transphobia experienced by transgender and gender expansive (TGE) social work students and the lack of TGE content, visibility, and …

Meeting Children's Needs Through Trauma-Informed Care In A Crisis Nursery Setting, Elizabeth M. Fix

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

The Cogenerate Innovation Fellowship: Supporting Leaders Of Intergenerational Initiatives, Cal J. Halvorsen, Eunice Lin Nichols, Janet Oh

Harvey A. Friedman Center for Aging

This Case Report provides a detailed overview of the CoGenerate Innovation Fellowship, a 9-month fellowship that supports leaders of intergenerational initiatives developed by the national nonprofit organization, CoGenerate. It describes the Fellowship’s recruitment and cohort development strategies, monthly meetings and community-building efforts, end-of-Fellowship celebration, and post-Fellowship support. It summarizes findings from the two-year pilot’s process and outcomes evaluation and provides recommendations to individuals and organizations seeking to support social sector innovators who are leading intergenerational initiatives.