Social Work Commons^™

Proving Their Love: Violence And Gender Norms In Descriptions Of Relationships Among Rural Mexican Adolescents, Heidi Adams Rueda, Steven Hoffman, Kaitlin Grytza

Faculty Publications

Mexican youth from impoverished areas are at increased risk for experiencing relationship violence. Research in the United States has suggested that perpetration may be contextualized by culturally-influenced gender values, specifically performance of negative aspects of male masculinity (i.e., machismo) and its female counterpart (i.e., marianismo). This study utilized focus group methods to explore how middle school adolescents (N = 98) from a rural area of Central Mexico differentiate between healthy and unhealthy dating relationships.

We evoked a feminist developmental lens to interpret themes which centralized males as physical and sexual aggressors and to offer culturally-relevant program and practice recommendations.

Ethics In Social Work Practice (With A Rural Twist), Paul Force-Emery Mackie

Social Work Department Publications

Social work ethics can be challenging, and in rural areas even more so. What do we know about how to practice in unique and often isolated geographic environments? Join Professor of Social Work and National Association for Rural Mental Health Past President Dr. Paul Mackie for a two-hour training focused on ways to address common ethical dilemmas and challenges faced by behavioral health providers in rural and low-population areas.

Opioid Use Treatment Via Telemedicine: Treatment Options For Rural Maine, Benjamin Knapp

Thinking Matters Symposium Archive

The ongoing opioid crisis has overwhelmed the traditional opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment resources across America. The treatment resources in rural communities have been especially hard hit as geographic and financial barriers limit service capacity. Telemedicine, or medicine delivered via remote means, has been proposed as a potential solution to the lack of conventional opioid treatment resources in rural Maine. Current legalities in the US prohibit telemedicine being used to prescribe opioid agonist drugs, and insurance reimbursement for telemedicine remains a major barrier. This qualitative content analysis looks at the existing research on telemedicine's treatment efficacy for use with OUD …

A Crisis In The Farming Community: A Pathway To Acceptable, Accessible And Available Mental Health Care In Rural Minnesota, Trevor Frybarger, Laura Koch, Kathy Thao, Taryn Wicks

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

Minnesota relies on farmers to put food on our tables and to help drive our economy. The chronic stressors associated with an unstable farm economy is taking its toll on farm families all across Minnesota. Chronic stress can contribute to marital tensions, domestic violence, work disruption, depression, anxiety, and suicide. Minnesota has only 1 mental health counselor dedicated to doing outreach and crisis counseling to farm families. Many mental health professionals lack competency in working in rural communities, including understanding farm related stressors. Minnesota is doing some things right, like the Minnesota Farm and Rural Help Line. But, it needs …

Expanding Full-Service Community Schools Into Rural Minnesota, Rachel Cox Raverty, Lindsey Gilbert, Jessica Goettl, Claire Otto, Korissa Smith

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

Communities throughout rural Minnesota would greatly benefit from full-service community schools to support academic achievement and contribute to thriving communities. Lack of health and human services, mental health disparities, and cultural divides are among the greatest concerns for students in rural areas. One in 5 children birth to eighteen has a diagnosable mental health condition and 1 out of every 10 children experience a mental health problem that is severe enough to impair how they function at home, in school, and in their communities. When youth come to school hungry or experiencing in-home trauma, academic success is hard to achieve. …

Women Ascending To Leadership Positions In Rural Nonprofit Organizations, Jose Carbajal, Kristin Bailey-Wallace, Bonita B. Sharma, Tiffany Bice-Wigington, Wilma Cordova, Shanta Scott, Aparecida De Fatima Cordeiro Dutra

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

This study investigates women’s experiences as they ascended to leadership roles in nonprofit organizations in rural communities, primarily in East Texas. The aim of this study is to understand the lived experiences of women in top management as they ascend into leadership positions, as the characteristics and experiences of effective leaders in rural nonprofits may differ from those of urban nonprofit agencies. There is limited research regarding women’s leadership experiences in rural nonprofit organizations. Using a phenomenological inquiry approach, we interviewed 32 women currently serving in leadership roles in rural nonprofit organizations. The research question guiding this phenomenological study was: …

Mapping Collective Action Structures And Activities In A Rural Age-Friendly Communities Initiative, Althea R. Pestine-Stevens

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Age-Friendly Communities (AFC) initiatives convene stakeholders across sectors and service areas throughout a community to work together to improve the social and built environments for older persons living in the community. While the AFC movement has been active internationally for thirteen years, little is known about the mechanisms that drive this work and its successes. This study aims to uncover some of the key collective action processes and structures that comprise AFC work in a rural county in New York State, through a collaboration theory framework and a social network analysis design.

Intake Case Managers' Perspectives On Rural Veteran Homelessness, Amanda Eun Jee Webreck

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Homeless research has focused on the service-directed approach, but few qualitative studies have focused on the critical and sensitive nature of the intake process. Staff in rural and remote communities struggle to refer services and mainstream resources to homeless veterans. The purpose of this case study was to explore case managers' perspectives on intake procedures in rural Pennsylvania communities. Lewin's force field analysis was used as a theoretical basis to examine the rationale for behaviors and forces that impact an individual's state. Six case managers and 1 supervisor were selected for face-to-face interviews based on their experience, job duties, and …

Trauma Social Workers' Perspectives On The Response Of Rural Social Work Agencies To Vicarious Trauma, Tiffany Ann Hardman

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Social workers are susceptible to the potential negative impacts of vicarious trauma. Perspectives of trauma social workers on the responsiveness of rural social work agencies to vicarious trauma have not been explored even though the trauma-informed care model has been available since 2006 and outlines best practice in all settings of trauma social work. Considering the risk factors and negative effects vicarious trauma has on social workers, an increased understanding of the perspectives of social workers on how rural social work agencies are responding to vicarious trauma was needed. The purpose of this study was to explore this response through …

Child Abuse Prevention In Rural Southern California: A Participatory Action Research Project, Nelly Zambrano

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This research project examines resources and services to prevent families and children from entering the child welfare system in a rural town in Southern California. There is constant struggle to get the adequate services, resources and trained staff in this rural area because it is isolated and it takes about two hours’ travel time to get to the metropolitan cities. The literature review discusses child welfare services challenges, strengths and social capital to support families and children as well as the child welfare system itself in rural areas. Constructivism is the appropriate framework for this research project, because the goal …

A Systematic Review Of Rural Veteran Homelessness, Jonathan Fasse

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study is a systematic review to examine homeless veterans identified to be most at risk of unsuccessfully completing the VA’s housing program (HUD-VASH), which promotes the use of Housing First (HF) as it’s model for treating homelessness. The literature review identified those who were rural and experiencing comorbid substance use disorders (SUD) and mental health issues to likely be those who were most at risk. There were multiple reasons why this subgroup was most vulnerable including limited access to resources, higher levels of substance use and more serious mental health diagnoses, and chronic health needs. Both the literature review …

Taking Care Of Palliative Care, Jolene Baker, Kristina Larsen, Amanda Schumacher

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

Minnesota has done well with the amount of palliative care services provided across the state. However, rural communities in Minnesota have far less access to palliative care programs than those living in urban settings. This is in part due to the lack of availability of health care professionals in rural communities, and the lower reimbursement rates provided for palliative care programs in rural settings. Although the majority of large hospitals in Minnesota offer palliative care programs, most hospitals with fifty beds or less do not. Palliative care has been shown to improve the quality of life of individuals living with …

Invisible No More: Bringing Awareness To Mental Health In Older Adults Living In Rural Minnesota, Abigail Schaper, Carley Ledoux, Kristry Danielson

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

Approximately 8 million Americans 65 years of age and older have mental health disorders. It is estimated that these numbers could reach 14.4 million by 2030. Minnesotans turning 65 in this decade (about 285,000) will be greater than the past four decades combined (Aging: MN State Demographic Center, 2018). Anxiety and depression are two of the more common mental health disorders in older adults and are associated with severe consequences, including life dissatisfaction, illness, and mortality. With this growth comes many barriers. The rural mental health system is not equipped to address this growth. The system is underfunded, largely uncoordinated, …

Self-Care Among Social Workers Employed In Rural Settings: A Cross-Sectional Investigation, Diane N. Loeffler, J. Jay Miller, Theresia M. Pachner

Social Work Faculty Publications

Despite growing recognition about the importance of self-care for social work professionals, research related to the topic has not kept pace with the changing landscape of the profession. Particularly, self-care practices among rural social work professionals have been overlooked in the research. Rural social work practice is, in many ways, decidedly different from practice in more urban areas. Thus, the primary aim of this exploratory study was to investigate the personal and professional self-care practices of rural social workers. Specifically, the study sough to better understand how often social workers engage in self-care and whether or not there are associations …

Rural Social Work: Recruitment, Job Satisfaction, Burnout, And Turnover, Aaron Raymond Brown, Jayme Walters, Aubrey Jones, Omotola Akinsola

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

Rural agencies have unique challenges related to recruitment and retention of social workers. A systematic literature review was conducted to examine job satisfaction, burnout and turnover among rural social workers. Based on 28 included articles, results indicate: (a) rural social workers tend to be from rural areas or have completed training in rural settings; (b) poor job satisfaction predicts turnover among rural social workers; (c) rural vs. urban differences for satisfaction, burnout, intention to leave, and turnover are mixed; and (d) greater work-life balance and supervisory support increase retention among rural social workers. This study provides recommendations for informing education, …

Rural Social Work: Recruitment, Job Satisfaction, Burnout, And Turnover, Aaron R. Brown, Jayme E. Walters, Aubrey E. Jones, Omotola Akinsola

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Rural agencies have unique challenges related to recruitment and retention of social workers. A systematic literature review was conducted to examine job satisfaction, burnout and turnover among rural social workers. Based on 28 included articles, results indicate: (a) rural social workers tend to be from rural areas or have completed training in rural settings; (b) poor job satisfaction predicts turnover among rural social workers; (c) rural vs. urban differences for satisfaction, burnout, intention to leave, and turnover are mixed; and (d) greater work-life balance and supervisory support increase retention among rural social workers. This study provides recommendations for informing education, …

Behavioral Health Human Resource Crisis: Rural Responses, Paul Force-Emery Mackie

Social Work Department Publications

No abstract provided.

The Lived Experience Of Caregivers For Children With Asthma, Caroline Weiss Dawson

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The Lived Experience of Caregivers for Children with Asthma

Community To Clinic Navigation To Improve Diabetes Outcomes, Gabriele Circiurkaite, Nancy E. Schoenberg, Mary Kate Greenwood

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Rural residents experience rates of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) that are considerably higher than their urban or suburban counterparts. Two primary modifiable factors, self-management and formal clinical management, have potential to greatly improve diabetes outcomes. “Community to Clinic Navigation to Improve Diabetes Outcomes,” is the first known randomized clinical trial pilot study to test a hybrid model of diabetes self-management education plus clinical navigation among rural residents with T2DM. Forty-one adults with T2DM were recruited from two federally qualified health centers in rural Appalachia from November 2014–January 2015. Community health workers provided navigation, including helping participants understand and implement …

Building The Health Capability Set In A Purépecha Community To Assess Health Interventions, Marco Ricardo Téllez Cabrera

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

Health capabilities can be viewed as the ability and opportunity to achieve health states according to the different styles of life valued by people. This paper contrasts and explores the dimensions that could be included in the health capability set to assess health interventions in Cuanajo, Mexico, expanding upon a previous work and using in-depth semi-structured interviews. Cuanajo is a semirural indigenous Purépecha community located in western Mexico. While the final objective is to generate measures of outcomes in economic evaluations of health interventions to be carried out in this community, this study reinforces the dimensions that could be employed …

Ideas For Capacity Building And Educational Empowerment Of Female Children In Rural Butaleja, Uganda: Applying The Central Human Capability Approach, Renuka Mahari De Silva

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

Building upon the concepts of Capability Approach, this paper discusses how these ideas can be effectively utilized within the setting of a small rural village in Uganda, Africa to empower female children to create a valuable life that affects positive social change. Colonization left a devastating blow to the socioeconomic conditions among many ethnic communities in Uganda. However, Uganda’s political outlays and social constructs further deepened the inequity gap between female and male children. This paper explores ways in which female children may be given the capacity to create agency for themselves as a stepping stone towards building a life …

Systematic Review Of Veterans' Coping Strategies: How Can Rural Veterans Improve Their Quality Of Life?, Tracey Marie Barnett, Alexa Smith-Osborne, Freda Barnett-Braddock

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

This systematic review examines the empirical literature on an emerging body of coping strategies (CS), both civilian readjustment and health-risk related, experienced by United States military veterans exposed to combat stress and other military lifestyle stressors. Studies that met inclusion criteria were selected among quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods studies published in peer-reviewed journals. Population, Intervention, Comparison, and Outcome (PICO) criteria and Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) were applied to all studies. Seventeen reports meeting a priori inclusion criteria were extracted from 107 studies accessed through 9 electronic databases. Data were synthesized to investigate two research questions informing …

Child Sexual Abuse And The Impact Of Rurality On Foster Care Outcomes: An Exploratory Analysis, Austin G. Griffiths, April L. Murphy, Whitney Harper

Social Work Faculty Publications

Given the cost of long-term foster care placement in both human and economic terms, few studies have specifically explored if any factors help to predict why this vulnerable population spends significantly more time in foster care. The overarching goal of this exploratory study was to use binary logistic regression to investigate whether any child demographic or environmental characteristics predicted the discharge of a child placed in Kentucky's foster care system for child sexual abuse. Results indicated that children in the most rural areas of the state were over 10 times more likely to be discharged from foster care during the …

Behavioral Health Workforce Policy Issues: A Rural Perspective, Paul Force-Emery Mackie

Social Work Department Publications

This presentation is part of a Panel discussion on Current Issues In Behavioral Health Workforce Policy at the 31st Annual Rosalynn Carter Symposium on Mental Health Policy, Atlanta, GA, on November 12th.

Building Collaboratives With Southern Rural African American Churches Through The Integration Of The Interorganizational Collaborative Framework, Alex D. Colvin, Angela Burdock

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

The rural Black church often plays an important role in the lives of many African Americans and frequently functions as an informal helping network in meeting emergency service needs for this group. This article provides a review of the constructs of the Bailey and McNalley-Koney Interorganizational Community-Based Collaborative Framework. Additionally, this paper explores action-oriented measures for integrating constructs into practice to build interorganizational collaboratives with southern rural African American churches.

Evaluation Of The Demographics, Socioeconomics, And Satisfaction Levels Of Recipients At A Rural Food Bank, Michael J. Lyman Msw, Ph.D., Jeongah Seo Bsw

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

The present study assesses the demographics, socioeconomics, behaviors, environment, and satisfaction of food bank clients as a way to inform food bank administrators about where their services could be more efficiently focused. Unfortunately, very little has been published in the research literature about levels of recipient satisfaction at food banks in any settings, but especially in rural settings. This descriptive study used existing demographic and socioeconomic data from intake forms at a rural food bank, in addition to the responses of a convenience sample of 44 foodbank recipients to the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ-8). The data were used to assess …

Shifts In Practice Based On Rapid Re-Housing For Rural Homelessness: An Exploratory Study Of Micropolitan Homeless Service Provision, Margaret F. Sloan Ph.D., Karen A. Ford, Daisha M. Merritt Ph.D.

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

Based on interviews with rural homeless service providers, the authors examine in this practice note how policy has created shifts in practice for organizations serving homeless populations. Homeless individuals find a decreasing opportunity for assistance while awaiting Rapid Re-Housing. Some organizations, dependent on Rapid Re-Housing monies, are facing a lack of funding to pay for general homeless care provision. Organizations are creating care networks to address requirements of the new policy in addition to pooling resources in underserved areas.

Qualitative Experiences Of Rural Postpartum Women And Implications For Rural Social Work, Christopher D. Gjesfjeld, Addie Weaver, Kathy Schommer

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

Geographic barriers and shortages of healthcare professionals in rural America have been well documented. These barriers and shortages influence rural women’s access to maternity and associated healthcare services during pregnancy and mothers’ postpartum period, but their perspectives about these realities have been overlooked. Semi-structured interviews with 24 mothers residing in a rural North Dakota county were conducted to understand their perspectives about both accessing healthcare services and parenting children in a rural context, with emphasis on understanding these mothers’ experiences using non-rural maternity care. Thematic analysis of qualitative interview data led to the emergence of three core themes. First, mothers …

Rural Primary Health Care Providers' Response To Intimate Partner Violence And Survivors' Perceptions Of Helpfulness, Annah Bender

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Intimate partner violence (IPV) affects the health and mental health of many women in the United States, with some estimates projecting that one in three women will experience physical, sexual, and/or psychological abuse from a current or former partner during their lifetimes (National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey [NISVS], 2011). The problems many survivors of IPV face as they attempt to secure help and establish a life free from violence are numerous and include housing, legal, employment, medical, and other domains. Such problems are frequently compounded for survivors residing in rural areas of the U.S., where access to social …

Spatial Patterns Of Rural And Exurban Residential Settlement And Agricultural Trends In The Intermountain West, Saleh Ahmed

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Population growth is often linked to negative impacts on agriculture. However, the effects of residential development likely depends on the spatial pattern of development, such as whether housing is clustered or dispersed, and whether it is located near or away from important farmland. For several decades, rural and urban planners have advocated policies to encourage consolidated forms of development as one strategy to protect agriculture and preserve open space. To date, relatively little empirical research has been conducted on the actual effects of different spatial patterns of residential settlement on agricultural. This study aims to fill that gap with a …