Social Work Commons^™

Faith In The Therapy Room: A Qualitative Study Of Canadian Immigrant Clients' Untold Stories, Sandra Dixon, Juliane Bell

The Journal of Faith, Education, and Community

Immigration to Canada brings cultural diversity, but also stressors and challenges that impact mental well-being. Spirituality recognizes the profound significance of relational knowing, manifesting in external appreciation for meaningful experiences with others that provide purpose. Despite the importance of faith in many immigrants' lives, mental health professionals often overlook spiritual and religious convictions. This descriptive qualitative study addressed this gap by conducting semi-structured interviews with 10 immigrant clients of faith in a diverse Canadian province. Purposive and snowball sampling were used for participant recruitment. NVivo 12 software facilitated efficient data management and analysis, and Braun and Clarke's (2006) six-phase framework …

Decolonizing Relational Spiritual Knowing In The Context Of Human Connections, Diana Wandix-White, Vicki Mokuria

The Journal of Faith, Education, and Community

Decolonizing spiritual engagement in human connections involves reimagining how we challenge relational epistemology, overcome relational dissonance, and discover relational value. By transcending individual religious frameworks, we access a deeper, collective spirituality that bridges divides. Relational spiritual knowing taps into the core of our humanity, fostering connections even to those with whom we seem to disagree at every turn and with whom we share no obvious bond. This editorial serves to introduce relational spiritual knowing as a tool to dismantle barriers that cause isolation and inequity, discrimination and disconnection, and misconceptions and misunderstandings in relationships. The articles in this special issue …

Belonging Among Lgbtq+ Students At Hope College, B Schultz

24th Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2025)

At Christian Colleges and Universities (CCUs), studies estimate that approximately 12% of a given college's student population identifies as LGBTQ+ (REAP, 2021). Unfortunately, research literature also indicates that LGBTQ+ college students experience significant challenges, including, but not limited to, discrimination from peers and staff, alienation from the wider campus environment, and inhospitable housing conditions (REAP, 2021; Rankin et al. 2019; Kortegast, 2017; Craig et al. 2017; Wolff et al. 2016, Christie, 2021). Academic research on LGBTQ+ students at CCUs is somewhat limited, even more so research that uses a qualitative orientation, attempting to gain in-depth insights into LGBTQ+ students' experiences. …

Everyone Gets Bored Sometimes: Effects Of Boredom And Burnout In A Longitudinal Study On Pre Health Undergraduate Students, Josie Oostindie

24th Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2025)

For some time now, medical education research has documented increased levels of undesirable outcomes as a byproduct of professionalization, such as decreased mental health and increased burnout. We introduce to this literature the concept of boredom proneness that taps into students' adaptation to a sense of the flow of time and outline how this affects their health throughout undergraduate. Trait measures of boredom tap into not merely a momentary discomfort with a context or flow of time, but a deeper existential challenge that indicates a possibly socially-induced discordance with a self in time. Additionally, a challenge of past research is …

Domestic Violence Against Women, Mckaye Didericksen

Student Research Symposium

Types of Abuse

• Physical Abuse
• Physical Violence
• Emotional Abuse
• Non-Physical Behavior
• Financial Abuse
• Control Financial Situation
• Sexual Abuse
• Partner Controlled Sexual and Physical Intimacy in the Relationship
• Often non-consensual and forced

Perceptions That Parents Of Autistic Children Have On Music Therapy And Music Lessons For Their Child, Carlin Troska

Student Research Symposium

The purpose of this project is to investigate the perceptions that parents of children with Autism have on music therapy and music lessons for their child. Specifically, we are interested in learning about how much knowledge parents have on music therapy and if there is a difference in perception between music therapy and music lessons for their child/children.

How You Talk About Homelessness Matters, Sarah Makar

Student Research Symposium

Individuals experiencing homeless (IEH) has risen across the U.S. by 7% just in the past year. In response to this increase, and with the dangers of being homeless including a 60% greater mortality rate, residents across four counties in Utah participated in a survey to better understand the community's attitudes towards homelessness and homeless services with the aim to better meet the needs of IEH.

Attitudes & Beliefs About Homelessness In Cache County, Rachel Didericksen, Brynlee Wright, Bailee Allred, Natalie Rust

Student Research Symposium

The rise in homelessness at the local level calls for community member engagement in solution-building. In order to inform policy and funding decisions, it is important that we understand what perceptions community members have regarding persons experiencing homelessness (PEH), perceptions of gaps in resources, and the degree of support for expanding resources.

Housing Attainability In The Bear River Area, Peyton Reynolds

Student Research Symposium

Utahns are experiencing numerous challenges related to affording, securing, and maintaining housing.

"Anything And Everything:" An Analysis Of Role Ambiguity In Pennsylvania School Social Work, Jennifer L. Hoffa

Social Work Doctoral Dissertations

For the past 100 years, since the inception of school social work, a comprehensive list of the duties of social workers in schools has remained intangible; thus, the professional identity of school social workers (SSWs) has not been well-defined. An ambiguous professional identity gives rise to a lack of legitimacy, role confusion, and inconsistency in responsibilities faced by current SSWs employed in a public-school setting. A comprehensive understanding of how SSWs function, both in theory and in practice, is essential to producing social workers who are qualified, competent, and equipped to support students. This study utilizes quantitative methods to investigate …

An Exploration Of The Relationship Between Age And Disposition In The Juvenile Court Data, Jaden Reign Deblois

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Struggles with depression are prominent among the population of incarcerated individuals. After COVID-19, the impacts of depression became more profound among incarcerated youth. For youth with previous diagnoses, the impacts of depression were more severe. To better understand the scope of the issue, this literature review examines how the field currently understands COVID-19’s impact on the depression of incarcerated youth. Findings suggest that factors such as isolation, physiological social stressors, and prior mental health diagnosis contribute to depression among incarcerated youth. Implications for mental health prevention and treatment for incarcerated youth will be discussed.

Predictors Of Political Participation Of U.S. Social Workers: The Mediating Effect Of Confidence, Maria Wathen, Rachel A. Young, Amy Krings, Teresa Kilbane

Social Work: School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Other Works

What factors are associated with social workers’ political participation, and how does political confidence mediate those relationships? To answer this question, data were collected in 2020 through an original online survey of members of the U.S.-based National Association of Social Workers (NASW). Informed by self-efficacy theory, researchers conducted a structural equation modeling (SEM) path model with political participation as the outcome variable, and political confidence as a mediating variable. Exogenous variables included: one’s self-reported political orientation, belief that social work has a political mandate, gender, and knowledge about how to effectively participate in politics. Results indicate that high political confidence …

Medical Social Workers’ Self-Efficacy And Perceptions Of Interdisciplinary Collaboration Managing Patients With Chronic Pain And Opioid Use Disorder, Alexis Ware

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Social work is a complex field, with the roles and responsibilities of social workers often unclear. This ambiguity can lead to low self-efficacy and hinder effective collaboration with other disciplines, which can negatively impact patient care. The purpose of this quantitative study is to explore the relationship between the occupational self-efficacy of medical social workers, level of experience and social workers’ perceptions of interdisciplinary collaboration when managing patients with co-occurring chronic pain and opioid use disorder. The theoretical framework that guided this study is Bandura’s self-efficacy theory. The conceptual framework for this research is Bronstein’s model of interdisciplinary collaboration. The …

Blue Chairs And Broken Minds: The Troubled Teen Industry’S Legacy Of Abuse, Macie Barker '25

Honor Scholar Theses

The Troubled Teen Industry (TTI) operates under the veil of rehabilitating adolescents with behavioral challenges. However, evidence reveals a system rife with abuse, manipulation, and inadequate oversight. From the infamous blue chairs of Straight, Inc., to the isolation tactics of WWASP program, this industry has maintained a facade of treatment while subjecting youth to severe abuse. This paper explores the history, recruitment tactics, institutional failures, survivor recovery journeys, and legal battles that define the TTI. Advocacy movements, including Breaking Code Silence and WWASP Survivors, have emerged to combat industry malpractice and push for policy changes to protect vulnerable youth. Additionally, …

Inciting Action By Analyzing Pachirat, Rhi N. Soto

Amplify: A Journal of Writing-as-Activism

The book Every Twelve Seconds: Industrialized Slaughter and the Politics of Sight by Timothy Pachirat explores “the politics of sight”, or the intentional invisibilizing or transparentizing of repugnant acts in order to encourage or limit them, through the case study of a beef slaughter house in Omaha, NE. While also utilizing the politics of sight, Pachirat hopes for great political and social change concerning the immoral acts that happen at meat plants through a radical act of transparency: a narrative ethnography. Writers with similar goals of great change in social and political issues can make use of Pachirat’s techniques, which …

Actions Speak Louder Than Words: Public Perceptions Of Victim Forgiveness And Offender Reparative Effort, Samantha Does

Bridges: An Undergraduate Journal of Contemporary Connections

Passing judgment is an inevitable aspect of human behaviour, particularly in cases of severe wrongdoing or crime. These assessments can affect the individuals implicated in the transgressions, including the victim and offender. This research enhances our understanding of how third parties judge offenders and victims of crime, exploring whether offender participation in rehabilitation, offender remorsefulness, and the victim's forgiveness following a crime influence the third party's judgement of the victim and offender. Participants were presented with a scenario depicting a significant transgression, after which they responded to prompts concerning their perceptions of the event and the people involved. The findings …

Burnout Among Social Workers In Integrated Care, Kyle Mcgee

Social Work Doctoral Dissertations

Burnout has a negative and pervasive impact on individual workers, employee groups, and organizations. At the organizational level, role conflict and role ambiguity in human service settings have consistently been associated with burnout (Fraser et al., 2018; Jackson et al., 1986, Maslach, 1993, & O’Connor et al., 2018; Thomas et al., 2014). The theoretical orientations which underpin burnout are schema theory, causal attribution theory, and the situational model of illness, while classical organizational theory and role theory provide justification for the inclusion of role conflict and role ambiguity factors and their association with burnout. While role conflict and role ambiguity …

Exploring The Impact Of Social Media And Social Networks On Juvenile Sexual Behavior Problems: A Scoping Review, Shaleen Clay

LSU Master's Theses

The issue of juvenile problematic sexual behavior has become a pervasive problem, and little research exists on the topic. How social media and social networks impact problematic sexual behaviors in juveniles is even less known and understood. The objective of this scoping review was to determine what is known about the impact of social media and social networks on juvenile sexual behavior problems. Four key themes appeared in the literature including the use of adult terminology, rather than juvenile, to describe juvenile relationships; the normalization of abusive behaviors within adolescent relationship; the influence of social networks/peer groups on aggression and …

“They Love Our Rhythm, But Not Our Blues:” An Examination Of The Relationship Between Hip Hop On Depression, Anxiety, And Self-Care Among African American And Hispanic/Latinx Emerging Adults, Richard W. Wiley Jr.

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Depression and anxiety are among the most common mental health problems for emerging adults of color in higher education. Specifically, African American/Black and Hispanic/Latinx emerging adults on college campuses have poorer mental health than their White counterparts. Considering the systemic oppression and cultural stressors that impact mental health among African American/Black and Hispanic/Latinx students, Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Emerging Adulthood Theory were theoretical frameworks for this study. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between Hip Hop music and depression, anxiety, and intentional use as self-care among African American/Black and Hispanic/Latinx emerging adults who were college …

The Influence Of Life Skills, Teammate And Coach Behavior, And The Sport Environment On The Mental Well-Being Of Intercollegiate Athletes, Lauren A. Shute

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Abstract

Intercollegiate athletics generate significant interest in the United States, where concerns about the health and well-being of student-athletes have gained increased attention in recent years. Student-athletes face the same developmental challenges as their non-athlete college peers, but they also encounter biological, psychological, sociocultural, and spiritual challenges often introduced or exacerbated by their participation in sport. To assist this subgroup of the college student population in managing their various athletic, academic, and personal responsibilities, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has prioritized and implemented life skills programming. Yet, while much has been documented regarding life skills development at the youth …

"I Know Who I Am": Draw-And-Tell Conversations With Gender-Creative Children, Eline Leemans Lenne

Dissertations and Theses

A growing number of children identify in various gender-creative ways, likely due to broader social awareness and affirmation of transgenderism. Gender-creative children face higher risks for adverse social, academic, mental health, and healthcare outcomes compared to non-transgender peers. Support from loved ones along with guidance from pediatric providers can mitigate poor outcomes and ensure that gender-creative children live healthy and happy lives. Young gender-creative children's perspectives about the aforementioned topics are markedly absent from the literature, which instead highlights adolescent and adult proxy perspectives.

In this participatory arts-based study anchored by a constructivist epistemology and informed by post-structuralist, queer, and …

Moving Beyond The Baby Blues: Supporting Maternal Mental Health In Minnesota, Rileigh Kronmiller, Mary Montero, Sarah Nelsen, Timothy Taggart

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

Untreated mental health challenges are the second leading contributors to perinatal and postpartum deaths in the U.S. as well as Minnesota. There are many barriers for mothers and trans/nonbinary birthing parents to receive the care they need, including social stigma, inadequate prenatal and postpartum screening, and a lack of resources and access to integrated, research-informed care, especially for BIPOC and rural communities. While awareness of this troubling issue has risen in recent years, so too have deaths and other adverse outcomes. Addressing maternal mental health concerns will reduce involvement in the child protection and judicial systems, reduce deaths, and improve …

Hiv Funding Matters: Sustaining Progress, Saving Lives, Paulina Camacho, Gordon Culley, Sharlett Smith, Roxanne Watkins

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

By 2023, 39.9 million people globally live with HIV, 1.4 million children and 38.6 million adults (WHO, 2025), yet unstable funding threatens progress in prevention and treatment. This fragility is starkly illustrated by Minnesota’s 24% HIV case surge in 2023, the largest increase in a decade, signaling urgent needs for sustained investment. Simultaneously, older adults with HIV endure compounding vulnerabilities in long-term care (LTC) systems, where stigma, discrimination, and culturally incompetent care violate their rights. Legislative action, such as the HIV Long-Term Care Bill of Rights, is needed in Minnesota to ensure equitable access and protections for aging individuals living …

Aging In The Shadows: The Struggle For Adequate Resources In Elder Care, Sabina Allakulova, Marissa Carpenter, Kacie Hunt, Elizabeth Meuleners

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

Minnesota is aging rapidly: by 2030, 1 in 4 Minnesotans will be over the age of 65, with rural areas feeling this shift most acutely. Yet, the state’s aging services are fragmented and under-resourced, leaving older adults struggling to access care, maintain independence, and stay connected to their communities. Without comprehensive reform, growing gaps will strain family caregivers, the elder care workforce, and healthcare systems.

We urge the Minnesota Legislature to establish a Cabinet-level Department of Aging to unify, strengthen, and lead the state's response to aging population needs. A dedicated department will coordinate services, address workforce shortages, expand home …

Protecting Female Workers Amidst The Controversy Of Cheap Labor Market: A Comparative Advantage Analysis In Southeast Asia, Dita Nur Safitri

Jurnal Ilmu Kesejahteraan Sosial

In Southeast Asia, the cheap labor market is frequently mentioned as one of the comparative advantages that drive growth in the economy. However, this market frequently employs harmful labour practices against female workers. This study investigates the intersection of gender, labour practices, and economic advantages in the region, concentrating on the obstacles and protective measures for female workers. The key objective of this study is to examine how female workers are protected in Southeast Asia's low-wage labour markets, as well as to assess the effectiveness of these safeguards in preventing exploitation and improving working conditions. This study uses a comparative …

Patricia A. Tomson Center For Violence Prevention Spring 2025 Newsletter, University Of Northern Iowa. Patricia A. Tomson Center For Violence Prevention.

Patricia A. Tomson Center for Violence Prevention Newsletter

Contents:

--- Central College Train the Trainers
--- Spring 2025 MVP Train the Trainers
--- MVP Student Leadership Summit
--- Dan Marburger MVP Advocacy Award Ceremony
--- Iowa High School Athletic Association's Conference Connections
--- Oelwein Hearts Diversity Night
--- UNI College of Education's 2025 Social and Emotional Learning Conference
--- Iowa Healthiest State Initiative Conference
--- SAAM Panel Event
--- Tomson Scholars

Meals That Matter: Funding Minnesota's Senior Nutrition Programs To Promote Wellbeing As We Age, Kelly Brancamp, Susan Panciera, Amanda Rieke, Abi Santiago

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

Senior nutrition programs meet the essential needs of adults aged 60 and over, especially those who are low-income, live in rural areas, have limited English proficiency and are at risk of requiring higher levels of care without these services. In many greater Minnesota counties, over 25% of the population is aged 65 or older. Rural communities are aging more rapidly and face higher rates of food insecurity compared to urban and suburban areas.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the US Surgeon General issued a 2023 advisory report highlighting the critical issue of social isolation and loneliness. Senior nutrition programs …

Chronic School Absenteeism: A Symptom, Not A Sentence, Zahra Mohamed, Jessica Navarro, Kelsey Ogren, Eloise Reitzel, Katelyn Vonch

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

Chronic school absenteeism has long been a persistent issue, but the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated this challenge. Chronic absenteeism leads to poor academic outcomes and lower graduation rates, which limit future opportunities and potential. While many school districts have traditionally responded through child protection services (CPS) or juvenile court proceedings, these punitive strategies do not address the root causes of absenteeism or reduce barriers to school attendance. CPS resources are stretched thin, focused on more urgent child welfare issues, and should not be diverted to issues that can be better addressed through supportive, preventative strategies. Implementing proactive, supportive strategies rather …

Expand The Employ Program, Isabelle Berg, Emily Rohlik, Jesse Spencer, Samantha Tohal

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

Each year, roughly 600,000 individuals are released from state and federal prisons; 6,960 in Minnesota alone. After incarceration, employment is vital to successful reentry for justice-impacted individuals, yet many depart without the necessary education and skills. Consistent post-release employment is associated with decreased recidivism rates, regardless of the individual’s criminal record. This population deserves support in preparing for employment upon reentry.

Investing In Minnesota Families: Strengthening Support For Kinship Caregivers, Karla Fahey, Laura Gebur, Jadyn Nelson-Spies, Kenzie Schuch

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

Kinship caregivers are falling through the cracks, lacking ongoing support and safety services for children and their caregivers. Kinship diversion caregivers and their children do not receive services and support that licensed foster caregivers might receive such as financial assistance, reunification efforts, and safety monitoring. Pursuing kinship in policy and practice needs to be a priority to keep families together, allowing children to feel a sense of belonging and identity, preserving cultures and traditions, and promoting equity among families. While efforts have been made in many states to increase support for kinship caregivers and reduce the barriers to licensing within …