Social Work Commons^™

"Let-Downs, Leaky Containers, And Elder Healing.” The Nicu Experience From A Grandmother’S Perspective And Grandmotherly Transference In Therapy And Infant Observation, Karen E. Dare, Anna M. Jones

The Qualitative Report

This article examines my experience of grandmotherhood and my daughter Anna’s autoethnography of her first moments of becoming a mother. Here, I reflect on the birth of my three grandchildren (for whom I use pseudonyms) in a recorded conversation with Anna. I am an emotional container for her which I contrast with the leaky container of the hospital as her babies required neonatal intensive care, and Anna was sent home without them. Our identities shift in relation to one another at her first son Rowan’s birth in a motherhood constellation. I propose that therapeutic positive autoethnography (THE PosAE) can support …

Supplementary Materials For Post-Intervention Maintenance In Ptsd, Anxiety, And Depression Among Migrant Youth: Multilevel Meta-Analyses, Maryam Rafieifar, Sajede Tavakoli, Jaclyn Kirsch, Blessing Ramsey-Soroghaye, Hanna Haran, Sadaf Sedaghatshoar, Herman Nuake Kofi Agboh, Diane B. Mitschke

Social Work Datasets

This document provides the online supplementary materials for a systematic review and multilevel meta-analysis of psychosocial interventions for PTSD, anxiety, and depression among immigrant and refugee youth (59 studies). It reports the detailed review methods that could not be included in the main article: eligibility criteria, information sources and full database search strategies, study selection with reasons for full-text exclusion, data extraction and moderator coding, effect-size formulas, multilevel random-effects model specifications, moderator and small-study-effect procedures, and the risk-of-bias and GRADE approaches. It also presents the study-level results supporting the article: the contribution of each study to each synthesis, RoB 2 …

"I Was Taught To Think Of My Body As Too Sexual": Comparative Thematic Analysis Of Parent And Peer Messages About The Body During Adolescence, Erin Nolen, Catherine Cubbin, Shetal Vohra-Gupta, Helena Lewis-Smith

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Parents and peers play an important role in adolescents' body image and embodiment. Messages girls receive about sex and puberty during these formative years can contribute to either positive embodiment or disrupted/disconnected embodiment. To better understand how these messages are constructed in adolescence, we conducted a comparative thematic analysis of self-reported, retrospective accounts of messages conveyed by parents and peers. We administered an online survey using Prolific, which included open-text questions that we analyzed for this study. Participants were 339 cisgender women aged 19 to 29 (M = 24.4, SD = 2.84). Participants identified as Asian/Pacific Islander (23.0%), Black (22.4%), …

Social Work Licensure With A Criminal Record: A Legal Mapping Project Of 56 U.S. States And Territories, Brianna Suslovic, Adrian Aira, Antara Anand, Halla Anderson, Jessica Brandon, Natalie Casal Alcaino, Nino Claveria, Nyla Conaway, Matthew W. Epperson, Louis Levy, Teya Lovell, Cea Murtha-Paradis, Zoë Phillips, Tanishq Rajan, Hannon Welch, Abbey Whigham

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

This legal mapping paper aims to aggregate state-specific policies on the impact of criminal legal system contact—more specifically, the impact of criminal convictions—on social work licensure. Situating these policies within an abolitionist analysis and the larger history of social work in the United States, the paper attempts to expose the contradictions alive within the profession’s discourse. Social work discourses claim to value lived experience, yet social work licensure policies and practices often exclude the people and communities who, by lived experience, are uniquely qualified to do this work. Examining the language of these policies, this study poses questions concerning the …

The Frayser Community Food Desert Of Memphis, Tammy Renae Wadley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Low-income or impoverished neighborhoods, such as the Frayser community, often have an abundance of unhealthy food. According to recent studies, the Frayser community has poor access to healthy foods. The gap in social work practice is the limited access to healthy food options in Frayser. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore Frayser residents’ perceptions of food security and healthy food options in their community. Structuration theory was used to explore the dynamic relationship between societal structures and community members' agency in obtaining healthy foods despite the inaccessibility of grocery stores. Using a qualitative approach, nine participants …

Pics 101: Understanding Post-Incarceration Syndrome, Nicole L. Wiesen

Forensic Scholars Today

The psychological consequences of incarceration have been documented for decades, yet there remains no widely accepted trauma-informed framework specifically designed to conceptualize the cumulative effects of incarceration on individuals returning to their communities. Post-Incarceration Syndrome (PICS) is an emerging conceptual framework that seeks to integrate biological, psychological, social, and environmental factors associated with incarceration-related trauma and community reintegration. Building upon foundational research in prisonization, institutionalization, trauma, and correctional psychology—particularly the work of Craig Haney and other scholars examining the lasting effects of incarceration—the PICS framework provides clinicians, researchers, educators, and correctional professionals with a biopsychosocial lens through which to understand …

Trauma-Informed Education For Teachers As A Form Of Disaster Preparedness And Mitigation Across Cultural Contexts, Emma A. Aellen

Master of Arts in Human Services

Natural disasters are ecological events that cause mass casualties and physical destruction. They are also psychological and cultural happenings which shape the lives of the affected people well beyond the immediate crisis. Emergency response systems have historically prioritized the needs for material relief, such as food, shelter, and infrastructure repair, but all while neglecting mental health support. This review draws on disaster psychology, education, and community resilience research, including cross-cultural, organizational, and institutional theory, intervention programs, and disaster mental health policy. Sources were analyzed thematically to build a multi-actor framework linking teachers, schools, and communities in post-disaster recovery. The review …

Human Services Professional’S Assessment Of Mandatory Reporter Training And Cultural Awareness In Child Welfare Reporting, Verlecia Dyette

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Racial disparities persist in child welfare, where Black and Hispanic children are referred to child protective services, investigated, and removed at rates exceeding their share of the population. Mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect by professionals including social workers and teachers continues as a primary intervention, yet the training supporting it has not addressed the structural conditions producing inequitable outcomes. The gap in practice is that no evaluation has captured professionals’ assessments of whether that training builds the cultural awareness and equitable practice skills reporting decisions require. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive program evaluation was to explore how …

Individual And Community-Level Trauma And Resiliency From Tornadoes, Taylor M. Guerin

Master of Arts in Human Services

This research paper’s goal was to examine the extent and impact of tornado-related PTSD on individual and community levels in relation to factors such as property damage, mass displacement, cumulative trauma, and seasonal retraumatization. The United States has the most tornado touchdowns globally, placing communities in supercell-prone areas, including Tornado Alley, at higher risk of repeated storm trauma that can affect emotional well-being, sense of safety, and overall financial security (Strader et al., 2024). This researcher utilized a comprehensive literature review approach to examine rates of PTSD, the long-term effects of tornado recovery, the risk of community-level trauma, and to …

Asking Questions Of The Data: Operationalizing The Disruptive Aims Of Poststructural Discourse Analysis, Maxxine Rattner

The Qualitative Report

I wrote this paper to support qualitative researchers in accessibly engaging with poststructural discourse analysis. In it, I detail how I flexibly adapted this methodology to meet my study’s aims. I begin by outlining poststructural understandings of discourse and explaining why a researcher may choose a poststructural discourse analysis for a study’s theoretical and methodological framework. While published poststructural discourse analyses commonly draw upon Foucauldian concepts to guide analysis, in this paper I share a more expansive approach. I demonstrate how developing and asking questions of the data can be one way to analyze diverse texts for the presence of …

Walking With Families Through End-Of-Life Care And Grief, Julie B. Van Otterloo

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"Loved ones are not giving up; they are choosing to support the patient in living their best life, focusing on quality, dignity, and comfort rather than continuing treatments."

Posting about hospice care from In All Things, a blog which highlights the shared faithful and orthodox Reformed Christian perspective of our writers, exploring how to fearlessly engage with every aspect of modern life—until all is made new.

Walking with Families Through End-of-Life Care and Grief

Transgender Individuals’ Experiences Within The Lgbtq+ Community: A Qualitative Study, Anita Bruno

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Transgender and gender-diverse individuals experience disproportionate mental health challenges, such as chronic stress, due to social exclusion. Research indicates that transgender individuals disproportionately experience poorer mental health outcomes compared to the broader LGBTQ+ community. This study expands research on how proximal and distal stressors impact transgender individuals' perceptions of inclusion within the LGBTQ+ community. Minority stress theory posits that increased discrimination causes transgender people to experience greater psychological distress than their cisgender LGBTQ+ peers. The present qualitative study employed semistructured interviews with 12 transgender participants to examine their perceptions of inclusion within the LGBTQ+ community. Braun and Clarke's 6-step, thematic …

Leading The Way: Dsws In Organizational And Social Work Leadership, Lisa A. Street, Rebecca S. Beeler

Journal for Social Work Scholar-Practitioners

Social workers are often overlooked for positions in organizational leadership. Although social workers dominate the workforce in many human services organizations, leadership positions are commonly held by those with general management or other degrees. The lack of educational preparation and formal training in leadership and a lack of leadership presence in the field have been deemed a social work leadership crisis. Yet, social workers possess unique skillsets that can translate well into strong organizational leadership—if properly cultivated, promoted, and pursued. With the resurgence of the Doctor of Social Work (DSW) degree, now is a prime opportunity for more social workers …

Safeguarding Childhood: A Comprehensive Review Of Child Abuse In Pakistan, Zohra Asad, Khadija Khaja

Journal for Social Work Scholar-Practitioners

Child abuse is a phenomenon that has affected children from every country, culture, or socio-economic class. Children who are abused or neglected may be more likely to repeat the cycle of violence by entering violent relationships as teens and adults, or with some abusing their children. This paper aims to explore child abuse in Pakistan, the incidence of child abuse, and ways to address it. This academic article seeks to investigate and examine the patterns of child abuse in Pakistan. This report offers insights into the prevalence, types, risk factors, and effects of child abuse in Pakistan by reviewing the …

Treating The Trauma Beneath The Violence: A Reappraisal Of Intimate Partner Violence Perpetrator Interventions, Huda S. Shaikh, Vanessa Cordoba

Journal for Social Work Scholar-Practitioners

Intimate partner violence (IPV) remains a global public health emergency with little meaningful reduction in prevalence over the past two decades, despite extensive micro-level interventions targeting perpetrators through batterer intervention programs (BIPs) and legal accountability mechanisms (Arce et al., 2020; Babcock et al., 2004; Shetty, 2025; WHO, 2025). Using a macro social work and epistemological lens, this paper argues that the IPV field and judicial systems, particularly in the United States, have relied on an outdated and largely reactive paradigm that obscures the trauma histories of perpetrators, neglects intergenerational and neurobiological mechanisms, and perpetuates epistemic injustice toward both survivors and …

Becoming A Scholar-Practitioner: Reflections From A Dsw Journey, Paulette S. Smith

Journal for Social Work Scholar-Practitioners

This reflective article examines the development of scholar-practitioner identity throughout a Doctor of Social Work (DSW) program. Drawing from experiences in clinical practice, teaching, leadership development, and academic scholarship, the article explores how doctoral education transformed the author’s understanding of the relationship between research, practice, and social work leadership. Attention is given to the integration of scholarship into real-world practice and the evolution of professional identity through critical reflection, applied research, and curriculum development.

The article highlights the development of a 14-week master’s-level social work curriculum focused on the social justice implications of cannabis prohibition as a central capstone project. …

Reconsidering The Dsw-Phd Divide In Social Work Education: Administrative Implications For Faculty Roles, Recognition, And Support, Jesse Gilreath, Laura H. Trull, Brittany Stahnke, Madeline Shipley

Journal for Social Work Scholar-Practitioners

As Doctor of Social Work (DSW) programs expand and increasing numbers of DSW graduates enter academia, questions persist regarding how DSW and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) preparation are valued and integrated within social work education. Historically, the PhD has been viewed as the primary pathway for academic careers, while the DSW has been framed as a practice-oriented degree. However, this distinction increasingly reflects institutional assumptions rather than actual faculty contributions. This commentary examines the evolving role of DSW-prepared faculty in academic social work by integrating existing literature with findings from an illustrative survey of DSW-prepared faculty in Council on Social …

Becoming People Who See: Walking Alongside Those Impacted By Trauma, Kara L. Nutt

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"In a world fixated on resilience and overcoming hardship, Christians are called to recognize and respond to the realities of trauma."

Posting about hearing and healing trauma­­­­­­­­ from In All Things, a blog which highlights the shared faithful and orthodox Reformed Christian perspective of our writers, exploring how to fearlessly engage with every aspect of modern life—until all is made new.

Becoming People Who See: Walking Alongside Those Impacted by Trauma

The Doctorate Of Social Work Program At Stephen F. Austin State University: Preparing Scholars To Meet Community Needs, Jose Carbajal, Stephanie Washington, Emmerentie Oliphant, Rigaud Joseph, Mohit Prodhan, Freddie L. Avant

Journal for Social Work Scholar-Practitioners

The Doctor of Social Work (DSW) degree has experienced substantial growth in recent years, accompanied by renewed discussion regarding its role, rigor, and distinction from the PhD in social work. This conceptual paper examines the evolution of DSW education and highlights the DSW program at Stephen F. Austin State University as a model of scholar-practitioner preparation designed to address complex community needs, particularly in rural and underserved regions. The paper first reviews the historical development of DSW programs in the United States and the changing expectations surrounding practice doctorates. It then describes the rationale, structure, and capstone framework of the …

Examining The Barriers Of Youth Homelessness And Its Impact On The Utilization Of Mental Health Care Services, Layla A. Martin

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This paper examines the barriers of youth homelessness and its impact on the utilization of mental health services for this demographic. Youth experiencing homelessness encounter many barriers including but not limited to mental health concerns, social obstacles, and street victimization. Understanding how homelessness impacts the access and utilization of mental health services among youth experiencing homelessness is important. Overall, the literature discusses significant findings, gaps in research, and suggestions for future research. Increased knowledge of how homeless youth access mental health care services and the barriers will help to increase awareness to help decrease barriers. The purpose of this quantitative …