Social Welfare Commons^™

Conducting Oral History: Background And Methods, Katrine Barber

History Faculty Publications and Presentations

This chapter-length essay describes the practice of oral history through real world examples: the steps to conducting oral history interviews, things to consider when developing a project or an interview plan, and ethical considerations. How oral history has enlarged the historical record and changed scholarly interpretation of the past are highlighted.

Supportive Supervision And Resiliency Ohio - Key Findings, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

Background The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) started working with the QIC-WD in October 2017 to better understand its turnover problem. Eight counties volunteered to be part of the entire study. They participated in a thorough needs assessment process which led to creation of Coach Ohio, a multi-level blend of two interventions that addressed key needs across the counties regarding work-related traumatic stress and supportive supervision. Four counties and half of the largest county participated in the intervention while three counties and the other half of the largest county participated as comparison counties. Among these counties the …

Organizational Change Process Milwaukee - Key Findings, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

Background

The QIC-WD team engaged with the Department of Milwaukee Child Protective Services (DMCPS) in 2017 to conduct a thorough needs assessment to understand the root causes underlying a high turnover rate among Initial Assessment Specialists. In 2016, the overall turnover rate, including both external turnover and internal movement, was just under 49%, with a little over 11% due to internal movement and 37% due external turnover. The Organizational Social Context (OSC) baseline survey showed that there were several aspects of both culture and climate that were in need of improvement, including: 1) a hierarchical decision-making structure, 2) high …

Onboarding Program Eastern Band Of Cherokee Indians - Key Findings, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

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Background

The QIC-WD worked with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) Family Safety Program (FSP) to address workforce challenges. FSP is a relatively new agency, established in 2015, and when they began working with the QIC-WD in 2017, FSP employed approximately 20 social workers, who provided direct service to children and families. Persistent vacancies were of greater concern than turnover. The QIC-WD partnered with FSP to conduct a needs assessment and identify areas of need that could be addressed through a workforce intervention. Three areas of need were identified as offering the strongest opportunities for intervention through the QIC-WD …

What Explains Spatial Cariations Of Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy?: A Social-Ecological-Technological Systems Approach, Arun Pallathadka, Heejun Chang, Daikwon Han

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

While COVID-19 vaccines have been available since December 2020 and efforts have been made to vaccinate the maximum population, a large number of people are continuing to be hesitant, prolonging the pandemic in the US. While most previous studies investigated social, economic, and demographic variables that are associated with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, we added ecological and technological variables to better understand the spatial variations of vaccine rates in the contiguous United States using spatial regression and geographically weighted regression (GWR) models. We aim to identify spatially varying social, ecological, and technological factors that are associated with COVID-19 vaccination rates, which …

Assessment Of The Role Of Humanitarian Association In Addressing Social Security Issues In Ethiopia: The Case Of Mekidonina Humanitarian Association, Belay Gemeda Legesse Mr.

Journal of African Conflicts and Peace Studies

Abstract: One of the possible interventions to tackle the suffering of the elderly, mentally and physically disabled persons is an institutional caring system through local humanitarian associations. This study tries to assess the role of Mekidonian Humanitarian Association /MHA/ in addressing the social security problem of People in needs. The researcher followed exploratory research approach and employ qualitative method. Shelter, food, clothes and health problem are the major consequences of the social security problem. Policy formulation pertinent to basic social security towards elderly and physically disabled people, encouraging and supporting local humanitarian associations, awareness creation and closely working with regional …

Historical Trauma: Literary And Testimonial Responses To Hiroshima, Mariam Ghonim

Theses and Dissertations

The concept of trauma is controversial in literature. While one may be able to come up with ways to describe trauma in fiction, representing historical trauma is a hard task for writers. Some argue that trauma can not be described through those who did not experience it, while others claim that, provided some elements are added, one can represent trauma to the reader. This thesis focuses on twentieth-century historical traumas related to a nuclear catastrophe and explores the different literary and testimonial responses to the catastrophic man-made event of Hiroshima (1945). In this thesis, Kathleen Burkinshaw’s historical fiction The Last …

Spotlight On Innovative Recruitment Strategies: Northwest Ohio Fellowship Program, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development (Qic-Wd)

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Ohio is a county-administered children services (formerly known as child welfare) system. Like many other states, Ohio is experiencing a shortage of child protective services (CPS) workers. County leaders report that this is due to high rates of turnover compounded by rising wages and competition from outside employers. Traditional recruitment techniques and programs, including traditional partnerships with universities with social work programs, are not adequate to meet the current level of need for new children services workers. Although social work majors come to children service agencies with a training set that allows faster onboarding, social work majors make up less …

Examining How Unauthorized Asylum Seekers And Legal Immigrants Shape Canadian Welfare And Immigration Attitudes, Henry S. Jin

Quantitative Social Science Undergraduate Senior Theses

How will Canadian attitudes on welfare and immigration shift in response to the recent surge in irregular border crossings? Do unauthorized asylum seekers pose a greater threat to public support for immigration and welfare policies compared to legal immigrants? At a time when irregular border crossings make national headlines, the Canadian government has simultaneously announced plans to welcome record numbers of legal immigrants. This study builds upon the existing body of literature on "Canadian exceptionalism" in public support for immigration and welfare. It investigates the extent to which these positive attitudes can be maintained in the context of increasing numbers …

The Impact Of Leadership Turnover On Child Welfare Workforce Initiatives, Courtney Harrison, Megan Paul

QIC-Takes

Turnover among public child welfare leaders is prevalent. Across the eight QIC-WD intervention sites, leadership turnover was one of the most common implementation challenges observed by the QIC-WD team. Leadership changes can disrupt the implementation of a workforce initiative by shifting agency-level priorities, the organizational climate, or key staff.

Child welfare leaders may be appointed or hired in many different ways in different jurisdictions. In some states, the Governor appoints a cabinet-level child welfare director who oversees a stand-alone agency. This means that child welfare leadership changes follow the political election cycle with new governors appointing new agency leaders every …

Aging In Brockton: A Community Needs Assessment, Caitlin E. Coyle, Setarreh Massihzadegan, Josef Kijewski, Ceara Somerville

Center for Social and Demographic Research on Aging Publications

This report describes research undertaken by the Center for Social & Demographic Research on Aging (CSDRA) within the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston, on behalf of the City of Brockton. The goals of this project were to investigate the needs, interests, preferences, and opinions of Brockton’s residents age 60 or older by engaging the community regarding their experiences and needs relevant to the COA’s objective to identify and serve the needs of all Brockton citizens 60 and older. The contents of this report are meant to inform the City of Brockton, the Brockton COA, Senior Center, and …

Permanent Shelter In The Empire City: Youth Experiencing Family Homelessness And Navigating The Homeless Industrial Complex With A Narrative Inquiry Approach, Henry O. Love

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Many studies have examined unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness; however, a relative silence persists about the lives of youth and young adults (YYA) while in family homeless shelters. This study aims to fill the gap in the literature about the lives of youth residing in family shelters and to learn about successful transitions from adolescence to young adulthood while experiencing family homelessness. This transition interacts with various social collectives (family, peers, community), political institutions (municipal, state, and federal), and an overwhelming economic system (global racial capitalism). These complex perspectives are considered with a narrative activity-meaning system research design to understand the …

Climate Change Policies And Older Adults: An Analysis Of States’ Climate Adaptation Plans, Bryant Carlson, Jacklyn N. Kohon, Paula Carder, Dani Himes, Eiji Toda, Katsuya Tanaka

Institute on Aging Publications

Background and Objectives

As climate change drives more frequent and intense weather events, older adults face disproportionate impacts, including having the highest mortality rates from storms, wildfires, flooding, and heat waves. State governments are critical in deploying local resources to help address climate change impacts. This policy study analyzes states’ climate adaptation plans to assess the methods through which they address the impact of climate change on older adults.

Research Design and Methods

This study uses content analysis to analyze available climate change adaptation plans for all U.S. states for strategies designed to increase resilience of older adults to impacts …

Measuring Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Workforce Analytics Resources

What is Diversity?

Diversity refers to the degree of differences in the composition of the workforce in terms of such constructs as race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, religion, disability, age, national origin, language, or other social identities. Though there are certainly other types of employee differences worth assessing (e.g., acquired diversity characteristics, such as education, skills, personality, preferences, attitudes), the focus here is on inherent social identities, especially those that are related to differences in representation, power, and privilege. Note that diversity is a characteristic of a group, not an individual.

How is Diversity Measured?

To …

The Association Between High Medical Costs & Migration In The United States, Zuriel Sanders

Master's Theses

In the United States, the current medical system has been controversial due to its non-universal design. Typically those who’re employed and middle or upper class have the most access to health care due to this design. Even among those with access to health insurance the amount of out-of-pocket medical expenses that families are exposed to after insurance can cause a burden in itself for staying financially afloat that year, especially when paired with the increasing cost of living in the U.S. from 2009-Present. For the purpose of this paper, we’ll be examining the relationship between migration & high medical expenses …

Family First: Kinship Care As A Gold Standard, Ava Cloghessy

Washington Semester Program

This thesis seeks to address how kinship care can produce higher permanency outcomes for children. Building on selected sources, the author will introduce testimony and illustrations from three key stakeholder perspectives involved in kinship care: children, their caregivers and caseworkers in the Child Welfare system. Finally, the proposed rule from the Administration for Children and Families will be evaluated as a policy recommendation.

Hungry For Student Food Security: A Comparative Analysis Of University Food Pantry Policies, Anastasia Jones-Burdick

Honors Theses

This undergraduate research thesis aims to explore the relationship between public institutions of higher education and the operational policies of their university food pantries. The increasing rates of nontraditional students entering public universities correlate to an increasing population of students facing food insecurity, placing strain on institutional interventions, especially university food pantries (National Center for Education Statistics, 2015; Nazmi et al., 2019, p.2). This research conducted a qualitative comparative case analysis of university food pantry policies and semistructured interviews with pantry informants through a USDA-adapted evaluative framework to understand the evolution of public universities’ interventions (Barale et al., 2017). The …

My Path To Advanced Practice, Hannah Oiselle Knisley

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) Eligibility And Access In Nevada, 2018-2020, Lana Kojoian, Annie Vong, Zachary Billot, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Health

This fact sheet examines data from the American Community Survey and Nevada administrative records exploring Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) eligibility and access rates for Nevada counties. The original report includes data on SNAP eligibility and access for 23 states from 2018 to 2020.

Political Rhetoric And Civility: A Challenge To “The Legacy Of ‘Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Happiness’”, Timothy P. O'Brien, Melissa O. Stewart

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

“As you stand for your values do so with gentleness and respect—that’s how we move our country forward.”

Mike Pence, 48^th Vice President of the United States of America (2017-2021)

Since the founding of the United States of America, political discourse has often taken an unpleasant and nasty tone. Partisan disagreement concerning public policy is normal and policy should be the subject of vigorous debate. Disagreement, bickering, and even fights on the floor of Congress, are not new phenomena. However, today there is a growing sense in the country that civility and intolerance are on the rise. This study …