Social Work Commons^™

Secondary Traumatic Stress Is An Occupational Hazard For Pet Hospice Support Staff: Psychoeducational Support Groups Provide The Cure, Kari Hayden

DSW Capstone Projects

There are three separate yet interrelated products presented in this final capstone product. The completed product is focused on pet hospice veterinary support staff and the need for an evidence-based social work intervention to combat secondary traumatic stress. This capstone uses the andragogical approach to adult learning theory as the foundation to construct a psychoeducational peer support group specific to this population. Implications for clinical social work in veterinary medicine are presented within this project.

The first scholarly product presented is the Systematic Literature Review (SLR). The SLR utilizes a scoping review process in an attempt to locate prior research …

International Social Work Field Education, Shelli Gregory

DSW Capstone Projects

International Social Work Field Education (ISWFE) involves a set of unique challenges. For the literature review of this capstone project 20 peer-reviewed journal articles written between the years 2009 and 2018 were reviewed to answer the following research question: What are the unique challenges associated with ISWFE and the best practices for combatting these challenges? The challenges most frequently mentioned in the literature are the perpetuation of colonial mindset; students experiencing emotional vulnerabilities, stress, & distress (guilt, shame, loneliness, fear, helplessness, isolation, and homesickness); supervisory issues; language barriers; funding; culture shock, disequilibrium, or clash; safety concerns; administrative problems such as …

Acculturative Stress And Quality Of Life Among Older Korean Immigrants: Do Religiosity And Resilience Matter?, Sunghwan Cho

Theses and Dissertations

The impact of acculturative stress on the quality of life among older adults has been widely acknowledged in previous literature. However, few studies have explored the role of religiosity and resilience in this relationship among older Korean immigrants. This dissertation explores the relationships between acculturative stress, religiosity, resilience, and quality of life among 300 older adults aged 65 years and over who live in an ethnic Korean enclave of Queens, New York. The study employs path analysis and multiple regression analyses to test hypothesized relationships among these variables.

The key findings of the study are as follows: (1) higher acculturative …

Demonstrated Sensitivity, Kate Crankshaw

Theses and Dissertations

Flameworking is a tedious process that demands all of your attention and focus. Making multiples of a shape in this process allows my body and mind to fall into a rhythm. During these times, it allows my anxious mind to be quieted and helps me dive into processing past memories, trauma, and grief. It is commonly suggested in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy practices to find an activity to do that is both physical and repetitive to work through grief. This stimulates the physical and mental parts of the body, both areas where the effects of grief and trauma are held. Relaxing …

Wrestling With The One Drop Rule: Exploring Multiraciality In Social Work Education, Britney Pitts

Theses and Dissertations

This three paper dissertation aims to provide a baseline understanding of how multiraciality is understood in social work education. The first paper, a fusion autoethnography, explores how my own perception of my multiracial identity was clarified throughout my social work education. This exploration led to the development of incongruent logic in/validation (ILV), a new aspect of racial identity invalidation (RII). The second paper, a multimethod qualitative case study, explores master of social work (MSW) students’ knowledge, attitudes, and anticipated professional behaviors with multiracial individuals and families. Themes from this study include: never explicitly learned about multiraciality; non-ecological endorsements of multiracial …

A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis Of Factors Associated With Burnout Among Early Childhood Education And Care Providers, Lee Wells

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Burnout among the early childhood workforce has gained widespread attention in research and policy due to greater awareness of the negative impacts on children, providers, and organizations. Early childhood education and care (ECEC) providers create supportive and nurturing environments that facilitate early learning and development for young children. Accordingly, ECEC providers are the connective tissue between program intentions and outcomes. Despite the critical nature of the field, early childhood providers continue to be underpaid, under-resourced, and undervalued, leading to a high risk of burnout. With turnover rates of ECEC providers higher than ever, the link between burnout and attrition has …

Strengths-Based Case Management With Military Veterans: Building Protective Factors Against Suicide, Meredith Wingard Lange

DSW Capstone Projects

Abstract

Veteran suicide deaths remain between 16 and 18 daily despite over two decades of research and programming focused on suicide risk identification, therapeutic intervention, and suicide prevention. As research on suicidality among veterans and active-duty military continues, so do the efforts to develop new suicide prevention plans, interventions, and programs. When does one admit that suicide prevention strategies alone are not working? This paper introduces the application of a strengths-based case management approach to mitigating suicidality using a veteran’s inherent and communal protective factors. A new approach to mitigating suicidality emerges through the in-depth analysis of existing literature, a …

Engaging Predominantly White Churches In Racial Justice Work, Christopher B. Rakestraw

DSW Capstone Projects

Over the past three years, the tragic deaths of many people of color have renewed nationwide discourse on racial injustices and racism. White churches seeking to become anti-racist are confronted with a number of obstacles. This capstone project addresses the topic of Engaging Predominantly White Churches in Racial Justice Work through three interconnected scholarly products. Each product draws from the research of sociology, psychology, social work, education, and religion to investigate a different aspect of the overarching subject.

The Systematic Literature Review examines the impact of white racial identity on the racial attitudes of Predominantly White Church (PWC) congregants. Evidence …

Treatment Of Borderline Personality Disorder: Re-Envisioned To Mitigate Stigma And Enhance Treatment Effectiveness, Abigail Lorraine Steinkamp

DSW Capstone Projects

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) and the characteristics that define it are often viewed negatively by therapists and other mental health providers. Terms to describe these clients commonly include “manipulative”, “attention-seeking”, and “always in crisis.” Because of this jargon, there is a deep-set stigma that surrounds the disorder. Therapists and treating clinicians base their decisions and treatment protocol on hearsay of the disorder and already have an image of their prospective BPD client before the client enters their office. This capstone project seeks to inform clinicians about the present stigma and provides tools that are proposed to reduce stigmatizing beliefs within …

Leadership Strategies For New Supervisors On Leading A Diverse Workforce, Christie L. Watson

DSW Capstone Projects

The title leader, supervisor, or manager, alone does not describe the qualities it takes to develop a workforce that is engaged, empowered, inclusive, diverse, and psychologically safe. To retain employees, one must understand these qualities and learn how to put them into action. It is said that people spend more time at work than they do at home. According to a study completed by Andrew Naber (2021) at Gettysburg College says, on average, people spend one-third of their life at work (p. 1). Having a poor experience in the workplace leads to turnover, decreased productivity, disengaged employees, and poor customer …

Just Because We Are Black: Exploring The Impact Of Racial Trauma On African American Adults And Introducing An Approach To Assessment, Charessa L. Mcintosh

DSW Capstone Projects

Racial trauma, also referred to as race-based traumatic Stress (RBTS), is a significant problem that African Americans experience. Racial trauma refers to people of Color and Indigenous individuals' (POCI) reactions to dangerous and threatening events and real or perceived experiences of and exposure to racial discrimination. RBTS can be experienced by other racial minorities, but it is the most frequently experienced by African Americans. The origins of racial trauma include racism, exposure to racism, experiencing and witnessing physical violence, the threat of injury, and numerous other emotionally traumatic events involving race. It is not uncommon for secondary traumatic stress disorder …

Sexual Reproductive Healthcare: Reproductive Autonomy, Access Inequity And The Call For Service Expansion, Elizabeth Johnson

DSW Capstone Projects

Sexual Reproductive Healthcare (SRH) is a key component of not only women’s healthcare but healthcare for every one of every age. SRH impacts not only physical health and social emotional well-being but foundations of families, communities and society including the economic impacts and the challenges of inequity. By examining the history of sexual reproductive health care, including advances in access and subsequent barriers, funding and lack thereof, the impact bias in obtaining care and the ever-changing law, policies and regulations impacting care this Capstone highlights the current yet ever changing status of sexual reproductive health care in the United States. …

Eliminating The Stigma Surrounding Mental Illness In Healthcare Settings: Examining Provider Training Using Anti-Oppressive Instruction And Contact (Aoic) Training, Janice M. Knapp

DSW Capstone Projects

Disparities in healthcare settings for individuals with mental illness is a pervasive issue that can create dire circumstances for one’s health. However, research into ways in which to eliminate the biases and stigma that lead to these disparities has not yet been thoroughly studied. Innovative interventions using effective strategies combined with a theory such as the anti-oppressive approach are poised to address the biases and stigma that surround mental illness, thereby reducing or eliminating entirely the disparities that exist in healthcare today.

The first product is a systematic literature review that focused on primary research that evaluated the effectiveness of …

Bibliography, Austin G. Griffiths

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

Bibliography of publications by Austin Griffiths.

Between The Noise And Silence: An Autoethnography Challenging Schools Of Social Work To Evolve For Trans Students, Isaac M. Akapnitis, G. Trey Jenkins, Natasha S. Mendoza

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Social work programs have been largely silent in the face of legislative at- tacks on transgender/nonbinary (TGNB or “trans”) communities across the U.S., which signals to TGNB students that they may not be supported in their respective programs. Consequently, TGNB students, staff, and faculty shoulder the burden to advocate for change within social work academic institutions and to speak out about violence perpetrated against TGNB communities. Using our voices as two trans doctoral students and a queer cisgender associate professor, we employed collaborative and critical autoethnography to share insights about the impact of this burden on TGNB social work students …

Volume 50, Issue 1 (2023)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

No abstract provided.

Teaching Beyond Trans-Competency: Exploring Trans-Affirming Pedagogy Through Applied Case Studies, Sam Harrell, Sarah Mountz, Hazel (Bobbi) Ali Zaman

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In this paper, we share two applied case studies social work instructors can use to teach trans-affirming, anti-oppressive practice. These cases span two practice arenas, child welfare and low-barrier shelter services, and are derived from practice in the authors’ personal and professional experiences in the Northeastern and Midwestern regions of the United States. For each case, we describe the accompanying class context, share our pedagogical approach, name the underlying assumptions and structures that facilitate harm, explore relevant practice skills, and identify theoretical, philosophical, and ethical commitments essential for trans-affirming practice. Our approach to social work education on transgender and gender …

"We're All We Have": Envisioning The Future Of Mutual Aid From Queer And Trans Perspectives, Brendon T. Holloway, C. Riley Hostetter, Karaya Morris, Jax Kynn, Maximillion Kilby

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Mutual aid has prevailed for as long as humans have existed. However, the concept of mutual aid became popularized in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the racial uprisings in response to the continued police brutality toward Black people, and an increase in global climate crises. Mutual aid spread as a way of survival and collective care when formal systems, such as federal and local governments within the U.S., were failing to meet people's needs. Using a subset of data from semi-structured interviews, the current study relied on a desire-based research framework and foresight lens to capture the …

Applications Of Transformative Justice Principles For Centering Transgender And Gender Expansive Experiences In Social Work Education And Practice, E. Bickford, Angela Matijczak, Aaron Kemmerer, Florence Martinez, M. Alex Wagaman

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Social work education has traditionally used frameworks, such as cultural competency, to guide implicit and explicit curricula that shape how we think about communities that live and thrive outside of white supremacist and cis/heteronormative norms and values. While the cultural competency framework intends to promote a level of consciousness and attention that is required to practice with diverse individuals, families, and communities whose identities differ from that of the social worker, it instead inadvertently creates a knowledge base that reinforces harmful power dynamics between social worker and client/community. The cultural competency framework is absent of historical and structural context and …

Deconstructing The Administrative State”: Legal Trends And Consequences, Vicki Lens

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Attacks on the administrative state are escalating. The Supreme Court’s conservative majority is on track to reverse key pillars of administrative law that gives deference to an agency’s expertise and knowledge when interpreting its authorizing statute. This article explores the legal, ideological, and philosophical underpinnings of these doctrinal changes in administrative law and the likely effect on administrative governance. It aims to inform non legal stakeholders, including social workers, how legal doctrines and principles shape what executive agencies do, the consequences of doctrinal changes, and the implications for administrators, those they serve, and the larger body politic.