Social Work Commons^™

Gender, Race, And Childhood Abuse As Predictors Of Borderline Personality Disorder, Olivia Moses

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a debilitating personality disorder that impacts anywhere between 1% to 5% of Americans. Studies claim that women are significantly more at risk than men to suffer from this disorder and may experience stronger symptoms. Previous research has found that victims of childhood abuse such as sexual abuse, physical abuse, and neglect are more at risk for developing Borderline Personality Disorder as adults, particularly when abuse is paired with genetic susceptibility. Some researchers claim that there are no detectable racial differences in Borderline Personality Disorder, but previous studies often have very small sample sizes taken from …

Improving The Take-Up Of Homecare Services Among Holocaust Survivors In A Jewish Charitable Organization, Olga Kondratjeva, Stephen Roll, Odelya Mantsura, Pini Miretski, Olga Statland-Vaintraub, Hannah Brumbaum, Ariel Tikotsky, Michal Grinstein-Weiss

Social Policy Institute Research

This research brief is part of a series by the Social Impact Nudgeathon initiative. This initiative incorporated insights from behavioral economics into the design and delivery of social welfare programs. Developed through a partnership between the Joint Distribution Committee in Israel (JDC-Israel) and the Social Policy Institute (SPI) at Washington University in St. Louis, this initiative is among the first of its kind to launch in Israel. Working in close collaboration, research teams from the United States and Israel investigated whether using behavioral insights to make small changes in the delivery of social service programs in Israel and Russia would …

Improving Educational And Career Opportunities For Youth With Disabilities In The Future Trend Program, Yifat Klein, Osnat Elnathan, Mayzahav Itiel Barkai, Miriam Palachi, Anat Halevy, Yair Feingold, Ariel Tikotsky, Guy Hochman

Social Policy Institute Research

This research brief is part of a series by the Social Impact Nudgeathon initiative. This initiative incorporated insights from behavioral economics into the design and delivery of social welfare programs. Developed through a partnership between the Joint Distribution Committee in Israel (JDC-Israel) and the Social Policy Institute (SPI) at Washington University in St. Louis, this initiative is among the first of its kind to launch in Israel. Working in close collaboration, research teams from the United States and Israel investigated whether using behavioral insights to make small changes in the delivery of social service programs in Israel and Russia would …

Associations Of Sex, Gender, And Gender Role Beliefs With Mental Health Attitudes, Ariel Erazo

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Mental health stigma is a strong deterrent for individual with mental illness utilizing mental healthcare. Individuals living with a mental illness experience shame and marginalization due to stigma. Stigma is perpetuated through stereotypes created and used by people in the majority. Studies have been done to assess individual’s attitudes toward mental healthcare seeking in regards to gender, age, race, and profession. This study aimed to look at traditional gender role beliefs, sex, and gender expression as predictors of individual’s mental health attitudes and individual’s views of mental health norms. Using a cross-sectional survey, 392 participants completed scales that included the …

An Exploration Of Faculty With Disabilities In Social Work Programs, Kelly Dundon

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Disability is a unique dimension of diversity, yet structural, social and attitudinal barriers can make meaningful workforce participation difficult for individuals with disabilities. Faculty with disabilities (FWD) are a particularly underrepresented population in academia, and even more so in social work programs. Based on this under-representation and a concern for the lack of attention this population has received, this project will explore a subset of this group. This thesis will focus on faculty with disabilities, first by looking into the scant research pertaining to FWD, then presenting the data from a qualitative study and demographic survey. Implications for policy, practice …

Adolescent Psychiatric Readmission In Rural West Texas, Keila Gabel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the following replication study was to collect and analyze data regarding demographic, psychological, and environmental factors that are associated with adolescent readmission. A literature review was conducted, as well as a manual chart review of 16 adolescent patients from May 2019 to January 2020. Frequencies and descriptive statistics were run and results suggest that the majority of adolescents readmitted were female, living with a stepparent, had been diagnosed with some variation of major depressive disorder, identified as heterosexual, and had experienced some type of bullying, abuse, or other trauma. Oceans Behavioral Hospital provides specialized care, however the …

Attrition In A Holistic Job Skills Training Program: A Qualitative Study, Jeaniece Silas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Today thousands of individuals and families are unemployed or underemployed and are seeking ways to combat poverty and become employed. One way that individuals seek to gain employment is by attending job skills training and adult education programs. However, there are barriers that hinder those individuals from successfully completing the programs. The purpose of this study is to explore the experience of applicants of a nonprofit job skills training program called FaithWorks and explore the reasons why applicants were not able to continue and, or complete the program. This study was conducted, through qualitative interviewing of four participants (N=4) utilizing …

Exploring The Relationships Of Social Media Usage And Symptoms Of Anxiety And Depression In Adolescents, Morgan Culpepper

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Social media is a popular form of communication and entertainment among youth. Inconsistencies are present in the literature on the potential effects it can have on mental health. Depression and anxiety disorders are common among all age groups in the US, and this study aimed to determine the relationship social media has on symptoms of anxiety and depression. The Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SAS) and the GAD-7 were used to measure symptoms of anxiety, as well as the CES-D scale to evaluate depressive symptoms in adolescents. The number of social networking sites and number of hours spent on social …

The Effectiveness Of A High School Girls Group On Self-Esteem And Leadership, Esperanza M. Harper

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The effectiveness of a high school girls group was examined using a pretest-post-test group design with young adolescent girls identified as having low self-esteem. Individuals were identified by teachers and counselors as having low self-esteem or being at risk for having low self-esteem. This research project includes a literature review that explored self-understanding and its dimensions of self-concept and self-esteem, as well as how this research relates to development. The curriculum used came from the Girls In Real Life Situations (GIRLS) group program created by Julia V. Taylor and Shannon Trice-Black (2007). The research study was conducted at a high …

A Comparative Evaluation On The Impact Of Financial Coaching In Increasing Financial Capability For Low-Income Individuals In An Employment Program, Desiree Sanabria Guadamuz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

People living under the poverty line are more likely to practice negative financial behaviors and have low financial capability than those living at a higher socioeconomic level, this hinders low income individuals from properly navigating the complex financial market. Recent research has found that financial coaching bundled with employment trainings, income support, and financial trainings/workshops will increase financial capability. However, additional studies on the impact of financial coaching in increasing financial capability are needed. The following research aimed to contribute to the existing literature on the impact of financial coaching in the context of an integrated service model by analyzing …

An Evaluation Of The Methodist Children's Home Gap Program, Ashten Wiedebusch

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Methodist Children’s Home’s (MCH) GAP Program provides services for grandparents raising their grandchildren. This single case study explores whether the services provided by the GAP Program will reduce the risk factors for grandparents raising their grandchildren while increasing their ability to care for the child in a way that will promote well-being in today’s complex world. The literature shows some challenges for these grandparents include: role ambiguity, limited legal rights, lack of resources, inadequate living arrangements, employment and retirement, health issues, and outdated parenting skills and disciplinary methods. Protective factors for grandparents include: adaptive coping skills, self-care, positive relationships, support, …

The Effects Of Parental Involvement On Family Functioning Of Children In Counseling, Rebecca Schardt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Families with higher parental involvement indicate higher family functioning and child achievement. The STAR (Services to At-Risk Youth) program is designed to serve families identified as being at risk for child abuse and neglect. STAR services are intended to provide individual as well as family therapy for identified families. This study was designed to analyze the parent involvement in these services as compared to family functioning and child success. The study used closed STAR files to determine if children who had received services met their goals and if there was any increase in family functioning based on the pretests and …

Employing Empathy: Using Video Simulations As An Intervention To Educate Social Work Students, Charles Adam Laffiteau

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A video simulation featuring a Master of Social Work (MSW) student assessing a fictional client, portrayed by a professionally trained student actor, dealing with suicidal ideations was developed to model empathetic and reflective techniques. The video simulation was filmed in collaboration with University of Arkansas Global Campus and is part of an interdisciplinary educational pilot program. This pilot program builds upon traditional role-play scenarios by incorporating experiential learning within the creation of cost-effective simulated interactions that employ student actors as standardized clients. Combining social learning theory and constructivism allows Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) students to observe and analyze the …

Child Development Accounts In The Covid-19 Crisis: Lessons From The Great Recession, Michael Sherraden

Center for Social Development Research

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered an economic downturn that will likely be worse than the Great Recession, especially for financially vulnerable households. Child Development Accounts (CDAs) were rigorously tested in the 2008-09 recession and produced positive financial and family results. Likewise, CDAs can be expected to have positive impacts on children in financially vulnerable households during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

To confront this health and economic crisis, this research and policy report examines how CDA research from the previous recession can inform a new kind of social policy to address the current one. The report draws from in-person interviews …

Job Knowledge Tests, Michelle Graef

Umbrella Summaries

What are job knowledge tests?

In an employment context, job knowledge tests are hiring tools that assess candidates’ knowledge of facts, principles, concepts, and other information that is important for performance of a job (Hunter, 1983). This knowledge falls into two general categories: (a) technical information and (b) the processes and judgmental criteria required to perform correctly and efficiently on the job (Hunter, 1983). Measures of job knowledge vary in the level of specificity of the content. Some measures are intended to test a candidate’s knowledge of specific content for a specific job, whereas other measures are designed to assess …

An Occupational Therapy Approach To Education For Foster Parents, Alexandra E. Judd

Student Capstone Papers

The focus of this project is to enhance current programming for foster parent pre-licensure education courses in San Diego, California. This capstone project focused on the preferred learning styles of foster parents and utilized adult learning theories to create suggestions to enhance the current pre-licensure class curriculum. Data collected during verbal interviews with foster parents helped guide the suggestions to enhance the current curriculum. Utilizing specific occupational therapy group strategies, occupational therapists can help enhance education for foster parents by increasing the saliency of the learning material. The increased saliency facilitates a deeper understanding of the material and increases the …

Evaluation Of The Health Resources And Services Administration (Hrsa) Behavioral Health Workforce And Education Training (Bhwet) Grant, Cheryl Neale-Mcfall, Nadine Bean, Sarah Fisher

Counselor Education Student Work

Our poster focuses on expanding the number of MS social work and MEd school counseling graduate students working with persons across the lifespan in vulnerable and medically underserved populations, providing evidence-based behavioral health services. In order to prepare the selected students, Interprofessional Education trainings and a 3-credit IPE academic course were administered, and data gathered and analyzed.

The purpose of this research is to evaluate the effectiveness of the trainings and IPE academic courses. For the purpose of the IPE Integrated Care Trainings, pre-post test data were collected. In addition, open-ended questions were added to the post-test to ascertain additional …

Integrated Health Approaches To Pain Management And Ptsd With Adolescent Gunshot-Wound Survivors, Sean E. Snyder

Social Work (Graduate) Student Work

Integrative healthcare approaches are known to improve patient outcomes by delivering systematic and cost-effective approaches to care (Raney, 2015). Adolescents who survive gunshot wounds present to primary care for long term management with a complex constellation of physiological and psychological symptoms, and these youth require a systematic approach to their recovery. Collaboration between primary care providers and behavioral health providers allows for treatment of the whole person, including pain management, physical recovery, and psychological recovery. Furthermore, integrated care also yields benefits to providers such as professional support and education outside of their primary area of expertise. This case report highlights …

Giving Credence To The Experience Of X-Linked Hypophosphatemia In Adulthood: An Interprofessional Mixed-Methods Study, Melissa Hughes, Carolyn Macica, Catherine Meriano, Maya Doyle

Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews

Purpose: X-linked hypophosphatemia (XLH) is a rare X-linked dominant metabolic bone disease, often diagnosed in childhood but causing increasing physical debilitation and pain in adulthood. Physical comorbidities of XLH in adulthood include pervasive and early-onset degenerative arthritis, mineralizing enthesophytes and osteophytes, osteomalacia and pseudofracture, dental abscesses, and hearing loss.

Methods: This mixed-methods analysis included physical findings, diagnostic imaging, occupational and physical therapy assessments, and semi-structured interviews by social work to understand the functional outcomes and lived experience of XLH in adulthood, through connections between qualitative data obtained by social work and occupational therapy with the quantitative findings from other disciplines. …

A Critical Glocalization Approach: Attending To Power In The Innovation Space, Maria Wathen

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

The purpose of this paper is to provide community practitioners with the theoretical background to recognize and work in the interplay of global and local forces. This paper reviews globalization as a contested term and presents several globalization paradigms. It introduces critical glocalization as a guiding approach that sensitizes social workers to power dynamics. With this approach, social workers are encouraged to look for innovations that arise in the glocal sphere. They will understand the broader political, economic, structural, policy, and discursive contexts in which they are working, and intentionally look for the marginalized voices in our complex, interconnected world.