Social Work Commons^™

Guide Lines Vol. I, Issue 15 - May 2018, College Of Health And Human Services

GUIDE Lines

Periodic Newsletter of the Governors State University - University of Illinois, Chicago - Disparities Education Cancer research training and education project (The GUIDE Project).

Service Leadership: The First Year Student Experience, Connor Curtis

Senior Honors Projects

Servant leadership, in the words of Robert Greenleaf from the Greenleaf Center of Servant Leadership, is “a servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first.” This has become one of the guiding theories of leadership within the Center for Student Leadership Development’s (CSLD) Leadership Studies minor at the University of Rhode Island. First-year students in the Leadership Studies minor have the opportunity to learn different leadership models and theories and apply them to their own life. My personal experience and the experiences of others who have participated in service projects locally, nationally, …

Underserved And Unaccompanied: Lgbtq Youth, Meeting The Intersecting Needs Of Youth Homelessness And Lgbtq Identities In Worcester, Ma, Molly Kellman

Sustainability and Social Justice

LGBTQ youth are at a much higher risk for experiencing homelessness, victimization, abuse, and disconnection from social and medical services than their non-LGBTQ peers. This research paper uses a mixed-methods approach to identify the specific needs of unaccompanied LGBTQ youth in Worcester, Massachusetts, and how the youth service sector can better meet the needs of this population. Analysis of data from unaccompanied LGBTQ youth and the providers who serve them revealed a disconnect between service providers, and a lack of resources that accommodate the intersections of homelessness and LGBTQ identities. LGBTQ youth in Worcester are more at risk of experiencing …

The Effects Of Organizational Commitment And Harmonious Passion On Voluntary Turnover Among Social Workers: A Mixed Methods Study, Ashley Scales

Dissertations

The retention of Social Workers (SWs) is a concern that affects government and private organizations and the workforce. Voluntary turnover among SWs is increasing at an alarming rate. Not only is voluntary turnover rising, but organizational commitment and harmonious passion are declining (Wharton University of Pennsylvania, 2012). This study explored and examined the effect organizational commitment and harmonious passion have on voluntary turnover among Child Protective Services (CPS) SWs. The study used a concurrent mixed method design. Data collected during the quantitative phase provided information on the perceptions of SWs regarding organizational commitment, harmonious passion, and their intent to leave. …

At A Crossroads: Social Work, Conscientious Objection, And Religious Liberty Laws, Philip Mongan

Journal of Health Ethics

Recently several states have passed legislation allowing conscientious objection for social workers. Due to the potential impact on the profession that these policies carry, it is critical that this issue be explored and discussed within the social work profession. This article examines the arguments for and against conscientious objection, discusses the use of conscientious objection in other professions, and the explores the potential options and consequences for social work. The argument is made that the profession of social work should seek to define itself and its values related to conscientious objection before outside forces make the decision for us.

Sex Trafficking Of Transgender And Gender Nonconforming Youth In The United States, Meaghan Tomasiewicz

Center for the Human Rights of Children

There is a growing body of research from a variety of disciplines highlighting the overrepresentation of LGBTQ identified individuals among sex trafficked and commercially sexually exploited (CSE) youth. A much smaller subset of this research specifically focuses on transgender female youth. Transgender male, GNC, and intersex youth are largely excluded from the available literature. The issues and obstacles faced by the transgender and GNC communities require specialized services that are not necessarily applicable to the LGBTQ community as a whole due to population-specific healthcare, mental health, and safety factors in addition to employment discrimination, housing discrimination, and familial rejection. By …

Crossover Youth Prevention: Predictors Of Youth Crossover From Child Welfare To Juvenile Justice, Marcus R. Crawford

Social Work Dissertations - Archive

By some estimates, as many as 60% of youth in the juvenile justice system have previous experience in the child welfare system, with delinquency rates among youth in foster care about 50% higher than among youth not involved in foster care (Ryan & Testa, 2005; Sickmund & Puzzanchera, 2014). Identifying factors that impact crossing over from the child protective system into the juvenile justice system is essential to developing interventions targeting youth success and derailing the criminal pathway of many United States adolescents. Decades of research have shown that youth who enter foster care are at an increased risk for …

Predictors Of Different Types Of Victim-Trafficker Relationships: An Intersectionality-Informed Analysis, Mary K. Twis

Social Work Dissertations - Archive

Domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST) is the commercial sexual exploitation of a minor citizen or legal resident within United States borders. The literature about the experiences of DMST victims is an amalgamation of force, exploitation, and sometimes the exercise of personal, if constrained, agency in the decision to exchange sex for money or goods. Unfortunately, federal and local policies do not make much room for the nuances of victim experience, in which multiple oppressive factors may contribute to DMST victimization, or different types of DMST victimization. Instead, officials tend to view DMST as a monolithic crime, rather than a problem …

Mothers And Sons, Alina M. Baltazar

Lake Union Herald

No abstract provided.

Strengths And Resiliencies Of Black Msm In New York City Who Maintain Hiv-Seronegativity, Jagadisa-Devasri Dacus

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Black gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) carry the greatest burden of the HIV epidemic in the United States. Because Black MSM’s identities lie at the intersection of race and sexual orientation, they are more likely to experience negative social determinants of health, which have been associated with greater HIV acquisition. However, the majority of Black MSM maintain seronegativity, but few public health studies have identified what contributes to their seronegativity maintenance. In order to address this gap in knowledge, I explored maintained HIV-seronegativity among a cohort of Black MSM in New York City (NYC). …

A Toolkit For Expanding Financial Capability At Tax Time, Genevieve Davison, Merideth Covington, Olga Kondratjeva, Stephen P. Roll, Michal Grinstein-Weiss

Center for Social Development Research

This work expands upon The Volunteer Income Tax Preparer’s Toolkit: Showing Clients Why Tax Time is the Right Time to Save, a 2015 Toolkit by the Center for Social Development. This new offering presents the current evidence underpinning various tax-time efforts to expand financial capability among low- and moderate-income households. It includes sections on creating a VITA program and on several financial-capability products and services that organizations can offer alongside free tax-preparation services. The evidence comes from a variety of sources, but we highlight findings from research conducted by CSD, particularly that conducted as part of the Refund to Savings …

Oak Avenue Elementary: Attendance Awareness Project, Liliana Uribe

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Oak Avenue Elementary school is in Greenfield, California and serves students from grades kindergarten to sixth grade. The broader social problem within Greenfield is too few students graduating from high school. The agency problem is there are too many elementary school children absent from school. This was an educational intervention implemented at the school where information was provided to parents and students about the importance of school attendance. Posters were created to promote good attendance habits within the school and presentations were provided for parents and students. The presentations helped parents and students develop a better understanding of the importance …

Social Network And Black Students: Relative Effects Of Member Expectations On Academic Achievement, Lester Robert Collins Jr

Social Work Dissertations - Archive

Objective: The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between social network member college expectations of Black students and the college expectations and college attendance of the students. Methods: This study conducted secondary analysis of the nationally representative data from the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002. Selected variables were recoded into binary variables and binary logistic regression was conducted on the independent and control variables and the dependent variables of student college expectations and student college attendance. Results: Some of the independent variables were found to be predictors of student college expectations and college attendance. Conclusions: Members of …

The Reality Of The Refugee Crisis In Italy: A Look Into The Lives Of Illegitimate Refugees And The Unofficial Organizations That Support Them, Cole Mcquirk

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

The words written on the United States of America’s famous Statue of Liberty, written by poet Emma Lazarus over a century ago:

Give me your tired, your poor,

your huddled masses yearning to breathe free

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. . . .

America and Europe alike have forgotten the sacred words that gave hope to so many 100 years ago. Many use phrases like “floods of people” or “swarms” to describe those who leave their countries for a life in the Western world. Which of the refugees welcomed into the most powerful country in the world were …

Acculturative Stress, English Proficiency, Social Support, And Coping Strategies Among Chinese International Students, Jiabao Zhang

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Drawing on data from 137 Chinese students who enrolled in a large research university in the Southwest of the United States, this quantitative study examined the relationships between Chinese students’ acculturative stress, English proficiency, social support, and coping strategies. This study utilized a survey method and employed four previously established questionnaires; moreover, the use of these questionnaires was to examine students’ acculturative stress, as it is the dependent variable of this study.

In data analysis, t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to compare means and standard deviations of Chinese students’ acculturative stress through students’ demographics and characteristics. …

Addiction Treatment Outcomes And Religiosity: What Is The Relationship?, Sidney Harrington Smith Iii

Honors Theses

This study examines how religiosity, specifically, church attendance, prior to admission into an addictions treatment facility (Teen Challenge) is related to the treatment outcomes of completing the program and the participants’ length of stay in treatment. Additionally, the study investigates how other factors such as marital status, ethnicity, alcohol and drug use, and level of education may be related to treatment outcomes. Using archival data of 388 enrollees in a Teen Challenge program in southern United States, the results show that religiosity prior to treatment admission is significantly related to program completion. However, the second outcome variable, length of time …

Restorative Justice And Social Justice, John M. Winslade

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

This paper explains the connections between restorative justice and social justice. Specifically it argues that restorative practices in schools fit with a social justice agenda. It defines both terms and then outlines how restorative practices work to address the pipeline to prison and against retributive justice and zero tolerance policies. It also outlines the use of narrative questions designed to enhance restorative practices.

Adverse Childhood Experiences, Resilience, And Coping Of Foster Parents, Jacqueline Rush

Honors Theses

Foster parents are people who are caregivers for children in foster care. Resilience is a trait that is developed by the exposure of stress, and adversity (Cicchetti & Garmezy, 1993). Some foster parents remain resilient and others do not. The purpose of this study was to examine whether or not Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) has any impact on foster parents’ resilience, coping, satisfaction, and intent to continue fostering. This study included 114 current foster parents from across the United States. The study at hand found that 59.6% of foster parents experienced one ACEs or more, which is lower than the …

Foster Parent Disciplinary Strategies And Child Behaviors, Tamarah Taylor

Honors Theses

Foster parents are tasked with creating a safe and stable environment for the youth while also trying to parent and address challenging behaviors (Elgar, Mills, McGrath, Waschbusch, & Brownridge, 2007). Although these behaviors can also be found in youth in the general population, they are more common among foster youth (Van Holen & Vanschoonlandt, 2017). This mixed-methods study involved using an Internet questionnaire to measure influential factors of parenting (i.e. stress, satisfaction, involvement) and the qualitative questions explored foster parents’ experiences with behaviors and which parenting strategies have been helpful and non-helpful. The quantitative results of this study concluded that …

Improving No-Show Rates In A Community Health Center, Erin Boshers

Honors Theses

Community health clinics have surfaced to provide primary care to low-income individuals, but they are currently hurting due to an overwhelmingly high no-show rate. (Population Reference Bureau, 2016; Nowacki, 2013). While there is extensive research on how to overcome no-show appointments in private medical clinics, clinics that serve a low-income clientele cannot succumb to the same methods of intervention due to the financial and physical barriers community health centers face (Nowacki, 2013). The purpose of this project was to extend upon previous studies on strategies to improve the no-show rate at a local community health center by doing a mixed-method, …