Social Work Commons^™

¿Déjalo Descansar? The Parental Bereavement Experience Of Mexican Migrant Mothers, Illeana Gomez

Dissertations

"Déjalo descansar, no le llores" - "Let them rest, don't cry for them" is an expression Mexican mothers often hear after the death of a child. While accepted as a culturally polite means of expressing condolence, the phrase nonetheless can have a detrimental effect on the parental bereavement experience of these mothers. Through the use of focus groups, 22 Mexican migrant mothers were interviewed to better understand the role that imperatives such as "Déjalo descansar" and other prescribed beliefs, rituals, and customs play in their bereavement experience. From the five focus groups conducted in this qualitative study, participants reported that …

Preserving The Bond: Child Welfare Professionals' Perspectives On The Opportunities And Challenges Of Parent-Child Visitation, Lina M. Munoz

Dissertations

The foster care system was designed to be a temporary placement for children when their parents are unable or unwilling to provide proper care and supervision. A permanency plan must be established for all children in care, stating clear goals for a permanent living arrangement to facilitate the child's reunification with his/her family. The current Illinois Child Welfare Practice Model promotes a family-centered, trauma-informed, and strength-based practice approach when providing child welfare services to families in foster care with the caseworker serving as the primary vehicle for facilitating change.

This study explored how this child welfare practice model is reflected …

Organizational Constraints And Supports For Psychosocial Care Of Ethiopian Children At Risk: The Case Of Services In Addis Ababa, Daniel Hailu

Dissertations

The dissertation describes from an institutional perspective psychosocial support services being provided to orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa. Despite the presence of sufficient but fragmented legal, policy and strategic framework, Ethiopia's social protection landscape has suffered from a historic dearth of interventions that address psychosocial risks and vulnerabilities. Over the past decade and half, however, psychosocial support services to OVC have been slowly defused into the Ethiopian society as elements of programming for care and support to the population. Consequently, there currently exists diversity in the types of psychosocial risks and vulnerabilities that interventions prioritize …

Psychotherapist Understanding Of Genital Self-Mutilation Amongst Male To Female Transsexuals, Michael Robert Kenney

Dissertations

Self-mutilation of the genitals is a complex phenomenon that can provoke strong countertransference reactions amongst mental health clinician. Transsexuals who engage in self-inflicted mutilation of the genitals face a potentially increased risk of alienation from healthcare providers due to marginalization and lack of understanding by treating clinicians. Frequently, assumptions are made regarding the motivation for the behavior that fails to take into account the complex interplay between contributing psychological, social, and environmental forces.

This qualitative study explored the experience of four psychotherapists who had encountered the behavior in their work with transsexual clients in order to gain a more accurate …

“Where’S Beebee?”: The Orphan Crisis In Global Child Welfare From An Autoethnographic Perspective, Katherine Tyson Mccrea

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

No abstract provided.

The Employment Hope Scale: Measuring An Empowerment Pathway To Employment Success, Philip Young P. Hong, Sangmi Choi

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

This chapter presents findings on revalidation of the Short Employment Hope Scale (EHS- 14) using a recently collected independent sample of 661 low-income jobseekers. This client- centered measure captures an aspect of multi-dimensional psychological self-sufficiency (SS) as a process-driven assessment tool. The original employment hope metric was constructed as a 24-item six-factor structure from its earlier conceptualization resulting from client focus group interviews.

The EHS measure was initially validated using an exploratory factor analysis (EFA), resulting in a 14-item two-factor structure with Factor 1 representing ‘psychological empowerment’ and Factor 2 representing ‘goal-oriented pathways’. In the following revalidation process using a …

Developing A White Anti-Racism Identity: A Psycho-Educational Group Model, Kathryn Kristin Berg, Shirley Simon

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

This paper describes and assesses a seven session psycho-educational group on anti-racism identity development for White European-American undergraduate students at a midwestern U.S. university. It is predicated on the premise that Whiteness can simultaneously privilege and harm White people, and that White students have the potential to become personally invested in the challenging of systematic racism. It is also based on the idea that a group structure presents an ideal format for addressing this topic. Peer support, a safe environment, and information are requisites for facilitating personal exploration of this sensitive subject. A group model for addressing this topic is …

Individual Worker Level Attitudes Toward Empirically Supported Treatments, David A. Patterson Silver Wolf (Adelv Unegv Waya) Phd, Eugene Maguin Phd, Catherine N. Dulmus Phd, Bruce C. Nisbet

Brown School Faculty Publications

Objectives: There is a growing literature indicating that organizational and individual worker-level factors affect decisions about whether or not empirically-supported treatments (EST’s) are adopted within health care agencies. The purpose of this pilot study is to further investigate and measure worker’s attitudes within a community organization. Methods: A small organization participated in the study due to their diversity in services offered. Of the 92 workers eligible for participation in the study, 66 (72%) completed the Evidence-Based Practice Attitude Scale (EBPAS) survey. Results: Multivariate analyses revealed that female workers scored higher on both Openness and total score; workers with nursing, education …

Is Openness To Using Empirically Supported Treatments Related To Organizational Culture And Climate?, David A. Patterson Silver Wolf (Adelv Unegv Waya) Phd, Catherine N. Dulmus Phd, Eugene Maguin Phd

Brown School Faculty Publications

An established literature indicates that organizational factors such as culture and climate can impede the implementation of empirically supported treatments (ESTs) in real world practice. What remains unclear is whether certain worker attitudes create barriers to implementing ESTs and how these attitudes might impact the working culture and climate within an organization. The overall purpose of this study is to investigate workers’ openness towards implementing a new EST and whether the workers’ openness scores relate to their workplace culture and climate scores. Participants in this study (N=1273) worked in a total of 55 different programs in a large child and …

Vulnerability And Mental Health In Afghanistan: Looking Beyond War Exposure, Jean-Francois Trani, Parul Bakhshi

Brown School Faculty Publications

This study examined the prevalence of mental distress among groups in Afghanistan considered to be at risk. Data were drawn from a representative cross-sectional disability survey carried out in Afghanistan including 5,130 households in 171 clusters throughout the 34 provinces of the country. The sample included 838 non-disabled control participants aged above 14, and 675 disabled participants. Results showed that various vulnerable groups (disabled people, the unemployed, the elderly, minority ethnic groups, as well as widowed, divorced or separated women) were at higher risk of experiencing mild to severe mental health problems. The adjusted odds ratio for war-related disability compared …

Child Poverty In A Conflict Situation: A Multidimensional Profile And An Identification Of The Poorest Children In Western Darfur, Jean-Francois Trani, Timothy I. Cannings

Brown School Faculty Publications

Darfur is currently in a very complex situation making humanitarian intervention a very challenging endeavour. The civilian population is caught in the middle of armed confrontation resulting in massive forced displacement as well as in food shortage, lack of access to safe source of water and sanitation facilities, shelter, essential health services. Children are particularly vulnerable in conflict situation as they are higher risk of physical and sexual violence or emotional abuse. Applying the Alkire and Foster index of multidimensional poverty to a selected set of dimensions of deprivation identified through a large scale household survey in Western Darfur carried …

Gender, Difference And Urban Change: Implications For Promotion Of Well-Being?, Julian Walker, Alexandre A. Frediani, Jean-Francois Trani

Brown School Faculty Publications

This article examines the impacts of urban change on the well-being of women and men, and girls and boys, living in cities, and explores how gender intersects with other social relations to differentiate these impacts. It then considers the implications of intersectionality for organisations aiming to promote the interests of specific social groups (such as women, or people with disabilities) vis-a-vis urban change by looking at the experience of Leonard Cheshire’s Asha project, working with girls and boys with disabilities in Mumbai. It concludes that organisations working to promote the interest of identity based constituents should (a) base their strategies …

The Use Of Re-Authoring To Reconcile Fundamentalist Religious Beliefs With Sexual Orientation: A Narrative Study, Karen Parker

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

A narrative qualitative research design was used to understand the journeys of three lesbians with Oneness Pentecostal backgrounds who have reconciled their religious beliefs with their sexual orientation. Three participants were selected who met the following criteria: (a) the participant is a lesbian female who (b) grew up in a Oneness Pentecostal church and (c) has reconciled being a lesbian with her religious beliefs, and who is (d) willing to discuss her outing process. These participants were interviewed. The interview questions were submitted to participants prior to the scheduled interviews. The interviews began with an open-ended inquiry. In answer to …

An Exploration Of Counseling Practicum Students' Experiences In Department-Based And Community-Based Settings, Corrie Delorge Minges

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Counselor educators are continually improving the quality of their training programs. The purpose of the present study was to investigate counseling students’ practicum experiences and development in community-based and department-based settings. The framework for this study was based on Stoltenberg’s integrated developmental model, which describes stages of counselor development and supervision conditions needed for a learning environment (Stoltenberg & Delworth, 1987; Stoltenberg & McNeill, 2010; Stoltenberg, McNeill, & Delworth, 1998)

A nation-wide study was conducted utilizing counselor education practicum students enrolled in programs listed in the CACREP program directory (2008) and Counselor Preparation: Programs, Faculty, Trends (12^th ed.; …

Coping Strategies Utilized By South Asian Survivors Of Intimate Partner Violence, Nicole Gaige, Shreya Bhandari

Explorations – The Journal of Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creativity at Wright State

This study is based upon exploring the coping strategies utilized by South Asian immigrant women who have experienced intimate partner violence. All participants are from South Asia, which includes the countries of India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Maldives and Sri Lanka.

In-depth telephone and face-to-face interviews are conducted with the participants from the Greater Cincinnati and Columbus area. Referrals for the current study are received from a South Asian organization catering to this specific ethnic population and a couple of mainstream women's organizations. So far seven in-depth interviews have been conducted. Due to the sensitive nature of the issue there are …

Mental Health Of Caribbean Women With Hiv/Aids, Donna S. Baird, Lisa D. Jones, Fayetta Martin, Edilma Yearwood

Social Work Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Lines In The Sand: Social Representations Of Substance Use Boundaries In Life Narratives, K. F. Trocki, L. O. Michalak, Laurie A. Drabble

Faculty Publications

This study identifies social representations in interviews about alcohol and substance use in the discourse of 129 young adults, who were interviewed for 2.5 to 3.5 hr each for their life histories and use or nonuse of alcoholic beverages and drugs. Respondents spontaneously delineated their substance use boundaries, creating a continuum of behaviors with boundary points separating acceptable from unacceptable behaviors. They used signaling expressions to indicate go and stop signs and movement along the substance use continuum and reported negotiating substance use boundaries both internally and with peers. A ubiquitous narrative element was the cautionary tale, in which a …

Mississippi Kids Count: Child Abuse & Neglect In Mississippi, Jeremy Bressman, Kevin Golembiewski, Abram Orlansky, Crystal Redd

Delta Directions: Publications

While the number of children subject to abuse or neglect has dropped over the past decade, it is undoubtedly the case that child abuse and neglect remains one of the most serious concerns for children in the United States. Nationwide, nearly 702,000 children (or 9.3 out of 1,000) were subject to some form of abuse in the Fiscal Year 2009, a drop from even the year before (10.3 victims per 1,000 children), and a significant drop from earlier recorded findings in 1995 (15 victims per 1,000). Still, the numbers remain alarmingly high, particularly given the dire consequences. A number of …

Sexual Sensation Seeking, Drug Use And Risky Sex Among Detained Youth, Dexter R. Voisin

Faculty Scholarship

Sexual sensation seeking has been correlated with drug use and risky sex in a number of populations. However, these relationships have had limited examination among adolescents, and to date, have not been explored among detained youth, a group with some of the highest rates of illicit drug use and STIs. To better understand these relationships we utilized A-CASI to collect data on sociodemographics, sexual sensation seeking, drug use and risky sexual behaviors among a sample of 550 detained youth. A series of multivariable regression models controlling for age, gender, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status and risky peer networks indicated that sexual sensation …

Review Of Casino Women: Courage In Unexpected Places. Susan Chandler And Jill B. Jones. Reviewed By Jennifer Zelnick, Jennifer Zelnick

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Susan Chandler & Jill B. Jones, Casino Women: Courage in Unexpected Places (2011). New York: Cornell University Press. $29.95 (hardcover).