Social Work Commons^™

Reluctant To Report: The Mandated Reporting Practices Of Child Care Providers, Aileen Mckenna

Dissertations

Child care providers spend far more time with children under age 3, the most likely to suffer severe and fatal abuse and neglect, than any other mandated reporter. Their close relationship with both the child and the family places them in a unique position to observe signs and suspicions of abuse or neglect and to make timely reports to Child Protective Services (CPS). Yet despite this, child care providers rank last among mandated reporters in both reporting suspicions of abuse and neglect and in actual substantiated reports. Only a handful of studies have looked specifically at the decision-making practices of …

Best Practice In Working With The Somali Population, Ilhan Duale

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Since the early 1990s, the state of Minnesota has had an unprecedented increase in refugees from Somalia. These individuals have emigrated from a war-zone country and arrived in the United States with a range of trauma-related injuries and mental health issues. As a result, Somali individuals and families who have migrated to the United States will require physical and mental health support. There is, however, a lack of research on effective interventions with Somali individuals and families. With the stigma that surrounds mental health and negative cultural views of mental health in the Somali population, practitioners at Comunidades Latinas Unidas …

Natural Connections: A Recommendation To Implement An Animal Assisted Therapy (Aat) Program Within The Shakopee Mdewakantonsioux Community, Heidi Simon

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Currently the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community does not have an Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) program. The purpose of this project was to research AAT programs that exist in First Nation Communities. The ultimate goal was to present evidence to support the implementation of a culturally based AAT program into the current mental health model within the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community. The Animal Assisted Therapeutic Learning (ATTL) program would incorporate traditional beliefs with contemporary ways of life in regard to healing and mental health.

Diversity Within Bachelor Of Social Work Programs: Perspectives And Interventions, Brian Warner

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Diversity is a term that has become increasingly relevant in the field of social work. Perhaps there is no other sector of the social work profession where diversity is more relevant than in higher education. With the ever changing ethnic and racial make-up of the United States, it is imperative that social work educators are able to convey the differences and/or challenges that working with diverse individuals will present. One of the easiest and most direct ways for this to occur is for the student body itself to be diverse. Yet, many social work programs have remained ethnically and racially …

The Power Of Service Work: Developing A Consumer Volunteer Program For The House Of Hope, Inc., Darcy Wennes

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

House of Hope, Inc. (HOH) is a rural residential chemical dependency treatment center serving adults over the age of 18. HOH is a non-profit non-sectarian agency. Many clients at HOH have a dual diagnosis of chemical dependency and mental illness. Consumers at HOH are encouraged to volunteer, but are given limited support to do so. They have several hours in their day where there is no programming, and many consumers feel bored and unproductive. The literature suggests that there is a relationship between volunteer work carried out by consumers and their personal feelings of empowerment (Cohen, 2009) . Consumers’ feelings …

Mechanisms Linking Violence Exposure And School Engagement Among African American Adolescents: Examining The Roles Of Psychological Problem Behaviors And Gender, Dexter R. Voisin

Faculty Scholarship

This study examines whether the relationship between violence exposure and school engagement is mediated by psychological problem behaviors and whether such relationships are gendered. Five hundred and sixty-three high school African American adolescents (ages 13-19 years) completed questionnaires that assessed two types of violence exposure (community violence and marital conflict), psychological problem behaviors (e.g., posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, anxiety, withdrawal, and aggressive behaviors), and school engagement (i.e., student-teacher connectedness and grade point average [GPA] obtained from school records). For male adolescents, psychological problem behaviors collectively mediated the relationship between community violence exposure and student-teacher connectedness. For female adolescents, both community …

Analogous Mechanisms Of Resistance To Benzothiazinones And Dinitrobenzamides In Mycobacterium Smegmatis, Ana Luisa Ribeiro, Giulia Degiacomi, Fanny Ewann, Silvia Buroni, Maria Loreto Incandela, Laurent R. Chiarelli, Giorgia Mori, Jaeseung Kim, Monica Contreras-Dominguez, Young-Sam Park, Sung-Jun Han, Priscille Brodin, Giovanna Valentini, Menico Rizzi, Giovanna Riccardi, Maria Rosalia Pasca

Faculty and Staff Publications

Tuberculosis is still a leading cause of death worldwide. The selection and spread of Mycobacterium tuberculosis multidrug-resistant (MDR-TB) and extensively drug-resistant strains (XDR-TB) is a severe public health problem. Recently, two different classes of chemical series, the benzothiazinones (BTZ) and the dinitrobenzamide (DNB) derivatives have been found to be highly active against M. tuberculosis, including XDR-TB strains. The target of BTZs is DprE1 protein which works in concert with DprE2 to form the heteromeric decaprenylphosphoryl-β-D-ribose 2'-epimerase, involved in Decaprenyl-Phospho-Arabinose (DPA) biosynthesis. Interestingly, it has been shown that the DNBs block the same pathway thus suggesting that both drugs could share …

Caregiver Attitude, As Expressed Verbally In A Group Setting, And Its Association With Children's Attachment Security, Erin Wallace Lovett

LSU Master's Theses

Abstract The purpose of this study was to explore whether or not mothers’ attitudes, as expressed verbally in a group setting, were associated with the attachment style of the child and the insightfulness of the mother. The Circle of Security (CoS) was used as a 27 week group intervention for mothers who had become clients of a child welfare agency. Pre- and post test ratings were obtained for children’s attachment security and mothers’ insightful understanding of their children, using the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) and the Insightfulness Assessment (IA), respectively. This study created scales for both Warmth/Empathy and Concern/Worry to …

An Examination Of Post-Secondary Education Access, Retentionand Success Of Foster Care Youth, Angelique Day

Dissertations

Changes in the U.S. economy have made the attainment of a higher education credential more important than ever to ensure self-sufficiency. Therefore, it is critical that the child welfare, K-12, and higher education systems encourage and support the postsecondary educational aspirations of court wards. When the state makes the decision to remove a child from his/her biological home, it bears the responsibility to provide the educational guidance as well as assistance otherwise provided by families during the transition from high school to college.

This dissertation explores the educational outcomes of older youth in care by first looking at the perceptions …

Living With Bipolar Disorder: A Qualitative Investigation, Richard P. Freedberg

Dissertations

The specific aims of this study were to gain a broader understanding of the lived experience of adults with bipolar disorder and to explore how people diagnosed with bipolar disorder used cognitively, affectively, and spiritually oriented strategies to cope with life stressors and circumstances. The cognitive domain in this investigation was defined as those activities related to how one knows, thinks, or perceives phenomena in a way distinct from emotion. The affective domain referred to the feelings and emotions associated with phenomena that are distinct from cognitive reasoning or knowledge. The spiritual domain was defined as values, attitudes, and beliefs …

The Role Of Evaluations In Community Foundations, Brad R. Watts

Dissertations

Each year, U.S. community foundations are responsible for billions of dollars in philanthropy, yet the outcomes associated with these efforts often remain unknown. Previous research supports the importance of evaluating philanthropic activities and shows that community foundations express a strong interest in evaluation; however, the limited available evidence suggests that evaluation practice is still not widespread.

This study reports the findings from a national survey of community foundations on evaluation practice. The findings indicate that a substantial share of community foundations do not formally evaluate the outcomes of their philanthropic work. Additionally, although previous research has suggested that community foundation …

School-Based Juvenile Probation And Police Partnerships For Truancy Reduction, Leanne F. Alarid, Barbara A. Sims, James Ruiz

Contemporary Issues in Juvenile Justice

Truancy places students at risk in primary and secondary education and is linked to conduct disorder, drug use, and delinquency. To prevent truancy and reduce risk, school-based proba-tion supervision has emerged within school districts in partnership with local law enforcement officers in an effort to enforce probation conditions for truant youths and prevent future delin-quency. This research uses key information interviews of knowledgeable stakeholders to examine the delivery of school-based probation supervision. Home visits and court hearings were perceived to be effective at reducing truancy and tardiness. This study affirms that strong lead-ership, information sharing, and involvement of parents were …

Incarcerated Motherhood, Duchess Harris Phd, Jd

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.

The Times-Picayune Coverage Of Three Incidents Resulting In Capital Trials, Sean Seosop Muggivan

LSU Master's Theses

Death penalty cases are truly the most unique cases in the criminal justice system. Much research has been done showing that the death qualification process venripersons must undergo results in jurors un-empathetic to the kind of information used to mitigate the death penalty, as well as creating a jury that is more susceptible to pretrial publicity. This study reviews this research and analyzes the content of a New Orleans’ newspaper’s coverage of three incidents resulting in capital trials. It was found that, similar to a study done in California that was the model for this study’s content analysis, the newspaper …

Children Who Die Of Abuse: An Examination Of The Effects Of Perpetrator Characteristics On Fatal Versus Non-Fatal Child Abuse, Donald L. Dixon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Approximately 2000 children die annually in the United States from abuse and neglect, but the interplay of factors such as perpetrator characteristics and family composition which place these children at risk have not been wellestablished. The review of the literature focuses on the correlation between child deaths resulting from abuse and perpetrator characteristics most associated with these deaths. Characteristics such as the perpetrator’s age, race/ethnicity, gender, alcohol and substance use/abuse and/or sale, and prior history of abuse are among those examined. Additionally, these factors are examined within ecological and risk and protective factor theoretical frameworks. It is argued that further …

The Mediating Role Of Social Support And Fulfillment Of Spiritual Needs In End Of Life Care, Kimberley A. Gryglewicz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

End of life (EOL) caregiving can be a daunting and challenging endeavor as caregivers adjust to the ever-changing care demands associated with dying. Increased personal care, assisting with symptom and medication management, and attending to the emotional and spiritual needs of the dying person require caregivers to learn new tasks and to assume new roles such as social worker, nurse, and chaplain. As families continue to play an essential role in meeting the health care needs of their dying loved ones, it is imperative for social workers to understand the complexities of the end of life caregiving experience in order …

Social Work Students' Attitudes Toward Teenage Pregnancy Prevention: The Importance Of Religiosity And Feminist Ideology, Pilar Thompson Borne

LSU Master's Theses

Effective teenage pregnancy prevention is a topic of debate in current literature. Religiosity is frequently examined in the research, and studies typically assess associations between behavior patterns and level of religiosity. Feminist ideology is another theme found in the teenage pregnancy prevention literature that mainly examines how feminist perspectives contribute to effective prevention approaches. The current study examined the interrelationships among religiosity, feminist ideology and attitudes toward teenage pregnancy prevention. A self-report survey instrument was used to collect data from 69 MSW students, a sample surveyed for the first with the current study. A significant positive correlation was found between …

Psychometric Evaluation Of A Proposed, Alzheimer's Aggression Scale, Kristina Little

LSU Master's Theses

Aggressive behavior is a common symptom of mid- to late-stage Alzheimer’s disease, causing unique challenges for caregivers and healthcare professionals. In previous research, aggressive behavior related to dementia was linked to higher caregiver distress and burden. The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of an aggressive behavior subscale of the Revised Memory and Behavior Problem Checklist (RMBPC) among Alzheimer’s disease caregivers. The subscale measures the frequency of aggressive behavior and the caregiver’s reaction. The sample consisted of 419 caregivers reporting some frequency of aggressive behavior by the care recipient. Exploratory factor analysis was favorable. Convergent validity …

Social Impact, Edward F. Lawler, Ellen Rostand, Julie Kennedy, Jessica Martin, Toky Branding + Design, Dan Page

Social Impact Publication

No abstract provided.

Social Impact, Edward F. Lawler, Keith Negley, Ellen Rostand, Julie Kennedy, Toky Branding + Design, Jessica Martin

Social Impact Publication

From the Dean: It's a "Go-Go" Place;

Perspectives: Michael Sherraden: Policy Innovator: The Key to Our Children's Future;

Interview: Q&A with Robert Joiner;

Bookshelf: Latina Suicide;

Bookshelf: A Mini MPH;

The Rise of the Social Entrepreneur: A new social work specialization arms socially minded entrepreneurs and creates an evidence base for an exploding field.;

Scaling Up Abroad: As demand for international service opportunities grows, academic and policy leaders determine how to expand availability and measure impact.;

Tip of the Iceberg: The Affordable Care Act's sweeping changes are already reshaping America's health care, and there is so much more to go …