Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Concept Of Hope In Social Work Practice And Education, Wayne Luebbert

Theses and Graduate Projects

The concept of hope has been and continues to be part of the research literature in many human service fields, such as medicine, psychology and nursing. The research on hope in these fields has shown that its presence can have multiple benefits for persons in differing forms of distress. However, any discussion on hope has been conspicuously absent from most social work literature for almost forty years. This qualitative study has been designed to begin a begin a discussion on the role of hope in social work practice and education. Seven social workers were interviewed on their understanding of hope, …

Risk And Resilience Factors Linked To Problem Behavior Among Urban Culturally Diverse Adolescents, Stephanie L. Crosby

Theses and Graduate Projects

This study examined several risk and resilience factors associated with sexual intercourse, gang involvement, and alcohol and drug use among 332 urban culturally diverse adolescents aged 12-16 years. In general different patterns of risk and resilience factors were found to predict the three problem behaviors. Delinquency was the only factor that was significantly linked to sexual intercourse, gang involvement, and substance use.

Discriminant analyses supported that delinquency was differentially associated with low problem vs. high problem urban adolescents. In addition when compared to the high problem urban youth the resilient youth tended to have higher academic competence and intact two …

Quality Of Life And Panic Disorder, Rebecca J. Wyatt Kinnander

Theses and Graduate Projects

Panic disorder has been associated with pervasive social and health consequences similar to or greater than those associated with major depression. Studies have been found that support findings concerning diminished quality of life for persons currently being treated, or shortly after treatment for anxiety disorders, but little is said in regards to quality of life (QOL) in years that follow treatment. This research project attempts to ascertain if there is a difference between the findings of previous studies with this more recent examination of QOL in panic disorder patients. Furthermore, implications for practice show use of quality of life assessment …

Parent Satisfaction With A Supervised Visitation Program, Mary K. Rose

Theses and Graduate Projects

Supervised visitation is contact between a non-custodial parent and one or more children under the supervision of a third party. The need for supervised visitation is great. Clients in these programs are often court ordered and are therefore involuntary. The goal of this study was to at one particular program in Hennepin County in Minnesota from the user’s perspective. A survey was distributed to 46 adult clients: twenty-three of the subjects were custodial parents and twenty-three were non-custodial parents. The items on the survey both qualitative and quantitative. The response rate was poor. Only 15.22%of the surveys were returned. However, …

Social Support Of Sudanese Refugees In Anoka County, Minnesota, Leslie Kay Anderson

Theses and Graduate Projects

Using a qualitative research design, this study reports findings from interviews with five Sudanese refugees regarding sources of social support available to them in Anoka County, Minnesota. The potential sources of support explored were family and relatives; Sudanese and other African friends; American friends; and American Sponsors and social service agencies. Themes of culture shock and differences between support in Sudan and support in the United States emerged. Implications for social work practice and research are discussed.

Parent Involvement Within An Inner-City School: Perspectives Of Parents And Educators, Lisa Zurek

Theses and Graduate Projects

This exploratory qualitative study was executed to expand the knowledge of the issues surrounding parent involvement within an inner-city school. Educators from Tuttle Elementary School responded to qualitative interview guide questions. Parents in focus groups answered questions from a guide. Factors surrounding parent involvement such as the reasons why parents chose to be involved in their child's education or not via the perception of educators and parents were emphasized in the interviews and focus groups. It was found that there are various aspects that effect whether a parent is involved in their child's education include transportation, day care, and work …

Family Group Conferencing In Child Welfare: Lessons From A Demonstration Project, Yvonne Unrau

Social Work Faculty Publications

A child-welfare family group conferencing (FGC) project that served families who were referred for child abuse, neglect, and/or abandonment issues is reported. The stages and mechanisms used to implement the family group conferences are described, and the conferencing processes and outcomes are presented.

Assets And The Poor: Evidence From Individual Development Accounts, Mark Schreiner, Michael Sherraden, Margaret Clancy, Lissa Johnson, Jami Curley, Min Zhan, Sondra Beverly, Michal Grinstein-Weiss

Center for Social Development Research

Assets and the Poor: Evidence From Individual Development Accounts

Family Matters: Kin Networks And Asset Accumulation, Ngina Chiteji, Darrick Hamilton

Center for Social Development Research

Family Matters: Kin Networks and Asset Accumulation

Who Are The Asset Poor? Levels, Trends, And Composition, 1983-1998, Robert Haveman, Edward N. Wolff

Center for Social Development Research

Who Are the Asset Poor? Levels, Trends, and Composition, 1983-1998

Saving Patterns In Ida Programs, Michael Sherraden, Lissa Johnson, Margaret Clancy, Sondra Beverly, Mark Schreiner, Min Zhan, Jami Curley

Center for Social Development Research

Saving Patterns in IDA Programs

Use Of Financial Services And The Poor, Jeanne M. Hogarth, Jinkook Lee

Center for Social Development Research

This paper was commissioned for Inclusion in Asset Building: Research and Policy Symposium, an event hosted in September 2000 by the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis. The paper presents results from an analysis using data from the 1998 Survey of Consumer Finances to explore several aspects of the financial relationships of low-income households. The analyses looked at an updated profile of low-income and poor households, their financial portfolios, their attachment to the mainstream financial sector, and their use of various types of financial institutions. The findings suggest ways to move low-income households into the financial …

Saving And Asset-Accumulation Strategies Used By Low-Income Individuals, Amanda Moore Mcbride, Sondra Beverly, Michael Sherraden, Margaret Sherraden, Lissa Johnson, Mark Schreiner

Center for Social Development Research

This paper presents quantitative and qualitative data regarding the saving and asset-accumulation strategies used by low-income participants in Individual Development Account programs(IDAs). the results of a cross-sectional survey with 298 IDA participants and case studies with 15 IDA participants—the first methods that assessed saving behavior among this population—demonstrate that low-income individuals use psychological and behavioral strategies to save, deposit, and maintain assets. the most frequentlyused strategies are behavioral saving strategiesfor increasing the efficiency of spending (e.g., shopping more carefully for food) and for reducing consumption (e.g., spending less on leisure). Qualitative results indicate that individuals also use goals and mental …

Going To Scale: Principles And Policy Options For An Inclusive Asset-Building Policy, Robert Friedman, Ray Boshara

Center for Social Development Research

Going to Scale: Principles and Policy Options for an Inclusive Asset-Building Policy

Historical Analysis Of African Immigrants With Specific Reference To Ethiopia: Their Cultural Adaptation, Resiliency And Implication For Social Work Practice, Haregewoin Tsegaye

Theses and Graduate Projects

Because of political unrest, civil wars, and economic problems in Africa, the number of African immigrants entering the United States since 1960 has greatly escalated. Beginning in 1914, for example, when junior military officers overthrew Emperor Haile Selassie's Government up to 1991, a year in which a new group took over power and introduced the administration of the country based on ethnic lines to the present time, thousands of Ethiopians fled their country to escape execution, torture, and arbitrary arrest. Although those Ethiopians who did so managed to avoid political and economic sufferings at home, the new way of life …

Assets As A Measure Of Household Welfare In Developing Countries, David E. Sahn, David Stifel

Center for Social Development Research

This paper was commissioned for Inclusion in Asset Building: Research and Policy Symposium, an event hosted in September 2000 by the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis. The paper identifies and explores the use of an asset-based metric of welfare. The metric relies on assets data that are easy to collect and analyze. The authors demonstrate that the asset index functions well in identifying and profiling the poor, in targeting transfers, and even in estimating demand or production functions for outcomes that are useful for designing programs and policy.

Listening To African-American Students: An Exploratory Analysis Of Factors That Foster Academic Success, Julie Miller-Cribbs, Larry Davis, Stephanie Cronen, Sharon Johnson

Center for Social Development Research

This exploratory study assessed African-American freshman and sophomore students’ decisions to remain in school and their opinions regarding specific dropout prevention programs. Results indicated that students believed that school completion would prepare them for the future. the opinion of family members was consistently ranked as most important in supporting students' decisions to remain in school, and the primary barriers to completing school were related to family issues, academic problems and personal issues. Overall, students were most interested in intervention programs having to do with preparation for their futures—jobs and goals. The importance of tailoring education to meet the needs of …

The Universal Piggy Bank: Designing And Implementing A System Of Savings Accounts For Children, Fred T. Goldberg Jr., Jodi Birk Cohen

Center for Social Development Research

The Universal Piggy Bank: Designing and Implementing a System of Savings Accounts for Children

Linking Tax Refunds And Low-Cost Bank Accounts, Sondra G. Beverly, Jennifer Tescher, David Marzahl

Center for Social Development Research

This paper was commissioned for Inclusion in Asset Building: Research and Policy Symposium, an event hosted in September 2000 by the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis. A version was subsequently developed for publication in Inclusion in the American Dream: Assets, Poverty, and Public Policy (Oxford University Press, 2005). The papert presents findings from an evaluation of the Extra Credit Savings Program (ECSP). Piloted in Chicago by ShoreBank and the Center for Law and Human Services, the program was designed to connect unbanked households to mainstream financial services and to facilitate ongoing asset accumulation in low-income …

Assets, Race, And Educational Choices, Tom Shapiro, Heather Beth Johnson

Center for Social Development Research

Assets, Race, and Educational Choices

The Impacts Of Ida Programs On Family Savings And Asset-Holdings, Michael Stegman, Robert Faris, Oswaldo Urdapilleta Gonzales

Center for Social Development Research

This paper was commissioned for Inclusion in Asset Building: Research and Policy Symposium, an event hosted in September 2000 by the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis. A version was subsequently developed for publication in Inclusion in the American Dream: Assets, Poverty, and Public Policy (Oxford University Press, 2005). This paper supplements research on the national Individual Development Account (IDA) pilot known as the Downpayment on the American Dream Demonstration (ADD). Its subject is the financial impact of ADD on the net savings and assets of program participants, and it examines what ADD participants would have …

Homeownership And Youth Well-Being: An Empirical Test Of Asset-Based Welfare, Edward Scanlon, Deborah Page-Adams

Center for Social Development Research

Homeownership and Youth Well-Being: An Empirical Test of Asset-Based Welfare

Toward Progressive Pensions: A Summary Of The U.S. Pension System And Proposals For Reform, Peter Orszag, Robert Greenstein

Center for Social Development Research

Toward Progressive Pensions: A Summary of the U.S. Pension System and Proposals for Reform

Productive Engagement Of Older Adults: Effects On Well-Being, Nancy Morrow-Howell

Center for Social Development Research

Productive Engagement of Older Adults: Effects on Well-Being

High School Students' Perception Of Developmental Assets, A Gender Comparison, Delia Vandyke

Theses and Graduate Projects

This quantitative study explores the findings from a local study using an instrument developed by the Search Institute: "Profiles of Student Life: Attitudes and Behaviors. This 156-item anonymous survey was administered to 203 suburban high school students who are receiving alternative or non-traditional educational services. The research measures developmental assets, risk, and protective factors and includes a gender comparison. The findings from the survey are compared against a national sample of 24,740 students in 11th and 12th grade. The research is relevant to social workers who want to know how this adolescent population spends their time, what are their perceptions …

Probation Officers Reporting Of Mental Disorders And Treatment Among Juveniles In Ramsey County, Theresa A. Pease

Theses and Graduate Projects

A descriptive research study focusing on the mental health services available to juveniles in the juvenile justice system who have mental health diagnoses. Ramsey county juvenile probation officers were surveyed to provide information regarding this population.

Juveniles in the juvenile justice system have been identified as having a high incident of mental health disorders and are a population in great need. The goal of the study was to answer several questions related to the number of youth with mental disorders in a metropolitan juvenile justice system. The information was collected using a short survey distributed to the county's 44 juvenile …

The Mandate To Report Child Abuse And The Clergy Privilege Of Confidentially: How Are These Understood?, Brant Moore Thomsen

Theses and Graduate Projects

While clergy in Minnesota are mandated to report child abuse, they are also mandated to keep information confidential. While many studies have been completed looking at the behavior of mandated reporters, and many others have been completed looking at the ethical issues faced by the clergy who experience this dual mandate, little research has brought the two together. This qualitative study explored the perceptions of child protection workers in Dakota County in Minnesota, and pastors in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America who serve congregation in Dakota County.

The findings show that within each group there are a variety of …

The Twin Cities Hospice Movement, David A. Larson

Theses and Graduate Projects

This historical study analyzed information about the development of hospice from ancient times to the modern hospice movement. In this study special attention is given to the modern hospice movement, which began in Britain in 1967, and began in the United States in 1974. The purpose of this historical study was to explore and discuss the development of hospice programs Twin Cities, MN, as compared to the hospice movement on a national level.

The study will describe the local hospice movement as seen through the experiences of three local death and dying activists. Throughout the study, the social ideals behind …

Surveying Parents Perceptions Of Wraparound Services In A Special Education Setting, Brenda Chapman

Theses and Graduate Projects

This study was developed and implemented to gain a better understanding of parent and caregiver perceptions on the influence of the wraparound programming in special education process. This project was completed at a Level V, special education program, located in a suburb of a large metropolitan area, which provides services using the wraparound philosophy and funding. Traditional services have not focused on addressing parents views in the change process (VanDenBerg, 1996). Seeking parent and caregiver perceptions provides the opportunity for them to voice concerns and provide input into the change process. A questionnaire was developed and used to examine parent …

A Family Resource Center's Impact On Community Connection And Social Support, Cathy A. Mumm

Theses and Graduate Projects

The purpose of this study was to identify the perceived needs of participants at the Rosemount Family Resource Center as well as to explore if the family resource center was making an impact in the participant's level of social support and connection to the community. The hope was to have a clearer idea of what the participants need and to meet those needs through services and programs offered at the family resource center. One of the goals of the family resource center is to create a community where its residents feel supported and take that feeling of support back to …