Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Speaking Welcome: A Discursive Analysis Of An Immigrant Mentorship Event In Atlantic Canada, Kristi A. Allain, Rory Crath, Gül Çalışkan

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

This article offers an analysis of a business mentorship event in Fredericton, NB, which targeted immigrants sponsored through the New Brunswick Provincial Nominee Program (NBPNP)—an economic revitalization program designed to attract foreign business people and skilled workers to settle in the province. Applying Derrida’s concept of hospitality as a technology of whiteness, we examine the stated and implicitly understood expectations for the NBPNP, including the mechanisms at play for regulating newcomer’s behavior and comportment. We locate our analysis in the context of a regionally expressed Canadian multiculturalism, extending the relevance of our findings beyond Fredericton to Atlantic Canada. We ask: …

The 11th Annual Graduate Research Symposium 2020 Presentation Tu Dublin - An Investigation Of The Personality Traits That Could Identify Vulnerable Young People Who Will Be Susceptible To Undue Influence By Social Media Influencers (Smis), Charles Alves De Castro, Aiden Carthy Dr

Other Resources

This study aims to further the overall understanding of Social Media Influencers (SMIs) and to specifically predict who will be susceptible to influence by them. The main objective of this research relies on to determine whether there is a specific personality profile that predisposes young people to undue influence by social media influencers. Based on previous research published by the journal Frontiers in Psychology titled “The Role of Social Media Influencers in the Lives of Children and Adolescents ¹”, a list of potentially harmful content will be compiled. Participants (N=40) in phase one will then be given …

The 1st Disrupting Thinking Research Conference Presentation Tu Dublin - An Investigation Of The Personality Traits That Could Identify Vulnerable Young People Who Will Be Susceptible To Undue Influence By Social Media Influencers (Smis), Charles Alves De Castro, Aiden Carthy Dr

Other Resources

This study aims to further the overall understanding of Social Media Influencers (SMIs) and to specifically predict who will be susceptible to influence by them. The main objective of this research relies on to determine whether there is a specific personality profile that predisposes young people to undue influence by social media influencers. Based on previous research published by the journal Frontiers in Psychology titled “The Role of Social Media Influencers in the Lives of Children and Adolescents ¹”, a list of potentially harmful content will be compiled. Participants (N=40) in phase one will then be given …

Transportation Barriers For Substance Abuse And Mental Health Outpatient Treatment Programs: A Scoping Review, Joseph David Harwerth

Social Work Theses

Purpose: The purpose of this manuscript is to help identify transportation barriers and facilitators that impact treatment initiation and continuation for clients with Substance Use Disorders (SUD) and/or mental health needs seeking outpatient services. The author also documented how these barriers were operationalized and measured while seeking to understand which populations have been most impacted by transportation barriers. Methods: The author conducted a scoping review and documented all of the relevant academic literature regarding transportation barriers and facilitators for individuals seeking outpatient treatment with SUDs and/or mental health concerns. Results: The author identified 28 studies. Some marginalized groups, such as …

"My Head Was Like A Washing Machine On Spin": (Improving) Women’S Experiences Of Accessing Support, Jo Neale, Kathryn Hodges

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

This paper draws on data collected as part of two larger studies to set out the differences, according to women seeking support, between the feminist responses of the specialist women’s sector and the issues-led responses of other agencies. The first study examined the processes by which women enter, endure, and exit relationships with abusive men. The second study explored the barriers to help-seeking for those accessing a service for women involved in prostitution. Taking a feminist poststructuralist approach, the authors point to the gendered nature, both of the experiences that propel women toward help-seeking and of the responses they receive …

A Mule For The Patriarchy: Waking Up To The Harm Of Prostitution To Wives And Families, Andrea Heinz

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

I exited from commercial sexual exploitation eight years ago. Here, I share my reflections on how my actions directly impacted other women. I describe how my participation in the sex trade adversely affected the wives and girlfriends of sex buyers. I posit that sex sellers negatively impact these vicarious victims by subscribing to and endorsing “sex work” ideology. I assert that the collective good of all women is diminished by viewing sexual services as a market commodity. I stress that the collective good of all women is enhanced by assuming responsibility and compassion for one another.

Women Exiting Prostitution: Reports Of Coercive Control In Intimate Relationships, Tammy Schultz, Aimee A. Callender, Sally Schwer Canning, Jacey Collins

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

There is burgeoning research on intimate partner violence (IPV) experiences among women globally. However, there is a dearth of research on IPV experiences among marginalized populations in Western countries. Over the past decade, IPV research has shifted from a focus only on physical and sexual violence to include coercive control experiences. These include a continuum of nonviolent behaviors centered on maintaining dominance over one’s partner. However, the empirical literature on examining coercive control among women in prostitution within non-commercial intimate partners is lacking. In this study, we analyzed interviews with 17 women exiting prostitution and examined reported IPV sexual, physical, …

Seeing The Shadow Women: The Hidden Victims Of Prostitution, Donna M. Hughes

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

A group of hidden victims of prostitution has been brought to light by Ingeborg Kraus, a trauma therapist in Germany, and Andrea Heinz, a woman with experience in the sex trade in Canada. Dignity has published four articles by these two writers in the last year. Their nascent body of work is uncovering important new information and perspectives on prostitution. Through their own experience and interviews with wives of sex buyers and women with sex trade experience they show us a more holistic view of the harm of prostitution. They write about the wives and families of men who are …

Disparities In Oral Health: Socioeconomic Status And Policies To Increase Access To Primary Dental Care, Mckenzie Nutter

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Primary dental care is a patient-centered service consisting of routine dental checkups. The oral cavity is the first point of entrance to the body for many harmful pathogens. Therefore, primary dental care is essential to not only prevent and treat conditions in the mouth, but to also reduce the number of systemic diseases in the rest of the body. However, people with higher incomes or wealth have increased access to primary dental care. People with low socioeconomic status have decreased access to primary dental care, at least in part due to difficulties in paying for separate dental insurance. Disparities in …

The Effects Of Covid-19 On Domestic Violence And Immigrant Families., Abha Rai, Susan Grossman, Nathan Perkins

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

The COVID-19 pandemic has threatening implications for all individuals; and has been particularly unsettling for immigrants. Given their unique positionality in the U.S., the intersectional discussion about the impact of this pandemic on immigrants and issues of family violence is salient. The position of some groups of immigrant women is even more precarious due to the increased dependency on their spouse/partner for emotional, economic and immigration-related reasons. While immigrants have been on the frontlines as responders for COVID-19, there are limited policies that provide them with healthcare, employment guarantee, or benefits. Further, the immigration restrictions created by the U.S. Government …

Private Foundations: Keeping Themselves Rich While Giving Money Away, Jessica Leech

Social Work Theses

This paper examines the relational dynamics that maintain the imbalance between American private foundations and their grantees. Using conflict theory as a guide, the dynamics of power at play between the two entities is examined. These dynamics are analyzed through the history of philanthropy in the United States with a particular focus on the sector’s reaction to the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. Both international events led to an evolution of how many private foundations interact with grantees. A closer examination of American philanthropy’s response to the COVID-19 crisis specifically will be compared to the segment’s historical actions. …

How Peer Support Specialists Uniquely Initiate And Build Connection With Young People Experiencing Homelessness, James Erangey, Connor Marvin, Danielle Maude Littman, Meredith Mollica, Kimberly Bender, Tom Lucas, Tara Milligan

Graduate School of Social Work: Faculty Scholarship

Young people experiencing homelessness are often apprehensive to engage in conventional service systems due to prior mistreatment by providers and others in their lives, as well as stigma associated with accessing services. Even when relationships between service providers and young people are initiated, they often end prematurely. Mutual aid, or peer-to-peer support, has a long and promising history within the mental health field, yet has received little empirical attention in work with young people experiencing homelessness. The present study used participatory qualitative methods to understand how peers uniquely initiate and build connection with young people experiencing homelessness. Through interviews and …

The Resilience Of Female Survivors Of Intimate Partner Violence In Southwest Nigeria: An Interdisciplinary Analysis, Tobi F. Oloyede

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Female survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Nigeria endure harsh and traumatic experiences that affect their rights as women and their well-being. As the phenomenon of IPV persists in Nigeria, it is not only a family problem but a critical social and psychological problem. This study examined Nigerian female survivors’ hidden strength, agency, and resilience, rather than their powerlessness and vulnerability. Analysis of survey questionnaires, interviews, and secondary scholarship reveals that some Nigerian female survivors of IPV are able to cope whilst navigating stressful and traumatic experiences. The results also show that survivors’ ability to thrive and cope under …

Positive Parenting As A Moderator For Reducing Depression In Inner-City Children Exposed To Contextual Risk Factors? A Longitudinal Multilevel Analysis Of A Family-Based Intervention Program., Donghang Zhang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Depression in inner-city children is a serious social problem. Given the existing evidence supporting the links among neighborhood conditions, family functioning, parenting, and child outcome, this study expands the examination of the relationship among contextual factors and child depression from a longitudinal developmental perspective. This study also aims to examine how positive parenting as a protective factor moderates the effect of contextual risk factors on child depression in a sample of low-income, inner-city families. This present study used the secondary data from the Schools and Families Educating (SAFE) Children study (aka SAFE Children Project) with is a longitudinal panel study …

Evaluating Between The Lines: Problematizing Voice, Power, And Politics In Goal Based And Goal Free Evaluation Methods, Buba Dicko

Sustainability and Social Justice

Voice, power, organizational politics, and evaluators’ worldview are in constant flux in social program evaluation. Every social program rolls out based on assumptions on a theory of change (TOC) while every evaluation is also guided by request for evaluation proposal (RFP) operationalized through an evaluation scope of work (SOW). The TOC and evaluation RFPs are likely to carry strong undercurrents of power and politics likely to limit the choice of evaluation methods, tools, and processes due to the prescriptive and compliance-inducing tone. Social program evaluator is in constant dilemma of negotiating rigor amidst pressure of compliance and evaluator subjective worldviews. …

Supporting Survivors Coming Forward, Samanta Herrera

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

As an intern at Survivors Healing Center an issue that was identified was child sexual abuse cases are too common. The contributing factors that have a correlation to the community problem that was mentioned is denial, emotional maltreatment, and family characteristics. The consequence of the contributing factors led to depression, suicidal and a potential reacurrence of sexual abuse. The purpose of the project was to educate participants on how to support survivors who are coming forward. By educating them the expected outcome was to have some participants leaving with knowledge towards the issue. As a result of addressing the contributing …

Attendance Rates, Jamila Teal

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Absence is a normal part of childhood for kids going to school because sometimes life happens. Kids get sick, have family emergencies, the family might have to move, or lack consistent transportation to get to school. The Early Learning Program (ELP) is a non-profit organization that provides education for preschool aged children and focuses on making preschool easily accessible, primarily for low-income families. It is not uncommon for some families to take advantage of the ELP by not prioritizing taking their kids to school and getting them there on time. Now that the COVID-19 pandemic has altered the lives of …

Volunteer Engagement, Ken Townend

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

When Covid-19 hit and caused a pandemic, volunteering and not for profits in Monterey County was severely impacted. Using new application forms, surveys, and a presentation, a program was created to engage volunteers when volunteering became almost nonexistent. The presentation was the centerpiece of the engagement program. The presentation will inform volunteers how to stay engaged, learn new skills, and find gainful employment through volunteering.

Stigma Reduction Programming In Monterey County, Don Heading

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Mental illness-related stigma is a barrier to societal inclusion and productivity. With nearly one in five individuals being impacted by mental illness in the United States (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2019), there is a greater need for understanding through education to support those affected by mental illness. Stigma impacts those with mental illness in the realms of employment, housing, and incarceration. The Success Over Stigma Program located within the OMNI Resource Center in Salinas, California addresses the lack of education by offering contact-based community education delivered by those affected by mental illness. The project addressed the need …

Mental Health And Latinx Empowerment Workshop For Youth, Rachel Mejia

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Juvenile delinquency is a serious threat in at-risk cities such as Watsonville, California. Watsonville Police Activities League is a non-profit organization committed to preventing youth criminality. Poor mental health can lead to risk-taking and bad decision making in developing teens and pre-teens. The project was a week-long mental health workshop focused on advocating for the normalization of mental health and Latinx empowerment discussion among youth. The workshop took place throughout five days and reached eight middle school and high school students. The workshop focused on self care, stress management, mood disorders, self image, self esteem, and ethnic identity among other …

For Advocates, Raquel Magadan-Sanchez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The mission of the Court Appointed Special Advocates of Santa Cruz (CASA) program is to provide children in the foster care system a volunteer advocate who spends time with the child to ensure they are receiving the services they need (CASA of Santa Cruz County, 2019). The problem addressed is the high volume of foster children in Santa Cruz county and the three causes of the problem are substance abuse, poverty, and abuse and neglect. The consequences are how abuse affects a foster child’s mental health, what it means to be a dual-status youth (a child involved in the welfare …

“We Were Queens.” Listening To Kānaka Maoli Perspectives On Historical And On-Going Losses In Hawai’I, Antonia R.G. Alvarez, Val. Kanuha, Maxine K.L. Anderson, Cathy Kapua, Kris Bifulco

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study examines a historical trauma theory-informed framework to remember Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and/or māhū (LGBTQM) experiences of colonization in Hawai`i. Kānaka Maoli people and LGBTQM Kānaka Maoli face health issues disproportionately when compared with racial and ethnic minorities in Hawai’i, and to the United States as a whole. Applying learnings from historical trauma theorists, health risks are examined as social and community-level responses to colonial oppressions. Through the crossover implementation of the Historical Loss Scale (HLS), this study makes connections between historical losses survived by Kānaka Maoli and mental health. Specifically, this …

Implementing Lasting Change: Hr In The Social Service Sector, Fermin Diez, Run Qian Ng

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The Human Resources (HR) practices in any organisation can make a big difference in its ability to implement the strategic plan (Thomas, Smith & Diez, 2013). This assertion points towards an additional question: Can a whole sector of the economy increase its overall capability and capacity by improving the overall HR abilities of the organisations in the sector? The Social Service Sector in Singapore has been undergoing just such a sector-wide transformation over the past 6 years, and provides a great opportunity to analyse empirically whether a systemic approach to improve the overall HR practices of the Social Service Agencies …

Lessons Learned While Conducting Utilization-Focused Workforce Evaluation, Robert Blagg, Michelle Graef, Cynthia F. Parry, Courtney L. Harrison

Other QIC-WD Products

The QIC-WD learned many lessons while conducting utilization-focused workforce research across eight diverse public child welfare agencies. In this brief we detail how we are chronicling natural variation (e.g., stay at home orders, hiring freezes, political will, and leadership changes), synthesizing existing data, conducting process evaluation (e.g., identifying implementation drivers), visualizing data to meet diverse stakeholder information needs, and building systems that are both flexible and sustainable.

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel, Lanza Tu Pelo”: Storytelling In A Transcultural, Translanguaging Dialogic Exchange, Erin E. Flynn

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this study, we examined story circles to understand how the small‐group activity supports and shapes the storytelling of young students in multicultural, multilingual preschool classrooms. Through a representative example, we show how language development unfolds in the context of a transcultural and translanguaging dialogic exchange of stories. We describe features of increasing linguistic complexity present in students’ storytelling as they established affinity‐affirming connections over ideas, shared ways of languaging, and shared ways of storytelling. By examining changes in one student’s storytelling in the context of a mixed‐language story circle group, we offer insights into both language development and features …

Organizational Justice, Tara Myers, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is organizational justice?

Organizational justice is the extent to which an organization treats people fairly. Organizational justice includes fairness related to outcomes, procedures, and interpersonal interactions. Fair workplace outcomes and decisions (e.g., equitable/favorable pay, raise, promotion) are called distributive justice (Adams, 1965). Procedural justice means that outcomes are determined through procedures that are based on accurate information and standard ethics, represent everyone affected by the procedure, include opportunity for input and appeal, are free from bias, and are used consistently (Leventhal, 1980; Thibaut & Walker, 1975). Interactional justice refers to people feeling they were treated with dignity and respect …

Environmental Justice Organizing In A Gentrifying Community: Navigating Dilemmas Of Representation, Issue Selection, And Recruitment, Amy Krings, Colette Copic

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

Environmental justice organizations aim to secure an equitable distribution of environmental resources through the participation and self-determination of affected people, particularly communities of color. Yet organizing in a market economy is complicated: As communities become greener, gentrification can follow, thereby inadvertently displacing low-income communities of color and reproducing environmental injustices. This study informs antiracist community practice methods by examining strategic and ethical dilemmas embedded within an environmental justice organization that is located in a gentrifying Mexican American neighborhood in Chicago. Drawing from interviews, we examine members’ perceptions relating to representation, recruitment, and issue selection. We reveal key considerations for community …

Historical Trauma Response Scores As A Function Of Unresolved Grief And Substance Use Disorder In American Indian Populations, Andrew R. Saunders

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Abstract

Researchers are interested in the outcomes of interventions, specifically, measuring historical trauma (HT) among American Indian/Alaska Native communities and the long-term distress and substance abuse as a result of historical trauma response (HTR). Previous literature has implicated limitations in the clinical conceptualization of the relationship between intergenerational transfer of HTR and substance abuse. The aim of the current study is to examine treatment efficacy of 50 homosexual, American Indian males randomized to a culturally-adapted juxtaposition of (1) Group Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT), (2) Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), and (3) Historical Trauma and Unresolved Grief Intervention (HTUG), or (4) waitlisted on …

Time-Resolved In Situ Visualization Of The Structural Response Of Zeolites During Catalysis, Jinback Kang, Jerome Carnis, Dongjin Kim, Myungwoo Chung, Jaeseung Kim, Kyuseok Yun, Gukil An, Wonsuk Cha, Ross Harder, Sanghoon Song, Marcin Sikorski, Aymeric Robert, Nguyen Huu Thanh, Heeju Lee, Yong Nam Choi, Xiaojing Huang, Yong S. Chu, Jesse N. Clark, Mee Kyung Song, Kyung Byung Yoon, Ian K. Robinson, Hyunjung Kim

Faculty and Staff Publications

Zeolites are three-dimensional aluminosilicates having unique properties from the size and connectivity of their sub-nanometer pores, the Si/Al ratio of the anionic framework, and the charge-balancing cations. The inhomogeneous distribution of the cations affects their catalytic performances because it influences the intra-crystalline diffusion rates of the reactants and products. However, the structural deformation regarding inhomogeneous active regions during the catalysis is not yet observed by conventional analytical tools. Here we employ in situ X-ray free electron laser-based time-resolved coherent X-ray diffraction imaging to investigate the internal deformations originating from the inhomogeneous Cu ion distributions in Cu-exchanged ZSM-5 zeolite crystals during …

4 Paws For Ability, Kathleen Schumacher

Content presented at the Roesch Social Sciences Symposium

4 paws is a nonprofit organization that trains and places service dogs with children to increase the independence of the child and assist the families.

Why Does This Work Matter? Without volunteers, 4 Paws would be unable to operate as an organization. Kids like the boy to the left who at the age of three was diagnosed with autism and struggles with communication, anxiety, and wandering off would not be able to seek comfort in a service dog.