Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Introduction To Workforce Metrics, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

It is important for Human Resources (HR) and child welfare leaders to start with a question-based mindset when analyzing workforce data (i.e., being thoughtful about what you and/or your stakeholders want to know), but it is also important to leave room to explore the data as well. This can only be accomplished if you know what is possible. This blog post describes some of what is possible to explore within the realm of workforce metrics as they relate to employee well-being, performance, and retention. In many ways, the concept of workforce metrics is still in its infancy and many things …

Introduction To Workforce Metrics, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development (Qic-Wd)

Other QIC-WD Products

It is important for Human Resources (HR) and child welfare leaders to start with a question-based mindset when analyzing workforce data (i.e., being thoughtful about what you and/or your stakeholders want to know), but it is also important to leave room to explore the data as well. This can only be accomplished if you know what is possible. This blog post describes some of what is possible to explore within the realm of workforce metrics as they relate to employee well-being, performance, and retention.

In many ways, the concept of workforce metrics is still in its infancy and many things …

Thriving, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is thriving?

Thriving is defined as “a positive psychological state in which individuals experience both a sense of vitality and a sense of learning at work” (Spreitzer, Sutcliffe, Dutton, Sonenshein, & Grant, 2005, p. 538). Vitality refers to feeling energized, and learning is about experiencing personal growth and development (Spreitzer et al., 2005). The most popular measure of thriving includes ten items, with instructions to think about the questions in relation to work (Porath, Spreitzer, Gibson, & Garnett, 2012). Examples of vitality items include, “I have energy and spirit” and “I feel alive and vital,” and examples of learning …

Electronic Voluntarism Is A Means To Reinforce Voluntary Work, Emad Nazal

Journal of the Arab American University مجلة الجامعة العربية الامريكية للبحوث

This study examines the concept of E-volunteerism via the modes of information network, as it is a new term in the field of voluntary work and its diverse domains. The study discusses this new practice in terms of meanings and relevance to the scientific progress as well as the current global and technological revolution, particularly the great development in information network (Internet). To achieve this, the study adopted the inductive method and the content analysis of the various related texts. This study also sheds light on the ways people approach E- volunteerism, and devises methods for indi-viduals/groups/institutions to take advantage …

Fostering Success Through Coaching: Perspectives Of Help Seeking Within A Coaching Relationship With Post-Secondary Students From Foster Care, Jamie L. Bennett

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Coaching, a humanistic approach to growth, has recently been utilized on college campuses as an alternative to standard student service strategies to address the needs of students from foster care. For this dissertation, I have collected interview data from four coaches and five college students who had spent time in the foster care system to explore the perceptions of help-seeking behaviors and coaching within a campus-based university program. The goal was to understand the role of coaching in the students’ help-seeking behaviors. The theories of self-determination and survivalist self-reliance were used to conceptualize my literature review, research design, and data …

Domestic Violence In Immigrant Communities: Breaking The Cycle, Ferzana Chaze, Bethany Osborne, Archana Medhekar, Purnima George

Dissemination Event

Dr. Ferzana Chaze and Dr. Bethany Osborne, and their fellow authors family lawyer Archana Medhekar, and Dr. Purnima George, Ryerson University discuss their recently published book Domestic Violence in Immigrant Communities: Case Studies. This book opens up an important conversation about the impact of domestic violence within immigrant communities and seeks solutions for how the social service and justice sectors can work more effectively to support vulnerable immigrant women and their families.

In this webinar they are joined by an exciting panel of experts, to discuss the importance and relevance of the topic, and possible next steps in breaking the …

United States Police & Society Reform, Madisen Sterner

English Department: Research for Change - Wicked Problems in Our World

For many years, people of color have had an unsteady relationship with police departments and law enforcement due to police misconduct, use of force, and police brutality. We’ve had many of the same conversations over and over again about what we can do to bring upon change within our departments, but no true, consistent action has been taken. In this paper we discuss multiple solutions to help address the issue of police misconduct, the need for police and society reform, and ways we can work towards mending the relationship between citizens and our police departments. In today’s society, change is …

Breaking The Cycle: Interrupting Generational Incarceration In Maine, Jillian Foley Mppm, Erica King Msw, Casey Benner

Justice Policy

Parental incarceration is a known Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) which affects a large number of children nationwide. Research shows that children who experience parental incarceration are more at risk for trauma, mental health problems, and juvenile justice system involvement. The goal of this report was to further our understanding of the scale of parental incarceration and the impact on the children in Maine. This report provides a snapshot of the number of children who were impacted by parental incarceration in the state system over a 5-year period (2015-2020). The findings show that for the majority of these parents, there is …

Queerview: Protocol For A Technology-Mediated Qualitative Photo Elicitation Study With Sexual And Gender Minority Youth In Ontario, Canada, Shelley L. Craig, Andrew D. Eaton, Rachael Pascoe, Egag Egag, Lauren B. Mcinroy, Lin Fang, Ashley Austin, Michael P. Dentato Phd, Msw

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

Background:The experiences of resilience and intersectionality in the lives of contemporary sexual and gender minority youth (SGMY) are important to explore. SGMY face unique experiences of discrimination in both online and offline environments, yet simultaneously build community and seek support in innovative ways. SGMY who identify as transgender, trans, or gender nonconforming and have experiences with child welfare, homelessness, or immigration have been particularly understudied. A qualitative exploration that leverages technology may derive new understanding of the negotiations of risk, resilience, and identity intersections that impact the well-being of vulnerable SGMY.

Objective:The objectives of the QueerVIEW study were to (1) …

Financial Capability And Asset Building In Social And Economic Development: Advancing The Sustainable Development Goals, David Ansong, Moses Okumu, Jin Huang`, Margaret S. Sherraden, Lissa Johnson, Li Zou

Center for Social Development Research

The concern for economic well-being undergirds most of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This Perspective articulates an agenda for advancing those goals in resource-constrained countries by leveraging financial capability and asset-building (FCAB) strategies. It also specifies a role for financial technology (commonly called “FinTech”) in this work. The authors conclude with a call for better integrating FCAB and FinTech into plans for advancing the SDGs.

Recovery From Relinquishment: Forgiving My Birth Mother. My Journey From 1954 To Today, Christian L. Anderson

The Qualitative Report

Adoptees carry the burden of shame for being “given up, abandoned, unwanted, not right,” and birth mothers carry the weight of shame for succumbing to external pressure to relinquish their children. There is ample literature addressing recovery for both adoptees and birth mothers (Buterbaugh & Soll, 2003; Franklin, 2019; Lanier, 2020; Soll, 2005, 2013, 2014); however, there is little recognition of the co-shame and need for forgiveness. Utilizing autoethnographic methodology, I discuss the issues of misogyny prevalent in the 1950s, the “Baby Scoop Era [BSE],” and my ongoing process of forgiving my birth mother after five decades of rage. This …

Picturing Forgotten Filipinx: Family Photographs And Resisting U.S. Colonial Amnesias, Stevie Cadiz, Alma M.O. Trinidad

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

U.S. imperialism in the Philippines has led to the multiple generations of diasporic conditions of colonial amnesia and systematic forgetting of history. Its impact on the Filipinx community has left unrecorded memories and voices of immigrants silenced, and considered lost to history. This study examines the relationship between U.S. colonialism and imperialism in the Philippines and the experiences of Filipinx immigration to the U.S. through a critical Indigenous feminist lens of visual imagery and storytelling. Given that many of the experiences within the Filipinx diaspora in relation to the American Empire have been systematically forgotten and erased, this study utilizes …

Public Housing With Services For Older Adults With Developmental Disabilities: Differences In Efficacy Among Asian And White Communities, Junghee Lee, William Donlan, Paula C. Carder, Leigh Grover, Insik Hwang, Younghwan Kim, Gretchen Luhr

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study examined the efficacy of a culturally responsive housing with services model for Asian-American older adults and persons with developmental disabilities separately, and with both for an interaction effect. Study participants, including 278 Whites and 75 Asian Americans, lived in 10 properties of public housing with services in Portland, OR. All Asian-American participants (except four) were immigrants from China, Korea, and Vietnam, and were well connected through community-based health and social services that were delivered onsite and at a nearby center by staff members who were also immigrants from these three countries. Asian-American participants were older, very poor, with …

Human Rights And Social, Economic, & Environmental Justice: Ethics Of Samfundssind & Agape, Claire L. Dente

Sustainability Research & Practice Seminar Presentations

No abstract provided.

Assessment Centers, Tara Myers, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What are assessment centers?

Assessment centers measure knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics by assessing participants’ responses to job-related simulations. Assessment centers can be used for hiring, placement, and career and skill development (Gaugler, Rosenthal, Thornton, and Bentson, 1987). Typically, participants complete a combination of in-basket, leaderless group discussion, role play, case analysis, and oral presentation exercises (Hoffman, Kennedy, LoPilato, Monahan, and Lance, 2015). Within each exercise, participants review job-relevant information and complete tasks. For the in-basket, participants are presented with documents (e.g., emails, memos, reports, requests—things that might be in an inbox) to which they provide responses and about …

Milwaukee Progress Update- Identifying Barriers & Working Through Solutions, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

Staff voice is an important element of organizational culture, or the behavioral norms and expectations that characterize a work environment. According to the developers of the Availability Responsiveness Continuity (ARC) model, these norms and expectations direct the way employees in a particular work environment approach their work, specify priorities, and shape the way work is done. The Division of Milwaukee Child Protective Services (DMCPS) is a child welfare agency that experienced significant leadership change in recent years and, like other agencies nationwide, has struggled with a decade of staff turnover. In partnership with the Quality Improvement Center for Workforce Development …

Forgotten Frontline Workers: A Snapshot Of Family Child Care And Covid-19 In New York, Mark Nagasawa, Kate Tarrant

Straus Center for Young Children & Families

This the third report from the New York ECE and COVID-19 Survey, which focuses on both the unique challenges faced by the family child care (FCC) providers who participated in the survey, as well as their particular resilience. At the time of the survey (May 2020), this group of participants was the most physically open form of ECE and was significantly more affected economically than their other ECE colleagues. Interestingly, several of the survey respondents (in different geographic locations) spoke of organizing efforts for mutual support and collective action, which may be a promising development for reducing social isolation, increasing …

The Intersection Of The “Opioid Crisis” With Changes In Us Immigration Policy: Contextual Barriers To Substance Abuse Research With Latinx Communities, Micki Washburn, Luis R. Torres, Nicole Echeveria Moore, Alberto Mancillas

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

One of the 12 Grand Challenges facing contemporary social work is to close the health gap experienced by those in historically marginalized communities (Uehara et al., 2013). As social workers, we seek to understand the individual, interpersonal, social, and environmental factors along with the structural inequities leading to initiation and continuation of substance misuse. We are constantly contextualizing the circumstances under which substance misuse occurs, as well as contextualizing our approaches to addressing this issue from both a public health and social justice perspective. In order to adequately meet this challenge, considerably more research-based knowledge on the substance use treatment …

Spiritual Diversity, Spiritual Assessment, And Māori End-Of-Life Perspectives: Attaining Ka Ea,, Holly Nelson-Becker, Tess Moeke-Maxwell

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

The contemporary world is endowed with increasingly diverse spiritual and cultural perspectives, yet little is known about the spiritual concerns and spiritual resilience of Māori from Aotearoa New Zealand at the end of life. A context is provided for the value of spiritual assessment and identification of spiritual needs or concerns. Spiritual concerns and the desire to attain a state of ka ea (fulfillment, gratitude, or peace) may point to interventions, helping activities, or referrals that guide treatment. We reflect on qualitative findings from the 2017–2020 Pae Herenga study of 61 caregiving families, their helping professionals, and religious/spiritual leaders. We …

Parenting Stress And Risk Of Child Maltreatment During The Covid- 19 Pandemic: A Family Stress Theory-Informed Perspective, Qi Wu, Yanfeng Xu Ph.D.

Faculty and Staff Publications

The risk of child maltreatment is heightened during the pandemic due to multiple COVID-19 related stressors, such as physical and mental health concerns, economic stress, challenges in homeschooling, marital conflicts and intimate personal violence, and intensified child–parent relationships. Both parental internal (e.g., parenting styles) and external resources (e.g., social support), and parental perceptions toward stressors will affect how parents cope with these stressors, which may exacerbate or mitigate the risk of child maltreatment. Guided by family stress theory, this article identifies COVID-19 related stressors at the family level, and further elaborates on how these stressors are associated with child maltreatment …

Toward A Defined Role For Occupational Therapy In Foster Care Transition Programming, Amy Armstrong-Heimsoth, Molly Hahn-Floyd, Heather J. Williamson, Catherine Lockmiller

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Youth who age out of the foster care system and transition to adulthood face challenges that are exacerbated by a history of trauma, severed relationships, and instability of living and educational placements. A review of the literature demonstrates poor outcomes overall for this population. Occupational therapists are positioned to meet the needs that arise during this time; however, a review of emerging roles for occupational therapists is necessary to describe how occupational therapists can best fulfill gaps in current programming. Through a review of the literature and a preliminary mixed-methods study, this paper establishes a direction for the inclusion of …

Perspectives On Multi-Intervention, Multi-Design Evaluation For The Child Welfare Workforce, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

The QIC-WD is working with eight sites and the Children’s Bureau in a participatory fashion (Fetterman, 2014) to implement utilization-focused (Alkin & Vo, 2017; Patton, 2008) site-specific and cross-site evaluation strategies. The goal of this research is to build knowledge of interventions to improve child welfare workforce retention, and ultimately outcomes for children and families. A complex systems approach (Westhorp, 2012) is being taken to identify how factors such as organizational structures and culture, staff workload, supervision, and caseworker values influence outcomes, including safety and permanency of children. The QIC-WD team has extensive experience conducting rigorous evaluations within and across …

Coworker Influence, Megan Paul, Lauren Sparks

Umbrella Summaries

What is coworker influence?

Coworkers are the individuals in an organization that regularly work with a given employee, often performing similar tasks or collaborating in some way. Coworkers are typically in a similar hierarchical position in the organizational structure, differentiating them from subordinates, supervisors, or managers. Coworker influence is about how coworkers impact a given employee’s work experiences. There are two facets of coworker influence—coworker support and coworker antagonism (Chiaburu & Harrison, 2008). Coworker support is a positive influence, including desirable actions and behaviors. More specifically, there are two types of coworker support—instrumental and affective (Chiaburu & Harrison, 2008). Instrumental …

The Relational Assessment Of Neglected Youth (Rany): Probing The Need For An Assessment Tool, Corrine Dale

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

While child neglect is the most substantiated form of child maltreatment, there is a lack of assessment tools leading to effective treatment, particularly among older victims of neglect. To date, the research has focused on younger victims and the subsequent disruption in the attachment relationship. Although development of child neglect assessment tools has been pioneered by an ecological model, the relational nature of this type of maltreatment also necessitates an assessment of relational factors that are highly correlated to child neglect. Because neglect occurs within the caregiver relationship, assessment of interpersonal impairments among older youth can best be guided by …

Oklahoma Progress Update - A Revised Employee Selection Process: Virtual & Paperless, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

“I am convinced that nothing we do is more important than hiring and developing people. At the end of the day, you bet on people, not on strategies.” – Lawrence Bossidy, former CEO of Honeywell International Inc. This quote is especially true for child welfare workers. Child welfare work is difficult and demanding; it requires compassion and attention to detail. Oklahoma Human Services (OKDHS), in partnership with the Quality Improvement Center for Workforce Development (QIC-WD), worked throughout 2018 and 2019 to create a competencybased employee selection process for Child Welfare Services (CWS) workers. Competencies are the knowledge, skills, abilities, behaviors, …

Ohio Progress Update- Addressing Secondary Traumatic Stress And Providing Supportive Supervision, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

Secondary traumatic stress (STS) refers to the experience of people – generally professionals– who are exposed to others’ traumatic stories as part of their work. As a result of this exposure, these professionals can develop their own traumatic symptoms and reactions. Child welfare staff are particularly susceptible to STS because of the vulnerable nature of the families they work with, the unpredictable nature of their jobs, and their general lack of physical and psychological protection (ACS-NYU Children’s Trauma Institute, 2011). As such, STS can mimic the symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (Bride, 2007) including nightmares, sleep disruption, avoidance, and irritability. …

Defying Dementia: An Exploration Of Recovery, Deb Miller, Corey W. Johnson

The Qualitative Report

Exploring the human side of dementia helps put a face on this fast-growing affliction. This study reflects one elderly woman’s story of recovery from dementia that arose following a stroke. Painting a portrait of life with dementia can help us conceptualize the experience, how people live and how they would like to live. The woman is Marcia, my mom, and this is a qualitative inquiry with a collaborative narrative design to explore her experiences and to document my own. This study may help dementia patients and their support teams better understand the process of living with dementia and can perhaps …

Insights From State Treasurers: Developing And Implementing Statewide Child Development Account Policies, Chris Leiker, Margaret M. Clancy, Michael Sherraden

Center for Social Development Research

In 2018 and 2019, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Illinois, and California enacted laws creating automatic, universal, at-birth CDA policies, and in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic halted the progress of CDA bills in Missouri. Several states previously adopted CDA policies by administrative rule. This Policy Summary presents insights from four state treasurers based on their direct experience developing statewide CDA policy through legislation.

On July 16, 2020, the treasurers and other professionals gathered virtually for “All Children Can Reach Their Potential: A CDA Conference.” In a panel discussion moderated by Missouri State Treasurer Fitzpatrick, Pennsylvania State Treasurer Joe Torsella, …

The Four Pandemics, Joshua Miller

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

COVID 19 interacts with white supremacy, economic insecurity and politcal terrorism, adversely affecting many people and populations. This article considers the consequences of these four interacting pandemics and suggests that social work, particularly clinical social work, requires radical revisioning and decolonizing to be able to ethically and adequately serve affected people.

Flooding Schools: School Mental Health Providers And The Climate Crisis, Erik J. Reinbergs, Sarah Fefer

International Journal of School Social Work

This study provides an example of using a problem-solving model to explore the impact of the climate crisis on schools. Using publicly available climate change and flooding prediction data, we estimate that by 2100, assuming a “medium” climate change scenario, more than 1677 schools in the coastal United States are expected to flood every year and more than 2262 schools are expected to flood every 10 years. Within the data, “medium” is defined as warming levels that will lead to an estimated five feet of sea level rise by the year 2100. Limitations in the data suggest these numbers are …