Dissertationen zum Thema „Social work training institution“

Utifrån ett socialkonstruktivistiskt perspektiv är maskulinitet en social konstruktion som ständigt förändras i interaktionen mellan män och i interaktionen med kvinnor. Studiens syfte var att undersöka hur maskulinitet konstrueras i en institutions sociala praktiker. Det undersöktes genom att söka efter vilka aktiviteter på institutionen som konstruerar maskuliniteter, dvs. vilken betydelse har institutionens sociala praktiker för konstruktionen av maskulinitet? Svaren söktes genom en kvalitativ samtalsintervjuundersökning med fyra respondenter, två personal och två patienter, alla män. Studiens teoretiska utgångspunkter var R. W. Connells teori om hegemonisk maskulinitet, hans genusteori samt begreppet homosocialitet. Materialet analyserades med hjälp av kritisk diskursanalys, för att i de sociala praktikerna hitta de maskulina diskursiva praktiker som kan ha en påverkan på konstruktionen av maskuliniteter. Resultatet i undersökningen visade att personal och patienter konstruerar maskulinteter utifrån olika diskurser på institutionen. Detta tolkade vi som att personalen i sin behandlingsdiskurs försökte forma patienterna till en maskulinitet som skiljer sig från den som de tidigare har varit en del av. Patienterna uppmuntrades i behandlingen att uttrycka sorg, skam och intimitet, som kan ses som mänskliga beteenden.

The purpose of this policy analysis was to examine Article 10: Dependent Children-Judgments and Orders, Welfare and Institutions Code (WIC) 361.5, which describes the criteria for offering or denying visitation and reunification services to incarcerated parents or guardians with their children in out-of-home care. This analysis begins with a historical overview of the incarceration explosion in the past decades, and its relation to children in out-of-home care. The policy analysis identifies systemic challenges faced by incarcerated parents as they make efforts to reunify and preserve their child-parent relationships. The analysis is based on Gil’s (1992) original nationally recognized framework and updated by Jimenez, Pasztor, Chambers, and Fujii, (2015). Limitations and alternative policy recommendations that could best meet these objectives are provided.

The purpose of this quantitative study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Infant Adoption Awareness Training Program to increase the knowledge of professionals about adoption. The sample consisted of 40 participants who attended the Infant Adoption Awareness training. The pretest was given before the participants began the training and at the end of the training.

The results of this study found the pre and posttest outcomes demonstrated significant increase in the participants' knowledge about adoption. The implications of the findings are that professionals who receive training will understand adoption and will help ensure clients are receiving accurate information. The social work practice and policy implications are discussed as well as recommendations for future research.

The purpose of this project was to write grant proposal to seek funding to support the Village's Life Coach Program. The project aims to train and pay a stipend to a group of 10 Life Coaches. The funding will enable the Life Coaches to receive trainings that can help prepare them to take on a mentor role while also giving them skills to strengthen their recovery. The program has an overall goal to prepare Life Coaches with skills that can help facilitate change with the members they work with and with themselves. This goal will be completed by organizing topics that will be covered in the training, recruiting skilled trainers, and developing materials for the training. To ensure that this training program has fulfilled the overall goal, evaluations will be conducted both during and after the program is complete. Submission of the grant was not a requirement of this project.

The purpose of this project was to locate a potential funding source and write a grant to create a training program for foster parents who care for and supervise foster children at-risk of becoming Commercially Sexually Exploited Children (CSEC). The program?s objectives were to bring awareness to foster parents about the risks and challenges surrounding CSEC, prepare foster parents in identifying foster children at-risk of becoming CSEC, and provide foster parents with the resources and support to address the needs of foster children at-risk of becoming CSEC. The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation was selected due to its focus on social impact. The proposed program matched the foundation?s focus on providing services to an underserved and disadvantaged population by preparing foster parents in identifying and addressing the needs of foster children at-risk of becoming CSEC. Actual submission of this grant was not a requirement for this project.

Hundreds and millions of dollars have been spent on training and assessing foster parents, also known as resource parents. However, there is little if any empirical evidence that any particular approach helps child welfare agencies meet the federal Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASF A) requirements for child safety, well-being, and permanency. The purpose of this thesis project was to write a grant proposal to support the implementation of the Child Welfare League of America's (CWLA) PRIDE Model of Practice to develop and support foster (resource) parents at a host agency in Los Angeles County. After implementation and an assessment of the implementation process (Phase 1), the agency/CWLA collaboration will be ready to conduct evidence-based research regarding outcomes (Phase II). Potential funding sources are identified. The actual funding and/or submission of this grant were not requirements for successful completion ofthis academic project.

The purpose of this project was to write a grant proposal seeking to fund the development of a curriculum that supports the needs of youth who have experienced or are at risk of, sexual exploitation. The proposal ultimately targets a potential host organization that could sustain and support the development of a curriculum and effectively reach the target population. The curriculum is intended to be used to train child welfare staff and group home service providers about the identifying markers and needs of sexually exploited youth. A literature review details the main causes, the biopsychosocial effects and what is being done to address the problem. Potential funding sources were reviewed. The proposal includes a needs assessment, implementation method, staffing, evaluation and budget narrative. The actual funding and submission of this grant proposal were not requirements for the successful completion of this project.

Female youth all over the world and in the United States are being trafficked for the use of labor or prostitution. Their experiences entail rapes, violence, abuse, and torture while their traffickers reap extensive monetary compensation. These adolescents often times cross the path of child social workers and go unnoticed or do not receive the appropriate level of care due to the lack of knowledge for the experiences of the youth. Therefore, this curriculum will provide awareness training on Commercial Human Trafficking (CHT) for child social workers. The thesis curriculum will offer an introduction to CHT, the trafficking underground system, the abuse and effects experienced by the youth, and the best practices to assist this population. In addition, a cultural competency is included.

The purpose of this thesis was to write a grant to fund anger management groups for at-risk youth. The groups would be held immediately after the boxing classes currently offered by the city of Hawaiian Gardens. Six sessions are envisioned. Topics would include self-responsibility and accountability for one’s actions inside and outside of the ring, alternatives to conflict, emotion-regulation skills, and coping with triggers. The goals are to enhance anger management skills, develop positive social skills, and decrease the risk for aggressive behavior and delinquency. In turn, this is expected to reduce the risk for gang membership.

The city of Hawaiian Gardens would be the host agency for this program. The funding source selected was the city of Hawaiian Gardens in conjunction with the Board of State and Community Corrections.

Based on the review of the literature, pairing a gang prevention program with sports has the potential to engage at-risk youth and deter them from the gang culture. The proposed program is expected to provide at-risk youth in the disadvantaged community of Hawaiian Gardens with a positive alternative path in life.

The actual submission of the grant proposal was not required as part of the thesis project.

The core of this proposed grant is implementing a mindfulness-based self-care training program for child welfare professionals working for Families Uniting Families, a non-profit foster care agency located in Long Beach, California. Through practicing mindfulness-based self-care, the child welfare workers at FUF will gain mindfulness skills to prevent and combat compassion fatigue.

The grant writer reviewed literature on compassion fatigue and mindfulness-based interventions in the helping profession. The grant writer made a case for the effectiveness of a mindfulness-based curriculum to reduce and prevent compassion fatigue for child welfare workers. After searching for potential funding sources, the grant writer located the Weigngart Foundation as the most potent funder.

The actual submission of the grant proposal is not a requirement for the completion of this thesis.

Despite movement toward integrating trauma and trauma-informed care into the clinical training curriculum in general and the social work curriculum in particular, there is scant research on retraumatization during training. The purpose of this study was to describe and analyze narratives gathered from MSW program students, course and field educators, and staff about situations during training that were perceived as retraumatizing in order to better understand the complex problem of retraumatization during social work training. A web-based qualitative survey was used to collect responses. Narrative and positioning analysis of data from the full sample (n=186) and narrative subsample (n=43) yielded results that fit under four major categories: prevalence, sources, severity, symptoms, and impact; situations that are perceived as retraumatizing; repositioning strategies and positioning types; and what can be learned from growth narratives. Findings from this study help to improve our understanding of retraumatization during training and help to further development of trauma-informed educational principles, practices, and policies which can be used in a variety of educational settings.

The juvenile justice system provides a multicultural arena for mental health professionals who are interested in working in forensic social work. This curriculum aims to demystify cultural competence and highlights the importance of adapting multicultural perspectives and theoretical approaches to increase knowledge, awareness, empathy and respect for the diverse cultures of juvenile offenders. This curriculum is intended to train professionals on how to facilitate cross-cultural communication within the juvenile justice system, and establish a multicultural environment in the workplace. Most importantly, it will explore the nature of the juvenile justice system, analyze cultural competence models and integrate both domains to enhance the assessment and treatment of young offenders.

The purpose of this thesis project was to write a grant proposal to secure funding for a mindfulness meditation training program for adults diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) at Venice Family Clinic in Venice, California. A literature review was conducted to examine topics related to ADHD including the unique and challenging experiences of adults with ADHD. The purpose of the proposed program was to increase knowledge in participants about ADHD, improve their mindfulness skills, reduce their ADHD symptoms, and improve their perceived well-being. The Ralphs M. Parsons Foundation was chosen for the proposed grant funding. The actual submission or funding or this grant proposal was not a requirement for the successful completion of the project.

The purpose of the study was, with initial position from two particular youth homes, to survey the staff’s experiences regarding different youth cultures that might occur at the institutions and how they react to them. The question formulations were as follows: What kind of youth cultures might occur at the institution and how are they being expressed, according to some of the staff members? How do the same staff members, individually, see their role and prospect to influence the type of youth culture that is developing on the institution? Earlier research in the field were used as theoretical starting positions as well as the concepts of “looking-glass self“, “the generalized other” and ”the overtaking of roles” in the symbolic-interactionism. Qualitative research interviews were carried through with three of the employees at the two youth homes and the results of the study evinced that both positive and negative youth cul-tures develops at both of the institutions, concluding the fact that youths affect each other both ways. The results of the positive culture is that the youths identifies themselves with other youths, support each other and by comprehending more might change their attitude toward different matters. The negative culture might be expressed with youths who bring their trou-bles to the institution, youths who discuss divergent subjects within the group, exposure to bad influence which leads to negative behaviour. Henceforth, the personnel considered that they have a propitious potential to influence the youths and the conditions between them. It was deemed crucial that the personnel group acted alike and kept a jointly approach toward the youths.

Individuals diagnosed with autism face multiple challenges especially when aging out of the public school system, such as finding a job or a place to stay while their parents are at work. A day program is a service, which can provide support for individuals with autism. The purpose of this project was to write a grant proposal for the implementation of a professional staff training program at Nick's Community, which is a nonprofit day program. The major components of the proposed training program are conducting new and ongoing training to the staff at Nick's Community through workshops, small group activities, and hands-on participation. The submission for funding of this grant was not required for the successful completion of this thesis grant-writing project. Implications for social work research and practice are included.

The purpose of this project was to develop a grant and identify potential funding sources to fund a staff training program at the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) of South East Ventura County to increase staffs knowledge of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) techniques when working with children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in after-school settings. A comprehensive review of the literature was completed to build knowledge about the need for after-school programming, the benefits of participating in after-school programs, the benefits of inclusion for children diagnosed with ASD, and ABA interventions. The Amgen Foundation was selected as the ideal funding source for this project. This training program targets employees working in the after-school programs at the YMCA of South East Ventura County. Submission and/or funding were not a requirement for the successful completion of this project.