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M.A. (Social Work) / The function of social work is to enhance the social functioning of individuals, smaller groups (including families) and the community. This implies need meeting and growth-promoting activities for the purposes of reinforcing, enhancing or discouraging inappropriate behavior. In order to achieve success , social workers need to explore every avenue of helping, so that the client with his unique needs are always held in respect and helped the most successfully. Behavior modification, although still underdeveloped in social work, is one of the numerous approaches that can be utilised to meet the needs of the social work clientele ...

The development of an ever-growing number of private health and welfare agencies is one of the distinctive characteristics of urban communities. The need for coordination and guidance in orderly development was met in the past by Charity Organization Societies, in more recent decades, by Community Chest and Council organizations. Community Chest and Community Council--the "Chest as a fund-raising coordinator, and the "Council" as a policy coordinator—appear to be particularly North American institutions, especially in the larger cities of the Eastern seaboard, because of the greater dependence on private philanthrophy and late development of social welfare legislation. With the strengthening of their planning and standard-setting functions and closer integration between "chest" and "council" functions, these organizations, today, are engaged in mobilizing the communities for improved Social Welfare. Chest and Council offices are now widely regarded as an essential part of the social work structure in nearly all major urban centres on the North American Continent. They remain important in spite of increased social legislation, because new agencies continue to be established, because volunteer and experimental work is valuable, and because community education and welfare research functions have come to the fore in modern community development programs. The present study has endeavoured to sift out the essential principles demonstrated by Community Chest and Council history; then to focus specially on the administrative requirements of the modern Chest and Council organization, drawing on some thirty years of Vancouver experience for this purpose. This latter task is followed out in two parts—(a) existing Organization and Administration of the Chest and Council, and (b) the development of its main Sections. In the light of this, the question is examined how far and in what way a Chest and Council as a coordinating welfare organization might be applied to the Capital City of Pakistan (Karachi). The conclusion is that the principles of Community Chest and Council are distinctly adaptable to the city of Karachi and perhaps to other selected metropolitan areas of this country. The present isolated efforts of social welfare agencies can hardly ensure balanced development of health, welfare and recreational services in a fast developing community like Karachi. This is also the best avenue for leadership and an integrated approach toward common problems, through budgeting and social planning. Modifications which may be of special concern in Pakistan are indicated. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

Current studies of social work education have stimulated interest in the analysis and description of what social workers actually do. What activities and services do social workers perform? By whom are these activities usually performed, i.e., worker, supervisor or administrator? What skills are required to perform these activities adequately? What extent or degree of responsibility is involved in each activity at the various job levels of worker, supervisor, administrator. The present study is designed to test the applicability of industrial Job evaluation techniques to professional social work in an attempt to answer the questions posed, A survey of the current literature in social work and of current methods of job evaluation suggests that the "classification" method of job evaluation is most appropriate to the field of social work. Social work literature indicates nine broad areas of function or activities of professional social workers. While each of these areas is traditionally assumed to be assigned to specific job levels, further study of a specific agency (Vancouver, Child Guidance Clinic, Social Service Department) indicates that all workers have some degree of responsibility for each area of activity. Analysis of each worker's activities in units of five minutes: of time for a two week period provides a measure of the degree of skill and responsibility required of staff at various levels. Findings of this time study are then used to sort out job classes, to describe these classes, and to suggest a classification scheme applicable to any setting employing social workers. The findings suggest that all professional social workers require some measure of skill in each of the following areas of activity: Administrative, Consultative, Supervisory, Direct Service, Professional Education, Community Relations, Staff Development, Programme Development, Research, Major determinants of class appear to be the extent of work which is subject to review by others and the degree of knowledge and ability required in fields other than the major area of function. The process of job analysis, description and classification as illustrated in this study is an essential step for all agencies to take in measuring, delegating and interpreting the work of the agency. The classification scheme proposed should enable comparison of social work positions in a variety of settings. At the same time, it offers a partial solution to the dilemma of a profession which seeks to achieve professional practitioner status but offers very limited possibilities, for the direct service practitioner to enhance his earnings without assuming a traditionally higher rank of supervisor or administrator. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

A comparative study of teacher and parent perceptions of first grade children's multiple intelligences was conducted. In addition, race/ethnic origin and gender differences were examined. The sample consisted of three classrooms, each from different public charter schools in Tallahassee, Florida. Three teachers and 40 parents were asked to complete the Multiple Intelligences Developmental Assessment Scale (MIDAS)-KIDS, "My Young Child" (MYC) to assess their children's multiple intelligences. Twenty-eight of the children's were female, 12 were male. Twenty-six children were Caucasian, 6 African American, 4 East Indian, 2 Hispanic, and 2 Asian. Children's ages ranged from 6 to 7 years old. Parent perceptions of children's mathematical and natural intelligences were significantly higher than teacher perceptions. Gender contributed significantly to teacher and parent perceptions of girls' greater spatial, interpersonal, and intrapersonal intelligences. Race also contributed significantly to teacher and parent perceptions of children of color's greater mathematical and linguistic intelligences. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Family and Child Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Spring Semester, 2005. / December 9, 2004. / Multiple Intelligence, Teacher, Parent, Perceptions / Includes bibliographical references. / Christine Readdick, Professor Directing Thesis; Victoria Maria-MacDonald, Outside Committee Member; Ronald Mullis, Committee Member.

Negative and depressive outcomes of caregivers in the United States has dominated academic domains in the social, behavioral, and gerontological literature. However, more recently, there has been an attempt to assess the more positive outcomes of caregivers who provide care to family members, relatives, and friends. This dissertation enhances the literature on caregiver well-being by focusing particularly on the more positive outcomes and on the differences between White and African American caregivers in the United States. The ABC-X model of family stress was used as a framework, along with family systems theory, to determine whether within the context of race, levels of caregiving stress and strain, levels of formal and informal coping resources, and manageability/mastery could be integrated to predict well-being for caregivers. Predictor variables such as, intensity of care demands (stress), formal and informal coping support use, and manageability/mastery of unmet needs were used to determine if there were differences between Whites and African Americans. To examine the research question, a secondary analysis was performed using data from the National Alliance for Caregiving and the American Association of Retired Persons (NAC & AARP, 2003). The final dataset which focused on White and African American caregivers consisted of 828 individuals and key questions from the original survey that addressed the hypothesis and research question. Variables of interest were constructed, using items measuring the constructs: intensity of care demands (stress), formal coping resources use, informal coping resource use, manageability/mastery, and well-being. Race was also included in the model as a control variable. The analysis was conducted using structural equation modeling (SEM) with AMOS 7.0 software. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed no mean difference on scores between White and African American caregivers on well-being or on informal coping resource use. However, significant mean differences existed for intensity of care demands (stress), formal coping resource use, and manageability/mastery. Results from this analysis showed that African American caregivers had higher mean scores on intensity of care demands (stress), used more formal coping resources, and experienced lowered manageability/mastery as indicated by more unmet needs in the care situation. Separate path analyses were performed to test for the influences of predictor variables in the model on the outcome variable as well as a comparison model of the critical ratio differences between White and African Americans. The variables predicting well-being were intensity of care demands (stress), formal coping resource use, informal coping resources use, and manageability/mastery. The findings revealed that intensity of care demands (stress) was significantly related to well-being, along with manageability/mastery and informal coping resource use. Only formal coping resource use had no direct relationship to well-being. Additionally, there were some indirect relationships to well-being as mediated through formal coping resource use, informal coping resources use, and manageability/mastery. Race was a moderating variable in the model and revealed no significant relationship with well-being. However, African Americans were more likely to use formal coping resources and had a sense of manageability/mastery in the caregiving role. There also existed a significant correlation between formal and informal coping resources use in the model. Overall, this model fit well with the observed data and thus supported the research question for this study that levels of caregiving stress and strain, levels of formal and informal coping resources, and manageability/mastery can be integrated to predict well-being for caregivers. Further, this model explained 34% of the variance in well-being. Finally a comparison model of White and African American caregivers indicated only one significant predictor on well-being which consisted of the direct effect of intensity of care demands (stress) on well-being, indicating that White caregivers experienced more stress in the care role when compared to African Americans. Several implications were identified regarding methodology, research, and practice. First, the ABC-X model was a useful tool for studying the stress process and predicting the relationships of certain causal factors on well-being but had limitations when it came to the diverse challenges often faced by caregivers in the care role especially racial/ethnic minorities. Second, more research is needed that focus on difference and similarities among White and African American caregivers that are done on larger samples and are longitudinal in nature. Third, an effort must be made to move from theory to practice in the field with caregiving families, as well as with public policy that address the changing demands required in caregiving considering our aging and increasingly chronically ill/disabled population. Although this study had limitations relative to the use of cross-sectional secondary data, it indicated positive and negative well-being can co-occur and that the degree to which people appraise caregiving as positive or negative may require specific measures or a variety of measures to determine the true impact of stressors, coping resources, and appraisals/perceptions on the well-being of caregiving families in general and racially diverse caregiving families in specific. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Family and Child Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2009. / December 11, 2008. / Well-being, Stress, Race, Caregiving / Includes bibliographical references. / Carol A. Darling, Professor Directing Dissertation; Sande Milton, Outside Committee Member; Maxine D. Jones, Committee Member; Ann K. Mullis, Committee Member.

The overwhelming majority of research in family studies and psychology journals has been devoted to mental health dysfunctions and relationship problems. Positive relationship processes and positive emotions are victims of severe neglect. The current study examines how sharing positive experiences or positively re framing negative ones can impact mental health (gratitude and depression) as well as relationship outcomes (relationship satisfaction and relationship maintenance). The current study has three primary objectives and hypotheses, to 1) compare the effects of writing about or sharing a positive experience or re frame versus a neutral control on mental health and relationship well-being outcomes, 2) compare the effects of writing about or sharing positive experiences versus re framing or sharing re frames of negative experiences on mental health and relationship well-being outcomes; 3) compare and contrast the effect of sharing versus not sharing on mental health and relationship well-being outcomes. Participants that shared their positive experiences or positive re frames increased in gratitude relative to those who simply wrote about these topics. Possible explanations for these findings and their implications for future research are then discussed. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Family and Child Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2010. / June 24, 2010. / Positive Reframing, Sharing, Gratitude / Includes bibliographical references. / Frank Fincham, Professor Directing Dissertation; Ming Cui, Committee Member.

Profound disparities exist among families who experience adverse infant health outcomes (i.e. preterm birth and low birth weight), yet much is still unclear regarding the factors that predict disparate outcomes. In order to address this gap, the current study takes a more nuanced approach compared to existing research by applying three key theoretical models (Critical Race Theory, Intersectionality, and Ecosocial Theory) to create an overarching analysis of how social determinants of health interact in a dynamic way to predict which families are at the greatest risk of experiencing poor outcomes. In order to examine the role that social determinants play in predicting risk, this study implements a secondary analysis of data from the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS). Results of the study indicate three distinct risk types among women in the sample: low-, moderate- and high-risk women. Within the three risk groups, racial disparities are particularly notable, with 76% of the sample’s African American mothers falling into the “high-risk” category. Although racial disparities have long been noted, the findings from this study’s intersectional analysis help to better understand how determinants of health intersect to create an overarching risk profile, which can be used to help promote social services that may reduce the current gap in infant health outcomes. / A Dissertation submitted to the College of Social Work in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / 2019 / August 19, 2019. / disparities, latent class analysis, low birth weight, perinatal health, PRAMS, preterm birth / Includes bibliographical references. / Karen A. Randolph, Professor Directing Dissertation; Heather A. Flynn, University Representative; Shamra M. Boel-Studt, Committee Member; Dina J. Wilke, Committee Member.

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