Serious and persistent mental illnesses (SPMI) are the most costly diagnoses in the United States (Insel, 2003). There are significant financial costs associated with these psychiatric disabilities, including the costs associated with treatment and loss of wages, as well as significant social costs, including lack of social support, poverty, and inadequate available treatment services. Case managers are the mental health staff members who spend the greatest amount of time in direct contact with people with SPMI in the community. There are widespread problems in the case management workforce. Case managers have inadequate education, work experience, and on-the-job training for the amount of responsibilities that are required in their jobs. It is a career that offers limited opportunities for advancement, low salaries, and low retention. In Allegheny county, a major mental health system reform was implemented called SPA (Single Point of Accountability). One of its goals was the implementation of a Case Management Mentor Program, which was designed to provide consistent training for behavioral health case managers, develop a career ladder in case management, and help new case managers learn their jobs. This dissertation was a mixed methods study using semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and survey data to understand the barriers and facilitators to implementation of the program from the perspectives of the case managers and how the type of mentoring they received contributed to the mentee job satisfaction. The study sample consisted of 18 mentors who participated in the Service Coordination Mentor Certificate Course and 30 mentees that were trained in their new jobs at their respective agencies. Overall, mentoring was associated with higher job satisfaction. Support from a mentor during crisis situations was most significantly associated with job satisfaction. All of the participants reported that mentoring is needed and beneficial in case management. Over the course of implementation, most mentees consistently participated in a variety of mentoring activities with their mentors and overall, reported that these were very helpful. The activity that that participants reported to be most helpful, but occurred the least frequently, was the mentor having the opportunity to observe the mentee in the field.

Thousands of children throughout the United States are currently awaiting placement with adoptive families. The literature indicates that gay- and lesbian-headed households can well meet the needs of these children. Research suggests that sexual prejudice, religious fundamentalism and attitudes about gay and lesbian adoption may influence practice decisions regarding placement. This dissertation study examined the influences of religious fundamentalism, sexual prejudice, contact with sexually diverse individuals, and attitudes towards gay men and lesbians as adoptive parents on intent to place children in need with gay and lesbian couples. A random sample of National Association of Social Workers (NASW) members was surveyed; 1000 surveys were distributed and 303 usable surveys were returned. Religious fundamentalism was measured using the Revised Religious Fundamentalism Scale (Altemeyer & Huntsberger, 2004), sexual prejudice was measured using the Attitudes toward Gay Men and Lesbians (Herek, 1994) and attitudes towards gay and lesbians as adoptive parents was measured using Attitudes toward Gay Men and Lesbians as Adoptive Parents scale (Ryan, 2000). To assess willingness to use gay or lesbian couples as adoptive parents, respondents were asked to rank first and second choices on ten scenarios; two scenarios reflected easy to place children and eight hard to place children. A sizable minority of respondents failed to respond to the scenarios. Those opting out tended to score lower on religious fundamentalism, sexual prejudice, and held more positive attitudes towards gay and lesbian adoption. Further, some respondents never included gay or lesbian couples; these respondents tended to score higher on religious fundamentalism, sexual prejudice, and negative attitudes to gays and lesbian couples as adoptive parents than those choosing at least one gay/lesbian response. Religious fundamentalism predicted sexual prejudice, which predicted negative attitudes towards gays and lesbians as adoptive parents. Religious fundamentalism also directly influenced attitudes towards gay and lesbians as adoptive parents. In addition, personal contact with sexually diverse individuals partially influenced sexual prejudice. Overall, the results indicate that some professionals are inappropriately influenced by their personal values.

The gap between knowledge about psychotherapy generated in laboratory settings and its application in routine treatment settings prevents consumers from receiving state-of-the-art, evidence-based care, prolongs their suffering, and underutilizes economic resources supporting efficacy trials. Family therapy has strong evidence for treating children's behavioral health needs, yet few studies have examined its effectiveness in the real world. Further, family therapy provides an opportunity to address the demonstrated link between maternal and child mental health symptomatology in a way likely to engage untreated mothers and their presenting children. However, only one study has examined the impact of family therapy on maternal mental health symptomatology and very few have addressed maternal functioning. This mixed methods study examined the effectiveness, acceptability, and sustainability of Structural Family Therapy for mothers and their presenting children seeking care at a semi-rural community mental health clinic. Results suggest some support for the effectiveness of family therapy. Mothers' mental health symptomatology and mothers' ratings of children's impairment improved with time spent in family therapy; however, mothers' self-ratings of their functioning and children's ratings of their own mental health symptomatology did not change. Results also suggest that mothers found family therapy acceptable, as they reported gaining skills to more effectively manage their children's behavioral challenges as well as strategies for their own self-care. In addition, mothers' perceptions of family treatment glean insight to its sustainability in routine settings. Language used by mothers suggests that therapists adhered to core aspects of the Structural Family Therapy model. However, mothers indicated their children's severe behavioral challenges and the inconsistency of sessions influenced their treatment outcomes. Findings from this study suggest that family therapy may provide an innovative, empirically supported approach to engage and treat mothers with mental health needs whose children present for community treatment. Additionally, findings from this study offer insight to implementation challenges within this real world setting that may have impacted children's outcomes. Results of this study provide a number of implications for social work practice and suggestions for future research.

The purpose of this study was to explore the prevalence of depressive symptoms among the elderly Kurdish immigrant and refugee population living in the greater Nashville, Tennessee area. Nashville has the largest population of Kurds living outside of Kurdistan (Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, 2004), but as is the case for many immigrant and refugee groups, little empirical research exists to aid social service practitioners in addressing the unique needs of this population (Williams & Westermeyer, n.d.). The investigator draws on the limited research about mental health in other immigrant and refugee populations as a basis for the rationale and design of the proposed study. Using a nonrandom sample of Kurds aged 50 or over living in metropolitan Nashville and Davidson County, the study collected information about participant demographics and measured depressive symptoms using oral administrations of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) (Brink et al., 1997) and the Migratory Grief and Loss Questionnaire (MGLQ) (Casado & Leung, 2001). A significant minority of the study sample tested within the range of mild depression, and an additional one-quarter had scores placing them in the range for severe depression. There was a significant but limited correlation between GDS scores and total scores on the MGLQ. Further analysis, however, revealed a slightly stronger correlation between GDS scores and the MGLQ subscale of disorganization. Female subjects’ depression and grief scores were consistently higher than males, regardless of the scale or subscale used. Composite English scores revealed low proficiency within the sample, with no significant differences between males and females. Results indicated a significant negative correlation between composite English scores and total scores on the GDS, the MGLQ, and the MGLQ disorganization subscale. Due to the nonrandom sample and other study limitations, it would be inappropriate to generalize the results too broadly across the Kurdish immigrant and refugee population. The information gathered, however, will serve as a glimpse into the needs of this unique population and assist social service providers as they develop programs to most effectively meet the population’s needs.

Current demographic estimates indicate that the foreign-born population makes up about 13% (40 million) of the total U.S. population. This number consists of immigrants from all over the world, with a larger majority originating from Latin America and Asia. Research in the area of immigrant adaptation is robust and compelling; however, it is replete with studies on immigrants from the cultural regions identified above, and not as much on other regions with relatively less numerical representation, specifically Africa. From this region, Nigerian individuals and families make up a larger portion of this immigrant group. This study employs a qualitative research method to explore the adaptation processes of Nigerian immigrant parents and their children. Participant parents (N=30) and their children (N=15) were interviewed using a semi-structured format. Interview topics included acculturation inclinations; participants perspectives of differences and similarities of raising children in the U.S and in Nigeria; influences of American culture on participants parenting; cultural adjustments that have been made; intergenerational conflicts; language issues and cultural identity. A grounded theory method was used for data collection and analysis, after which the following themes emerged: (1) Acculturation: I could pick some good from Nigeria and some good from here, and blend it together. (2). Respect: A child just walks by you and doesnt acknowledge that you exist. That is very un-African. (3) Raising kids alone: Nobody helps you; you are all by yourself. (4) Education: If you want to become somebody, you have to go to school, education is the first key. (5) Discipline: Freedom to train my child the way I ought to, not the way society is trying to compel me to train my child. (6) Language: I had to explain myself over and over. (7) Bi-cultural children: But I am Nigerian mom. Participants narratives provide insight into immigrant families unique adaptation process of integrating and re-defining culture-of-origin predispositions within a new socio-cultural ecology. The significance of findings, implications for practice and suggestions for future research are discussed.

<p> The purpose of this proposed program was to link with a local host agency, discover a potential funding source and write a grant in order to obtain funding for a support group for families of individuals with developmental disabilities (DD). Moreover, the purpose of the project was to provide funding for a family support group by partnering with South Central Los Angeles Regional Center (SCLARC). The program will be implemented at SCLARC, located in Los Angeles, CA. The support group was designed to provide families with interventions, resources, and the skills needed to continue caring for family members with DDs in the best way possible without reaching burnout. A literature review was conducted to thoroughly study the impact DDs have on the affected individuals and their family members. Research demonstrates that there are numerous families in need of emotional, social, and educational support as it also suggest the need of interventions for families.</p>

<p> This is a policy analysis of the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 (also known as FHAA). In an attempt to provide protection from the legal consequences likely to be suffered by individuals with mental disabilities including those who exhibit the hoarding behavior, the FHAA requires housing providers to provide reasonable accommodations to the needs of these people in order to prevent unnecessary evictions and homelessness. To make use of these protections, task forces have been developed to create solutions that will protect the city from the hoarder, as well as the hoarder from the city. </p><p> This study uses secondary sources to analyze the FHAA. The background and history of this policy were explored as well as its effectiveness and impact. This study concludes that FHAA protects the hoarding population. The task forces, mental health professionals, and social workers are able to help with the mental health issues of hoarders even though the FHAA was obviously not intended to deal the mental health issues, but only to help those who were in need of housing.</p>

<p> The purpose of this grant project was to design a family visitation program, identify potential funding sources and write a grant application for the agency Friends of the Family located in North Hills, California. This grant project provides a review of the literature on the risk factors that impact reunification rates among children and families; it also examine the importance of visitation and the effectiveness of visitation programs. The program, Reach out and Reunify (ROAR) is designed to increase visitation rates among families who receive family reunification services at DCFS. ROAR will also serve underserved areas of San Fernando, and Panorama City. The Stuart Foundation was selected to fund the visitation program to increase family reunification rates among children and families in the foster care system. Actual submission and/or funding of the grant was not a requirement for completion of this project. Implications for social work practice are discussed.</p>

<p> The aging process comes with many challenges, including declining physical health, increased isolation and feelings of loneliness, depression, anxiety, and development of dementia. Older adults who own pets often experience many benefits including increased levels of exercise and social engagement with their peers, decreased feelings of loneliness, and a stronger sense of purpose due to being responsible for caring for an animal. Research has shown that pet therapy can also be beneficial for older adults. The purpose of the project was to develop a pet therapy program for older adults, identify potential funding sources, and write a grant to fund the program at Jewish Family and Children's Services of Long Beach and West Orange County. The proposed program is a pet therapy program incorporating animal-assisted interventions into both group and individual therapy for older adults experiencing depression, anxiety, and isolation. Implications for social work practice are discussed. The actual submission and/or funding of this grant were not required for the successful completion of this project.</p>

<p> The purpose of this project was to locate a potential funding source to fund a support group for post adoptive parents of foster youth from the child welfare system. The support group will educate the parents of the transitional process of adoption and provide group support through networking and sharing resources. An extensive literature review was performed to analyze the history of adoptions, adoption policies, theoretical implications, protective factors, risk factors, the needs and effectiveness of a support group program. A search for potent funding source was conducted through Internet, which resulted in selecting Stuart Foundation as an appropriate funding source. With evidence-based findings of a need for a support group, the primary goal of the proposed program was to equip the adoptive parents with knowledge and resources to decrease the prevalence of dissolution and disruption. The actual submission and funding of this grant were not a requirement for the successful completion of the project.</p>