<p> Each year, over 200,000 individuals die from accidents, unintentional injuries, suicides, or homicides throughout Los Angeles County, creating a traumatic situation for their surviving families and putting them at risk for mental health complications. Crisis intervention services and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) are evidence-based interventions that have been shown to benefit individuals and families who have experienced a traumatic loss. Therefore, the purpose of this project was to develop a grant proposal to potentially fund a bereavement intervention program at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center in Pomona, California for families who have experienced a traumatic loss. This two-fold program offers in-hospital crisis intervention services for families, as well an 8-week MBCT program to help families in their adaptation to the loss. Program goals include the provision of crisis intervention services, the reduction of depressive symptoms associated with trauma, and helping families develop positive coping skills. The actual submission and/or funding of this grant was not required for the successful completion of the project.</p>

Mental illness among prisoners is higher than the general population (James & Glaze, 2006). The purpose of this exploratory-descriptive study was to investigate the social support and mental health factors that best predict punishment severity for institutional rule violations among prisoners. I conducted a secondary data analysis on 2004 Survey of Inmates in State Correctional Facilities data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau for the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The survey participants in this study consisted of a sample of 11,569 male prisoners. Bivariate analyses of interrelationships were conducted to assess whether significant relationships exist between the severity of punishment received by prisoners as the result of a rule violation and a host of demographic, social support, and mental illness variables. Ordered logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine the factors that best predict likelihood of punishment severity among prisoners with mental illness. Multiple regression analysis was also conducted to determine the demographic, social support, and mental illness factors that best predicted rule violation type. Findings from the ordered logistic regression analysis revealed several variables as significant predictors of the type of rule violated including: age, being Black, non-Hispanic, being of Hispanic descent, married, divorced, separated, visits from children, phone calls to and from children, letters to and from children, having a diagnosis of depression, and having a diagnosis of PTSD. The strongest predictors of rule violation type were: age, being of Hispanic origin, being married, separated, visits from children, and having a diagnosis of depression. Findings from the multivariate analysis revealed three significant predictors of punishment severity including: visits from family and friends, phone calls to and from children, and visits from children. Further analysis revealed invariant effects of rule violations and social support variables. Directions for future research and implications for social work practice, policy, and criminal justice reform are discussed.

<p> The purpose of this thesis project was to write a grant proposal to develop and fund a group mentoring program for transitional-aged youth (TAY) ages 16 to 18. The proposed program will be located in Los Angeles, California. The Watts Labor Community Action Committee (WLCAC) was selected as the host agency for this project. A literature review was conducted to examine topics related to TAY including their challenges and outcomes. The ultimate goal of this proposed project is to increase the independent living skills in the areas of education, employment, and finances for the TAY population. This grant was written for the Ralph M. Parsons Foundations (RMPF). The actual submission or funding of this grant proposal was not a requirement for the successful completion of the project.</p>

D.Phil. / My social entrepreneurship case study, and in particular my life as a “Draytonian Changemaker”, takes the form of an autoethnographic dissertation journey (Garratt, 2003). You are cordially invited to witness this journey, which will be presented by using a relatively new qualitative method. Autoethnography, a relatively new qualitative method, represents: “… a multilayered, intertextual case study that integrates private and social experience and ties autobiographical to sociological writing …” (Ellis, 1995, p. 3). I trust that you will enjoy my expedition as a social entrepreneur but, more importantly, in the words of the leading social entrepreneur of autoethnography, Prof. Carolyn Ellis (University of North Carolina, USA), urge her readers to “experience the power of autoethnography, feel its truths as well as come to know it intellectually!” (Ellis, 2004, p. xix). You will encounter the many people who influenced my life, amongst others, Prof. Willem Schurink, my promoter, who acted as my “tour guide” and “Ultra City” en route. I am an activist by nature and this characteristic naturally has also taken root in my writing (see Sparkes, 2002). Ultimately, I would like you to embrace my world: the world of the Draytonian Changemaker, of people who believe that we can change the world with our burning desire to make a difference through revolutionary social innovations. The following points are of particular importance for this rather unusual journey: • The journey also represents the cultural setting of my world – the world of Susan Steinman – the social entrepreneur, activist and workplace violence expert in the greater universe of social entrepreneurs. This relatively new concept is explored in Part I of this thesis in which the terrain of the journey is mapped by acquainting the reader with the concept of social entrepreneurship as it is understood by scholars, as well as the viewpoints of Ashoka, a fellowship of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs.

<p> The decision to place a memory-impaired loved one in a dementia care facility can be emotionally challenging for families with many factors to consider. The purpose of this study was to explore the stress and coping of caregivers after the facility placement of their family member. Data were collected through 15 in-depth interviews with caregivers who were within the first 6 months of having moved their love one to this type of facility. Results suggested that dementia caregivers experienced high levels of burden due to the disease-related behaviors of their loved one coupled with the emotionally-laden experience of seeing a loved one move to a care facility. Over half of the participants reported a lack of emotional support from service providers during the relocation period, yet all participants reported the Alzheimer's Association as being the most supportive social service agency. Implications for social work practice and future research directions are discussed.</p>

The overall objective of this study is to identify common characteristics of drug traffickers and assault and battery offenders to better understand and explore factors associated with their problems. To attain this objective, the following areas on the two groups were addressed: (a) family structure, (b) education, (c) peer association, (d) personal areas of their lives, and (e) self-esteem. A comparative research design was used in the study. Questionnaires were given to adolescent, adjudicated, black male residents in the Atlanta Youth Development Center, located in the Atlanta Metropolitan area. A population of 110 males from ages ten to seventeen were being housed at the time of the study. Of this population the sample study consisted of 50, 25 drug traffickers (Group I) and 25 assault and battery offenders (Group II). The hypotheses were as follows: (1) There is no statistical, significant difference in the mean scores between drug traffickers and assault and battery offenders with reference to their measure of education. (2) There is no statistical significant difference in the mean scores between drug traffickers and assault and battery offenders with reference to their measures of family support. (3) There is no statistical, significant difference in the mean scores between drug traffickers and assault and battery offenders with reference to their measures of peer relations. (4) There is no statistical, significant difference in the mean scores between drug traffickers and assault and battery offenders with reference to their measures of self-esteem. The study was an attempt to provide a clear understanding and common characteristics of adjudicated drug traffickers and assault and battery offenders' family status, peer groups and personal areas in relation to their self-esteem. The findings of the study revealed that both of the groups had low self-esteem; however, the assault and battery offenders had higher self-esteem than that of the drug traffickers.

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This study investigated the outcome of juvenile court intervention on truancy among middle school students. Truancy, the unauthorized non-attendance of school has been a major problem for many schools across the United States and abroad. Research supports that truancy can be linked to substance use, low academic achievement, poor school performance and violence (Cho, Hallfors, Iriani, Khatapoush, & Saxe, 2002). These factors indicate the desperate need for changes in laws and programs that affect truancy and many states have begun developing such programs. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of juvenile court intervention on truancy among middle school students. The sample population was taken from Joseph Emerson Brown Middle School (grades 6-8) located in Atlanta, Georgia and consisted of 30 student attendance records from the 2002 - 2003 and 2003 - 2004 school years. These students had been petitioned to juvenile court for truancy. Student attendance records prior to court intervention were compared with attendance records following court intervention, and a demographic questionnaire was developed and utilized. The data was analyzed using the One Sample T-test and descriptive statistics. A pre and posttest model was also used to determine the change in truancy. It was hypothesized that juvenile court intervention, the independent variable, would decrease truancy, the dependent variable, among middle school students ages 11-13. Findings from this study inferred that juvenile court intervention does not reduce truancy rates among students petitioned to appear in court. Because the study was not longitudinal, the researcher was unable to determine the long-term effects of juvenile court intervention on truancy. This study will aid education administrators in deciding whether to continue to utilize juvenile court as an intervention for truant students or to seek other measures to reduce absenteeism.

No description available.