<p>This study explored the opinions and feelings of urban African American young adults and sought to investigate their perception of discrimination and negative labeling by agency professionals and the impact it had on their attitude and behavior. Furthermore, it sought to discover how personal and vicarious experiences with discrimination shape youth identity, community help seeking patterns and generate a mistrust of service providers. </p><p> Results found that majority of the subjects reported that they felt mistrust and disconnect from agency professionals based on their personal experiences and those communicated to them by friends and family members. In addition, subjects described a reluctance to get involved or voluntarily engage with law enforcement based on acquired knowledge or past experiences or treatment. </p>

<p> <b>Background:</b> The widespread use of mammography, and its lack of specificity in younger women with denser breasts, increases the potential for a large number of biopsies and surgeries performed in women without breast cancer. Once a suspicious breast lesion is identified with mammography, the use of minimally-invasive breast biopsy (MIBB) as the initial tissue acquisition method for diagnosis is widely supported and advocated as best practice. This research focused on the utilization of MIBB techniques and surgical breast procedures to diagnose image-detected suspicious breast lesions, particularly those lesions ultimately diagnosed as benign, in an effort to better understand the quality and cost implications unnecessary surgical care. <b>Methods: </b> This retrospective cohort study evaluated the practice patterns of a variety of physicians in multiple facilities and physician offices across the country for MIBB and open surgical procedures to diagnose image-detected suspicious breast lesions among a cohort of well-insured women younger than 65 years old and eligible for TRICARE (the U.S. military's health benefit). Additionally, mean total costs were calculated to estimate the cost advantages of one initial tissue acquisition procedure versus another and how these costs were impacted by final diagnosis. <b>Results:</b> In total, 80 percent of the episodes began with the less-invasive MIBB, and 20 percent began with an open surgical procedure. Approximately 77 percent of the episodes using MIBB as the initial diagnostic technique were ultimately diagnosed as benign, as compared to a benign diagnosis in 82 percent of episodes initially utilizing open surgical biopsy and in 20 percent of episodes where other definitive surgery was the initial procedure. In total, potentially unnecessary surgery accounted for 15 percent of all cases requiring follow-up biopsy after abnormal mammography. The strongest predictors for the initial use of an open surgical procedure to diagnose a suspicious breast lesion that was ultimately diagnosed as benign were a lesion indicating benign atypia after diagnosis, patient age younger than 40 years old, a military physician performing the initial procedure, and a physician in the Midwest performing the initial procedure. On average, the excess cost associated with the use of surgical biopsy over MIBB as the initial procedure was 3 percent (ranging from 3 to 30 percent), but increased to 70 percent (ranging from 70 to 235 percent) for episodes ultimately diagnosed as benign. <b>Conclusions:</b> The use of surgical procedures to diagnose suspicious breast lesions is declining as the appropriate use of less-invasive MIBB techniques is growing. However, the variation in the utilization of these diagnostic techniques, particularly among younger women and among certain groups of physicians, results in a large number of women undergoing inappropriate surgical diagnosis of suspicious lesions that are ultimately diagnosed as benign. Policies are needed that promote the dissemination of comparative information to physicians about practice patterns, the use and monitoring of physician-level measures of compliance with care standards, payment policies that incentivize physician-level decision-making for high-value care, and balanced information sharing between physicians and patients about the harms and benefits of mammography screening.</p>

<p> The purpose of this project was to identify and create a program that would meet the needs of a target population, identify potential funding sources, and write a grant to fund a program at St. Mary's Hospital in Long Beach, California. An examination of the literature expanded knowledge about the challenges homeless individuals face. Homeless individuals commonly receive inadequate medical care and often access more costly acute care services due to limited resources, discrimination, and cost. Housing and case management services after discharge from a hospital setting can help improve health care outcomes and reduce costly services.</p><p> The program was designed to provide specialized discharge planning services to homeless individuals being discharged from St. Mary's Hospital. The California Wellness Foundation was chosen for this grant based on the program areas of the funder. The actual submission and/or funding of this proposal was not a requirement for completion of this project.</p>

<p> The purpose of this project is to develop a school curriculum prevention program for elementary school students. The identifying school for implementation will be Garfield Elementary School. This prevention program aims to work with elementary school students by providing psycho-education on healthy behaviors and unhealthy behaviors. This project will consist of providing a social support group for students to feel safe when talking about any type of violence from home, school, and the community. The class will consist of providing different activities in order to provide the information to the students. Students will also be giving a pre-test and a post-test in order to evaluate their knowledge before and after treatment. The purpose of this prevention program is to decrease bullying, teen-dating violence, and school violence. As part of the goals and objectives to decrease maladaptive behaviors this program will focus teaching and increasing the level of healthy behaviors, which includes, asking for help, walking away, speaking up, and conflict resolution among others.</p>

<p> The purpose of this thesis project was to partner with a host agency, identify a potential funding source, and write a grant proposal for an educational support program for youth in foster care. A literature review was conducted in order to identify the educational needs and barriers to success faced by youth in care and identify methods to address this issue. A program was designed that utilizes individualized strategic tutoring and mentoring services to address the educational, social, and emotional needs of youth and facilitates collaborations between the education and child welfare systems to improve the educational outcomes of this population. A grant proposal narrative was completed for the Stuart Foundation in order to fund this program for secondary school students in foster care in the Garden Grove Unified School District. The actual submission or funding of this grant was not a requirement for the successful completion of the project.</p>

<p> The purpose of this project was to develop a grant that, if funded, would guide aged-out foster youth to become independent and self-sustaining young adults who make a positive contribution to our society. The grant proposal contains a literature review of the plight of foster youth; they encounter a plethora of issues during the course of their lives. They are disproportionately represented in areas such as crime, homelessness, mental illness, lack of educational achievement, unemployment and substance abuse. The proposed program would guide the youth concerning these issues.</p><p> The chosen funder was the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The group home would serve 12 multiethnic male aged-out foster youth over a 3-year period. Services provided would include weekly mentoring, weekly support groups, education and career planning, health and mental health, substance abuse prevention and treatment, and skills development needed for transitioning to independent living. The actual submission of the grant application was not a requirement of the thesis project.</p>

<p> The purpose of the study was to explore the perceptions of university students with disabilities and the factors that contribute to or deter them from accessing Disabled Student Services. The sample was based on availability and convenience and consisted of 36 students. A self-administered survey was used.</p><p> The results indicated that students tended to seek services to access accommodations and to learn more about services that can help them succeed. They tended to delay seeking services in order to have a fresh start in college and due to their fear of stigma. Individuals with mental health disabilities were less likely than other students to report self-determination and support and more likely to experience stigma.</p><p> Social workers can play a vital role in assisting students with disabilities in identifying their specific barriers and in assisting them to access programs and services in a postsecondary education setting.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of public child welfare social workers focusing on the relatively new law The Fostering Connections to Success Act, otherwise known as AB-12. A questionnaire was designed to investigate research questions regarding workers perceptions on caseload, training, supervision, court, and ability to work with youth from 18 to 21 years old. The researcher distributed the questionnaire in two Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services regional offices where 38 respondents participated.</p><p> The study found the respondents reported positive attitudes regarding the AB-12 program and about their new role. Most respondents agreed that AB-12 was a much needed program and that it will increase life outcomes for youth. In addition, most workers reported that they were confident in their abilities to engage with the AB-12 population and agreed that they are confident in their abilities to meet the needs of nonminor dependents and find it rewarding. </p>

<p> An elusive solution has been found, to a serious problem that has plagued the criminal justice response to domestic violence for decades: The need for a validated method that will significantly raise unacceptably low rates of prosecution and conviction. Rates of domestic violence prosecution hover at about 30% for non-arrest cases. Using empirical data this study validated a best practices method (BPM) for DV investigation, by police. Rates of prosecution increase about 60% if photographs are obtained, 68% if more than one witness is listed in the report, 94% if an arrest is made, 87% if an emergency protective order (EPO) is obtained, and 284% if more than one charge is listed. Conviction increases about 78% for arrest, 102% for an EPO, and 142% for more than one charge. Survival analysis shows odds drop off rapidly for both outcomes if the report is not submitted to the prosecutor within 10 days. Rates of use of the BPM are used to determine Probability Scores (P Scores), so that routinely low effort (RLE) and routinely greater effort (RGE) officers can be separated and compared. Prosecutors reject RLE investigations 370% more often. The rate of decline of female DV recidivism, as a function of age, was measured to be about 2.56% per year between ages 22-61. For males it is about 3.13% per year from ages 28-60. This finding brings claims of re-education and treatment programs into question, if they have not controlled for the natural decline of recidivism potential as a function of age. This work demonstrates the manner in which a problem-solving criminology can be operationalized. </p>

<p> The public use version of the National Comorbidity Survey &ndash; Replication (NCS-R) dataset was used (N = 995) to investigate risk factors for recurrent major depressive disorder (MDD) that are evident before recovery from the first major depressive episode (MDE) by comparing persons diagnosed with MDD who experienced a single MDE to persons with recurrent MDD. </p><p> Multiple logistic regression analyses assessed the independent risk of recurrent MDD for each of the following risk factors: an early age of onset (&lt;30 years old), absence of a life stress trigger, chronic first episode, childhood parental loss, parental maltreatment, parental depression, comorbid anxiety disorder, and comorbid substance disorder. The relative excess risk due to interaction (RERI) assessed the risk of recurrent MDD associated with the interaction of an early onset with three childhood-based vulnerabilities: a) parental depression, b) parental loss, and c) parental maltreatment. </p><p> There was a statistically significant risk of recurrent MDD found for the following risk factors: early onset, stress trigger absent, childhood parental loss, parental maltreatment, parental depression, and anxiety disorder; marginally significant results suggested an increased risk of recurrent MDD for substance disorder. There was a significant increased risk found for the interaction of an early onset with parental depression and similar non-significant trends were found for the interactions of early onset with parental loss and early onset with parental maltreatment. </p><p> An early onset, the absence of a life stress trigger, and the presence of parental loss, parental maltreatment, parental depression, a comorbid anxiety disorder, and a comorbid substance disorder each confer greater risk of recurrent MDD among persons that have not yet recovered from their first lifetime MDE. The presence of an early onset combined with a childhood-based vulnerability such as parental depression, parental loss, or parental maltreatment, indicate an especially high risk of recurrent MDD. These findings may inform the development of a screening tool to assess risk for recurrent MDD and early intervention to prevent recurrent MDD. Future research should employ a longitudinal research design to replicate and expand upon these findings.</p>