The Hispanic/Latino population in Southern California is quickly becoming the majority in many communities. As a result, social work professionals need training and education in cultural and linguistic skills to work effectively with this diverse population. The purpose of this study was to examine the linguistic competency and comfort of social work students when working with Spanish-speaking clients who speak little to no English. The study used a quantitative, self-administered, online survey to assess 106 social work students’ Spanish language abilities, comfort working with Spanish-speaking clients, and desires to improve their Spanish language skills. Results indicated that students who identified as native Spanish-speakers with and without formal language education, scored better on the objective assessment of Spanish-language skills and reported feeling more comfortable working with Spanish-speaking clients. Students with little to no Spanish-speaking ability scored very low on the language quiz, and yet reported feeling very comfortable working with Spanish-speaking clients. The majority of participants expressed interest in Spanish-language social work curriculum within the CSUSB School of Social Work. The findings of this study suggest that social work students would benefit to receive Spanish social work courses as part of the social work curricula.

This investigation was concerned with whether linguistic competence with printed material is related to the retention of information contained in prose passages of high readability. The specific purpose of the study was to investigate relationships between linguistic competence and free recall, immediate, delayed, and practiced, after the reading of a passage of high readability. In a review of related literature, indications were found that linguistic competence could be expressed by test scores of reading achievement. Therefore, in this study linguistic competence was operationally defined by scores of literal and inferential reading comprehension.

Esta tesis investiga el nivel de competencia bilingüe (la capacidad de un hablante para comprender y producir en dos idiomas) de los habitantes de la región de Tres Fronteras, Sudamérica. Tres Fronteras es el nombre de la zona trifronteriza entre las ciudades de Leticia, Colombia; Tabatinga, Brasil; y Santa Rosa de Yavarí, Perú. En Tres Fronteras, las personas de los tres países pueden cruzar libremente de un país a otro, lo que crea situaciones de contacto lingüístico entre el español y el portugués. Debido a esa situación de contacto lingüístico, muchas personas de las tres ciudades tienen al menos un conocimiento básico del otro idioma. De acuerdo con la metodología de Carvalho (1998, 2003, 2006, 2016) y Alvar (1977), 42 habitantes de la región fueron entrevistados primeramente en su L1 y, posteriormente, en su L2. Luego, a esos participantes se les asignó una calificación holística de acuerdo con su competencia en su L2, según una rúbrica lingüística. Después, a los participantes se les administró una encuesta en la que respondieron preguntas basadas en su propio uso de la lengua y el uso de los dos idiomas de la región. Los resultados cualitativos y cuantitativos de los datos recopilados brindaron una nueva perspectiva sobre el nivel de bilingüismo de esa área menos estudiada en la que la mayoría de los participantes fueron bilingües con una capacidad mucho más limitada en su L2 comparada con su L1. Las excepciones a esa tendencia aparecieron caso por caso con los participantes con experiencia significativa viviendo en el país de la L2 (brasileños viviendo en Colombia o Perú, o viceversa) siendo bilingües con altos niveles de competencia en su L2. Las similitudes entre el español y el portugués y la nivelación dialectal también parecen contribuir a la falta de motivación para dominar la L2, ya que la mayoría de las personas en el país que habla la L2 puede entender, en su mayor parte, el otro idioma con un cierto nivel de inteligibilidad mutua.

No description available.

The objective of this dissertation is to describe a systematic approach to effectively treat common mental health disorders, which involves integrating care managers and mental health specialists into the primary care treatment team. Despite an extensive body of evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of collaborative care, implementation in various “real world” settings presents a number of barriers. Successful clinical trials have failed to result in widespread changes in practice. Gaps in the literature persist as to what the clinical, organizational and financial barriers to integration are. As a result, dissemination of the model lags far behind. This dissertation sought to contribute new information to the literature on integrated health care by examining various elements of dissemination efforts. The first article examined the experience among a group of health care providers in Texas who were attempting to integrate physical and behavioral health care. This article identified the barriers that they have encountered in addition to the strategies they have used to integrate mental and physical health services, and to determine whether the strategies reflect an evidence-based model of care delivery. In addition, the perceived clinical, organizational and financial barriers to integration were evaluated. The second article for this dissertation examined quantitative clinical outcomes of an integrated health care program in a community-based clinic with a low-income, uninsured population of Hispanics, a portion of which were Spanish-speaking. A socio-culturally adapted model for the provision of comprehensive health services may have a significant impact on the health and mental health outcomes of minority, non-English speaking populations. The third article offers an in-depth case study of an interdisciplinary collaborative care treatment team. Understanding the details of program implementation and the elements of the model that community based providers found useful, and those they found challenging, has implications for widespread implementation efforts. This qualitative article offered an analysis of how the treatment team organized itself to perform as a coordinated, high functioning effort that fit well with the needs of patients, and had each professional doing what they do best. / text