<p> As the number of older adults with dementia in nursing facilities grows, so does the need for holistic dementia training for nursing home staff. This curriculum was designed as a training tool for all nursing facility staff in order to provide practical education on how to develop individualized, psychosocial interventions for residents that have dementia. The curriculum is presented in two parts. Part I is a simulation activity and discussion to create empathy among staff members by demonstrating the perspective of an older adult with dementia. Part II is a guided practice activity on how to identify important interests and characteristics of an individual resident and apply this knowledge to create effective interventions. The training is a total of approximately 4 hours and focuses on teaching staff skills that will allow them to continue to target dementia symptoms with psychosocial interventions. The curriculum also includes a trainer&rsquo;s guide, handouts, and a survey tool for evaluation.</p>

A qualitative analysis of aftercare service provision for survivors of sex trafficking in North Carolina

<p> The purpose of the study was to conduct a community risk assessment of the city of Huntington Park, California by utilizing the Communities That Care model to identify the most concerning risk factors for delinquency and school dropout. Forty-seven indicators measuring 18 risk factors were gathered from public sources. Data from Huntington Park was compared to data from Los Angeles County and California. The risk factors of main concern for the community appeared to be transition and mobility, low neighborhood attachment and community disorganization, extreme economic deprivation, family management problems, academic failure beginning in elementary school, early and persistent antisocial behavior, friends who engage in the problem behavior and early initiation of the problem behavior. Efforts to reduce involvement in delinquency and school dropout should target the community, school and peer and individual domains. Suggestions for evidence-based programs and approaches to reduce the most salient risk factors are provided.</p>

<p> This study tested the effects of hypnosis for injection anxiety, medication side-effects from injectable medications, and general pain with patients who have MS. This seven- to nine-week hypnotic protocol was implemented based on the Palsson hypnosis protocol for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (2006). </p><p> The subjects were randomly assigned to receive in-person hypnosis in addition to listening to a self-hypnosis CD at home five days per week (N=13), or to a standard care group where they received no additional intervention for seven to nine weeks (N=14). The standard care group could listen to a self-hypnosis CD at home five days per week with no in-person treatment. </p><p> An additional goal of this randomized control trial was to teach patients to practice self-hypnosis to improve disease self-management and self-efficacy. </p><p> Paired t-tests were conducted from baseline to Time 3 in both groups to assess the significance of changes in the mean scores over time. The experimental group did not yield statistically significant results over time from baseline to Time 3 in medication side-effects or pain. However, the results did indicate a marginally significant (p=.09) decrease in injection anxiety. In addition, the experimental group showed statistically significant improvement in self-efficacy over time (p=.025), compared with the control group. The latter did not demonstrate any changes in self-efficacy. As expected, the control group did not show any statistically significant changes in their scores from baseline to Time 3 in injection anxiety, medication side-effects, or pain.</p>

<p> The purpose of this project was to write a grant to implement a free swimming program for foster children 17 years and under in the City of Petaluma. The Petaluma Healthy Youth Swimming Program (PHYSH) will provide a series of six 2-week sessions over the summer to teach swimming skills and swimming safety. The program is expected to increase self-esteem and resiliency among foster children and to decrease the disproportional rates of non-intentional drowning found among impoverished children of color. A part-time Master of Social Work Program Manager will be hired to oversee the program. The City of Petaluma's Parks and Recreation Department will provide in-kind donations of two swimming pools, swimming instructors, and lifeguards. Target stores will donate swimsuits to all registered participants. It was not required that this grant be submitted or receive actual funding to meet thesis requirements. </p>

<p> As people's life-expectancy prolongs with advanced medical treatments, numbers of individuals who experience widowhood in later life are expected to increase. As a result, grief work will be one of the common challenges that social workers and older adults will face. The purpose of this project was to develop a grant proposal for the Pathways Volunteer Hospice in Lakewood, California, and to identify funding sources for designing a mindfulness focused bereavement support group program for older widows who are age 60 years and over. With funding resources provided by the Weingart Foundation, the proposed program aims to educate participants on the principles of mindfulness and how they can integrate mindfulness principles and philosophy into their grieving process to better facilitate their coping with their loss. The proposed program will be based on empirically supported methods, such as, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy. The actual submission, and/or funding, of this grant was not required for successful completion of this thesis.</p>

<p> Quality citizen participation in processes of policy development is crucial to a democracy interested in equity of voice for all its citizens. Citizens with less political power, however, are often absent from policy development for a variety of reasons, despite legislative and advocacy efforts for inclusion. In policy development processes, community representatives are a mechanism for traditionally marginalized or disadvantaged citizens to have a voice; yet the question remains how to effectively utilize that voice. This question stems from research demonstrating an increase in quantity citizen participation but not in quality citizen participation, which is more interested in the process of policy development as opposed to a final product. To understand quality citizen participation, a critical ethnography guided by a socio-ecological perspective allowing for the investigation of contextual as well as individual factors impacting policy development processes was conducted to assist in advancing knowledge about the best practices necessary to facilitate quality citizen participation in policy development. The policy development process explored in this qualitative study was the context provided by three CHCs in a Midwestern state. Information was gathered about these three CHC boards from multiple sources to best represent the context surrounding participation on the boards and that participation experience from the perspective of board members. The data analyzed included: descriptive statistics of seven counties which comprised the patient community of the three CHCs participating in the study, descriptive statistics of the patient communities of those three CHCs, interviews with national and state policy experts, the clinic directors and board chairs of the three CHCs and interviews with 16 board members of the three CHCs. Analysis of these data identified individual, relational, organizational, community and public policy level factors which impacted the participation of board members of three CHCs. For example, the education and background experiences of board members (individual) as well as relationships between board members and the management teams of the clinics (relational) facilitated the quality of their participation on the boards. Contextual knowledge of economic, political, and cultural factors were discovered for each of the three clinics, and proved important to understanding the quality of participation of board members. </p><p> Social work educators and practitioners will benefit from the advancement of knowledge about what factors facilitate the quality of citizen participation in policy development processes. The results of this study suggest that practitioners interested in empowering consumers to have a role in the provision of services need to understand what facilitates the quality of citizen participation to ensure that consumers have a legitimate voice in policy development and implementation processes. The results of this study also inform our understanding of citizen participation in multiple policy development processes. For example, because legislators will benefit when barriers to the quality of citizen participation are identified, educators teaching social work students about macro practice will have concrete lessons to draw from; practitioners who work with non-elected members of boards will benefit from barrier identification allowing them to assist in the empowerment of future board members engaged in policy development on a wide variety of boards; and finally actual board members, especially those representing traditionally disadvantaged or marginalized communities, will benefit from knowledge gleaned from similar experiences, and educators teaching social work students about the benefits of advocacy and empowerment could assist to make their participation more effective.</p>

<p> Spirituality has been recognized as a positive factor in the lives of older adults, especially as it influences their emotional, mental, and physical well-being. This convenience sample study included 17 older adults residing at a faith based continuing care retirement community in Florida. The sample was represented by Caucasian older adults with an average age of 84 years, highly educated, majority Protestant and mostly female. Spiritual life reviews were conducted using spiritual life maps (Hodge, 2005) and semi-structured interview questions. Erikson's epigenetic stage of ego-integrity was used along with Butler's life review process and Tornstam's gerotranscendence as a conceptual framework for understanding late life development and spirituality in older adults. This mostly qualitative study used a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to analyze the responses to the open-ended interview questions about spirituality across the life-time. Ego-integrity was measured at the beginning and end of the spiritual life review study. </p><p> Paired t-tests found that participation in the spiritual life review did not influence the ego integrity scores of participants. Specifically, there were no statistically significant difference between the pre ego integrity score (M=82.94, SD= 8.235) and the post ego integrity score (M=84.47, SD= 7.551); t (16) = -.769 p= .453. However, in comparison, the qualitative analysis revealed that the spiritual life review does influence ego-integrity in some participants. Additionally, the spiritual life review confirms gerotranscendence and contributes to information about spiritual development in the lives of older adults. The conclusion offers a discussion about the study's limitations, strengths, implications for future research, and suggestions for clinical practice.</p>

<p> There are basic federal and state rights that are legally provided to residents within skilled nursing facilities. While these rights aim to protect vulnerable nursing home residents from mistreatment, these civil rights granted to residents by law are continuously violated. The purpose of this project was to promote the rights of nursing home residents, specifically their rights to autonomy, dignity, and respect. A grant proposal for a training program was developed on behalf of Wise &amp; Healthy Aging, targeted towards direct care staff within skilled nursing facilities located within Los Angeles County. Components of the training program include teaching the staff about resident rights, the benefits of upholding resident rights, and how to handle or prevent common situations that they are likely to encounter related to these rights. The training program has the potential to increase the quality of life for residents, while decreasing the violations of resident rights within skilled nursing facilities.</p>

<p> The purpose of this project was to write a grant for an obesity prevention program for foster care youth. An extensive literature review was performed to investigate the best ways to reduce the increasing rate of obesity and promote awareness of its physical and psychological effects. The program consists of three components: 1. Education 2. Nutrition and physical fitness, and 3. A week-long camping retreat. As many as 140 foster care youth would be served. </p><p> The Foundation for California Community Colleges was selected as the best potential funder because it funds similar programs throughout the state providing life-skills training to youth transitioning from foster care. If funded, the program would take place at community colleges in Los Angeles. The program is expected to enable foster care adolescents to live a healthy lifestyle leading into adulthood. The actual submission of the proposal was not a requirement for the thesis project.</p>