School of Social Work

Substance Use Disorder (SUD) is a chronic relapsing disease that afflicts 10% of the US population. Recidivism rates for SUD treatment in the United States (US) remain high. Couple therapy has be shown to be an effective treatment modality for SUD, and research consistently indicates that couple therapy is more effective than individual therapy in treating SUD. Still, most US treatment centers do not use couple therapy as a primary treatment modality. To explore the underuse of couple therapy and the barriers that prevent its use, individual, semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty (N = 20) clinical directors of SUD treatment centers across the US. A theoretical thematic analysis was used incorporating Everett Rogers’ diffusion of innovations theory to assess barriers that hinder the use of couple therapy to treat SUD in addiction treatment centers. Issues related to observability, compatibility, and complexity of couple treatment were found to severely impede the implementation of couple therapy in addiction treatment centers. Recommendations include ongoing research to determine influences on agency programming, fostering pro-research environments in universities and agencies, removing barriers to access to evidence-based practice information, and promoting the federal initiative of technology transfer in SUD treatment.

Adolescent mothers experience many factors that affect their ability to securely attach to their infants and are therefore considered a high-risk population. In addition, infants of adolescent mothers are at an increased risk of developing insecure attachment. FirstPlay® Therapy Infant Storytelling-Massage is an attachment-based, parent–infant adjunctive play therapy model founded on the theoretical underpinning of attachment theory.
The current study implemented a one-time intervention with an adolescent mother population in a group home setting. A pretest/posttest design was utilized to measure the impact of FirstPlay® Therapy on the variables of an adolescent mother’s levels of maternal attachment and comfort with physical touch. Participants in this study (N = 5) were adolescent mothers ages 18–21 years old, who were recruited from four maternity group homes in two counties in South Florida. Five adolescent mothers completed the FirstPlay® Therapy for pre and posttest data. No significant differences were found in the areas of maternal attachment and predisposition to touch before and 2 weeks after the intervention. There were some significant relationships found among the demographic variables specific to an adolescent mother’s history of employment status and her child welfare history as well as the age of the mother and the age of her infant. In addition, at posttest, a significant relationship was found between the sex of the infant and the total score on the PCAQ. Although no statistically significant findings were presented, recommendations for further research include extending this intervention to a broader population of adolescent mothers across a variety of settings to focus on early infant-attachment relationships.

The purpose of this study was to explore how social work practitioners employed in schools perceive their level of competency in suicide prevention, assessment, and intervention and to identify educational and professional challenges specific to this area of inquiry. This study sought to explore the following research questions: 1) How do school social workers perceive their level of competency in suicide prevention, assessment, and intervention with at-risk suicidal children and youth? 2) What are school social workers educational or professional challenges in providing suicide prevention, assessment, and intervention? This research study was predicated on a qualitative research design and conventional content analysis. The research design allowed for an in-depth examination of school social workers’ ability to make critical decisions when providing suicide prevention, assessment and intervention to youth at risk of suicide. The findings of this study suggest that, despite past and current education, training, and clinical practice experience working with at-risk suicidal youth, continual training is necessary in increasing perceived professional competency and addressing familial, organizational and societal challenges pertinent to at-risk suicidal youth.

The purpose of this study was to analyze potential relationships between the domains of behavioral outcomes, social skills, and academic performance for youth in foster care and remaining longer in care. This study utilized data from three waves in the NSCAW II dataset, including youth (N =296) between the ages of 11 and 17 years. Multiple linear regression was utilized to assess the association between the three domains and the number of days spent in foster care. Findings were not significant, exposing the need for more studies on contextual variables that might be consistent with children living in out of home care. Limitations of the study were reviewed. Potential research and practice implications of the results were considered.

The purpose of this study was to assess overall life satisfaction of older adult women who have not had children. The study explored the following questions: (1) What is the overall sense of life satisfaction of childfree women over 65? (2) What is the lived experience of being a childfree woman in U.S. society? (3) How does being childfree inform women’s overall life satisfaction? This study utilized a phenomenological research design. Fourteen childfree women over the age of 65 participated in semistructured interviews aimed at gaining a deeper understanding of the sense of life satisfaction of childfree women in late life.
The study’s purpose was to look at the lived experiences of childfree older women and further understand their abilities to live fulfilled lives despite the absence of child bearing. This research explored the experiences of women without children and hopefully will inspire future research on the topic as well as inform practice regarding the unique experiences and perspectives of childfree women.