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2018 Publications

Bettmann, J. E.,Prince, K. C., Hardy, C., & Dwumah, P. (in press). Measuring anxiety and depression in Ghanaian and U.S. college students. Journal of Multicultural Counseling & Development. Accepted October 2018.

  • This study examined differences between Ghanaian and U.S. college students on the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 (HSCL-25). Data were collected from 465 Ghanaian and 425 U.S. college students. In comparison to their U.S. counterparts, Ghanaians reported lower levels of general distress related to anxiety and depression, higher levels of anxiety-specific distress, and no differences in depression-specific distress. When using the HSCL-25 to screen for symptoms of anxiety and depression, a multidimensional approach may be most appropriate.

Bettmann, J. E., & Olson-Morrison, D. (2018). The relationship between adolescent refugees’ attachment patterns and their experiences of trauma. Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in Social Work. First published online: 20 December 2018. Read More…

  • Nearly half of all young refugees experience trauma-related mental health problems.  However, protective factors, such as attachment style, may mitigate the impact of traumatic events.  This study explores the relationship between adolescent refugees’ traumatic experiences and their adult attachment inventory classifications. Attachment and trauma data were gathered from 37 refugee youth resettled in the United States. Results suggest refugees who are securely attached may have greater resilience in the face of traumatic events than refugees with insecure or disorganized attachment styles. Future research should further explore links between adolescent refugee attachment and resiliency in the face of traumatic experiences.

Bettmann, J. E., Scheinfeld, D., Prince, K. C., Garland, E. L., & Ovrom, K. V. (2018). Changes in psychiatric symptoms and psychological processes among veterans participating in a therapeutic adventure program. Psychological Services. First published online: 08 February 2018. Read More…

  • When veterans need effective mental health treatment, many are reluctant to engage in traditional treatment modalities because of stigma. Therapeutic adventure shows promise as a way to engage veterans and enact positive changes in functioning, but little is known about how therapeutic adventure impacts mental health symptoms among veterans. This study examined changes in mental health symptoms and related psychological processes over the course of a six-day Outward Bound for Veterans (OB4V) program and at a one-month follow-up. This study examined data from 77 U.S. military veterans with psychiatric diagnoses. The authors hypothesized that participants would report significant reductions in mental health symptoms over the course of the program and following its completion, as well as significant improvements in psychological processes that included initiative for psychological growth, psychological attitudes, attitudes toward help-seeking, psychological mindedness, and emotional suppression. A repeated-measures analysis of variance was performed on each of the dependent variables. Results showed that, from pre- to postprogram, participants reported significant improvement in life purpose satisfaction and self-confidence during stressful situations. Further, from preprogram to one-month postprogram, veterans reported increased psychological mindedness, increased engagement to promote personal growth, decreased mental health symptomology, decreased emotional suppression, and an increase in positive attitude toward seeking professional psychological help. These improvements were significant during the OB4V program and even continued to improve after the program ended, showing the promise of therapeutic adventure as a modality to address veterans’ mental health issues.

Broadbent, M., Gardett, I., Knight, C., Scott, G., Clawson, J., & Olola, C. (In press). Persons descriptions reported to emergency police dispatch. Annals of Emergency Dispatch and Response.

  • A retrospective, descriptive study of the Police Priority Dispatch System (PPDS®) aiming to describe persons reported to emergency dispatch.

Broadbent, M., Knight, C., Warner, D., Williams, N., Scott, G., Clawson, J., Gardett, I., & Olola, C. (2018). Weapons reported on-scene by callers to emergency police dispatch. Annals of Emergency Dispatch and Response, 6(1), 19-25. Read More…

  • A retrospective descriptive study aiming to determine the types of weapons reported using the Police Priority Dispatch System (PPDS®) protocols.

Gardett, I., Broadbent, M., Scott, G., Clawson, J., & Olola, C. (2018). Availability and use of an automated external defibrillator in emergency medical dispatch. Prehospital Emergency Care. First published online: 20 December 2018. Read More…

  • A retrospective, descriptive study aiming to describe the distribution and use of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) via layperson(s) at the point of dispatch.

Scott, G., Barron, T., Gardett, I., Broadbent, M., Downs, H., Devey, L., Hinterman, E.J., Clawson, J., & Olola C. (2018). Can a software-based metronome tool enhance compression rate in a realistic 911 call scenario without adversely impacting compression depth for dispatcher-assisted CPR? Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, 33(4), 399–405. Read More…

  • A prospective, randomized, controlled simulation study aiming to measure whether the use of a metronome tool increases the proportion of callers able to perform CPR within the target rate without affecting depth.

Scott, G., Olola, C., Gardett, I., Broadbent, M., Sangaraju, L., Schultz, B., Burnette, L., & Clawson, J. (2018). Is emergency medical dispatcher low-acuity code selection influenced by a user-interface software modification? Annals of Emergency Dispatch and Response, 6(2), 11-16. Read More…

  • An ambispective, observational study aiming to determine whether changing the order of the “No” answer choice on a single key question in the Medical Priority Dispatch System (MPDS©) sick person protocol would lower the frequency of selecting a default dispatch code of 26-A-1.

Clawson, J. J., Gardett, I., Scott, G., Fivaz, C., Barron, T., Broadbent, M., & Olola, C. (2018). Hospital-confirmed acute myocardial infarction: Prehospital identification using the medical priority dispatch system. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, 33(1), 29–35. Read More…

  • A retrospective descriptive study aiming to describe an emergency medical dispatchers’ abilities to correctly triage Acute Myocardial Infarctions (AMIs) into Advanced Life Support (ALS) response tiers.

Davis, C., Dodson, P., Pore, C., Sangaraju, S., Broadbent, M., Scott, G., Gardett, I., & Olola, C. (2018). Predicting the need for extrication in traffic accidents reported to 911: Is anyone pinned/trapped? Annals of Emergency Dispatch and Response, 6(3), 5-9.

  • A retrospective cohort study aiming to understand the factors impacting the need for extrication during a traffic accident and whether Key Questions and/or Determinant Codes are predictive of extrication.

Faudere, D., Hutchens, J., Olola, C., Scott, G., Broadbent, M., & Gardett, I. (In Press). Implications of pre-alerts in emergency medical dispatch.Annals of Emergency Dispatch and Response.

  • A retrospective cohort study evaluating the differences in emergency response management and whether the use of Pre-Alerts in Emergency Medical Dispatch affects response outcomes.

Keeshin, B., Shepard, L., & Bryne, K. (In press). Trauma Informed Care and Treatment. In R. Reese and C. Christian, Child Abuse: Medical Diagnosis and Management (4th ed.).

  • This chapter presents what pediatric providers need to know and do to provide trauma-informed care. The first few sections define trauma-informed care, review its application in primary care, and describe the role of the pediatric provider. The remainder of the chapter is more directive in what pediatric providers need to know and do about trauma, particularly for abused or maltreated children.

Bryne, K., Kuttner, P., Mohammed, A., Magana, G. R., & Goldberg, E. (2018). This is our home: Initiating participatory action housing research with refugee and immigrant communities in a time of unwelcome. Action Research. First published online: 13 August 2018. Read More…

  • Community Voices for Housing Equality is a participatory action research group made up of community leaders and social workers whose aim is to address inequality and unfairness in housing by centering the voices of tenants. In this article, the core Community Voices for Housing Equality research team narrates and presents findings from phase one of the project, focused on the experiences of tenants with refugee and immigrant background in Salt Lake County, UT. The authors explain how the project emerged and why, describe the process of facilitating critical community dialogues with tenants, share findings from the dialogues, and describe initial actions taken.

Butters, R., Prince, K. C., Walker, A., Worwood, E. B., & Sarver, C. M. (2018). Does reducing case processing time reduce recidivism? A study of the early case resolution court. Criminal Justice Policy Review. First published online: 24 July 2018. Read More…

  • Case processing times throughout the United States exceed national standards created by multiple agencies. To combat this, multiple expedited case processing courts have been developed across the nation; however, research regarding these courts has failed to consider recidivism outcomes among participants. The authors examined the outcomes of a specialized court in the Salt Lake City Third District Court called the Early Case Resolution (ECR) court, a program aimed at reducing both case processing times and recidivism. Using a propensity score-matched sample, the authors utilized survival analysis to look at participants’ time to recidivism. While case processing times were lower for the ECR court participants than non-ECR participants, recidivism among ECR Court participants was significantly higher. Results from this study show that using recidivism as an outcome measure for expedited case processing courts is necessary in evaluations of these programs.

Becerra, D., Castillo, J., Arcinega, M. R. S., Naddy, M. B. G., & Nguyen, V. (2018). Increased immigration enforcement and perceived discrimination among Latino immigrants. Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, 45(2), 39-65. Read More…

  • The purpose of this paper was to examine the impact of perceived discrimination among Latino immigrants in the context of recent immigration policies and immigration enforcement strategies. Data for this study were drawn from a pilot study (n=213) of adult Latino immigrants living in Arizona during the summer of 2014. The results of multivariate OLS linear regressions indicated greater perceived discrimination was significantly related to reporting: (1) avoidance of immigration officials; (2) family has suffered; and (3) friends have suffered. In addition, greater perceived discrimination was significantly related to lower confidence in a better future for the individual, their families, their children, and the children of today. Implications for social work practice, advocacy, and research are discussed.

Jaggi, R., Frost, C. J., Benson, L. S., Alder, S., & Gren L. H. (in press). Ethics of managing unintended consequences in global health research: A case study.  African Journal of Current Medical Research. Accepted: October 2018.

  • This article describes the potential unintended consequences of a research project on women’s reproductive health.

Frost, C. J., Morgan, N. J., Allkhenfr, H., Dearden, S., Ess, R., Fawzan Albalawi, W., Berri, A., Benson, L. S., & Gren, L. H. (2018).  Determining physical and mental health conditions present in older adult refugees.  Gerontology.  First published online: 21 August 2018. Read More…

  • In 2017, there were over 65 million displaced persons at the global level, with approximately 23 million of these people living as refugees around the world. In this same year, the U.S. resettled 53,716 refugees, with the State of Utah receiving 954 of those refugees. Refugees, in general, often face health-related challenges upon resettlement. Since the health of aging refugee men and women is of growing concern, host communities face significant challenges in accommodating the health needs of a diverse refugee population. This study, a review of physical and mental health data from the Utah Department of Health, was undertaken in an effort to ascertain the prevalence of health conditions among refugee men and women 60 years and older arriving in Utah. Findings include information on diseases correlated with increasing age, such as hypertension, decreases in vision, arthritis, and low back pain, which are common among this population. Overall, most of the health conditions assessed affect women and men with a similar prevalence. Some notable exceptions are a history of torture and violence, and a propensity for tobacco use. When dealing with refugee men older than 60 years, providers should consider the psychological ramifications of having endured such atrocities, as well as introduction to evidence-based tobacco cessation programs. When working with refugee women of the same age, an increase in the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain and urinary tract infections should be considered.

Kagabo, R. Frost, C. J., Case, B., Porter, M., Adaku, A. & Alumai, A. (2018). Global cultural and public health challenges:  The impact of conflict on healthcare in the Rhino Camp refugee settlements Uganda.  Journal of Epidemiology and Public Health, Reviews 3(1), 1-7. Read More…

  • This research was conducted in the refugee camps in the West Nile region of Uganda in the Rhino Camp Refugee Settlements. The objective was a pilot mixed methods assessment of the challenges that refugee and host communities face, and the challenges placed on the healthcare systems of the host country of Uganda. The findings reveal many factors that are interconnected at different levels to influence the health outcomes of the refugee population in refugee camps. These factors include individual refugee factors, environmental, and communal factors. These factors interact across different levels of influence to impact both the general refugee health and the healthcare system of the host country of Uganda. Of particular concern are the healthcare providers who report burning out. Interventions that include self-help guides and professional development for providers to address their burnout issues may produce better outcomes for the entire healthcare system.

Kamimura, A., Pye, M., Sin, K., Nourian, M., Assanik, N., Stoddard, M., & Frost, C. J., (2018). Health and well-being of women migrating from Muslim-dominated countries to the United States.  Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 29(1), 337-348. Read More…

  • The purpose of this study was to examine the health and well-being of women migrating from predominantly Muslim countries to the U.S. Participants completed a paper survey on the following topics from June to December in 2016 (N=102): depression, physical functioning, self-reported general health, experiences with health care, and demographic characteristics. There were several women's health-related issues: low rates for mammography and Pap smear screening, and preference for female physicians and/or physicians from the same culture. Only one-third of the participants had received a physical exam in the past year, and having done so was related to higher levels of depression and worse physical functioning. The participants who were not in a refugee camp reported higher levels of depression than those who were.

Garland, E. L., Bell S., Atchley R., & Froeliger B. (2018). Emotion dysregulation in addiction. In S. Crowell & T. Beauchaine (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Emotion Dysregulation, New York: Oxford University Press.  Read More…

  • Several decades of scientific research provide strong evidence that individuals who suffer from emotion dysregulation, such as that observed in depression and anxiety, are more vulnerable to addictive behavior. Furthermore, a growing body of studies indicates that chronic use of addictive substances dysregulates emotional responding. Emerging research also suggests that recurrent drug use and addiction are associated with deficits in the capacity to proactively regulate negative and positive emotions. This chapter synthesizes evidence from clinical and neuroscientific studies on effects of addictive behavior (including misuse of prescription opioids, addiction to cigarettes, and addiction to more powerful stimulants) on emotion dysregulation to outline an integrative model of emotion dysregulation in addiction. This model has implications for treatment development and further scientific investigation.

Garland, E. L., Bryan, C. J., Kreighbaum, L., Nakamura, Y., Howard, M. O., & Froeliger, B. E. (2018). Prescription opioid misusing chronic pain patients exhibit dysregulated context-dependent associations: Investigating associative learning in addiction with the cue-primed reactivity task. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 187, 13-21. Read More…

  • In this study, the authors utilized a novel psychophysiological probe of pain-opioid conditioned associations, the cue-primed reactivity (CPR) task, to assess associative learning and second-order conditioning effects among chronic pain patients taking long-term opioid analgesics. Analyses of heart rate variability and subjective craving responses during the task suggest that opioid-treated chronic pain patients exhibit Pavlovian conditioned responses to opioid cues strengthened by an associative learning process of second-order conditioning when primed by pain-related images.

Garland, E. L., Hanley, A. W., Bedford, C., Zubieta, J.-K., Howard, M.O., Nakamura, Y., Donaldson, G., & Froeliger, B. (2018). Reappraisal deficits promote craving and emotional distress among chronic pain patients at risk for prescription opioid misuse. Journal of Addictive Diseases. First published online: 4 June 2018. Read More…

  • A subset of chronic pain patients misuse prescription opioids as a means of regulating negative emotions. However, opioid misuse may result in deficits in emotion regulation strategies like reappraisal by virtue of the deleterious effects of chronic opioid exposure. The aim of this study was to characterize differences in reappraisal use among chronic pain patients at risk for opioid misuse and those who report taking opioids as prescribed.

Garland, E. L., & Howard, M. O. (2018). Enhancing natural reward responsiveness among opioid users predicts relief from chronic pain: An analysis of EEG data from a trial of Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research, 9(2), 2334-2315. Read More…

  • Although opioid-treated chronic pain patients evidence blunted responsiveness to natural rewards, focusing on naturally rewarding stimuli can produce analgesia in these patients. A prior randomized controlled trial (RCT) demonstrated that a social work intervention—Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE)—enhanced natural reward processing as indicated by event-related brain potentials (ERPs). The aim of the present study was to perform a secondary data analysis on ERPs collected in this RCT to explore whether improvements in electrocortical response to natural reward predicted pain relief.

Garland, E. L., & Howard, M. O. (2018). Mindfulness-based treatment of addiction: Current state of the field and envisioning the next wave of research. Addiction Science and Clinical Practice, 13:14. Read More…

  • Contemporary advances in addiction neuroscience have paralleled increasing interest in the ancient mental training practice of mindfulness meditation as a potential therapy for addiction. In the past decade, mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have been studied as a treatment for an array of addictive behaviors, including drinking, smoking, opioid misuse, and use of illicit substances like cocaine and heroin. This article reviews current research evaluating MBIs as a treatment for addiction, with a focus on findings pertaining to clinical outcomes and biobehavioral mechanisms. Studies indicate that MBIs reduce substance misuse and craving by modulating cognitive, affective, and psychophysiological processes integral to self-regulation and reward processing. This integrative review provides the basis for manifold recommendations regarding the next wave of research needed to firmly establish the efficacy of MBIs and elucidate the mechanistic pathways by which these therapies ameliorate addiction. Issues pertaining to MBI treatment optimization and sequencing, dissemination and implementation, dose–response relationships, and research rigor and reproducibility are discussed.

Baker, A. K., & Garland, E. L. (2018). Autonomic and affective mediators of the relationship between mindfulness and opioid craving among chronic pain patients. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology. First published online: 27 September 2018.  Read More…

  • Prescription opioid misuse among chronic pain patients is undergirded by self-regulatory deficits, affective distress, and opioid-cue reactivity. Dispositional mindfulness has been associated with enhanced self-regulation, lower distress, and adaptive autonomic responses following drug-cue exposure. The authors hypothesized that dispositional mindfulness might serve as a protective factor among opioid-treated chronic pain patients. The authors examined heart-rate variability (HRV) during exposure to opioid cues and depressed mood as mediators of the association between dispositional mindfulness and opioid craving. Data were obtained from a sample of chronic pain patients (N = 115) receiving long-term opioid pharmacotherapy. Participants self-reported opioid craving and depression, and HRV was measured during an opioid-cue dot-probe task. Dispositional mindfulness was significantly positively correlated with HRV, and HRV was significantly inversely associated with opioid craving. Dispositional mindfulness was significantly negatively correlated with depression, and depression was significantly positively correlated with opioid craving. Path analysis revealed significant indirect effects of dispositional mindfulness on craving through both HRV and depression. Dispositional mindfulness may buffer against opioid craving among chronic pain patients prescribed opioids; this buffering effect may be a function of improved autonomic and affective responses.

Li, W., Garland, E. L., & Howard, M. O. (2018). Therapeutic mechanisms of Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement for internet gaming disorder: Reducing craving and addictive behavior by targeting cognitive processes. Journal of Addictive Diseases. First published online: 22 March 2018. Read More…

  • This study used data from a randomized control trial (RCT) of Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE) for internet gaming disorder (IGD) to further examine changes in maladaptive gaming-related cognitions and positive reappraisal as mediators of the effects of MORE on IGD signs/symptoms. Findings suggest that effects of mindfulness treatment in reducing maladaptive gaming-related cognitions might lead to reductions in IGD severity and cravings for video game playing. This cognitive mechanism should be evaluated in a future, full-scale RCT.

McClintock, A., McCarrick, S., Garland, E. L., Zeidan, F., & Zgierska, A. (2018). Brief mindfulness-based interventions for acute and chronic pain: A systematic review. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. First published online: 5 December 2018.  Read More…

  • Nonpharmacologic approaches have been characterized as the preferred means to treat chronic noncancer pain by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There is evidence that mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are effective for pain management, yet the typical MBI may not be feasible across many clinical settings due to resource and time constraints. Brief MBIs (BMBIs) could prove to be more feasible and pragmatic for safe treatment of pain. The aim of this article is to systematically review evidence of BMBI's effects on acute and chronic pain outcomes in humans.

Brown, S.  M., Bender, K .A., Bellamy, J., Garland, E.L., Dmitrieva, J., & Jenson, J. (2018). A pilot randomized trial of a mindfulness-informed intervention for child welfare-involved families. Mindfulness. First published online: 19 July 2018. Read More…

  • Families exposed to maltreatment have high rates of co-occurring substance misuse. Yet, few child welfare interventions concurrently address both child maltreatment and parental substance misuse, and, therefore, fail to intervene around their shared precipitants. Mindfulness is one approach that shows promise in cultivating awareness and self-regulation skills, which may in turn promote healthy family functioning. This pilot study used a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to test the initial efficacy of a six-session mindfulness-informed intervention on proximal (parenting stress, heart rate variability, coping, and mindfulness) and distal (parental substance misuse, child maltreatment potential, and child behavior) domains of family functioning.

Riquino, M. R., Priddy, S. E., Howard, M. O., & Garland, E. L. (2018). Emotion dysregulation as a transdiagnostic mechanism of opioid misuse and suicidality among chronic pain patients. Borderline Personality Disorder and Emotion Dysregulation, 5:11. Read More…

  • Chronic pain is a prevalent condition that causes functional impairment and emotional suffering. To allay pain-induced suffering, opioids are often prescribed for chronic pain management. Yet, chronic pain patients on opioid therapy are at heightened risk for opioid misuse—behaviors that can lead to addiction and overdose. Relatedly, chronic pain patients are at elevated risk for suicidal ideation and suicidal behaviors.

Hanley, A. W., Baker, A. K., Hanley, R., & Garland, E. L. (2018). The shape of self-extension: Mapping the extended self with multidimensional scaling. Personality and Individual Differences, 126, 25-32. Read More…

  • This exploratory study examined the three domains of self-extension proposed by William James' Constituents of Self—the psychological, social, and material domains. A novel analytic method, Multidimensional Scaling (MDS-T), was used to represent the structure of James' self-extension domains in geometric space for a large sample of American adults (N = 1181). Differences in the structure of self-extension by gender, race, age, and emotional health were also explored. Results suggested that the extended self, as conceptualized by James, has a clear and robust structure. Each of James' self-extension domains were distinctly represented in geometric space; yet, findings suggest a slight refinement of the self-extension subdomain groupings. Additionally, potential links between the structure of self-extension, age and emotional health were also observed. Findings from this study should be viewed as heuristic, lending empirical support to long-standing theory on the configuration of the self, characterized through extension.

Hanley, A. W., Nakamura, Y., & Garland, E. L. (2018). The Nondual Awareness Dimensional Assessment (NADA): New tools to assess nondual traits and states of consciousness occurring within and beyond the context of meditation. Psychological Assessment, 30(12), 1625-1639. Read More…

  • Nondual awareness is an altered state of consciousness that is well documented in religious and meditative traditions. Yet, no standardized method of measuring nondual awareness currently exists. To address this gap, this study developed and validated two forms of the Nondual Awareness Dimensional Assessment (NADA), with the first form measuring dispositions toward nondual awareness and the second form measuring states of nondual awareness.

Priddy, S. E., Hanley, A. W., Riquino, M. R., Platt, K., Baker, A. K., & Garland, E. L. (2018). Dispositional mindfulness and prescription opioid misuse among chronic pain patients: Craving and attention to positive information as mediating mechanisms. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 188, 86-93. Read More…

  • Opioid-treated chronic pain patients may be at risk for prescription opioid misuse due to heightened opioid craving coupled with deficits in attention to naturally rewarding, positive stimuli. Conversely, dispositional mindfulness, which is associated with reduced craving and increased responsiveness to natural rewards, may serve as a protective factor and buffer opioid misuse risk. The current investigation aimed to examine the association between mindfulness and opioid misuse, and to test opioid craving and attention to positive information as mediators of this relationship.

Priddy, S. E., Howard, M. O., Hanley, A. W., Riquino, M. R., Friberg-Felsted, K., & Garland, E. L. (2018). Mindfulness meditation in the treatment of substance use disorders and preventing future relapse: Neurocognitive mechanisms and clinical implications. Substance Abuse and Rehabilitation, 2018(9), 103-114. Read More…

  • Substance use disorders (SUDs) are a pervasive public health problem with deleterious consequences for individuals, families, and society. Furthermore, SUD intervention is complicated by the continuous possibility of relapse. Despite decades of research, SUD relapse rates remain high, underscoring the need for more effective treatments. Scientific findings indicate that SUDs are driven by dysregulation of neural processes underlying reward learning and executive functioning. Emerging evidence suggests that mindfulness training can target these neurocognitive mechanisms to produce significant therapeutic effects on SUDs and prevent relapse. The purpose of this manuscript is to review the cognitive, affective, and neural mechanisms underlying the effects of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) on SUDs. The authors discuss the etiology of addiction and neurocognitive processes related to the development and maintenance of SUDs. They then explore evidence supporting use of MBIs for intervening in SUDs and preventing relapse. Finally, the authors provide clinical recommendations about how these therapeutic mechanisms might be applied to intervening in SUDs and preventing relapse.

De Vibe, M., Solhaug, I., Rosenvinge, J. H., Reidar, T., Hanley, A. W., & Garland, E. L., (2018). Long-term effect of a mindfulness-based intervention on mindfulness, coping and well-being in medical and psychology students; Results from a randomized controlled trial. PLOS One. First published online: 24 April 2018. Read More…

  • Longitudinal research investigating the enduring impact of mindfulness training is scarce. This study investigates the six-year effects of a seven-week mindfulness-based course, by studying intervention effects in the trajectory of dispositional mindfulness and coping skills, and the association between those change trajectories and subjective well-being at six-year follow-up. Two hundred eighty-eight Norwegian medical and psychology students participated in a randomized controlled trial. One hundred forty-four received a 15-hour mindfulness course over seven weeks in the second or third semester with booster sessions twice yearly, while the rest continued their normal study curricula. Outcomes of subjective well-being, dispositional mindfulness, and coping were assessed using the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire and the Ways of Coping Checklist. Analyses were performed for the intention-to-treat sample, using latent growth curve models. At the six-year follow-up, students receiving mindfulness training reported increased well-being. Furthermore, they reported greater increases in the trajectory of dispositional mindfulness and problem-focused coping along with greater decreases in the trajectory of avoidance-focused coping. Increases in problem-focused coping predicted increases in well-being. These effects were found despite relatively low levels of adherence to formal mindfulness practice. The findings demonstrate the viability of mindfulness training in the promotion of well-being and adaptive coping, which could contribute to the quality of care given, and to the resilience and persistence of health care professionals.

Wright-Berryman, J., Hudnall, G., Hopkins, R., & Bledsoe, C. (2018). Hope Squads: Peer-to-peer suicide prevention in schools. Children & Schools, 40(2), 125-126. Read More…

  • Hope Squad is a school-based, peer-to-peer suicide prevention program using curriculum, training, education, and outreach to identify and help students with thoughts of suicide.

Hoy-Ellis, C. P. (accepted). Minority stress: Where have we been and where are we going? Journal of Homosexuality. Accepted: 8 September 2018.

  • Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) populations experience significant health disparities, theorized to result from LGBT specific minority stressors. The fully conceptualized Minority Stress Model was published some 15 years ago. Minority stressors include external conditions and events, such as discrimination and victimization. Internal minority stressors include expectations of rejection and discrimination, concealment of minority identity, and internalizations of negative dominant cultural attitudes, beliefs, stereotypes, and values. Connection to sexual and gender minority communities is theorized to moderate the effects of minority stressors. In this integrative review, I examine two decades of research on minority stress. Based on this review, I highlight strengths and limitations of the model, and suggest next steps for moving minority stress research forward.

Jaggers, J. W., Beerbower, E., Kondrat, D. C., Aalsma, M. C., & Hall, J. A. (2018). Contextual factors influencing recommendations for service provision by guardian ad litem and court appointed special advocates. Families in Society, 99(3), 244-245. Read More…

  • The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of county-level variables on services offered to children who have guardian ad litem/court-appointed special advocate (GAL/CASA) representation. An email survey was sent to GALs and CASAs inviting them to participate in the study. A total of 473 GALs/CASAs completed the survey, with 437 meeting criteria for the study. The sample represents 33 of 92 Indiana counties. The authors found the number and types of services ordered were strongly influenced by county contextual characteristics. Families served by a GAL/CASA in urban counties with more poverty received more services. In contrast, families with a GAL/CASA residing in counties with a greater percentage of minorities generated fewer services. Future research should focus on why environmental conditions influence GAL/CASA recommendations for services. Lastly, the relationship between the GAL/CASA race and the race of the families they serve should be explored.

Kim, J., Imburgia, T. M., Richardson, E. A., Jaggers, J. W., & Hall, J. A. (2018). The effects of case characteristics on teamwork in family team meetings. Child and Family Social Work. First published online: 11 December 2018. Read More…

  • Despite the prevalence of family team meetings in child welfare, little empirical research has examined the effects of case characteristics on its teamwork. The authors attempted to fill this gap using 497 child welfare cases in the United States. They found that overall teamwork in family team meetings was negatively associated with domestic violence, frequent placement moves, and a permanency plan of adoption, whereas teamwork was positively associated with the length of involvement in the child welfare system. The authors also examined the relationships between the case characteristics and two components of teamwork. The results showed that domestic violence and the length of the involvement were equally significant factors for both team formation and functioning. The permanency plan of adoption was a significant factor for team formation, but not team functioning. Finally, family voices and frequent team meetings appeared to be stronger factors for improving both team formation and functioning. The results of this study suggest that families in the child welfare system have different experiences in forming and functioning as high-quality family team meetings. Therefore, it is necessary to customize specific processes and strategies to promote teamwork depending on the child and family’s characteristics and situations.

Keyes, T. S. (accepted). A qualitative inquiry: Factors that promote classroom belonging and engagement with high school students. School Community Journal. Accepted: 20 September 2018.

  • This study examines 32 semi-structured interviews with high school students, with diverse racial backgrounds and achievement levels, about their experiences in their favorite and least favorite ninth grade classes. Student voices are highlighted, identifying the role of the teacher and specific teaching practices as either promoting or prohibiting their sense of belonging, thus impacting their academic engagement.

Keyes, T. S., Vogel-Ferguson, M. B., & Patin, K. (accepted). An approach for engaging with a mixed-race, rural community using social work values and community-based participatory research framework. Journal of Evidence-Informed Social Work. Accepted: 20 September 2018.

  • This article presents evidence-informed community engagement practices implemented in a rural and remote area of Utah to highlight core social work values that encourage: (1) self-determination and emphasize community strengths; (2) community partnerships; (3) ethical practices, such as acting responsibly and honestly; and (4) community members to recognize that they have the knowledge to solve the issues that impact their community. This process resulted in the delivery of six trauma seminars that targeted front-line workers in positions likely to encounter clients and patients who have experienced trauma. 

Lundahl, B., McDonald, C., & Vanderloo, M. (in press).  Service users’ perspectives of child welfare services: A systematic review using the practice model as a guide. Journal of Public Child Welfare. Accepted: 12 November 2018. Read More…

  • This systematic review examined qualitative literature that captured child welfare service users’ experience with child welfare services with a focus on their worker. From 45 studies, 621 helpful and 323 unhelpful aspects were identified; these aspects were organized into common practice model elements: family engagement, teaming, assessment, service planning, intervention, and tracking/adjusting. Approximately 70% of all comments fit within engagement.

Farrell, T., Luptak, M., Supiano, K., Pacala, J., & De Lisser, R. (2018). State of the science:  Interprofessional approaches to aging, dementia, and mental health. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 66(S1), S40-S47. Read More…

  • Geriatrics health care professionals have long championed innovations in interprofessional education (IPE) and patient care. There is, however, increased urgency to address challenges in aging, dementia, and geriatric mental health in America. In recent years, health professions educators and health systems leaders have increasingly recognized that IPE should be integrally linked with, and performed within, emerging models of team-based, value-driven health care. In this way, IPE will align with learning health care systems’ pursuit of the Quadruple Aim: improving patient experience, provider experience, the health of populations, and per capita health care costs. Backed by decades of developing effective team care models and the skill set needed to provide care to older adults with complex needs, geriatrics health care providers from multiple disciplines are uniquely positioned to lead learning health care systems in a new effort to develop, implement, and sustain IPE and practice models congruent with these Aims. The authors provide recommendations for health professions educators, health care systems leaders, and policymakers to realize the potential of IPE and interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP) to improve the health of all Americans in aging, dementia, and mental health.

Farrell, T., Supiano, K., Wong, B., Luptak, M., Luther, B., Andersen, T. C., Wilson, R., Wilby, F., Yang, R., Pepper, G., & Brunker, C. (2018). Individual versus interprofessional team performance in formulating care transition plans: A randomised study of trainees from five professional groups. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 32(3), 313-320. Read More…

  • Health professions trainees’ performance in teams is rarely evaluated, but increasingly important as the healthcare delivery systems in which they will practice move toward team-based care. Effective management of care transitions is an important aspect of interprofessional teamwork. This mixed-methods study used a crossover design to randomize health professions trainees to work as individuals and as teams to formulate written care transition plans. Experienced external raters assessed the quality of the written care transition plans as well as both the quality of team process and overall team performance. Written care transition plan quality did not vary between individuals and teams (21.8 vs. 24.4, respectively, p = 0.42). The quality of team process did not correlate with the quality of the team-generated written care transition plans (r = −0.172, p = 0.659). However, there was a significant correlation between the quality of team process and overall team performance (r = 0.692, p = 0.039). Teams with highly engaged recorders, performing an internal team debrief, had higher-quality care transition plans. These results suggest that high-quality interprofessional care transition plans may require advance instruction as well as teamwork in finalizing the plan.

Martinez, S. (2018). Poverty. In M. Bird (Ed.), SAGE Guide to Social Work Careers: Your Journey to Advocacy (pp. 9-20). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

  • The personal and professional journey of a social worker in the poverty advocacy career with sample job descriptions and policy examples.

Osteen, P. J. (2018). Suicide intervention gatekeeper training: Modeling mediated effects of development and use of gatekeeper behaviors. Research on Social Work Practice, 28(7), 848-856. Read More…

  • Suicide is a significant public and mental health crisis in the United States. Training providers in suicide assessment and response is designated as one of the primary strategies for reducing deaths by suicide. Research has established that suicide intervention training is effective, but little work has been published on potential mediators of skill development and use.

Osteen, P. J., Lacasse, J. R., Woods, M. N., Greene, R., Frey, J. J., & Forsman, R. L. (2018). Training youth services staff to identify, assess, and intervene when working with youth at high risk for suicide. Children & Youth Services Review, 86, 308-315. Read More…

  • Youth in the child welfare system are often at increased risk for suicide due to the numerous physical and psychological challenges they face. This study was a longitudinal assessment of the impact of suicide intervention training on staff's abilities to identify, assess, and intervene when working with these youth in a child welfare setting. Participants received an adapted version of the “Youth and Depression” suicide intervention curriculum (Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, 2010), designed to improve participants' attitudes toward suicide intervention, knowledge about suicide intervention, self-efficacy for engaging in intervention behaviors, and increased use of assessment and intervention behaviors over time. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests yielded large effect sizes for increasing knowledge and self-efficacy. There were no statistical changes in attitudes and reluctance, but these were very positive even before training. Results for changes in the use of assessment and intervention skills were more modest but demonstrated some improvements from pre-training to post-training. Further refinement of the curriculum may yield larger and consistent improvements in intervention behaviors.

Smith, T., Carter, T., Osteen, P. J., & Panisch, L. (2018). Comparing reputation versus h-index rankings of doctoral programs. Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, 10(1), 87-99. Read More…

  • This study builds on previous investigations on the scholarship of social work faculty using h-index scores. The purpose of this paper is to compare two methods of determining the excellence of social work doctoral programs.

Smith, T. E., Jacobs, K. S., Osteen, P. J., & Carter, T. E. (2018). Comparing research productivity of social work doctoral programs using the h-index. Scientometric, 116(3), 1513-1530.

  • The purpose of the study was to examine the productivity of faculty in social work doctoral programs. This study builds on previous investigations on the scholarship of social work faculty using the h-index (i.e., citation analysis). This study examined the scholarly productivity of the full population (N = 1699) of tenure-track faculty in all 76 United States social work doctoral programs by analyzing the h-index scores of each program. Information on funding sources, regional location, year of establishment, and faculty demographics was collected to better understand why faculty and programs differ in their h-index. A hierarchical regression analysis was used in creating a predictive model. The final model explained 51% of the variance in h-index scores (R² = .51). Academic rank was the strongest predictor of school h-index. Each school’s faculty size, gender proportion, region, college age, and auspice also contributed to the predictive power of the model. The proportion of senior faculty (associate professors and full professors) and college age were the strongest predictors based on standardized regression coefficients. The finding that academic rank contributed the most variance to the regression model provides empirical support to the long-argued importance of publication in career advancement. The overall results of the model confirm that institutional factors such as faculty size, region, and auspice do have unique effects on research productivity even after accounting for individual level differences in faculty across diverse social work programs.

Tanana, M. J.,Vanderloo, M. J., & Waid, J. (2018).  Harnessing the potential of administrative data to inform child welfare programming with dynamic visualization methodologies. Child and Youth Services Review, 85, 81-90. Read More…

  • The majority U.S. states maintain administrative databases to collect information on the entry, movement, and exits of youth in the foster care system, yet the power of these data to inform continuous improvement efforts remains largely untapped. This underutilization ignores the vast potential inherent in longitudinal child welfare data to better understand the trajectories of youth in care and the effectiveness of the services they receive. To help promote the use of administrative data to inform child welfare programming, this paper provides an overview and demonstration of a feedback improvement system with web-based visualization technology to illustrate child- and agency-level child welfare data from the state of Utah. The procedures and system design elements used to obtain, process, and display the feedback data are detailed. Recommendations for designing and implementing web-based feedback systems for child welfare agencies are provided.

Pratap, A., Atkins, D., Renn, B., Tanana, M. J., Mooney, S., Anguera, J., & Arean, P. (In Press) The

accuracy of passive phone sensors in predicting daily mood. Depression and Anxiety. First published online: 21 August 2018. Read More…

  • Daily phone usage data were collected passively from 271 Android phone users participating in a fully remote randomized controlled trial of depression treatment (BRIGHTEN). Participants completed daily Patient Health Questionnaire-2. A machine learning approach was used to predict daily mood for the entire sample and individual participants. Passive smartphone data with current features may not be suited for predicting daily mood at a population level because of the high degree of intra- and interindividual variation in phone usage patterns and daily mood ratings. Personalized models show encouraging early signs for predicting an individual's mood state changes, with GPS-derived mobility being the top most important feature in the present sample.

Sivakumar, W., Jensen, M., Martinez, J., Tanana, M. J., Duncan, N., Hoesch, R., Riva-Cambrin, J.,

& Ansari, S. (2018). Intravenous acetaminophen for postoperative supratentorial craniotomy pain: A

prospective, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial. Journal of Neurosurgery, 122(6), 1-7.  Read More…

  • Acute pain control after cranial surgery is challenging. Prior research has shown that patients experience inadequate pain control post-craniotomy. The use of oral medications is sometimes delayed because of postoperative nausea, and the use of narcotics can impair the evaluation of brain function and thus are used judiciously. Few nonnarcotic intravenous (IV) analgesics exist. The authors present the results of the first prospective study evaluating the use of IV acetaminophen in patients after elective craniotomy. Patients who received postoperative IV acetaminophen after craniotomy did not have significantly decreased narcotic consumption but did experience significantly lower pain scores after surgery. The drug was well tolerated and safe in this patient population.

Teasley, M. L., Schiele, J. H., Adams, C., & Okilwa, N. S. (2018). Trayvon Martin: Racial profiling, black male stigma, and social work practice, Social Work63(1), 37-46. Read More…

  • To address a critical gap in the social work literature, this article examines the deleterious effects of racial profiling as it pertains to police targeting of male African Americans. The authors use the Trayvon Martin court case to exemplify how racial profiling and black male stigma help perpetuate social inequality and injustice for black men. A racism-centered perspective is examined historically and contemporarily as a theoretical approach to understanding the role that race plays in social injustice through racial profiling. Implications for social work research design and practice aimed at increasing the social work knowledge base on racial profiling are discussed. The authors call for attention and advocacy by major social work organizations in the reduction of black male stigma and racial profiling.

Tecle, A., Bryne, K., Schmit, K., Vogel-Ferguson, M. B., Mohamed, N., Mohamed, A., & Hunter, R. (2018). Seeking refuge: An exploration of unaccompanied women, minors from Somalia and families from Pakistan experiences of services in Bangkok, Thailand. Advances in Social Work in Special Issue: “Social Work with Migrants and Refugees: Challenges, Best Practices, and Future Directions,”18(3). Special Issue: Migrants and Refugees. Read More…

  • In response to the drastic shift in the needs of asylum-seekers in Bangkok, Jesuit Refugee Services (JRS), Thailand collaborated with faculty and students from the University of Utah College of Social Work in the implementation of a community-based participatory research (CBPR) project focused on the evaluation and improvement of the current service delivery model and examining the potential of a collective agency response to address challenges and gaps.

Tecle, A. S., Mehrota, G., & Gringeri, C. (In press). Managing diversity: Analyzing individualism, awareness and difference in field instructors' discourse. Journal of Teaching in Social Work.

  • Diversity and social justice are central values in social work practice and education; however, there is a paucity of research that has examined the ways that these issues are infused into students’ field education experiences. In this paper, the authors analyze field instructors’ discourses about diversity, race, and social justice through their discussion of how they understand and integrate diversity issues into their work with social work students. Consistent with existing research related to diversity and social justice in social work education, as well as the impacts of neoliberalism on the field, findings illustrate the pervasiveness of cultural competency discourses in how field instructors discuss diversity issues, including: individualism, an emphasis on awareness as a central approach to addressing oppression and difference, and powerblind/colorblind ideologies. The authors discuss implications and directions for future research. 

Mehrota, G., Tecle, A. S.,Ha, A. T., Gneim, S., & Gringeri, C. (In press). Challenges to bridging classroom and field instruction: Exploring field instructors perspectives on macro practice. Journal of Social Work Education. First published online: 6 February 2018.  Read More…

  • Both field education and macro practice have been discussed as central educational domains for all social work students; however, very little scholarship to date has looked at how macro social work practice competencies have been integrated into students’ practicum experiences.  This exploratory study aimed to gain perspectives from field instructors regarding their perception of macro social work and, specifically, the integration of macro practice into their work with students.  Consistent with research that has elucidated the impacts of neoliberalism on social work, including the marginalization of macro practice in the field, emergent themes highlighted that field instructors face barriers within their agency settings to incorporating macro practice into their work with students.  Challenges include: the prevalence of the medical model, time constraints, and funding limitations.  Further, field instructors voiced gaps between students, the university, and their organizational setting in regard to expectations of including macro practice in field education.  Recommendations and directions for future research are discussed.

Greene, D. S., Yaffe, J., & Kopak, A. (In Press). Relapse among recovering addiction professionals: Prevalence and predictors. Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions. Accepted 23 July 2018.

  • A cross-sectional survey was used to obtain a conservative estimate of relapse among a sample (n = 265) of recovering addiction professionals in the United States and to identify potential predictors for relapse. The relapse rate for the sample was 14.7%. Two predictors for relapse identified in the stepwise logistic regression were number of mutual aid group meetings respondents attended per month and the length of sobriety when their careers began.

Grant, S., Mayo-Wilson, E., Montgomery, P., Macdonald, G., Michie, S., Hopewell, S., . . . Yaffe, J. (2018). CONSORT-SPI 2018 Explanation and elaboration: Guidance for reporting social and psychological intervention trials. Trials,19, 406. Read More…

  • The CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) Statement was developed to help biomedical researchers report randomized controlled trials (RCTs) transparently. The authors have developed an extension to the CONSORT 2010 Statement for social and psychological interventions (CONSORT-SPI 2018) to help behavioral and social scientists report these studies transparently. CONSORT-SPI 2018 extends nine items (14 including sub-items) from the CONSORT 2010 checklist, adds a new item (with three sub-items) related to stakeholder involvement in trials, and modifies the CONSORT 2010 flow diagram. This explanation and elaboration (E&E) document is a user manual to enhance understanding of CONSORT-SPI 2018. It discusses the meaning and rationale for each checklist item and provides examples of complete and transparent reporting.

Montgomery, P., Grant, S., Mayo-Wilson, E., Macdonald, G., Michie, S., Hopewell, S., . . . Yaffe, J. (2018). Reporting randomised trials of social and psychological interventions: the CONSORT-SPI 2018 Extension. Trials, 19, 407. Read More…

  • Authors should use CONSORT-SPI 2018 to improve reporting of their social and psychological intervention randomised controlled trials (RCTs). Journals should revise editorial policies and procedures to require use of reporting guidelines by authors and peer reviewers to produce manuscripts that allow readers to appraise study quality, evaluate the applicability of findings to their contexts, and replicate effective interventions.

Kim, M. A., Kwonho, C., Yi, J., & Kim, J. (accepted). The language for individuals with childhood cancer and their social identities. Journal of Critical Social Policy. Accepted October 2018.

  • How a group is named is significant because how its members are addressed affects the development of individual and social identities of the group. This study revisited and examined how those diagnosed with childhood cancer are referred to and what terms individuals who experienced childhood cancer prefer. Literature review and quantitative survey methods were used. First, language in the research studies that refer to those with childhood cancer were analyzed. Results showed that “patients” (64.5%), “survivors” (18.4%), and “child with cancer” (11.8%) were used, with variation by publication period, discipline, and treatment status. Particularly, for those who completed cancer treatment, “survivor” was most frequently used; terms such as “cancer treatment completed,” “cancer experienced,” and “cancer cured” have recently appeared. Second, 75 adults who completed cancer treatments participated in our survey to examine terms that referred to those who completed cancer treatments. Results showed that most participants preferred “cancer cured” (73.2%), followed by “cancer treatment completed” (12.7%) and “cancer survivors” (5.6%). This study led to a rich discussion that contributes to the development of a general consensus on terminology referring to those who had childhood cancer and social identity related to the terms.

Yi, J., Kim, J., Akter, J., Kim, M. A., & Frazier, K. (2018). Pediatric oncology social workers’ experience of compassion fatigue. Journal of Psychosocial Oncology.  First published online: 19 November 2018. Read More…

  • Pediatric oncology social workers play an important role in supporting cancer patients and their families as they learn to talk about and cope with the physical and psychological impacts of cancer. As a result, social workers are particularly vulnerable to compassion fatigue and the associated psychological and physical impacts. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand the experience of compassion fatigue among 27 pediatric oncology social workers. Four main themes emerged throughout the five focus groups: conditions that contribute to compassion fatigue; influence of compassion fatigue; coping strategies to alleviate compassion fatigue; and desire for systematic support to prevent compassion fatigue. Our study findings emphasize the importance of developing programs, policies and research geared toward the prevention of compassion fatigue, in addition to coping with symptoms. Further, this study brings attention to the importance of including pediatric oncology social workers in efforts to develop and implement systemic supports.

Yi, J., Kim, M. A., Parsons, B., & Wu, T. P. (2018). Why did I get cancer? Perceptions of childhood cancer survivors in Korea. Social Work in Health Care, 51(4), 300-314. Read More…

  • This study explored whether and how childhood cancer survivors in Korea ask and resolve the question of what may have caused their cancer. Thirty-one childhood cancer survivors participated in in-depth interviews about their self-questioning process in this regard. The findings indicate that Korean childhood cancer survivors pondered this question alone due to the stigma attached to cancer in the family and society. Their answers included internal factors (doing “bad things,” having unhealthy eating habits, engaging in magical thinking, having a stress-prone personality, or having a biological susceptibility) or external factors (stressors, random events, the environment, or medical conditions). How they perceived the cause of cancer had an impact on aspects of their current lives. Psychosocial care standards or guidelines are needed in regard to the provision of a safe environment in which Korean cancer survivors and their parents can share their perceptions and process their thoughts.

Kim, M. A., Yi, J., & Kwonho, C. (2018). Perceived benefits and challenges of psychosocial service uses for adolescents and young survivors of childhood cancer. Health and Social Welfare Review,38(3), 247-278. Read More…

  • Psychosocial services for cancer survivors are critical for improving their quality of life after cancer. Despite a growing number of childhood cancer survivors in Korea, there is limited understanding of service experiences that support their psychosocial adjustment. This study provides a description of childhood cancer survivors’ experiences with a range of psychosocial services and the perceived benefits and challenges of such services. In-depth interviews regarding experiences using psychosocial services were conducted with 30 adolescent and young adult survivors of childhood cancer. The participants noted perceived benefits and challenges of psychosocial services in the following areas: (a) financial and instrumental, (b) psychological counseling, (c) schooling and learning, (d) mentoring, (e) family support, and (f) self-help activities. This study found a strong need to improve existing psychosocial services for childhood cancer survivors and their families in Korea. This study contributes to providing developmentally appropriate psychosocial services to meet the needs of adolescent and young adult survivors of childhood cancer.

Kim, M. A., Yi, J., Prince, K. C., Nagelhout, E., & Wu, Y. P. (2018). The effects of individual- and network-level factors on discussion of cancer experiences: Survivors of childhood cancer in Korea. Journal of Psychosocial Oncology, 36(1), 31-48. Read More…

  • This study aimed to identify young adult Korean cancer survivors' individual- (psychological distress, stigma, sociodemographic variables, and cancer-related variables) and network-level factors (relationship type, social support type) that influence discussion of their cancer experiences. Sixty-eight survivors of childhood cancer who were recruited using snowball sampling nominated 245 individuals from their networks, including family and intimate partners (40%), and friends and acquaintances (60%), as people with whom they most frequently interacted. Results of multilevel modeling analysis indicated that higher levels of internalized shame were a prominent individual-level factor associated with a lack of discussion of cancer experiences. Relationship type and support type at the network-level were also significant correlates of discussion of cancer experiences. Programs for reducing the survivors' shame, improving illness identity, and providing professional training for building social relationships that are intimate and in which they could exchange reciprocal support may help Korean childhood cancer survivors to openly share their cancer experiences with others in their social network and to be successful in the journey of cancer survivorship.

Min, A. K., Yi, J., Sang, J., & Molloy, J. (2018). The impact of a child’s cancer on the father’s relationship with his spouse in Korea. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 27(3), 166-175. Read More…

  • A father of a child with cancer experiences psychological stress related to his child’s cancer diagnosis and treatment, which may affect his relationship with his spouse. Nevertheless, little attention has been paid to how having a child with cancer affects the marital relationship from the perspective of the father. The authors examined the impact of the child’s cancer on the father’s relationship with his spouse in Korea. They conducted in-depth interviews with 20 fathers (mean age = 41.35 years; SD = 4.49) of children who were diagnosed with cancer before the age of 19 and were within five years of the diagnosis. The mean age of the child with cancer was 9.1 years (SD = 3.68), and the mean age at diagnosis was 6.4 years (SD = 4.08). The analysis of the interviews revealed the following four themes (and eight subthemes): conflicts between spouses (lack of father’s participation in caregiving, financial and work-related stress), mental suffering (heartbroken, torn between caregiving and work), change in communication (child-focused communication, avoiding communication), and change in the marital relationship (neglected relationship, new trust built in the relationship). A father’s increased conflict in the marital relationship after his child’s diagnosis of cancer was intensified by his limited involvement in child care and parenting responsibilities. An understanding of the change in the father’s relationship with his spouse can inform the development of a psychosocial intervention that may strengthen a father’s emotional intelligence and resilience, which could improve the marital relationship.

Kim, M. A., Park, J. H., Park, H. J., Yi, J., Ahn, E., Kim, S. Y., . . . Hong, J. S. (2018). Experiences of peer exclusion and victimization, cognitive functioning, and depression among adolescent cancer survivors in South Korea. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 88(4), 441-449. Read More…

  • Adolescents who reenter school after treatment for cancer may face certain challenges, such as social exclusion by their peers and difficulties in cognitive functioning, due to the cancer treatment and its psychosocial sequelae. Such challenges may have an impact on their mental health. This cross-sectional study examined the impact of peer exclusion–victimization and cognitive functioning on depression among adolescent survivors of childhood cancer. A total of 175 adolescent survivors of childhood cancer between the ages of 13 and 19 years completed a self-reported questionnaire. Their mean age was 15.33 years (SD = 1.65), the mean time since diagnosis was 7.97 years (SD = 3.91), and 49.7% experienced at least 1 kind of peer exclusion in school. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to examine the effects of survivors’ experiences related to peer exclusion–victimization and cognitive functioning on depression, controlling for demographic (age and gender) and cancer-related (cancer type, time since diagnosis, recurrence) characteristics. The model with peer exclusion–victimization and cognitive functioning as predictors accounted for 27.9% of the variance in depression. More experiences in peer exclusion–victimization (β = .200, p = .024) and lower cognitive functioning (β = –.465, p < .001) were associated with greater levels of depression. Understanding the impact of survivors’ experiences of peer exclusion–victimization and cognitive functioning on their mental health will help professionals to provide appropriate counseling services to moderate peer exclusion–victimization as well as resources for academic performance for those cancer survivors at risk for depression.

 

Other Publications

Smith, T. E., Carter, T. E., Osteen, P. J., & Thyer, B. (2018). The 100 most influential contemporary social work faculty as assessed by the h-index. Journal of Social Service Research.

  • The top 100 most influential contemporary social work faculty are identified based on their individual h-index, resulting in a listing of individuals who have published relatively large numbers of scholarly works which have subsequently been highly cited. Apart from honoring these productive individuals, listing them and their home institutions will permit future researchers to examine the causes and correlates of high academic productivity.

Teasley, M. L. (2018). The role of public health in schools during the opioid crisis. [Editorial]. Children & Schools, 40(4), 195-197.

Teasley, M. L. (2018). School Shootings and the Need for More School-Based Mental Health Services [Editorial]. Children & Schools, 40(3), 131-134.

Teasley, M. L. (2018). A renewed commitment for leadership in school social work practice [Editorial]. Children & Schools, 40(2), 67-69.

Tan, K. P. H., Teasley, M. L., Crutchfield, J. M., & Canfield, J. P. (2018). Bridging the disparity gap in school behavioral health: Targeted interventions for patterns of risk [Editorial]. Children & Schools, 40(1), 3-6.

Yaffe, J. (2018). In this issue [Introduction to issue]. Journal of Social Work Education, 54(3), 405-406. Read More…

Yaffe, J. (2018). From the editor – The kids are all right: Lessons from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High [Editorial]. Journal of Social Work Education, 54(2), 195-197. Read More…

Yaffe, J. (2018). From the editor – Forbidden words [Editorial]. Journal of Social Work Education, 54(1), 1-2. Read More…

Last Updated: 4/14/21