inSocialWork - The Podcast Series of the University at Buffalo School of Social Work

In this episode, our guests Dr. Jodi Jacobson Frey and Robin McKinney discuss their work with the Financial Social Work Initiative at the University of Maryland School of Social Work and the Maryland CASH Campaign. They discuss how social workers can work to improve and sustain clients’ financial capability, while collaborating with community members and professionals from a variety of disciplines, to improve economic conditions for individuals and communities through direct practice, advocacy, policy development, and research.

In this episode, the first of two parts, Dr. Michael Reisch describes the role that social work education has in facilitating the emerging professional’s understanding of the institutional and structural inequalities facing oppressed and disenfranchised people. He also discusses the necessity for social work to reconnect with its historical mission of directly addressing social injustice.

In this episode, Amanda Hunsaker discusses the current landscape related to the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's Disease and how advances in diagnostic technology associated with dementia will provide the potential for new insights in the care of these patients. Challenges and opportunities for social work practice are reviewed.

In this episode, Christine Scott defines perinatal loss and discusses the impact of perinatal bereavement on the parents and family. Using her personal experience with this type loss as a backdrop, Ms. Scott describes the effect of perinatal bereavement on the individual and family, and offers suggestions for the social work response at all three levels of practice.

In this episode, our guests discuss their study of the quality of life of persons with developmental disabilities, whose ability to engage in self-actualizing and fulfilling experiences is often limited by conventional perceptions held by service providers and caregivers. Specifically, our guests discuss their work examining the link between a facilitated arts program and the participants' sense of self.

It has been suggested that there are between 4.1 and 9 million parents who have a disability. In this episode, Dr. Christina Sogar discusses how characteristics of disability (e.g., onset and symptom variability) impact and shape the parenting process and can increase the likelihood of child welfare involvement.

In this episode, Dr. Nikki Wooten, herself an Army officer, describes her current research into the gender differences related to substance use treatment utilization of Army members in the year prior to their deployment. Her findings reveal the unique needs of women in our military, especially as they play an increasing role in our armed services.

The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization reported that in 2011 over a million and a half people utilized hospice services in the United States. In this podcast, Dr. Dona Reese talks about the lack of utilization of hospice care by African American patients. This includes identifying variables that influence African American hospice use. One of those barriers is the almost complete absence of African American staff or volunteers in hospices across the nation. Dr. Reese describes a field placement and community intervention project that was a successful first step in accomplishing the goal of increasing African American staff. Additionally, she offers her thoughts on what must be done to expand the number of African American social work professionals in hospice settings.

In this episode, Dr. Jonathan Singer describes his work drawing on the creative arts that by its nature is a community-based effort at preventing suicide. He argues that traditional prevention efforts, while effective at addressing the stigma associated with suicide on a person-at-a-time basis, do little to address the larger public stigma that is so prevalent and alienating for this population.

In this episode, Kori Bloomquist discusses research related to social worker self-care practice and perceptions, and professional well-being. Ms. Bloomquist describes social workers' reported self-care practices across five domains as well as their perceptions of self-care. She also discusses relationships between social worker self-care practices and perceptions and indicators of professional well-being, including compassion satisfaction, secondary traumatic stress, and burnout. Furthermore, Ms. Bloomquist talks about implications for social work education, practice, and research.

The internet and social media have created numerous new opportunities for communication, relationships, and learning. Opportunities for the misuse of this technology have accompanied the popularity of these media. In this episode, Dr. Janet Joiner discusses her work with cyberbullying behavior and addresses how modern technology can be integrated safely and productively into social work practice and education.

As more social work practitioners and educators incorporate the online environment into their work, it is essential that they understand the associated ethical implications. In this episode, Dr. Allan Barsky explores managing the ethical and practice issues related to online social work practice. His discussion includes topics on confidentiality, professional boundaries, competence, informed consent, documentation, and work with high-risk clients.

In this episode, Drs. Alexa Smith-Osborne and Jayshree Jani discuss their work studying the impact of technological advances in communications on relationships experiencing separation related to military deployment. Focusing on the perspective of the female partners, our guests contrast the experiences of the target population with those of civilian women in long-distance relationships. Protective factors as well as risk factors of the multiple modes of communication are explored.

In this episode, Dr. Barbara Jones discusses the developmental and psychosocial effects of cancer on adolescents and young adults. Dr. Jones speaks to the need to understand the unique needs of the adolescent and young adult. She also explains how these unique needs can complicate the continuum of care as well as important developmental processes. Further, Dr. Jones suggests strategies of intervention to consider when working with this population.

In this episode, Dr. Sandra Butler discusses her work and findings with the Maine Home Healthcare Retention Study. Putting a human face on "the centerpiece of our long-term care system," Dr. Butler describes the predictors of turnover and retention and how the workers themselves describe their jobs. She tells us what she has learned about why these workers stay and why significant numbers of them leave their positions.