Bree Akesson

The impact of the school-based Psychosocial Structured Activities (PSSA) program on conflict-affected children in northern Uganda

BACKGROUND Children in northern Uganda have undergone significant psychosocial stress during the regions lengthy conflict. A Psychosocial Structured Activities (PSSA) program was implemented in 21 schools identified as amongst those most severely affected by conflict-induced displacement across Gulu and Amuru Districts. The PSSA intervention comprised a series of 15 class sessions designed to progressively increase childrens resilience through structured activities involving drama, movement, music and art (with additional components addressing parental support and community involvement). METHOD Eight schools were selected by random quota sampling from those schools receiving the PSSA intervention. Two hundred and three children were identified in these schools as being scheduled to receive intervention, and were followed up 12 months later following engagement with PSSA activities. A comparison group comprised 200 children selected from schools that had met inclusion criteria for receipt of intervention, but were not scheduled for intervention coverage until later. Preliminary research used participatory focus group methodology to determine local indicators of child well-being as viewed by parents, teachers, and children respectively. Pre- and post- assessments focused on ratings for each child - by parents, teachers and children - with respect to these indicators. RESULTS Significant increases in ratings of child well-being were observed in both intervention and comparison groups over a 12-month period. However, the well-being of children who had received the PSSA intervention increased significantly more than for children in the comparison group, as judged by child and parent (but not teacher) report. This effect was evident despite considerable loss-to-follow-up at post-testing as a result of return of many households to communities of origin. CONCLUSION General improvement in child well-being over a 12-month period suggests that recovery and reconstruction efforts in Northern Uganda following the onset of peace had a substantive impact on the lives of children. However, exposure to the PSSA program had an additional positive impact on child well-being, suggesting its value in post-conflict recovery contexts.

Research as intervention? Exploring the health and well-being of children and youth facing global adversity through participatory visual methods

ABSTRACT Global health research typically relies on the translation of knowledge (from health professionals to the community) and the dissemination of knowledge (from research results to the wider public). However, Greenhalgh and Wieringa [2011. Is it time to drop the ‘knowledge translation’ metaphor? A critical literature review. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 104(12), 501–509. doi:10.1258/jrsm.2011.110285] suggest ‘that while “translation” is a widely used metaphor in medicine, it constrains how we conceptualize and study the link between knowledge and practice’ (p. 501). Often the knowledge garnered from such research projects comes from health professionals rather than reflecting the lived experiences of people and communities. Likewise, there has been a gap in ‘translating’ and ‘disseminating’ the results of participatory action research projects to policymakers and medical practitioners. This paper will look at how using participatory visual methodologies in global health research with children and youth facing global adversity incorporates the multiple functions of their lived realities so that research becomes a means of intervention. Drawing from a literature review of participatory visual methods as media, content and processes of global health research, this paper raises practical, theoretical, and ethical questions that arise from research as intervention. The paper concludes by exploring what lessons emerge when participatory visual methodologies are integrated into global health research with children and youth facing global adversity.

Parental Involvement with the Criminal Justice System and the Effects on Their Children: A Collaborative Model for Researching Vulnerable Families

Despite the existing body of research examining the effects of imprisonment on incarcerated adults, as of yet, there is no solid empirical evidence for understanding the effects of parental involvement with the criminal justice system involvement (CJSI) on children and families. Accordingly, Columbia University-New York States Child Psychiatric Epidemiology Group (CPEG), supported by a strong collaboration with The Bronx Defenders, a holistic public defender providing free legal representation, is conducting a longitudinal study examining the effects of parental involvement with the criminal justice system on this population. The study aims to understand, over time, the impact of parental CJSI on their childrens mental health, including the effects of the collateral legal damage of CJSI (such as eviction and deportation), substance use, the development of risky behaviors leading to the childs potential involvement with the criminal justice system, as well as protective factors and identification of potential intervention points, which has the ability to inform public policy.

Patterns and Trends of Canadian Social Work Doctoral Dissertations.

The first social work doctoral program in Canada began in 1952. Relatively recently, the number of programs has grown rapidly, doubling in the past 10 years to 14 programs. Despite the expansion there is no systematic understanding of the patterns and trends in doctoral research. In this study we review 248 publicly available dissertations from 2001 to 2011. We find that most dissertations are qualitative and descriptive in nature with a relatively low percentage focusing on intervention. We compare findings with other dissertation studies and raise critical questions about the knowledge base of social work in Canada.

The Place of Place in Social Work: Rethinking the Person-in-Environment Model in Social Work Education and Practice.

ABSTRACT Social work’s traditional emphasis on the individual in the context of social environments has resulted in a neglect of the person in the context of physical environments. This conceptual article addresses this oversight by presenting three subconcepts of place—place attachment, place identity, and territoriality—and draws on research examples with marginalized populations to illustrate the possibilities for understanding and integrating these concepts into social work. We ultimately argue for a shift toward an emphasis on place as a fresh avenue of inquiry to broaden and enhance social work education and practice.

Palestinian Children Forging National Identity through the Social and Spatial Practices of Territoriality

This chapter explores the development of national identity for Palestinian children and their families through the lens of territoriality. It suggests that the development of national identity is a process to which territoriality contributes in the forms of both social and spatial practices that delineate who is included and excluded in a particular space. It includes social practices as a collective experience passed down with the historical memory and present oppression of the occupation. Territoriality includes spatial practices, because it is reproduced and enacted through the construction and regulation of everyday spaces, creating regimes of inclusion and exclusion that become central to children’s national identity construction. Ultimately, territoriality is a politically contested process that enacts particular geographies that are experienced and contested at multiple sites (Harker 2011).

Arrested in Place: Palestinian Children and Families at the Border

Borders represent places and symbols of power (Donnan and Wilson, 2001), and they can be both physical/visible as well as mental/invisible. In other words, borders may have a physical presence in space, yet they may also occur as a mental state that equally restricts movement without necessarily existing as a visible obstacle. This chapter explores how Palestinian children and their families deal with both visible and invisible borders in the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt).Visible borders in the oPt are physically tangible and are part of an extensive network of barriers including checkpoints, roadblocks, metal gates, earth mounds, and trenches, all of which operate according to a frequently changing assortment of bans and limitations (Weizman, 2007, p. 147). Invisible borders are abstract and virtual, representing an emotional barrier that haunts the dreams and future aspirations of those arrested within the physical borders of the oPt.

War is Not the Only Trauma: Rethinking Psychosocial Healing in Complex Emergencies

War inevitably leads to a degree of psychological trauma among affected populations. This paper critiques Western-based, clinical interventions as detrimental to an already demoralized population. Ager’s (2002) framework of psychosocial intervention – human capacity, social ecology, and culture and values – is appropriate in the context of complex emergencies. Building upon an ecosystems perspective, Ager’s framework considers the whole individual and promotes strengths and resiliencies. Social workers are ideal facilitators of this type of community-based, culturally-salient, psychosocial programming, due to its application of the field’s core principles and its commitment to empowering community members to participate in their own recovery.

Expert understandings of supervision as a means to strengthen the social service workforce: results from a global Delphi study

ABSTRACT Learning on how effective social work supervision can strengthen the social service workforce is especially limited in low- and middle-income countries. To address this gap, this paper draws from a global study examining practices and approaches to effectively strengthen the social service workforce. Using a Delphi consensus methodology, the study provided a highly structured means to distil key lessons learned by experts across a range of practice and geographical settings. Over three phases, 43 global experts identified and rated the most effective practices and approaches to strengthen the social service workforce. The findings specific to supervision indicate that most experts strongly agree that access to quality supervision is important. There is also agreement related to the ways in which supervision should be carried out including: individual and group supervision, roleplaying, constructive feedback on practice, and flexibility in the supervisor–supervisee relationship. However, there is still indecision as to whether supervision should be non-hierarchical and egalitarian or, alternatively, directive and regulative. Finally, there was disagreement as to whether supervision should be incentivized. The diversity of participants’ examples suggests that the concept of ‘supervision’ is likely to be subject to highly localized variations that will challenge attempts at creating universally applicable paradigms.

An Empirical Appraisal of Canadian Doctoral Dissertations Using Grounded Theory: Implications for Social Work Research and Teaching.

ABSTRACTGrounded theory is a popular methodological approach in social work research, especially by doctoral students conducting qualitative research. The approach, however, is not always used consistently or as originally designed, compromising the quality of the research. The aim of the current study is to assess the quality of recent Canadian social work doctoral dissertations implementing a grounded theory approach. Our analysis is based on the premise that presentations of grounded theory approaches in doctoral dissertations impact the conduct of teaching and future research and have direct implications for the legitimacy of qualitative research. Using Saini and Shlonsky’s Qualitative Research Quality Checklist, the authors appraised dissertations in terms of credibility, dependability, confirmability, transferability, authenticity, and relevance. The article concludes with implications regarding the quality of studies utilizing grounded theory approaches and consequences for future doctoral educatio...