David Royse

Choice of Social Work as a Career: Possible Influences

Little is known about why students choose social work for a career. Certain life events in the family of origin may exert a compelling influence, though other factors are certainly involved. This study examines the influence of selected life events and such factors as prior employment, volunteering, and influential persons via a survey of 415 social work students and a comparison group of 203 nonsocial work students. Social work students were more likely to report problems such as alcoholism and emotional illness within their families of origin and to attribute these experiences to their choice of career.

Homophobia and Attitudes towards Aids Patients among Medical, Nursing, and Paramedical Students

For a previously developed 28-item questionnaire and a sample of 161 students training for careers in health professions, homophobia was inversely associated wth empathy for AIDS victims. Homophobia was also a better predictor of fear of AIDS than age, sex, marital status, or desired health career. It was concluded that students in the health professions may need additional instruction related to AIDS and homosexuality.

Math Anxiety: A Comparison of Social Work and Non-Social Work Students

Social work students often complain and grumble about having to take courses in research methods and statistics. Do their complaints originate from deep-seated math anxiety? The current study investigated the math anxiety and math backgrounds of 163 undergraduate social work students and 256 non—social work majors. Social work majors were found to have much higher levels of math anxiety than a cross section of students enrolled in introductory statistics courses and found to have taken fewer math courses in high school and college.

Homelessness and gender in out-of-treatment drug users.

This study examines 5225 out-of-treatment crack users and drug injectors drawn from five different geographic areas to examine selected factors associated with homelessness. Of these crack users, 27% considered themselves undomiciled, and 60% had previously entered some type of drug treatment. Logistic regression found that substance abusers who were married, female, and persons of color were less likely to be without a home when other variables were controlled. Trading sex for money and perceived chance of getting acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) were associated positively with homelessness, while participating in methadone detoxification and methadone maintenance programs seemed to offer some protection from homelessness.

Substance Use Criminality, and Social Support: An Exploratory Analysis with Incarcerated Women

This exploratory study examined the extent to which substance use and criminality influence perceptions of social support. A stratified random sample of 100 incarcerated women in one Kentucky prison participated in face-to-face interviews. Overall, findings indicate that perceptions of social support significantly and negatively correlated with womens severity of substance use and criminal involvement. In addition, the breadth of a respondents social network was negatively related to the age of first incarceration and to the severity of alcohol and drug use. Findings from this study suggest there is a relationship between severity of substance use, criminality, and perceptions of social support. Implications for substance use research and practice are discussed.

HOMELESSNESS AMONG ADULTS RAISED AS FOSTER CHILDREN: A SURVEY OF DROP-IN CENTER USERS

74 homeless persons were asked if they had ever been in foster care. Twelve (16%) answered affirmatively. Compared with the estimated baseline of adults who had been in foster care in the same locality, these homeless persons reported histories of foster care at four times the base rate in the general population. This finding suggests that children in foster care are at risk of serious dysfunction as adults.

A Study of the Relationships Among Effective Supervision, Organizational Culture Promoting Evidence-Based Practice, and Worker Self-Efficacy in Public Child Welfare

The professional literature has not documented the relationship between effective supervision, an organizational culture promoting evidence-based practice, and self-efficacy in child welfare practice. Secondary analysis of survey data from one public child welfare agency was conducted to examine the relationship between these constructs. Results suggest that for inexperienced workers, there is a difference in their self-efficacy based on the effectiveness of the supervision they receive. Respondents receiving effective supervision were more likely to perceive their organizational culture as promoting evidence-based practice. Further, there was a significant difference in levels of self-efficacy based on this perception of organizational culture. This exploratory study supports further research into these promising organizational strategies for performance and outcome improvement.

CHILDHOOD TRAUMA AND ADULT LIFE SATISFACTION IN A RANDOM ADULT SAMPLE

640 randomly selected adults were surveyed about childhood traumatic events and their current life satisfaction. Respondents who had experienced traumatic childhood events rated themselves significantly less satisfied with life and were less likely to be home owners and more likely to live in families with lower incomes than respondents who had not experienced traumatic events (ns ranged from 44 to 232, depending on the items).

Describing compassionate care: the burn survivor's perspective.

Compassion is vital in burn care. Its delivery could be considered a professional duty and a characteristic of care that affects patient satisfaction. However, the description of compassionate care is underexplored in the burn care literature. This study investigates the concept of compassionate care and how it is described from the perspective of the burn survivor. A qualitative design with two focus groups at the Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors’ World Burn Congress was used to examine views of compassionate care directly through 31 burn survivors’ accounts to better understand the concept and its delivery within the context of burn care. Discussions were recorded and transcripts were analyzed for prominent themes and descriptive components. Participants were primarily Caucasian (77%), female (60%), with an average age of 47.6 years and an average TBSA burn of approximately 49% sustained approximately 12 years ago. Qualitative data analysis yielded primary themes of: 1) respect the person (subthemes were: establishing an empathic connection, restoring control through choice, providing individualized care, and going above and beyond), 2) communication (subthemes: interpersonal and informational), and 3) provision of competent care. The three primary themes were components of compassionate care; it was not defined by a single characteristic, behavior, or skill but might be best understood as the convergence of the three themes. Implications of findings and barriers to the provision of compassionate care are also discussed.

Exploring Ways to Retain First-Time Volunteer Blood Donors

Because of their expertise in working with volunteers, social workers may be called on to provide consultation to organizations that are not traditional social service agencies. Unpaid volunteer donors provide the vast majority of this country’s blood supply; however, many donors give only once, and few think of themselves as regular, committed donors. The purpose of this study was to determine if special letters of request or incentives would increase blood donations during a 14-month study period. One thousand first-time donors were randomly assigned to one of three intervention groups or the control condition. On average, first-time donors gave 1.89 donations, and there were no statistically significant differences among the groups. The conclusion was drawn that the interventions were too passive.