Laura Curran

Barriers to Service Use for Postpartum Depression Symptoms Among Low-Income Ethnic Minority Mothers in the United States

The risks of untreated postpartum depression (PPD) in the United States are higher among low-income ethnic minority mothers. However, research has not adequately investigated barriers to formal help seeking for PPD symptoms among this vulnerable population. We used convenience and purposive sampling strategies to recruit mothers experiencing past-year (the year prior to interview) PPD symptoms (n = 14), community key informants (n = 11), and service providers (n = 12) to participate in focus groups and individual interviews. A grounded theory analysis of these nested perspectives revealed individual, community, and provider-level barriers operating at various stages of the help-seeking process: thinking about symptoms, seeking advice, and rejecting formal care. Although mothers overwhelmingly recommended “talking it out” for other mothers with PPD, an array of attitudinal and instrumental barriers led mothers to choose self-help practices in lieu of formal mental health care.

Maternal Identity Negotiations Among Low-Income Women With Symptoms of Postpartum Depression

In this study, we used a constructivist grounded theory approach to explore maternal identity negotiations among low-income ethnic minority mothers with postpartum depression (PPD) symptoms. Nineteen mothers were recruited from Women, Infant, and Children clinics located in two coastal cities in the United States to participate in in-depth interviews. Constant comparative analysis revealed that mothers experienced their PPD symptoms and poverty as evidence of maternal failure, but also drew on discourses of maternal self-sacrifice, engagement with their children, and pleasure in mothering to construct a positive sense of self. To negotiate these conflicting versions of self, mothers positively appraised their own mothering in relation to stigmatized “others” and framed their depression as a foreign entity, one that stood outside of a core, authentic sense of self. Through our consideration of the intersecting contexts of poverty and postpartum depressive symptoms, this article adds to the literature on PPD and mothering.

Between Women: Gender and Social Work in Historical Perspective

This article discusses a growing body of knowledge concerning the intersections of women’s history and gender history in American social work and related social reform movements. The authors explore current themes and conceptual frameworks that characterize this new scholarship, including professionalism, maternalism, and race relations. They also discuss how this literature challenges traditional interpretations of social work history, suggest that this scholarship should be more fully integrated into the social work knowledge base, and recommend promising directions for historical inquiry in the social work field.

The Psychology of Poverty: Professional Social Work and Aid to Dependent Children in Postwar America, 1946–1963

Through a primary source analysis of professional and academic social work writings, this article describes how post–World War II (1946–63) social work researchers, educators, and clinical theorists adopted a psychological discourse to explain welfare use among single mothers. Faced with a postwar backlash against the federal entitlement program for single mothers and their children, Aid to Dependent Children, social work scholars drew on psychological narratives to protect recipients against charges of immorality and restrictive state measures. Armed with this new paradigm, many social workers theorized a distinct psychology of poverty, carved out a professional niche, and called on the federal government to provide individualized, quasi‐therapeutic services to its constituency.

“You Can’t Tie and Untie Love That Fast”: Family Preservation and Reunification in Midcentury Philadelphia

This article traces the advancement of modern family preservation theory and practice over years 1946–63 through an analysis of published social work literature and case records from two Philadelphia foster care agencies. It argues that, well before the policy reforms of the 1970s, developments in social scientific theory and in the social work literature combined with the experiences of foster care workers to produce a recommitment to and revisions in the family preservation paradigm. The article also explores the internal tensions generated by family preservation practices and the experiences of so‐called natural and foster parents under the midcentury family preservation model.

Feminine Women, Hard Workers: Foster Motherhood in Midcentury America (1946-1963)

Through an analysis of case records from two Philadelphia-based child welfare agencies, this article explores professional definitions of foster mothering as well as the experiences and beliefs of women who engaged in child fostering in mid-century America. It argues that social work experts, agency staff, and foster mothers themselves vacillated between an understanding of foster motherhood as an expression of femininity and as a form of valued labor. Influenced by growth of the psychological sciences, these competing discourses reflected larger tensions around changing postwar gender norms and beliefs about motherhood while simultaneously providing a space to contain them.

Practicing maternal virtues prematurely: The phenomenology of maternal identity in medically high-risk pregnancy

ABSTRACT In this study, we examine the phenomenology of maternal identity development among U.S. women hospitalized with medically high-risk pregnancies (MHRP). We conducted 16 in-depth interviews with women and found that they drew on culturally normative notions of maternal nurture, worry, and sacrifice to construct maternal identity in the context of MHRP. Based on our findings, we suggest that MHRP shape womens sense of connection to and distinctive cognitive representations of their fetus. We conclude that hospitalization simultaneously promotes and challenges womens early maternal identifications.

Longing to "Belong": Foster Children in Mid-Century Philadelphia (1946-1963)

This essay discusses the experience of foster children in mid-century Philadelphia within the larger context of shifting expert narratives on foster care and changing casework practices. Based on an analysis of case records and administrative documents from the Philadelphia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (PSPCC) for the years 1946–1963 and the expert literature on foster care for the aforementioned period, this paper explores how foster children and PSPCC caseworkers simultaneously embraced and resisted elements of a dominant psychodynamically-influenced family preservation discourse. Ultimately, expert narratives and foster childrens experiences reflected larger tensions around the meaning of family in mid-century America.

Human Service Administrator Perceptions of Online MSW Degree Programs.

ABSTRACT Online programs have proliferated rapidly in higher education, and this reality holds true for social work education as well. Employing a mixed methods design, this study looked at employer perceptions of online degrees compared to traditional degrees. Data was collected through an online survey that included Likert type and open-ended questions assessing employer attitudes and hiring practices regarding individuals who possess online MSW degrees. Results suggest that a majority of social service administrators believe traditional MSW degrees are preferable to those attained online, especially with respect to clinical training. These findings have significant implications for online MSW programs and graduates with online degrees.

Employer Hiring Preferences in the Human Services

ABSTRACT There is a dearth of empirical literature in social work on the hiring practices and preferences of human service administrators. Our online survey of human services hiring managers (N = 370) begins to fill a gap. We ask, “What aspects of a potential employee’s portfolio and background are viewed as important by employers?” Findings suggest that a majority of social work administrators value interpersonal skills above all else. Academic factors were of secondary importance. Some differences in hiring preference were found based on the race/ethnicity of the hiring administrator and the agency auspice. These findings have significant implications for MSW students and educators.