Miriam Potocky

Female substance abuse Characteristics and correlates in a sample of inpatient clients

This article reports on a study of 64 female substance abusers in residential treatment for chemical dependency. This study was conducted with the purpose of describing the associations between: (a) demographic characteristics, (b) presence and severity of addiction, (c) depression, and (d) self-esteem. All participants were drawn from inpatient females, and were administered questionnaires that included the following instruments: (a) Screening/Intake Assessment, (b) the Michigan Alcohol Screening Test, (c) the Addiction Presence and Severity Index, (d) the Provision of Social Relations Scale, (e) the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and (f) the Costello-Comrey Depression Scale. Multivariate analyses revealed that levels of self-esteem were related to detoxification status and social support. Depression levels were associated with social support, and severity of addiction was more pronounced for White clients than Black clients in this study. Implications for program development are discussed.

Validity of self-administered symptom scales in clients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorders

Few studies have used self-administered symptom scales as outcome measures with individuals who have schizophrenia. However, with the increase in community-based treatment for the serious and persistently mentally ill and the emphasis on client empowerment, their ability to monitor and report symptoms needs to be assessed. Two forms of self-administered items, symptom distress statements and symptom intensity statements, were formed from 10 BPRS symptoms and administered to 29 individuals with schizophrenia. Both forms of self-administered items were highly correlated with BPRS items, supporting concurrent validity. Self-administered responses for positive symptoms of schizophrenia and nonpsychotic symptoms may be more valid than self-administered responses for negative or deficit symptoms.

Effectiveness of Services for Victims of International Human Trafficking: An Exploratory Evaluation

A program serving victims of human trafficking who were undocumented immigrants in the United States was evaluated using a logic model as a conceptual framework, and a pre-experimental, retrospective research design based on chart review and key informant interview. Outcomes for 43 clients were examined in the areas of housing, food, immigration status, mental health, health, English-speaking ability, education and employment status, and life skills. The program was found to improve clients’ lives in some areas while operating within a challenging environment. Implications for program improvement and future evaluations are discussed.

Adult Hospice Social Work Intervention Outcomes in the United States.

A descriptive and critical analysis of the available empirical literature on social work psychosocial intervention outcomes for adult hospice patients and caregivers was conducted. The electronic bibliographic databases CINHAL (EBSCO), MEDLINE, ProQuest, EMBASE, Campbell Collaboration, and The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL, The Cochrane Library) were searched. Search criteria were (a) social work interventions, (b) intervention was tested, (c) adult hospice patients and/or caregivers, (d) studies within the United States, (e) and studies between 2004 and 2014. Of the 21 studies that met the initial search criteria, 5 publications met all review criteria. Based on assessment of study results, intervention effect, and quality of evidence, the ADAPT Problem-Solving Intervention (PSI) and the Hospice Caregiver Support Project have some indications of practical effect on caregiver quality of life, anxiety, stress, and problem-solving skills. The Caregiver Life Line (CaLL) intervention had little to no effect on caregiver role stress or coping skills. The few available studies provide foundational insight into the need for the expansion of research efforts to evaluate hospice social work interventions and document the contributions of social work to the field.

Human Trafficking Training and Identification of International Victims in the United States

The relationship between human trafficking training of helping professionals and identification of international victims in a U.S. locality presumed to have a large number of victims was examined over a three-year period. No relationship was observed; although the number of trainees increased annually to a total of more than 7,000, the number of newly identified victims remained low, for a total of only 43. Possible explanations for this finding are discussed.

Ryan White CARE Act Part D: Matches and Gaps in Political Commitment and Local Implementation

This article demonstrates the opportunities for and challenges of the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act Part D to implementing its mandate for comprehensive family-centered systems of care for women, infants, children, and youth with HIV/AIDS. Part D legislation should promote practices addressing families with models for basic security, judiciously embrace those universal public health policies aiming to improve childrens overall welfare, and consistently repudiate those policies infringing on human rights of women infected with HIV, or ignoring their childrens basic needs. The proposed revisions to Part D implementation may renew its political commitment to serving the needs of families who are HIV affected.

Concurrent Participation in Federally-Funded Welfare Programs and Empowerment Toward Economic Self-Sufficiency

Abstract This research examined the impact of participation in federal means-tested welfare programs on the attainment and maintenance of economic self-sufficiency. Using the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), this quasi-experimental investigation compartmentalized 4216 low-income households into an intervention group (n = 2436) and a comparison group (n = 1780). Households in the intervention group received one or more welfare benefits for the most part of the 2008–2013 quinquennium. By contrast, those in the comparison group – although eligible for these benefits – did not receive them. The survey respondents were measured repeatedly over a 56-month period to assess whether welfare receipt impacts their household income steadily beyond 150% of the federal poverty level, after controlling for known predictors. Multivariate analyses displayed medium effect sizes indicating that participation in public assistance did decrease the likelihood of economic self-sufficiency. Macro-implications of these findings for poverty and social welfare stakeholders were discussed.

Assessing Refugee Poverty Using Capabilities Versus Commodities: The Case of Afghans in Iran

This study is among the first to calculate poverty among one of the world’s largest refugee populations, Afghans in Iran. More importantly, it is one of the first to use capability and monetary approaches to provide a comprehensive perspective on Afghan refugees’ poverty. We estimated poverty using data collected from a sample of 2,034 refugee households in 2011 in Iran. We utilized basic needs poverty lines and the World Bank’s absolute international poverty line for our monetary poverty analyses and the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) for our capability analyses of poverty. Findings show that nearly half of the Afghan households were income-poor, approximately two percent of the households had less than USD 1.25 per person per day, and about 28% of the surveyed households were multidimensionally deprived. Results suggest that 60% of the income-poor households were not deprived from minimal education, health, and standards of living based on the MPI criteria, and about 32% of the multidimensionally deprived households were not income-poor. These findings call for more attention to poverty measurement methods, specifically for social workers and policy makers in the field, to gain a more realistic understanding about refugees’ wellbeing.

Motivational Interviewing: A Promising Practice for Refugee Resettlement

ABSTRACT Motivational Interviewing (MI) is an evidence-based clinical approach that aims to develop a working alliance between practitioner and client in order to engage a reluctant or involuntary client. This Practice Corner presents a conceptual foundation for the potential utility of Motivational Interviewing in enhancing practice outcomes with resettled refugees. The spirit, principles, skills, and evidence base of Motivational Interviewing are reviewed, and rationales for applying this approach with refugees are presented. Finally, implications for future research are proposed.