To date, little to nothing is known about Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) children in foster care although they are overrepresented in some of the child welfare systems in the United States and experience challenges stemming from structural colonialism and displacement. To highlight this often-overlooked population in child welfare research, the current study applied an indigenous model to understand who the NHPI children are in foster care by descriptively examining their sociodemographic, family of origin, geographic characteristics, as well as their placement status with relatives or foster parents who identify as NHPI. Click here to view a PDF with full details. 

Click here to read the College of Social Work’s quarterly Research Office Newsletter

Date: July 2022

In 1990, a report issued by the U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect indicated that the state of child safety represented a national emergency. Several approaches to child welfare system reform emerged after the publication of the advisory board’s report, including the implementation of differential response (DR), a system policy that promotes family engagement by allowing child protective services (CPS) to differentiate its response (e.g., investigation or assessment) to reports of child abuse and neglect based on multiple factors such as level of risk, child age, source of reporter, and type of reported maltreatment. Click here to view a PDF with full details. 

The Bhutanese refugee population have been the subject of considerable psychiatric research and intervention due to high rates of psychiatric morbidity, disability, and suicide given prolonged displacement. The central Ohio region hosts the largest Bhutanese refugee population—approximately 30,000 Bhutanese refugees—and this number is expected to increase in the next 5 years. An epidemiological study in the region suggested alarming rates of anxiety symptoms, PTSD, depression, suicide, and substance misuse among resettled Bhutanese refugees in the region. Click here to view a PDF with full details. 

In the US, approximately 7 million families live in poverty. Low household income has been a large focus of poverty research. However, material hardship—defined as everyday challenges related to making ends meet including difficulties paying for housing, utilities, food, or medical care—is common among American families and has not been systematically examined as a complementary indicator of poverty. To fill this knowledge gap, the current study used the Family Stress Model to test the mechanisms by which low household income and material hardship contribute to mothers’ and fathers’ depressive symptoms and destructive interparental conflict (i.e., moderate verbal aggression couples use that could be harmful to the partner relationship). Click here to view a PDF with full details. 

In the United States (US), approximately 21 million people are diagnosed with a substance use disorder (SUD); however, only 11% of individuals obtain treatment. One reason is individuals who struggle with SUD are often unable or unwilling to abstain from substance use, which is the prescribed goal in many SUD treatment facilities. This study employed a mixed-methods study design examining perceptions of non-abstinence treatment goals among clinical social workers in the US who specialize in SUD treatment. Click here to view a PDF with full details. 

Click here to read the College of Social Work’s quarterly Research Office Newsletter

Date: March 2022

Given the high burden of child maltreatment, there is an urgent need to know more about resilient functioning among those who have experienced maltreatment. The aims of the study were to: 1) identify distinct profiles of resilience across cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and social domains in young children involved in the child welfare system; and 2) examine maltreatment characteristics and family protective factors in relation to the identified resilience profiles. Click here to view a PDF with full details.

Father involvement is a key family protective factor that is crucial to children’s healthy development. Identifying distinctive patterns of father involvement and their contributions to diverse aspects of child development among low-income families is an important focus of inquiry that can inform the development of interventions to promote healthy development in vulnerable children. Click here to view a PDF with full details.

Click here to read the College of Social Work’s quarterly Research Office Newsletter

Date: December 2021