Trauma-Related Symptomatology Among Children of Parents Victimized by Community Violence

The University Archives has determined that this item is of continuing value to OSU's history.Dulmus, Catherine N., Ph.D., ACSW, Ph.D., SUNY at Buffalo, 1999, Assistant Professor, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville - "Trauma-Related Symptomatology Among Children of Parents Victimized by Community Violence"The Ohio State University College of Social Wor

Empirically Supported Treatments Impact on Organizational Culture and Climate

Objectives: With the continued push to implement empirically supported treatments (ESTs) into community based organizations, it is important to investigate whether working condition disruptions occur during this process. While there are many studies investigating best practices and how to adopt them, the literature lacks studies investigating the working conditions in programs that currently use ESTs. Methods: This study compared the culture and climate scores of a large organization’s programs that use ESTs and those programs indicating no EST usage. Results: Of the total 55 different programs (1,273 front-line workers), 27 programs used ESTs. Results indicate that the programs offering an EST had significantly more rigid and resistant cultures, compared to those without any ESTs. In regard to climate, programs offering an EST were significantly less engaged, less functional, and more stressed. Conclusion: Outcomes indicate a significant disruption in organizational culture and climate for programs offering ESTs

Is Openness to Using Empirically Supported Treatments Related to Organizational Culture and Climate?

An established literature indicates that organizational factors such as culture and climate can impede the implementation of empirically supported treatments (ESTs) in real world practice. What remains unclear is whether certain worker attitudes create barriers to implementing ESTs and how these attitudes might impact the working culture and climate within an organization. The overall purpose of this study is to investigate workers’ openness towards implementing a new EST and whether the workers’ openness scores relate to their workplace culture and climate scores. Participants in this study (N=1273) worked in a total of 55 different programs in a large child and family services organization. Participants completed an organizational culture and climates survey and a survey measuring their attitudes toward ESTs. Results indicate that work groups that measure themselves as being more open to using ESTs rated their organizational cultures as being significantly more proficient and significantly less resistant to change. Further, they rated their organizational climates as being significantly more functional and less stressed. Work groups with open attitudes towards using ESTs create a culture and climate that also foster using ESTs. With ESTs becoming the gold standard for professional social work practices, it is important to have accessible pathways to EST implementation

Individual Worker level Attitudes Toward Empirically Supported Treatments

Objectives: There is a growing literature indicating that organizational and individual worker-level factors affect decisions about whether or not empirically-supported treatments (EST’s) are adopted within health care agencies. The purpose of this pilot study is to further investigate and measure worker’s attitudes within a community organization. Methods: A small organization participated in the study due to their diversity in services offered. Of the 92 workers eligible for participation in the study, 66 (72%) completed the Evidence-Based Practice Attitude Scale (EBPAS) survey. Results: Multivariate analyses revealed that female workers scored higher on both Openness and total score; workers with nursing, education or psychology majors scored lower than workers with other (excluding social work) majors on both Divergence and total score; and that older workers scored higher on Divergence. Conclusion: Although small, this study identifies individual characteristics that are most likely to fit the profile of an EST adopte

Factors Influencing Worker Morale: Evaluating Provider Demographics, Workplace Environment and Using ESTs

Objectives: Mental health organizations are strongly encouraged to implement empirically supported treatments (ESTs), however little is known about their working environments. The present study investigated how provider demographics, workplace environment and whether ESTs were used affected the worker morale. Methods: Front-line workers (N = 1,273) from 55 different programs in a single, large organization completed a measure of organizational culture and climate (OCC) and worker morale. A multilevel regression analysis used worker demographics to predict worker morale at level 1 and EST use and OCC scales to predict program level worker morale. Results: Worker morale was significantly negatively correlated with EST use and significantly correlated with OCC dimensions. Regression results showed that culture and climate but not EST use predicted morale. Conclusions: Although EST use by programs in this agency had negative effects on both morale and OCC, separately, the effect on morale was subsumed by the effect on OCC

Do Organizational Culture and Climate Matter for Successful Client Outcomes?

Objectives: The existing literature on the impact of workplace conditions on client care suggests that good cultures and climates provide the best outcomes for clients. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between organizational culture and climate and the proportion of children and youth successfully discharged from a large organization in New York State. Method: Thirty-three child and youth programs with existing culture and climate data evaluated outcome information from 1,336 clients exiting its services. Results: Programs reported as having bad culture and climate yielded superior client outcomes, measured as discharge to a lower level of care and successfully completing. Conclusion: This study and its conclusion point to a gap in knowledge concerning the relation between workplace culture and climate and the impact on client care and workers’ perceptions; this warrants further investigation in similar studies of agencies and their outcomes

Prevalence, Nature, Context and Impact of Alcohol Use in India: Recommendations for Practice and Research

Presently alcohol policy in India takes a moral stand rather than a scientific approach towards understanding and dealing with the problem of alcoholism. To effectively address this social problem in India, public policy must take into account the nature, extent of the problem and the context in which it occurs. This literature review examines the nature, prevalence and impact of alcohol use and misuse in India, within its historical and cultural contexts, as a beginning step to inform policy. Recommendations for practice and future research directions are suggested

Alcohol Screening and Brief Intervention as Standard Practice in Indian Country

Alcohol use and the resulting problems associated with high-risk drinking in the American Indian/Native Alaskan (AI/NA) population are well-documented, as alcohol misuse has taken an incredible toll on many AI/NA communities. Presently, both overall health issues and alcohol use occur disproportionately within this population. This article provides an updated overview of the impact of alcohol use in the United States and within AI/NA communities specifically. It also provides recommendations for an alcohol-related screening and brief intervention instrument that social workers can begin using in their practice and can be utilized within the AI/NA community

Measuring a Community-based Mental Health Organization’s Culture and Climate Scores Stability

This project builds on the work of Glisson et al., (2008) and the knowledge learned from community-based mental health organization’s internal structures (e.g., culture and climate), which possibly impede the implantation and adoption of new technologies. The Organizational Social Context (OSC) Model measurement system is guided by a model of social context that composes both organizational and individual level constructs, including individual and shared perceptions that are believed to mediate the impact of the organization on the individual. Although the OSC has been developed and validated over time, the literature does not provide guidance on test-retest reliability of the scale

Organizational leaders’ and staff members’ appraisals of their work environment within a children’s social service system

Several studies have demonstrated the effect of an organization’s culture and climate on the delivery of services to clients and the success of clinical outcomes. Workers’ perceptions are integral components of organizational social context, and in order to create a positive organizational culture and climate, managers and frontline staff need to have a shared understanding of the social context. The existing literature does not adequately address that discrepancies in perceptions of culture and climate between frontline staff and managers impact the implementation of policies and services. The purpose of this study is to compare the workgroup-level culture and climate of a single, large child and family social services organization, based on the reported experiences of front-line workers and senior managers. The results showed that, as a group, senior managers rated the organization as having a culture that was much more proficient and much less rigid and a climate that was more engaged and more functional than the average frontline workgroup. The discrepancies between the perceptions of upper management and workgroup-level staff indicate the need for interventions that can improve communication and cohesiveness between these two groups