Measuring Racial Climate in Schools of Social Work: Instrument Development and Validation

This post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of the article submitted to IUPUI ScholarWorks as part of the OASIS Project. Article reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Permission granted through posted policies on copyright owner’s website or through direct contact with copyright owner.Objective: This article reports the initial validation of an instrument designed to measure racial climate in programs and schools of social work. Method: An unduplicated sample of students from one school of social work (N = 182) responded to a survey of racial climate. Psychometric analyses were computed to determine the reliability and validity of the instrument’s scales. Results: The scales attained high levels of internal consistency reliability, had a stable factor structure for the items as they were hypothesized, and performed well in preliminary analyses of convergent construct and known-groups validity. Conclusions: The results provided initial evidence of internal consistency reliability and content, construct, factorial, and known-groups validity

Development and Initial Validation of the Social Work Values Inventory

This post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of the article submitted to IUPUI ScholaWorks as part of the OASIS Project. Article reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Permission granted through posted policies on copyright owner’s website or through direct contact with copyright owner.This article reports the development and initial validation of the Social Work Values Inventory (SWVI). The SWVI was developed by using six tasks compiled by the author from the general literature on instrumentation. They include (a) developing a definition of values, (b) using the literature to select those values to be measured by the instrument, (c) using a theory of instrument construction, (d) relating the definition of values to the actual instrument, (e) developing unambiguous stimuli, and (f) determining scaling and scoring techniques. Preliminary reliability estimates ranged from acceptable to good across four data collections. Examinations of content, factorial, and construct validity provided excellent support of the instrument as a valid measure of social work practice values

Investigating the Differential Effectiveness of a Batterer Treatment Program on Outcomes for African American and Caucasian Batterers

This post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of the article submitted to IUPUI ScholarWorks as part of the OASIS Project. Article reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Permission granted through posted policies on copyright owner’s website or through direct contact with copyright owner.Objective: This study (a) evaluated a batterer intervention program (BIP) by investigating changes in psychological variables (i.e., truthfulness, violence, lethality, control, alcohol use, drug use, and stress-coping abilities) between pretreatment and posttreatment assessments in a sample of court-mandated batterers and (b) investigated the differential effectiveness of this same BIP for African American and Caucasian batterers. Method: The study employed a onegroup pretest/posttest design, with 12-month follow-up data, to investigate changes in Domestic Violence Inventory (DVI) scores among 91 men, 57% African American, court ordered into a BIP. Results: Analysis indicated that (a) court-ordered batterers demonstrate significant changes, in the desired direction, on psychological variables related to domestic violence, as a result of participation in a court-mandated BIP and (b) there was no significant difference in changes on these psychological variables between African American and Caucasian batterers. Conclusion: Implications o

Investigating Predictors of Treatment Attrition Among Court-Ordered Batterers

This post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of the article submitted to IUPUI ScholarWorks as part of the OASIS Project. Article reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Permission granted through posted policies on copyright owner’s website or through direct contact with copyright owner.Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate differences in demographic variables and psychological variables between treatment completers and drop-outs among abusive men entering a court-mandated treatment program. Method: The study gathered Domestic Violence Inventory (DVI) scores from 91 men, 66 treatment completers and 25 drop-outs, beginning court-ordered treatment for domestic violence offenses. Results: Logistic regression analyses indicated that none of the demographic variables or the psychological variables differentiated treatment completers from drop-outs. Conclusion: Implications of the findings for improving retention rates among men attending court-mandated batterer treatment programs were explored and discussed

Reliability and Measurement Error in the Presence of Homogeneity

This post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of the article submitted to IUPUI ScholarWorks as part of the OASIS Project. Article reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Permission granted through posted policies on copyright owner’s website or through direct contact with copyright owner.This paper describes a limitation of using Cronbach's Alpha to estimate reliability when using a sample with homogeneous responses in the measured construct. More specifically, it describes the risk of falsely concluding that a new instrument may have poor reliability and demonstrates the use of an alternate statistic that may serve as a cushion against such errors. Data from two validation studies are used to illustrate the utility of the new statistic, referred to as R-Alpha or Relative Alpha. Included is a discussion of the limitations and appropriate use of the statistic in validating multi-item tests, assessment scales, and inventories

Evaluation of Two Interviewing Skills Measures: An Instrument Validation Study

This item submitted to IUPUI ScholarWorks as part of the OASIS Project. Article reproduced with permission of the copyright owner.This article reports an initial validation of an instrument that measures basic interviewing skills and compares its psychometric results with another instrument that has been used more frequently to measure similar skills. Four field supervisors rated 30 students’ videotaped interviews (N=120) using two instruments, the validation, and a comparison instrument. The current validation instrument had high internal consistency reliability, a clear factor structure, and performed well in construct validity evaluations. These preliminary results supported the instrument’s internal consistency reliability, content, factorial, and construct validity. The validation instrument had higher internal consistency reliability, lower errormeasurement, and amore interpretable factor structure than the comparison instrument

The Lived Experiences of Minority Widowers with Dependent Children

Spousal death is a traumatic event well documented amongst clinical professionals because of its impact on a man’s physical and mental health. However, prior research on widowers has focused predominantly on white middle-class males. Little is known about the black indigenous people of color (BIPOC) male experience with spousal death, especially from those who are raising their dependent children. This qualitative phenomenological study aimed to understand the lived experiences of BIPOC male widowers and their children. BIPOC widowers experiencing the trauma of this life-changing event without professional assistance are at higher risk of emotional, physical, and mental distress. Attachment theory was used to analyze participants’ grieving and mourning processes. This qualitative study collected data through semi-structured interviews with eight participants. Data analysis occurred via verbatim transcription and coding using DeDoose. Themes included the importance of faith in God and prayer; shifting of responsibilities to the widower; and the importance of help and support from family during difficult times. Although the study shed light on BIPOC widowers, there is a need for more data on this population because individuals of different ethnic groups grieve differently. Professionals in the human services field will benefit from the results of this study by understanding ethnicity is an essential part of grief. Positive social change implications include the need for ongoing education and training on this population’s unique needs coping with grief

The Lived Experiences of Minority Widowers with Dependent Children

Spousal death is a traumatic event well documented amongst clinical professionals because of its impact on a man’s physical and mental health. However, prior research on widowers has focused predominantly on white middle-class males. Little is known about the black indigenous people of color (BIPOC) male experience with spousal death, especially from those who are raising their dependent children. This qualitative phenomenological study aimed to understand the lived experiences of BIPOC male widowers and their children. BIPOC widowers experiencing the trauma of this life-changing event without professional assistance are at higher risk of emotional, physical, and mental distress. Attachment theory was used to analyze participants’ grieving and mourning processes. This qualitative study collected data through semi-structured interviews with eight participants. Data analysis occurred via verbatim transcription and coding using DeDoose. Themes included the importance of faith in God and prayer; shifting of responsibilities to the widower; and the importance of help and support from family during difficult times. Although the study shed light on BIPOC widowers, there is a need for more data on this population because individuals of different ethnic groups grieve differently. Professionals in the human services field will benefit from the results of this study by understanding ethnicity is an essential part of grief. Positive social change implications include the need for ongoing education and training on this population’s unique needs coping with grief

Using Second-Order Factor Analysis in Examining Multiple Problems of Clients

This post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of the article submitted to IUPUI ScholarWorks as part of the OASIS Project. Article reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Permission granted through posted policies on copyright owner’s website or through direct contact with copyright owner.Data from veterans of the Persian Gulf engagement were studied to assess the potential of second-order factor analysis in examining, interpreting, and directing person-environment interventions with an array of different but related individual and environmental problems. Participants of the study were 1,532 veterans of the Persian Gulf engagement who were eligible for social services provided by the Veterans Administration. The results provided support for the use of second-order factors in examining client data and provided information about the relationships among clinically significant problems. Further research on the second-order factors of multidimensional instruments that are used in social work to measure client progress can yield information about how client populations differ and provide direction in selecting interventions that are congruent with social work's person-environment focus