Student and Faculty Awareness and Attitudes about Students with Disabilities

Every year an increasing number of students with disabilities are graduating from high school and entering into postsecondary education. In an effort to assess the university climate for students with disabilities a survey was conducted on a large Northeastern campus. The survey focused on the attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge of university students and faculty on disability-related issues. Results are presented from undergraduate, graduate, and faculty perspectives. Most students and faculty report positive attitudes and interactions with students with disabilities, however these interactions are often limited and awkward. Disability issues are not often presented in the classroom content and the majority of faculty do not announce the availably of accommodations in the classroom. Implications for postsecondary institutions are explored

Emerging Bicultural Views of Fatherhood: Perspectives of Puerto Rican Fathers

Puerto Rican fathers remain an understudied population despite the growing Latino community in the U.S. Understanding how Puerto Rican fathers perceive their roles as fathers can inform our conceptualization of their engagement with children as well as the development of culturally-specific parenting interventions. In this qualitative study, focus groups were conducted with Puerto Rican men to identify their perceptions of their role as a father and how individual, child, and cultural influences may relate to these roles. Parenting roles identified by fathers in the study were: being there, maintaining open communication, building confidence, preparing for adulthood, teaching culture/values, and providing a role model for their children. The study also explored father and child characteristics, history with their own father, and a hybrid cultural perspective as influences on Puerto Rican fathers’ perceptions of their parenting roles. Due to the increasing population of Puerto Rican and other Latino sub-groups, providers and social workers working with Puerto Rican families should understanding the perceived parenting roles within families to better engage and support fathers and families within this growing population

Supporting Recruitment and Retention of Young African-American and Hispanic Fathers in Community-Based Parenting Interventions Research

Few studies to date have provided strategies for maintaining low rates of attrition when conducting longitudinal, epidemiological, or community-based research with young, minority, urban fathers. This paper highlights lessons learned from a 5-year randomized controlled trial of a fatherhood intervention that designed and implemented state-of-the-art and culturally relevant recruitment and retention methods with 348 young fathers ages 15 to 25. Qualitative findings are drawn from interviews with fathers who had been enrolled in the fatherhood intervention (n=10). While traditional recruitment and retention methods, such as incentives, were employed in this study, non-traditional methods were used as well, such as intensive community outreach, staff relationship development, recruiting specialists, and flexible contact methods. These methods were found to be helpful to young fathers in the study. Future research should incorporate, and further study, such non-traditional methods for recruiting young, minority, urban fathers into studies of parenting programs, including randomized control trials, to improve services for this underserved population

Parental Factors Associated with Mexican American Adolescent Alcohol Use

The purpose of this study is to further the understanding of how parenting and the relationship between the parent and the youth influence adolescent alcohol use in Mexican American families, with particular attention to acculturation. Results indicated that parental warmth is a strong factor in predicting adolescent alcohol use among Mexican adolescents. The parent-youth relationship played an important role in lowering alcohol use for Mexican American youth. Acculturation has an impact on the level of warmth, control, and the parent-youth relationship for Mexican American families. Findings indicate that there are unique family mechanisms for Mexican American families that should be considered when developing prevention and treatment options

Teaching Social Work Students About Alcohol and Other Drug Use Disorders: From Faculty Learning to Pedagogical Innovation

This article builds on prior research demonstrating that intensive faculty training in alcohol and other drug (AOD) identification and treatment methods can result in increases in AOD knowledge and teaching efficacy. We provide examples of how faculty participants in the Alcohol and Other Drugs Education Program have adapted their teaching in clinical practice, research methods, and addiction specialty courses as a result of participation in our immersion-based training program. Examples from 3 schools provide ideas for teaching innovations and serve as templates for faculty interested in advancing their teaching and the integration of AOD-related content into the social work curriculum