The theme for the annual program meeting of the Society for Social Work Research (SSWR), now in its 25th year, is ‘Social Work Science for Social Change.’ The virtual event takes place January 19-24, 2021.
Sean Joe, Benjamin E. Youngdahl Professor of Social Development, has been elected as the new president of SSWR. His role will be formally announced during the membership business meeting on January 22, 2:30 p.m EST.
In addition, Brown School faculty, students, staff and alumni have a robust presence at this year’s event with 40 presentations and over 75 posters. Review the program, presenters, and register at sswr.org.
New Leadership Role in SSWR
Joe is a nationally recognized scholar on suicidal behavior among Black Americans, and is expanding the evidence base for effective practice with Black boys and young men. His research focuses on Black adolescents’ mental health service use patterns, the role of religion in Black suicidal behavior, salivary biomarkers for suicidal behavior, and the development of father-focused, family-based interventions to prevent urban African American adolescent males from engaging in multiple forms of self-destructive behaviors.
Working within the Center for Social Development, Joe launched the Race and Opportunity Lab, which examines race, opportunity, and social mobility in the St. Louis region, working to reduce inequality in adolescents’ transition into adulthood. The lab’s leading community science project is HomeGrown STL, which hopes to improve the social mobility of the region’s 60,000 black boys and young men, ages 12-29, in one generation—by the year 2039. Social mobility is defined as the ability of black boys and men to move upward and attain a better life than their parents.
HomeGrown STL has been awarded $2.5 million from the National Institutes of Health to examine serious disruptive behavioral difficulties, which disproportionately burden Black youth in high-poverty areas, and eliminate racial disparities in child mental health care. The organization has also been named a “Community to Watch” by the Obama Foundation’s My Brother’s Keeper Alliance (MBK). This summer, Joe co-authored “Accountable Policing: Policies to Advance the Personal Safety of Black Boys and Young Men,” which proposed changes to federal and regional policy to build an equitable, transparent and accountable public safety approach.
Joe’s epistemological work focuses on the concept of race in medical and social sciences. He has been quoted extensively in media outlets locally and across the nation, including the Miami Times, the Atlantic Black Star, and NBC.
He serves on the Steering Committee of the national Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC) and the National Advisory Council of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Forward Promise initiative. In recognition of the impact of his work, Joe was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare, the Society for Social Work and Research, and the New York Academy of Medicine.
Below is a partial list of presentations by members of the Brown School community. For poster presentations and a complete program, please visit sswr.org.
| 2:15 – 4:15 PM | Developing Anti-Racist Research from Research Questions to DisseminationDeveloping Anti-Racist Research from Research Questions to Dissemination | Darrell Hudson, PhD |
Wednesday, January 20
Wednesday, January 20 5:15 – 6:15 PM
Wednesday, January 20 6:30 – 7:15 PM
| RCDC I | David A. Patterson Silver Wolf (Adelv unegv Waya), PhD |
| System Dynamics in Social Work: Entry Points for Integration into Research and Practice | Ellis Ballard Jill Kuhlberg Erin Stringfellow |
Thursday, January 21 1:15 – 2:15 PM
| Behavioral Health at Historically Black Colleges and Universities: A Scoping Review | Autumn Asher BlackDeer, MSW Sara Beeler-Stinn, LCSW, MPA David A. Patterson Silver Wolf (Adelv unegv Waya), PhD Jen Van Schuyver, MSW |
| Blood Plasma Sales and Liquidity in LMI Households | Stephanie Skees, MSW, Washington University in Saint Louis; Stephen Roll, PhD, Washington University in Saint Louis |
| Colored Health: The Consequences of Colorism on African American Woman’s Health and Mental Health Outcomes | Maya Williams, MSW |
| Increasing Substance Use Disorder Treatment Retention: A Pilot Study Measuring the Impact of a Clinical Dashboard Tool | David A. Patterson Silver Wolf (Adelv unegv Waya), PhD Sara Beeler-Stinn, LCSW, MPA Autumn Asher BlackDeer, MSW |
| Neighborhood and Community Influences in AdolescenceNeighborhood and Community Influences in Adolescence | Moderator: Von Nebbitt, PhD |
Thursday, January 21 5:00 – 6:00 PM
| Advancing New Markets: Examining Network Structure in the New Markets Tax Credits Program | Andrew Foell, MSW, MPP Kyle A. Pitzer, MSSW |
| A Qualitative Exploration of Physical and Emotional Wellness Among Middle-Class Black Women | Quenette Walton, PhD Jacquelyn Coats, MSW, MPH |
Friday, January 22 1:15 – 2:15 PM
| 3:45 – 4:45 PM | Changing Sexual and Reproductive Health Narratives of Black Adolescents and Young Adults | Tyriesa Howell, PhD, LMSW |
Friday, January 22 5:00 – 6:00 PM
| Exploring the Nexus of Empowerment Practice and Cognitive Processing Therapy in Rape Crisis Centers | Tonya Edmond, PhD Shih-Ying Cheng, MSW Molly McLay, MSW, LCSW |
| Policy Ideas That Rise to the Challenge of COVID-19 and Reduce Inequality: Learning from the Past to Shape the Future | Michael Sherraden, PhD |
| Sex Trafficking Risk in a Representative Sample of High School Students: Prevalence and Associated Characteristics of Youth Who Trade Sex | Shih-Ying Cheng, MSW |
| Understanding Caregiver Criminal Justice Involvement and the Impact on Child Outcomes | Sara Beeler-Stinn, LCSW, MPA Melissa Jonson-Reid, MSW, PhD Autumn Asher BlackDeer, MSW David A. Patterson Silver Wolf (Adelv unegv Waya), PhD Catherine Cobetto, BA |