Pitt SSW Focus on Health

Empower People

Lead Organizations Grow Communities UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF

Social Work F oc u s o n h e a lt h

Other Pitt schools are supporting the School of Social Work in its health focus. Pictured with School of Social Work Dean Larry E. Davis (fourth from left) are (from left) Steven Albert, professor and chair, Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences, Graduate School of Public Health; Jacqueline Dunbar-Jacob, dean, School of Nursing; Clifford Brubaker, dean, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences; Davis; Patricia Kroboth, dean, School of Pharmacy; and Steven Kanter, vice dean, School of Medicine.

R ese arch

Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Valire Carr Copeland is partnering with University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing faculty members to measure cancer-related distress, symptom incidence and severity, quality of life, spiritual distress, and specific palliative and end-of-life needs among patients with advanced cancer according to race, income, economic hardship, and health literacy.

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Access to timely, comprehensive, and equitable health care for individuals in the United States varies considerably, with significant percentages of many populations having only limited access to health care. The United States ranks last among 16 high-income nations in the rate of deaths that are considered preventable with timely and effective health care, according to a 2011 report from the Commonwealth Fund. Social work research is well suited to address the social determinants of health and disparities in health care and to inform the care of the complex patient in both acute and chronic care settings. On these pages are a range of activities in which the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work is involved that are focused on health.

Associate Dean of Academic Affairs ■

Assistant Professor Shaun Eack and his colleagues have received a $3.1 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to study new psychosocial treatments for individuals in the early phases of schizophrenia. This furthers Eack’s work on the development of new social work interventions in the areas of schizophrenia and autism, with an interest in how fundamental brain mechanisms in those disorders can be enhanced through social work interventions.

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Assistant Professor Lovie Jackson Foster recently received a career development award from the National Institutes of Health-funded University of Pittsburgh Clinical Research Scholars Program. Jackson Foster is developing a program of research using health information technology to embed mental health interventions in urban health care clinics in order to reduce disparities in mental health care for African American youths with mental health or comorbid physical and mental disorders and trauma histories.

Lovie Jackson Foster, Assistant Professor

Anita Zuberi, Research Associate

“ Social workers in acute and chronic care settings are poised to deal with the most complex patients while addressing the social determinants of health and encouraging health behaviors.”

- Daniel Rosen, Associate Professor

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Professor John Wallace, the Philip Hallen Chair in Community Health and Social Justice in the School of Social Work, and the Homewood Children’s Village, which he helped to create, have been awarded a threeyear grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities for the innovative Healthy Learning, Healthy Living, Healthy Lives (HL3) project. HL3 equitably engages community and academic partners in an effort to investigate, ameliorate, and ultimately eliminate disparities in children’s health, with a particular focus on asthma and its correlates, consequences, and comorbidities.

Research associate Anita Zuberi is leading a pilot study examining the relationship between neighborhood distress and racial health disparities, with a focus on infant mortality and premature birth. Her work also focuses on children’s exposure to danger and perceptions of safety among low-income families, which has implications for outcomes related to health and well-being.

Education a nd Tr a ining

Integrated Behavioral Health Care Social Work Field Placement Project The school received a Council on Social Work Education grant to support a partnership with health-related organizations to design, implement, and evaluate an educational experience for social work students that combines classroom education with hands-on practice in integrated field placement settings.

Joint Degree Programs The Master of Social Work/Master of Public Health (MPH) and MPH/PhD joint degree programs through the School of Social Work and the Pitt Graduate School of Public Health prepare students for leadership roles in public health, social welfare, and other related organizations and systems in which public health is a concern based on the perceived impact of identifiable social problems.

Field Placements The School of Social Work offers its students field placements in more than 120 health-related sites, including hospital settings, community health clinics, health plans, and health advocacy organizations.

Examples of field placement sites include: · Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC · Gateway Hospice

· Pittsburgh Mercy Family Health Center

Preterm Birth by Race

· Primary Care Health Services, Inc. · VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System

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The geographic information system mapping work of research associate Anita Zuberi shows that preterm birth is unequally distributed across neighborhoods in the City of Pittsburgh and higher in majority Black neighborhoods. The yellow dots represent the percentage of preterm births out of all births in a neighborhood in the birth cohort from 2006 to 2010. The shading represents the percent of the population in a neighborhood that is Black as of the 2010 Census.

The School of Social Work’s Center on Race and Social Problems’ Race Research Online Directory offers a wealth of scholarly information, including lecture videos, research projects, publications, and other educational resources—all at the touch of a button.

Visit www. crsp.pitt.edu to view the directory.

Assistant Professor Gerald Cochran’s research interests are centered on behavioral health services. His area of expertise involves identifying and studying appropriate care for underserved populations in health care settings, with particular emphasis on individuals who misuse drugs and alcohol.

Commu nity Engagement

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The school has been involved in a variety of community health initiatives, including a University community health and wellness program that works with neighborhoods to define health, fitness, and wellness as community issues.

Social workers play vital roles in hospital systems in areas like oncology, palliative care, work with family members, and followup care.

Social workers are present in community-based primary health care centers for underserved populations like the poor; the uninsured; and immigrants, including undocumented immigrants.

“ My passion for research comes from knowing that by evaluating the services delivered by social workers and other health care professionals, the health and well-being of individuals and communities can be significantly improved.”

-GERALD COCHRAN, Assistant Professor

Public health social workers are critical partners in the treatment of specialized health conditions like HIV/AIDS, sickle cell disease, substance abuse, and mental and behavioral disorders.

Social workers are one of the largest groups of professionals in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ system of health care and lead the behavioral/mental health side of the VA system of care.

Center on Race and Social Problems

The School of Social Work Center on Race and Social Problems includes racial health disparities as one of its seven areas of focus.

As part of this focus, the center: ■

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examines racial disparities in health conditions across the life span, access to and quality of care, and strategies for reducing disparities;

hosts a research advisory panel that includes faculty members from across the University; and

published a health report based on the speeches and panels at the 2010 conference Race in America: Restructuring Inequality; a special health inequality issue of the School of Social Work’s journal, Race and Social Problems; and a report based on the health and racial demographics of the region.

www.socialwork.pitt.edu

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