School of Social Welfare Faculty Features

U N I V E R SI T Y AT A L B A N Y SC H O O L O F SO C I A L W E L FA R E

FA C U L T Y F E AT U R E S FA L L 2021

A M E SSA G E F R O M D E A N L Y N N W A R N E R I am pleased to introduce this inaugural issue of ?Faculty Features? in which we highlight a handful of the talented educators at the U Albany School of Social Welfare.

Our faculty have diverse research interests and methodological expertise, but share the common purpose of working directly with community partners ? locally, nationally, and globally - to identify needs, develop solutions, and evaluate their impact. Equally important, they motivate our students to rely on research in their own practice and advocacy efforts.

I hope you find inspiration in their projects, and perhaps resources for your own.

U Albany School of Social Welfare students at the N ew York State Capital on L egislative Education and Advocacy D ay.

V E T E R A N P E E R SU P P O RT

D r. Eric H ardiman Veterans often struggle with community reintegration following military service, facing a myriad of complex challenges.

Post-traumatic stress, social isolation, and suicide impact veterans at high rates.

Peer-to-peer interventions have been found to serve a protective function for veterans facing challenges. Peer support helps bind individuals together, fostering trust and building community. Peer support services offer a preventive, prosocial focus to engage veterans, rather than leaving them behind.

Associate Professor and M SW Program D irector Eric H ardiman has been studying peer support interventions in the mental health field for over 20 years. H is scholarship focuses on peer support, consumer-provided services, psychiatric recovery, and services for veterans. H e has also studied homelessness, communities dealing with disasters, urban violence, and services for veterans. H is research explores the use of peer support interventions to build community through shared lived experience. Funded by the N ew York State Senate and Assembly, D r.

H ardiman is currently conducting a statewide program evaluation of the Joseph P. D wyer Veterans Peer-to-Peer Initiative, which is operational in over 25 counties across the state.

Peer Support Research H ighlights -

H ardiman, ER, M atteson, A, & Turner, N . (2020). Veterans? voices: A qualitative study on veteran theories of suicide.

Society for Social Work and Research Conference. Washington, D C.

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H ardiman, ER, M atteson, A, Turner, N , & Seng, T. (2019). Suicide prevention and intervention strategies for veterans outside VA health care services. New York State Suicide Prevention Conference.

Albany, N Y.

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H ardiman, ER, Fletcher, S, & M atteson, A. (2017). T he use of peer support interventions for veterans facing community reintegration challenges.

Society for Social Work and Research Conference. New Orleans, LA.

A L B A N Y . E D U / S S W

H I V A N D SP I R I T U A L I T Y

D r. Robert L . M iller, Jr. Associate Professor Robert L . M iller, Jr. examines spirituality in the lives of Black gay men and transgender women managing H IV illness and prevention efforts.

D ifferentiated from religion, spirituality offers an inward perspective on purpose and meaning while helping clients to organize their self-efficacy in the service of their desired outcomes. H is scholarship reveals the utility of spirituality in adaptive coping efforts across the life course for those with H IV (i.e., increasing their ego strength as they experience various traumatic oppressions as well as H IV medication adherence), and its potential to promote long-term virus suppression.

Eight M SW students studying abroad in South Africa, Tanzania, and Zanzibar with D r. Shirley Jones (center) and D r. Robert M iller (back right).

H I V Research H ighlights -

M iller, RL , Jr. (2021). ?Agape love is justice?: Black clergies? public and theological support for Black gay men.

Culture, H ealth, & Sexuality.

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M iller, RL , Jr. (2015). H IV prevention decision-making among N ew York State H IV negative black men who have sex with men. N ew York State D epartment of H ealth, AID S Institute.

H ealth Research Inc.

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M iller, RL , Jr, & L insk, N L . (Special Issue Co-Editors). (2010). H IV Social Work in East Africa. Journal of H IV/AID S & Social Services, 9(3), 213-219.

A L B A N Y . E D U / S S W

SO C I A L W O R K : I T T A K E S A T E A M

D r. Carmen M orano Social work practice and collaboration go together like the proverbial hand and glove.

Engaging in interprofessional collaboration across a wide array of service sectors, as well as between professionals and paraprofessionals with different education and training, requires knowledge and skills that are unique to social work. Facilitation of team development and processes, and ensuring the timely and accurate transfer of information across multiple settings, are key to effective interprofessional team development and ultimately positive client outcomes.

Professor and PhD Program D irector Carmen M orano has been engaged in developing and evaluating interprofessional education curriculum and interprofessional collaboration throughout his career. H e examines the intersection of interprofessional education and collaboration in areas that include health care, emergency medicine, elder abuse and most recently de-escalation. Funded by Albany County and the N YS D epartment of H ealth Foundation, D r. M orano is currently evaluating the Albany County Crisis Officials Responding and D iverting (ACCORD ) initiative which trains an interdisciplinary team of social workers and EM Ts to respond to non-violent emergency and mental health situations.

I nterprofessional Research H ighlights -

M orano, C, & D iamiani, G. (2019).

Interprofessional education at the meso level: T he next step in IPE. Gerontology and Geriatrics Education, 40(1), 43-54.

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Pascucci, D , Sassano, M , Cesare, M , Cicconi, M , Acampora, A, Park, D , M orano, C, & D amiani, G. (2021).

Impact of interprofessional collaboration on chronic disease management: Findings from a systematic review. H ealth Policy, 125(2), 191-202.

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M orano, C, & Berical, E. (2021).

Evaluating a multidisciplinary team approach to elder abuse. Gerontological Society of America Annual Conference, Phoenix, AZ.

A L B A N Y . E D U / S S W

H E A L I N G JU ST I C E R E SE A R C H

D r. L oretta Pyles Social workers, change agents, and other helping professionals face tremendous challenges in their work including moral injury, trauma, and burnout. T hese challenges are transpiring within a larger patriarchal, neoliberal, white supremacist context wherein change agents find themselves disconnected from their "bio-psycho-social-spiritual-ecological" selves. M ore than just "overcoming" these challenges, change makers deserve opportunities to explore and transform the conditions and patterns which perpetuate this disconnection.

Professor L oretta Pyles' early scholarship emerged out of her time in grassroots, feminist domestic violence/sexual assault organizations. Today her work focuses on community organizing, environmental justice and disasters, racial and economic justice, and integrative/holistic social work practice.

T hrough her work on healing justice, holistic engagement, and re-wilding, Pyles? research seeks to intervene on and understand how practitioners and organizations can support whole person change making through attention to organizational policies and culture, integrative body-mind-spirit practices, and narratives of liberation.

Research H ighlights -

Pyles, L . (2021). Progressive community organizing: Transformative practice in a globalizing world (3rd ed). N ew York: Routledge.

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Pyles, L , Cosgrove, D , Gardner, E, Raheim, S, Adam, G, Chakravarty, S, & Cooke, C. (2021). ?Could we just breathe for 30 seconds??: Social worker experiences of holistic engagement practice training. Social Work, 66(4), 285-296.

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Pyles, L . (2018). H ealing justice: H olistic self-care for change makers. N ew York: Oxford U niversity Press.

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Svistova, J, & Pyles, L . (2018).

Production of disaster and recovery in H aiti: D isaster industrial complex.

Routledge H umanitarian Studies Series.

Abingdon, U K: Routledge.

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O L D ER AD U LT CARE M AN AG EM EN T

D r. Victoria M . Rizzo Social care needs, also known as social determinants of health, include reliable transportation, stable housing, and food security. If unmet, they contribute to negative health outcomes and use of costly medical services for older adults. Research has shown that screening for and addressing social care needs can improve health outcomes and health care delivery efficiencies, and decrease health care costs.

H owever, the impact of social workers on interprofessional care management outcomes is not well-understood.

Social Care Research H ighlights Professor Victoria Rizzo has been studying the unique contributions of social work practice in health care settings and community-based organizations, with a focus on care management and social care needs for over 30 years. H er scholarship examines the impact of these contributions on health care utilization and outcomes for older adults coping with chronic illnesses, elder abuse, and care giving. She also examines the implications of study findings for health care policy and reimbursement for social work services to older adults and their caregivers.

Funded by the M other Cabrini H ealth Foundation, D r. Rizzo is currently conducting a workforce development initiative for students to screen, assess for, and address the unmet social care needs of older adults in the Capital Region.

Rowe, J, Yang, E, Rizzo, V, Kim, Y, Ewald, B, Vail, M , & D reschler, K. (2021).

M SW interns to address social needs in a rural free health care clinic: A pilot project.

Social Work in H ealth Care. [Online first].

Rowe, J, Rizzo, V, Kang, S, Kukowski, R, N ewman, M , Ewald, B, & Golden, R. (2019). T ime contribution of social workers in care management: Value for older adults.

Professional Case M anagement, 24(6), 306-316.

Rowe, J, Rizzo, V, Guthrie, D , Vail, M , Kang, S, & Golden, R. (2019). T he electronic heath record: D ocumenting the unique contributions of social workers.

H ealth & Social Work, 44(2), 123?128.

A L B A N Y . E D U / S S W

W O M EN , I M M I G RAN T S & H EALT H

D r. Jildyz U rbaeva Assistant Professor Jildyz U rbaeva?s research focuses on Central Asian women?s status and agency in making decisions about their health and employment. She is currently co-principal investigator (with PI Jill M essing of Arizona State U niversity) on a World Bank-funded project to adapt a mobile application intervention for women in abusive relationships in Kyrgyzstan. She recently completed a mixed methods study of acculturation experiences, kinship structures, and Islamic identity among Central Asian M uslim immigrants in the U S.

Research H ighlights -

U rbaeva, J, Koo, J, & Childress, S. (2021). W hen families fail: Women?s responses to spousal violence in Central Asia. Social Work Research.

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U rbaeva, J. (2019). Opportunity, social mobility, and women?s views on gender roles in Central Asia. Social Work, 64(3), 207-215.

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U rbaeva, Z, L ee, E, & L ee, Y. (2019).

Reproductive decisions as mediators between education and employment of women in Kyrgyzstan. H ealth Care for Women International, 40(7-9):898-913.

D r. U rbaeva (front row center) with Jill M essing of ASU , meeting with stakeholders in Kyrgyzstan regarding a domestic violence intervention.

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