USC Hamovitch P.I. Volume 4, Issue 4. Winter 2014

Hamovitch PI

Winter 2014

A research publication of the Hamovitch Center for Science in the Human Services at the USC School of Social Work

The review crew Reviewing grant proposals for federal agencies has proven to be a boon to researchers at the USC School of Social Work.

A perfect example is Suzanne Wenzel (left), a professor and current chair of the school’s Research Council.

Since 2001, she has served as a reviewer for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on multiple occasions. She recently accepted an invitation to join a four-year review panel tasked with examining proposals related to the multiple personal, social, and community factors that influence HIV risk and preventive behaviors.

“I think it has helped me to craft stronger proposals and to give my colleagues and doctoral students better advice on writing their own,” she said.

“The level of precision and scientific rigor that is expected by the reviewers and the institutes is really quite pronounced.”

The grant review process can be mystifying for many in academia. Application guidelines are long and complex, arguments and approaches have

New project explores use of tablet computers to help older adults in Taiwan access health care resources

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Dean Marilyn Flynn joins other leading innovators in California Social Work Hall of Distinction

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to be framed in a certain way, and funding priorities are constantly shifting.

Having an insider’s perspective on how federal agencies such as the NIH and National Science Foundation (NSF) assess grant applications is critical to putting together a successful proposal, said Charles Kaplan, associate dean of research at the USC School of Social Work.

“You can send proposals in but you can’t get them funded unless you are very aware of the dynamics of the review process,” he said. “You really have to have your finger on the pulse of what NIH and NSF are doing in terms of their review and to try to get on those committees. That’s the best way of learning. It’s a stepping-stone to excellence.”

The school has increasingly emphasized mentoring and internal review of grant proposals before they are submitted.

Reviewers | continued on page 10

PhD students receive funding to examine neighborhood factors that influence child welfare

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Vol. 4, Issue 4 Winter 2014 From the Director

Reading the draft of this issue of Hamovitch PI, as it has happened many times before, I am overwhelmed by a sense of fascination and happiness about being the director of the Hamovitch Research Center. Why? Because I am given the privilege of directing a center that serves so many talented and dedicated people from all walks of life who share the USC School of Social Work as a home. In this home, practices, interventions, and scholarship are developed and new generations of social workers are educated and trained as agents of innovation and change to the benefit of the underprivileged and most vulnerable individuals in the nation and beyond.

These agents of change include the son of a baker who grew up in the rough neighborhoods of Mexico City (see story on this page), philanthropists with strong roots in Taiwan (page 4), experienced researchers who are enhancing the quality of research funded by the National Institutes of Health (cover story), a dean whose accomplishments earned her induction into the California Social Work Hall of Distinction (page 5), and many, many others.

What else can a director of a social work research center wish for in his professional life?

I hope you will enjoy reading this issue as much as I did. Happy holidays and best wishes for the coming year!

Haluk Soydan, PhD Director of the Hamovitch Center

Dean Marilyn Flynn Director Haluk Soydan Editor Eric Lindberg

Hamovitch PI is a research newsletter published quarterly by the Hamovitch Center for Science in the Human Services at the USC School of Social Work. Send questions, comments, and reprint requests to elindber@usc.edu

Front page: Federal officials recently selected Suzanne Wenzel, professor and Research Council chair, to serve as a grant proposal reviewer for the Center for Scientific Review.

Photo/Eric Lindberg

After tough upbringing, clinical professor finds way to give back enough and shipped him off to live with his father in the United States.

He landed in Lake Elsinore, a city in western Riverside County, at 12 years old with no immigration documents and a rowdy disposition.

“I was in an area that wasn’t the greatest— gangs, prostitution, drugs,” he said.

“Coming to this country as an immigrant, That moment when his mother pointed not speaking a word of English, was kind to a man in an orange jumpsuit sweeping of rough, so I ended up hanging out with the streets of Mexico City and told him the wrong crowd.”

His father had good intentions but poor that he would have to stay in school or he parenting skills, López said, letting him get would end up in a similar position. away with misbehaving for several years.

His father, a baker with a sixth-grade When his father remarried and tried to set education, delivering a similar message as some new boundaries, it didn’t sit well with they rose at 3 a.m. to start preparing the López, who began sleeping in his car or dough and heating the ovens. spending the night with friends so he didn’t Having a few trusted mentors who have to follow the rules at home. encouraged him to keep attending classes But not everything was bleak. As a and stay on the cross-country team rather freshman, he had joined the cross-country than getting into trouble. team to spend more time with a girlfriend But it wasn’t until he took a few sociology on the squad.

They eventually split up, but classes in college that López realized how his coach refused to let fortunate he had been. him quit running.

“I started noticing, man, “I ended up sticking I’m pretty lucky,” he said.

“The lightbulb started with it,” López said.

“A lot of my friends with going off. I started “That in a way saved me. It very similar backgrounds noticing, man, I’m minimized the number of and abilities were either pretty luck. A lot of my hours I was on the street.” deported, dead, or in jail.”

He had managed to Throughout his remark- friends with very similar able career—as a social backgrounds and abilities attend class often enough to maintain decent grades worker specializing in were either deported, and even completed a adoption services for dead, or in jail.” few advanced courses. A Spanish-speaking families, school counselor encouras an international liaison Omar López aged him to apply to colhandling complicated lege and he was accepted issues related to child welto the University of California, San Diego. fare, and now as a clinical associate professor By that time, he was a permanent resiand assistant director of field education at dent; his father had been working diligently the USC School of Social Work—López said he has felt blessed to have the opportu- behind the scenes to ensure López was shepnity to help others, particularly children and herded through the naturalization process.

After taking an elective course on the U.S. families in vulnerable populations. education system, López said he became “I’ve been very fortunate,” he said. “Being aware of how many minority groups had in a position to give back really drives me.” fewer opportunities to succeed.

As a self-described knucklehead growing “The lightbulb started going off,” he said. up in a poor area of Mexico City, López He enrolled in more said he proved to be too much of a handful for his hardworking single mother. By sociology courses and, at the time he finished sixth grade, she had the urging of one of his

Omar López can point to a few instances in his past that set him on the right track.

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professors, quit his janitorial work-study job to take a position with the Chicano Federation, a nonprofit that provides social services and advocates for Latino issues.

As he neared the end of his undergraduate studies in sociology and Spanish literature, López was introduced to Maria Zuniga, a board member of the Chicano Federation and a longtime professor of social work at San Diego State University.

After a five-minute conversation, she had convinced him to look into a stipend program that provided nearly $40,000 toward graduate education and other expenses as long as participants agreed to work in public child welfare services after graduation.

“So you mean they will pay me to go to school to do what I want to do anyway and then they will give me a job afterward?” López said. “It sounded like a pretty good deal.”

He earned his master’s degree in social work and by 23 had been hired by San Diego County as a social worker specializing in adoptions. He worked closely with adoptive families that primarily spoke Spanish through a program called Nuestros Niños.

“I developed more expertise in working on international cases, essentially dependents that were placed in Guatemala, Mexico, or other countries,” he said.

That experience landed him a gig as international liaison for the county, placing him in charge of facilitating communication with other countries relating to child welfare issues such as repatriation of children, welfare checks, and adoptions.

Later recruited to oversee internships and training for child protective services, López helped students at his alma mater, San Diego State University, connect with field instructors and county agencies.

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As a clinical associate professor of field education at the USC School of Social Work, Omar López is charged with helping students find internships with social services agencies to gain realworld experience. He recently received a $1.4 million grant to expand student training opportunities on issues relevant to gun violence, particularly the need for more behavioral health specialists.

Photo/Eric Lindberg

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When the county experienced budget cuts and eliminated his position in 2009, the university hired him to perform the same role. A year later, the USC School of Social Work offered him a similar job at its San Diego Academic Center.

Throughout his time with the county, López became involved with various boards and organizations, including taking on leadership roles with the county employee union.

“I was an idealistic 23-yearold,” he said. “I was going to change the world.”

His experience, first as union steward and then vice president and president, helped him understand how to present issues and build relationships in a productive manner. And although he enjoyed his clinical work as a social worker, López said he began to look for more impactful ways to improve the child welfare system.

“In the back of my mind, I always saw more benefit working at the macro level,” he said. “I didn’t know how and I didn’t really know what that meant, but I think it’s why I was attracted to being in the union, understanding systems, and working with policy to have more of an impact on families.”

He certainly brought that mindset to his role at the USC School of Social Work, spearheading a successful application for a $1.4 million training grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration. Part of the Obama administration’s efforts to address gun violence, the grant is designed to increase the size of the behavioral health services workforce.

López said a common theme among recent mass shootings has been that the perpetrators are often young men between the ages of 16 and 25 who were unable to access mental health

and behavioral health services.

“As a country, we’re not doing a good job of helping these individuals or providing them with services that are necessary to prevent these outcomes,” he said.

The grant will provide more than $1 million in stipends to students interested in issues of substance abuse, mental health, and violence. López and his colleagues are still developing the selection process, but he said students who know about the program are already expressing interest.

“It’s going to be very competitive,” he said. “This is allowing me to help out even more so at the macro level.”

But López is not one to sit back and congratulate himself. He is continuing to push forward with other initiatives, including completing a doctorate program in higher education administration at USC and teaching leadership and field practicum courses.

He is also serving as an advisor to the Mexican government on issues such as business, politics, immigration, and policy as part of a council of approximately 100 individuals from North America. He views it as another way to have an influence at a higher level and inspire others in social work to pursue a similar path.

“All of these experiences are great because I use them in my teaching,” he said. “I can give my students concrete examples of what a social workers can do in a bunch of different fields.” t

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Dean inducted into social work hall of distinction

Photo/Eric Lindberg

A research team led by associate professor Shinyi Wu (center) and research assistant professor Hsin-Yi Hsiao (front left) will examine whether tablet computers can help older adults in Taiwan manage their health.

Gift will help older adults bridge the digital divide how vulnerable older adults receive care,” said Marilyn Flynn, dean of the USC School of Social Work. “We are fortunate to have such forward-thinking and caring donors who recognize the importance of this work.”

Researchers hope the project will demonstrate that older adults can embrace new ways to care for themselves in an increasingly technological era of health care.

“It’s a platform to close the digital divide and give them a tool to do better self-care,” said Wu, a researcher with the school’s Roybal Institute on Aging who will be working closely with research assistant professor Hsin-Yi Hsiao and professor Iris Chi, the Chinese-American Golden Age Association/ Frances Wu Chair for the Chinese Elderly.

Young volunteers from local high schools Provided by USC Trustee Daniel Tsai and universities in Taiwan will train approxand his wife, USC alumna Irene Chen, imately 500 older adults with diabetes how through their charitable foundation, the to use tablets to access health information funding will support the efforts of associate and connect with sources of social support professor Shinyi Wu and her research team such as friends and family. to test whether tablet computers can be an “That can lessen the burden on primary effective medium to help prevent disease, care, reinforce the educational values that decrease isolation, increase social engage- primary care providers are trying to deliver, ment, and improve general well-being and build social support for these patients,” Wu said. “This will create a more healthy among older adults with disabilities.

“This gift is incredibly valuable and will aging community.” enable innovative research that has the The project will compare outcomes for potential to address serious disparities in older adults who receive tablet training and

A $1.5 million donation from a couple with strong ties to USC will enable researchers at the USC School of Social Work to explore how technology can promote health among older adults in Taiwan.

technological support via the Intergenerational Mobile Technology Opportunities Program, or IMTOP, to a comparison group that will receive standard health care.

Researchers are hopeful that providing access to online resources and tools will help address critical issues faced by older individuals, including low awareness of serious health conditions such as diabetes, the most prevalent chronic illness in Taiwan.

Mutsu Hsu, who serves as vice president, dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, and professor of anthropology in the Department of Human Development at Tzu Chi University, said despite advances in medical care in Taiwan, many low-income aging adults have limited options in terms of community care and may not receive support from their children, who often lack the time or resources to provide intensive care to their parents.

“Some aboriginal village seniors with chronic disease struggled to deal with the disease on their own and didn’t receive the long-term care they needed,” Hsu said, describing results from a previous study. “In the end, they chose to commit suicide.”

In addition to helping older adults maintain their health, he said IMTOP may also bring a sense of security and reduce stress TAiwan | continued on page 9

The dean of the USC School of Social Work is among six individuals with distinguished and successful careers in social work who were inducted into the California Social Work Hall of Distinction during a recent ceremony that recognized their exceptional contributions to social justice and social welfare.

Joining Flynn in the new class of inductees are Marilyn Montenegro, PhD ‘81, a social worker committed to resolving issues of societal inequality, and Helen Ramirez, MSW ‘59, whose work in child welfare and adoption services have been a model for practice and outreach in minority communities.

“It’s so heartening to see so many people committed to preserving the history and dignity of the profession of social work in California,” said Rino Patti, DSW ‘67, dean emeritus of the USC School of Social Work and professor emeritus.

In accepting the honor, Flynn emphasized the need to cultivate and cherish an appreciation for the history of the social work profession in California. Although much is known about economic and political development, she said less is understood about social workers who transformed the wild society of the West into a caring community.

“I’m extremely proud to be part of a narrative that exemplifies and honors social work in the West,” she said, adding that she feels she is following in the footsteps of Frances Feldman, a social work pioneer who laid the groundwork for the Hall of Distinction. “I hope we are establishing a tradition that endures and inspires others for generations to come.”

A transformational leader who in 1997 became the second woman to serve as dean of social work at USC, Flynn created the first military social work specialization at a major civilian research university, established a groundbreaking and successful web-based master of social work degree program, and recruited a diverse and distinguished faculty specializing in

launching a career services program for social workers focused on nontraditional settings, and establishing new academic centers in San Diego and West Los Angeles.

Despite her many accomplishments, Flynn said she plans to press forward with efforts to promote social work in the West and develop new partnerships throughout the Pacific Rim. “California is the world’s eighth largest economy; we are both the prophets and the canaries in the mine for the 21st century,” she said. “I believe we will be the source of social leadership on some of the greatest challenges confronting our society today.”

Paraphrasing C.S. Lewis, she added that it is never too late to set another goal or dream a new dream. “I’ve always believed this,” she said, “so just wait, there’s more to come.”

Flynn is joined in the Hall of Distinction

by Montenegro, who has been a committed advocate for equality since her days as a graduate student at the UCLA School of Social Welfare and later as a doctoral student in urban studies at USC. Throughout her career, Montenegro has tirelessly pursued efforts to increase diversity in aca“I’m extremely proud to demia, address housing discrimination, and be part of a narrative that protect prisoners from abuse and inhuexemplifies and honors mane conditions. social work in the West. I Ramirez, another USC alumna, develhope we are establishing oped innovative programs and policies a tradition that endures in child welfare and served as a vigorous advocate for minority children and famiand inspires others for lies, establishing the first social work unit generations to come.” in the Los Angeles County Department Marilyn Flynn of Adoptions focused on placing children with developmental disabilities with adoptive families and creating a support and health, mental health, aging, and child training program for emancipated youths transitioning from foster care. maltreatment.

The Hall of Distinction also welcomed L. Marv Southard, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Georgi DiStefano, an advocate for the inteHealth, praised Flynn for her rigor, entre- gration of alcohol abuse and mental health preneurial spirit, generosity, international treatment services; Alex J. Norman, a properspective, collaborative nature, and ponent of building coalitions across racial and ethnic lines; and Fernando Torres-Gil, intense devotion to social justice.

“She’s always looking beyond the obvious a champion of issues related to aging and to new opportunities,” he said. “Marilyn has health in later life.

Established in 2002, the Hall of always been willing to share resources and time and energy and intellect to advance Distinction has honored 91 individuals who have made outstanding contribuour profession to a new level.”

Her legacy also includes significantly tions to social welfare and social work in expanding the school’s Hamovitch Center California. In particular, the organization for Science in the Human Services, Flynn | continued on page 7 Photo/Mark Berndt

It’s safe to say Marilyn Flynn is in esteemed company.

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Scholars to explore maltreatment in select neighborhoods

Amy He (left) and Megan Finno-Velasquez, both doctoral students at the USC School of Social Work, are working with assistant professor Michael Hurlburt to examine social dynamics that influence child maltreatment in specifc Southern California nieghborhoods.

understanding how both negative and positive social dynamics, such as strong family support networks, social isolation, and fear or mistrust of government, may affect child maltreatment rates in areas with high concentrations of Latino immigrants.

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USC Price School of Public Policy and the new grant, will allow the researchers to test specific hypotheses about characteristics of communities that may lead to unusual rates of maltreatment referrals and conduct exploratory research via qualitative interviews.

The research team is hopeful that results

Photo/Courtesy of Michael Hurlburt

Photo/Eric Lindberg

primary data in the community. It will also offer opportunities to other master’s and doctoral students interested in research.

“It has built-in funding for doctoral research assistants to help with a lot of the data collection and management,” Finno-Velasquez said. “It also adds a training component for master’s students to have hands-on experience in their research methods classes. They will hopefully be going out and collecting some of the surveys with us.”

She plans to ask specific questions during interviews and surveys with service providers and community members geared toward

“What might be preventing them from coming forth when they need assistance?” she said. “Do they have difficulty understanding the laws here?”

For example, He recalled a recent conversation with a colleague who works as an emergency response supervisor regarding a specific Los Angeles neighborhood with a high concentration of low-income Guatemalan immigrants.

Rates of maltreatment in that community are notoriously high, she said, and agencies are experiencing difficulty providing services due to language barriers and other issues.

“For some reason, the domestic violence in these families is really intense,” He said. “Housing is also an issue, because one person may rent out an apartment to three different families.”

Developing strategies to improve access and use of services in that type of situation is a good fit with He’s general research interests and her dissertation, which is focused on interagency collaboration among service providers. She is looking forward to interviewing providers to determine if any preventive efforts are being made across organizations.

“I’m interested in not just intervention but also primary prevention with respect to helping communities so that child maltreated is prevented from occurring in the first place and families are able to access services before they come to the attention of child welfare,” she said.

This funding, including the original support from a social innovations grant from the

Photo/Brian Goodman

Flynn | from page 5 has emphasized leaders who served as practitioners, administrators, advocates, educators, or other high-impact contributors to the profession.

The Hall of Distinction is supported by the California Social Welfare Archives, which identifies and preserves documents and memorabilia related to social welfare programs in California and gathers oral histories from professional and volunteer social welfare leaders. The archives are housed at the USC Doheny Special Collections Library and supported by the USC School of Social Work. t

How do unique neighborhood characteristics influence rates of child maltreatment?

A new study led by researchers at the USC School of Social Work will explore that question, particularly how social dynamics in immigrant enclaves and collaboration among community service providers may protect against or increase the risk of child abuse and neglect.

Previous studies have largely focused on individual and family factors that might influence maltreatment, but researchers at the USC School of Social Work are widening that perspective to examine specific geographic areas in Southern California with child maltreatment rates that are higher or lower than expected.

Although the two-year project builds on a current effort by assistant professor Michael Hurlburt to explore variations in maltreatment at the neighborhood level in San Diego County, it will essentially allow doctoral candidates Megan FinnoVelasquez and Amy He to advance their personal research interests.

“This is allowing Amy and Megan to finish their dissertations and to develop additional skills and expertise that will strengthen their transitions into faculty positions,” Hurlburt said. “This grant is designed to develop outstanding scholars who will be the next generation of professional leaders in the field.”

Finno-Velasquez will focus on how cultural and social factors related to the immigrant experience may increase or decrease instances of child abuse or neglect, whereas He is interested in exploring the role of interactions and partnerships among child welfare service providers in preventing maltreatment.

Both students said the funding, approximately $200,000 from the federal Children’s Bureau, will help them advance their dissertations, which involve analyzing secondary data from a national study, and build valuable research skills in terms of collecting

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“This grant is designed to develop outstanding scholars who will be the next generation of professional leaders in the field.”

Michael Hurlburt

During her induction to the California Social Work Hall of Distinction, Dean Marilyn Flynn emphasized the need to preserve and cherish the history of social work in California.

from this work will guide ongoing efforts to design community-level intervention strategies that can reduce local rates of maltreatment. The team is already building partnerships with agencies in San Diego, including a nonprofit organization in San Diego County that owns more than 30 affordable housing properties.

“Over time, we’re hoping that those collaborations will serve as ongoing venues for trying out ideas for prevention that come from the work we are doing,” Hurlburt said.

The researchers will also share their findings with community stakeholders during planned meetings and via the school’s Child Development and Children’s Services research cluster and Children’s Data Network.

Both doctoral candidates said the experience may give them an edge once they complete their dissertations and begin searching for faculty positions, particularly because they will have engaged in community-level research.

“This grant allows me to go out and collect data and talk to people about what is actually happening,” He said. “It’s a really great complement to my dissertation and in terms of my research agenda, it creates a much more rounded profile for me coming out of USC.” Finno-Velasquez agreed, noting that although analyzing a large dataset as part of her dissertation will be respected, she now has the opportunity to begin building relationships with service providers and stakeholders that may lead to new studies.

“It’s definitely a jump start for future research,” she said. t

Should social work become more scientific?

From the settlement houses of the late 1800s to the therapeutic treatments offered to veterans of the recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the profession has focused on providing services to the most vulnerable individuals in society.

In recent decades, however, scholars have sought to bring a decidedly more scientific approach to social work by emphasizing evidence-based interventions shown to be effective in research studies, an effort that has been embraced by some but challenged by others.

“The use of evidence-based practices has an interesting history in the field of social work,” said Lawrence Palinkas, who holds the Frances L. and Albert G. Feldman Endowed Professorship in Social Policy and Health at the USC School of Social Work. “While many have embraced the idea as a way of providing better quality services to the communities we serve, there have been a number of individuals who are critical of evidence-based practice for various reasons.”

In a recently published book, Palinkas and Haluk Soydan, professor, associate dean of research, and director of the school’s Hamovitch Center for Science in the Human Services, outlined the issues and challenges of evidence-based practice in social work.

Ensuring that social services or treatments provided to individuals don’t do more harm than good is a critical underpinning of the profession and one that benefits from more rigorous research. However, concerns about adopting a dogmatic perspective toward social work, issues related to implementing interventions as they were intended and tested, and general discomfort with the perceived rigidity of evidence-based practice has presented a major barrier to its wide acceptance.

“Clinicians may feel that not everything in a particular practice is relevant to their clients’ needs or is consistent with their

Photo/Routledge

Social work is historically and inherently based in clinical practice.

own practice philosophies,” Palinkas said.

In Evidence-based Practice in Social Work: Development of a New Professional Culture, Soydan and Palinkas sought to dispel misconceptions about evidence-based practice, identify ways for social work practitioners to become more familiar with the concept, highlight the nature of evidence supporting certain interventions, and offer strategies to integrate evidence-based practices with existing clinical approaches, practitioner expertise, and client preferences.

Designed with social work students and clinicians in mind, the book describes the relevance of evidence-based practice to social work, relevant controversies and criticisms,

“I find the book’s emphasis on the development of a new professional culture to be a unique contribution and one that sets the stage for further development. Whatever EBP comes to look like in the years ahead, it is the cultural shift that promises to make the deep and lasting difference within the professions.”

Edward Mullen

and issues related to cultural diversity and adaptation of evidence-based interventions.

“I find the book’s emphasis on the development of a new professional culture to be a unique contribution and one that sets the stage for further development,” said Edward Mullen, professor emeritus of social work at Columbia University.

“Whatever EBP comes to look like in the years ahead it is the cultural shift that promises to make the deep and lasting difference within the professions.”

Based on his own experience working with clinicians in the field during research studies, Palinkas said researchers should be more responsive to the needs of practitioners and clients to encourage the use of scientifically proven approaches.

“People who are skeptical of the value of evidence-based practices often become converts,” he said. “They still look for ways to make it more flexible than perhaps many treatment or intervention developers would like, but I think that’s an inherent part of the process.”

Adaptation is particularly common when translating practices across borders, Palinkas said, an issue he said is becoming even more critical as low- and middle-income countries with limited resources begin embracing interventions from other cultural contexts.

Despite the steep initial cost of adopting an evidence-based practice, including the need to take time away from clinical practice to train staff members, these countries will need to adjust interventions to address their own needs and abilities.

“The continual experimentation with these practices—reducing the number of sessions for cognitive behavioral therapy from 12 to four, for example—is an illustration of how translating many of these practices across national borders and with different cultures might provide opportunities for producing more effective and perhaps more cost-effective approaches to the work we do with clients,” he said.

Palinkas said the book also fits well with a recent effort undertaken by leading scholars at the USC School of Social Work and elsewhere to define a science of social work.

“I’m looking forward to seeing the reaction of practitioners and researchers to the approach to developing a professional culture that we describe in the book,” he said. t

Taiwan | from page 4 and anxiety related to not being able to contact family members or receive advice from health professionals.

Introducing older individuals to new technology is increasingly important, said Chi, who noted that more health care providers are shifting to an electronic model.

“The traditional health education channels or methods are becoming less and less available,” she said. “People don’t print booklets or information fact sheets any more. People just go online.”

Previous efforts to teach older adults how to use technology have been stymied by problems such as difficulty learning how to use a computer mouse, poor hand–eye coordination, or concerns about damaging or moving bulky equipment.

Tablets may present a solution to these issues, Chi said, because they are easier to carry and handle and allow users to easily enlarge font sizes or images. She described a pilot project at a retirement community in Los Angeles that compared the ease of using laptop computers versus tablets among older adults.

“We already see a huge difference,” she said.

“It is more difficult for seniors to grasp everything we teach them on the laptops. With the tablets, it seems like it’s much easier to handle and just more user-friendly.”

A key aspect of the IMTOP project is its reliance on younger individuals from high schools and universities as trainers for older adults in the use of a tablet computer, including how to access Internet resources, use applications, and navigate the device’s basic functions.

Chun-Jen Huang, a professor at Tzu Chi University and director of the Departments of Anesthesiology and Medical Education at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital, said he is hopeful the project will promote intergenerational understanding and concern.

“Many younger people do not pay much attention to disease management and health prevention programs because they are young and healthy,” he said. “This project promotes the younger generation’s health awareness and knowledge. It will help to bridge some of the gaps that lead to intergenerational conflicts.”

The intergenerational focus of the project is one aspect that drew the attention of Tsai and Chen. Tsai, who joined the USC Board of Trustees in 2012, is the chairman of Fubon Financial, a large financial services

group in Taiwan that supports social service, cultural, and educational programs through four charitable foundations.

As executive director of the Fubon Cultural & Educational Foundation, Chen has focused her attention on adolescent education, whereas a separate nonprofit organization, the Taipei Fubon Bank Charity Foundation, seeks to address issues related to aging. Bridging those two separate interests intrigued Chen, who said she is excited to see whether tablets can facilitate socialization among generations and improve care for older adults.

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a doctoral student at the USC School of Social Work, and Tsai and Chen, who were on campus to attend orientation with their daughter, who joined two of her siblings in attending USC. Hsiao, a native of Taiwan, recognized the couple and struck up a conversation. When they learned she was studying social work, Hsiao said they encouraged her to come to them with any future research proposals.

Seven years later, Hsiao emailed Chen and pitched an idea about a caregiving training program for older adults with disabilities that ultimately evolved into the IMTOP model.

A $1.5 million donation from USC Trustee Daniel Tsai and his wife, Irene Chen, will help researchers explore the use of tablet computers to promote health among older adults in Taiwan.

“The innovative model has a positive impact on both generations,” she said. “For older people, tablets will be used as a medium for self-care and disease prevention. For young people, the experience of tutoring older adults to use tablets will empower them.”

Hsui-Hsuing Bai, chairman of the Taipei Fubon Bank Charity Foundation, agreed, stating that the technology will help older adults with disabilities engage with others in the community and reduce cognitive decline while encouraging younger generations to get involved in caring for their elders.

“The youth will learn about the very important value of respect for the elderly and empathy for the underprivileged community,” he said. “In addition, by mastering these modern technological devices, participants’ social isolation will decline and their social engagement will be enhanced.”

The IMTOP project has its origins in an unlikely encounter between Hsiao, then

Photo/Courtesy of the Tsai family

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“When I learned that this project with a potential impact on Taiwan’s society was initiated by researchers in the School of Social Work at USC, as a Trojan family member I felt obligated to get involved,” Chen said.

The gift significantly boosts the Campaign for the University of Southern California, a multiyear effort to raise $6 billion or more in private philanthropic funding to advance USC’s academic priorities and expand its positive impact on the community and world. Three years after its launch, the campaign has raised more than $3.5 billion.

Chen said she is hopeful the model can be translated to other older populations in other countries, a goal echoed by the researchers.

“If this model is successful, we hope to disseminate it through other organizations in Taiwan,” Wu said. “We want to apply for government funding in the United States to test the model as well, and we may be able to do cross-national comparisons.” t

“It’s not only the quantity but the quality of the proposals. You can send proposals in but you can’t get them funded unless you are very aware of the dynamics of the review process. You really have to have your finger on the pulse of what NIH and NSF are doing.”

Charles Kaplan to fund. Adding to the complexity of the process is the varying set of guidelines for different types of proposals.

Some focus on the significance and innovation of the research, the rigor of the methods and analysis plan, and the scientific environment in which the project will occur.

Others are focused on early career development and may emphasize training opportunities for less experienced researchers.

“If I had to describe my mindset when I approach review of any given application, it would be objectivity,” Wenzel said.

“Fairness. Openmindedness. Impartiality must be a hallmark of review. Without that, the process is doomed.”

The commitment required to be a federal grant reviewer is staggering. John Brekke, the Frances G. Larson Professor of Social Work Research, has been consistently involved as a scientific reviewer at the federal level since 1989, serving as a standing member of

a mental health services and epidemiology review committee at the National Institute of Mental Health for six years and as an ad hoc reviewer on many occasions.

Although each round of review involves at least two weeks of intensive work prior to gathering with other committee members to discuss the proposals, Brekke said he never questioned whether he should dedicate his time to the process.

“It really is a notable time commitment, but it’s just something that people who are in the research community and take the research and scientific world seriously know is something we have to do,” he said.

“It’s all about shaping a scientific agenda, and that’s a wonderful thing to be a part of.”

He also noted that the position is considered to be very prestigious. Only individuals who have exemplary records of scientific exploration and productivity are invited to serve as reviewers, Brekke said.

He is thankful for several senior mentors who offered guidance during the early years of his career, and he has since created a template for others to follow in terms of building a successful grant application.

“I think it’s absolutely perilous for someone to attempt an NIH proposal without mentoring from someone who has gone through the process,” Brekke said.

“That can mean the difference between funding and no funding.”

By capitalizing on the strength and knowledge of experienced researchers, he said the USC School of Social Work is setting up its junior faculty members for success. It’s also helping senior researchers maintain their edge in an increasingly competitive funding environment and adapt to new funding streams.

Brekke recently applied for and received a $1.2 million award from the newly established Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, a nonprofit organization created by Congress through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. He said advice and guidance from colleagues who had submitted successful proposals to the institute in earlier rounds of funding was critical to his success.

“I’ve had good success following a really disciplined approach,” he said. “You can tell the proposals that have done this and those that haven’t. It’s immediately obvious, just in reading the abstract, who has had some mentoring and who has not.”

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As a doctoral and postdoctoral student at the USC School of Social Work, Mercedes Hernandez (left) drew on the expertise of associate professor Concepción Barrio when applying for a dissertation grant from the National Institute of Mental Health.

Barrio has extensive experience as a reviewer for the institute and other federal agencies.

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said the experience has given him a better sense of how to craft his own proposals and he is sharing that knowledge with postdoctoral scholars and colleagues.

However, Rice acknowledges that he still has plenty to learn. He turned to Brekke for advice on how to leverage data from a pilot study into a larger project on social networks among young men and women experiencing homelessness. Wenzel, who also specializes in homelessness issues, helped him refine his application, and he successfully secured a $2 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health.

“I completely attribute my early career successes to having been in an environment with people like Concha and Suzanne and John who were willing to help me,” Rice said. “The resources are there, you just have to reach out and ask for that help.”

Another early career researcher who is benefiting from the school’s focus on internal review and mentoring related to grant proposals is Mercedes Hernandez, a postdoctoral scholar who recently completed the school’s doctoral program.

She worked closely with Barrio as a PhD student and received valuable feedback on an application for funding from the National Institute of Mental Health to support her dissertation. Barrio served Another strong believer in the power applied for and received a K award on her for four years as a reviewer for the institute of mentoring and peer review of pro- first submission and had been reviewing and has since been invited to participate in posals prior to submission is Eric Rice, an grant proposals related to mental health ad hoc reviews for various federal agencies. assistant professor at the USC School of services, was more than happy to provide “She was just amazing in helping me to Social Work. As an early career researcher feedback on Rice’s application. navigate the whole application process, at UCLA, he wanted to pursue a specific “No hyperbole, I got that grant because which can be a little overwhelming and NIH funding mechanism designed for of Concha,” Rice said. “Knowing what one confusing for someone who is not familiar career development known as a K award. of these things should look like and how it with it,” Hernandez said. “When I was Because none of his close colleagues had should read and having someone who has trying to develop ideas for my dissertation, experience with that award, his mentor sat on those review committees is invalu- she read my drafts from the beginning, she referred him to a friend on a federal review able. It’s an inside bit of knowledge you directed me in terms of what I needed to include, and she directed me to the NIMH committee, Concepción “Concha” Barrio, wouldn’t otherwise have.” website and informed me of what its prinow an associate professor at the USC He has since served as an ad hoc reviewer, orities are and how my work related to that.”

School of Social Work. called in by federal officials because of his Barrio, who several years prior had expertise in social network research. He Grants | continued on page 12 Photo/Eric Lindberg

Reviewers | from page 1 Each of the school’s research clusters— which bring together faculty, student, and postdoctoral scholars with similar research interests to stimulate intellectual productivity—has at least one faculty member with extensive experience reviewing federal grant proposals. That knowledge appears to be paying off.

Three recent proposals earned perfect scores during the review process, a relatively rare occurrence in federal funding circles.

However, Kaplan said he would like to see more leadership among faculty members with review experience in terms of mentoring younger or less experienced researchers.

“We definitely have lots of room for improvement,” he said.

The most effective way to gain knowledge of the review process, at least at the NIH, is to be invited to join a study section at the federal Center for Scientific Review. Members of these study sections or peer review groups typically serve for four years and meet three times a year to review proposals that correspond with their area of expertise.

Due to her extensive research in the area, Wenzel has primarily assessed applications for funding that focus on HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment and behavioral health issues. During a typical review period, she is assigned as the primary reviewer of a handful of proposals.

“Your role as a reviewer is to review the applications carefully, present your point of view to the study section, listen to the other reviewers, and as a group evaluate the applications in terms of their overall impact on the field and beyond,” she said. “It is important that you address whether the application is answering an important question within an area of science and how the aims, if successful, will move the field forward.”

Before meeting with other reviewers, however, Wenzel meticulously reads each proposal, including sections on the research and data analysis strategy, procedures for protecting participants, the budget, and biographical information for the research team.

She then drafts a written review and assigns a preliminary score to proposals that warrant further discussion at the group level. After she presents the application to the study section, other reviewers weigh in and vote on a final score.

Recommendations are then forwarded on to a separate advisory council, which helps the federal agency decide which proposals

Photo/Brian Goodman

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Hamovitch Center | 1149 South Hill Street, Suite 360 | Los Angeles, CA 90015 USC School of Social Work | Montgomery Ross Fisher Building | 669 West 34th Street | Los Angeles, CA 90089 213.821.3628 | hrc@usc.edu | usc.edu/socialwork/research

Photo/Courtesy of Hortensia Amaro

Grants | from page 11 Barrio helped her set up a mock review with experts in serious mental illness and put together other required information beyond her research plan such as her project budget and biosketch. Hernandez received the dissertation grant, which allowed her to provide incentives to participants in her study and hire a professional to transcribe interview data.

As a postdoctoral scholar, Hernandez is helping Barrio with various grant applications and research projects, developing academic manuscripts, and applying for her own funding.

“Now that I’m a little more familiar with the process, I think I’m able to contribute more,” she said. “Having the NIH experience is the model for other types of grants, and being involved in these projects is furthering my awareness of what’s available in terms of funding. She’s just a wonderful mentor and has treated me as an equal in terms of sharing her resources and knowledge.”

Building that understanding of the grant review process is critical for early career success, Barrio said, especially in the profession of social work. When she first served as an NIH standing committee member in 2006, she was one of only two reviewers at San Diego State University. Most of her fellow committee members were medical doctors, psychologists, and nurses, with a handful of economists and anthropologists.

“I think what made me stand out is I’m a

“I think it’s absolutely perilous for someone to attempt an NIH proposal without mentoring from someone who has gone through the process. That can mean the difference between funding and no funding.”

John Brekke

Hortensia Amaro, Dean’s Professor and associate vice provost of community research initiatives, has been selected as the recipient of the 2014 Elizabeth Hurlock Beckman Award. This award honors teachers who have inspired former students to make a significant contribution to society and is given to a faculty member who has motivated students to establish and sustain a concept, procedure, or movement of deep benefit to the community at large.

Latina with a lot of practice experience, a social worker, and my area of focus on serious mental illness and psychosis among Latinos and multicultural populations,” she said.

Barrio said her experience as a reviewer has improved her grant-writing skills and continues to afford her a sneak preview of federal funding priorities. Before each review session, she said officials provide an overview of the government’s focus for that particular period.

She also feels that being a reviewer has given her a boost of self-confidence, especially when she comes across grant proposals submitted by people whose work she studied and are recognized as top scholars in the field. However, Barrio noted that although gaining this knowledge has benefited her career, the ultimate goal of embracing the role of reviewer is to improve the quality of life and well-being of vulnerable individuals.

“We are invested in this process to improve the rigor of our research and ultimately benefit our community,” she said. t

The top medical sociology journal in the United States, the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, has selected Karen Lincoln as a member of its editorial board. The journal nominates board members based on their scholarly expertise and candidates are approved by the American Sociological Association. Lincoln, who will serve as associate editor for the journal, is an associate professor with the USC School of Social Work and director of the USC Hartford Center of Excellence in Geriatric Social Work.

Photo/Courtesy of Weiyu Mao

Helen Land, an associate professor, has received the Distinguished Alumni Award for Outstanding Contributions to Social Work Education from the University of Pittsburgh School After an elaborate and comprehensive evaluation of his schol- of Social Work. The honor recognizes achievement in teaching, arly and academic experience and achievements, assistant pro- dissemination of knowledge, and scholarship with diverse popufessor Erick Guerrero has been awarded National Investigator lations, in addition to other contributions to the field of social Level 1 status by the National Science Foundation of Mexico. work education.

The honor indicates that a researcher is part of a select cadre of scientists engaged in conducting influential research, guiding Doctoral candidate Weiyu Mao has been students, and disseminating research findings in scientific and elected to the student representative board community settings. position of the Association for Gerontology Education in Social Work. Mao specializes Professor Suzanne Wenzel was invited to Harvard University in social relationships and health-related outto serve as one of four nationally selected scholars for an inaugural comes in later life, family caregiving, crossconvening of programs that serve unaccompanied and homeless cultural research, and vulnerable populations women. The convening addressed research, policy, practice, and and racial and ethnic minorities. In her role resources. Wenzel specializes in research on the health-related on the board, she hopes to support gerontoneeds of vulnerable populations, particularly individuals experi- logical social work education and help colencing homelessness in urban communities. leagues and students interested in aging.