News Archive
Research
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William Vega, provost professor and executive director of the Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging at the USC School of Social Work, has been recognized with two honors for his decades-long career as one of the nation’s leading experts on health disparities affecting aging ethnic minority populations.
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Hortensia Amaro, dean's professor of social work and preventive medicine and USC associate vice provost of community research initiatives, has been invited to serve on the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) Committee on the Assessment of Resiliency and Prevention Programs for Mental and Behavioral Health in Service Members and Their Families.
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Not only do individuals with serious mental illness die an average of 25 years earlier than the general population, but those deaths are also often attributed to preventable medical conditions.
Improving how those individuals interact with the complex and often uncoordinated health care system is a key component of a new intervention being tested by John Brekke, the Frances G. Larson Professor of Social Work Research at the USC School of Social Work.
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The USC School of Social Work has kick-started a national Grand Challenges initiative to identify and highlight the most serious societal ills that social work can – and should – address.
Major challenges exist: fragmented systems of health and mental health care, problems of social stigma and oppression, a need to reform the child welfare and foster care sector. Where the social fabric is fraying or worn, social work researchers and practitioners are striving to address issues that plague society.
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One of the most impactful global immersion programs the USC School of Social Work holds is in India, where a group of Master of Social Work students and faculty traveled over the summer to visit, observe and participate in community development projects in Mumbai, Pune and Jawhar. They saw first-hand how extreme poverty forced many people to live in slums and dig through mountains of trash to find recyclables to exchange for money. They also witnessed how a social worker with a background in business started a micro-finance nonprofit organization to empower women.
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Mike Baker sits on a therapist’s couch—in blue jeans and a buttoned-down shirt, nervously clutching his hands.
Baker was deployed to Afghanistan with the National Guard a year ago and is now having trouble at home. His wife made him get help, but talking is the last thing on Baker’s mind.
“I know this is your job to ask me a bunch of questions, but let me ask you something,” he said. “Did you ever serve?”
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Major depression coupled with other chronic health problems, such as heart disease or diabetes, can place a severe burden on low-income, culturally diverse individuals who are less comfortable interacting with doctors and navigating complex health care systems.
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Controversy over the legitimacy of removing children from their home because of excessive weight has ensued since the Cuyahoga County Department of Family Services removed an 8-year-old, 200-lb. Ohio boy from his mother’s care in 2011, citing medical neglect as the cause. Case workers noted that the mother failed to control the third-grader’s health, putting him at high risk for severe medical conditions in the future, according to a Time magazine article.
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David Rochman was a teacher at William Jefferson Clinton Middle School near the University Park Campus when he first enrolled in graduate classes at USC three years ago to study education. He valued the rewarding opportunity to help impact the lives of children as an educator, but he thought he could do more outside the classroom.
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Apps on our phones and tablets are meant to make life easier and point us to the services and providers who can meet our needs. There’s no reason why such innovation can’t also simplify and improve the stressful process that military children and their parents face every time they enroll in a new school.