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News Archive

Research

  • Marleen Wong, assistant dean and clinical professor of field education at the USC School of Social Work, has been appointed to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Advisory Council for three years, beginning Aug. 1.

  • John Brekke, the Frances G. Larson Professor of Social Work Research, has been named a fellow of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare, the first national society honoring excellence in the research and practice of social work.


  • While homeless men are very aware of the risk of unprotected sex, they are not very educated on how to protect themselves from sexually transmitted diseases, a USC study found.

    Researchers interviewed dozens of men on Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles to understand how they viewed the risks of sexual encounters with women.

    While more than half of the respondents had been tested for HIV, most held medically inaccurate beliefs they used to judge their partner's chances of having a sexually transmitted disease.

  • USC Professor of Social Work Dorian Traube builds upon current studies that show young men who have sex with men are more likely to participate in dangerous behavior, such as drug use and unprotected sex.

    In a new study, published this month in the Psychology of Addictive Behavior, Traube looks at the building blocks of why young gay men are more prone to drug and alcohol use.

    "The underlying factor here, adolescence when you have the bulk of development, is normally an incredibly vulnerable time," said Traube, the lead author.

  • Hoping to address a critical health gap among the youth of the United States, Julie Cederbaum, assistant professor at the USC School of Social Work, is participating in two new studies on the disproportionate effect of HIV/AIDS and substance use on young African-American men and adolescents.

  • Six months after helping launch a new clearinghouse for evidence-based practices in China, the USC School of Social Work hosted the project's director to further strengthen ties between the university and its Chinese partners.

    You-ping Li, who heads the Chinese Clearinghouse for Evidence-Based Practice and Policy, spent a week at USC in April as a Provost's Distinguished Visitor, meeting with students, faculty, and administrators to describe her latest efforts to improve social and health services throughout mainland China.

  • Social Security is a critical income source for elderly and disabled Latinos because of their socioeconomic condition, higher rates of disability and longer life expectancy, according to a report published by the USC Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging at the USC School of Social Work.

  • Associate Professor Maryalice Jordan-Marsh was presented the 2011 Distinguished Achievement Award from the Nurses' Alumni Association of the University of Wisconsin at Madison. The honor recognizes an alumnus for making nursing a more visible profession through scholarship, education or practice.

  • Judith Feder, one of the nation's foremost experts on the U.S. health insurance system, discussed the Affordable Care Act and Medicare on April 14 at the Ronald Tutor Campus Center as part of the 2011 USC Schaeffer Center seminar series.

  • Each year more than 25,000 youth age out of the American foster care system to face uncertain futures as young adults. A quarter of them will experience homelessness, and as many as 50 percent will not finish high school. Four years after leaving care, less than half will be employed, and their earnings will remain well below the poverty line. And, they will face higher rates of mental health disorders, early pregnancy and parenthood, and incarceration.

    But these young people have an advocate in Wendy Smith, who is determined to improve their lives.