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News Archive

Research

  • A lack of understanding about what constitutes emotional abuse often causes the problem to go unidentified in children referred to child protective agencies, USC researchers have found. And because of this, children are not getting the help they need for the abuse that is likely endangering their mental health and well-being.

  • Maria Aranda, associate professor in the USC School of Social Work, was awarded a $452,442 grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to examine the implementation of structured psychotherapy and supportive depression care management in adult health care (ADHC), the first known study of its kind.

  • Kathy Ell, the Ernest P. Larson Professor of Health, Ethnicity, and Poverty at the USC School of Social Work, is part of a team that has received a $573,514 grant from the American Diabetes Association to help Latinos with diabetes transition safely from hospitals into community settings. Ell, a co-principal investigator, will assist Susan Enguidanos, PhD '04, an assistant professor in the USC Davis School of Gerontology and the study's principal investigator.

  • The USC School of Social Work has acquired three academic journals, expanding its potential impact to shape the field and the research being published in these areas.

    The journals – Social Development Issues, Home Health Care Quarterly and Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health – are now housed at the school's Hamovitch Center for Science in the Human Services.

  • Assistant Professor Dorian Traube has received a two-year $200,000 grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to help develop HIV interventions.

  • For more than 25 years, Kathy Ell has conducted extensive research on cancer screening, major depression, general psychological distress, quality of life and morbidity, and mortality associated with life-threatening and chronic illness. She has led ground-breaking clinical studies on cancer screening, timeliness in getting to the hospital for acute cardiac symptoms and depression care among low-income racial and ethnic minorities. And, she was appointed the first executive director of the National Institute for the Advancement of Social Work Research.

  • The USC School of Social Work and the Child and Adolescent Services Research Center (CASRC) at Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego, which specializes in longitudinal studies of children at risk for developing mental disorders, have announced a partnership to create a synergy of resources to help advance the field of child mental health and child welfare.

  • The USC School of Social Work has named Lawrence A. Palinkas and Ron Avi Astor to two endowed professorships. Both were honored at an installation dinner on Nov. 6 at the USC Davidson Conference Center.

    Marilyn Flynn, dean of the School of Social Work, congratulated Palinkas and Astor and noted their significant career accomplishments and the importance of the endowments.

    "Endowed professors are heralded," Flynn said. "Their ideas hold a special weight and are deeply respected."

  • Professor Iris Chi of the USC School of Social Work is the recipient of a USC Undergraduate Research Award and two faculty research grants from the USC U.S.-China Institute, totaling $26,500.

    Chi, an expert in elderly health and gerontology, will use the $10,000 undergraduate research grant to mentor three students, who will assist her in researching the interaction between Chinese immigrant grandparents and their teenage grandchildren. Chi said many of the immigrant grandparents come at the request of their children, who need help taking care of their families.

  • In Japan there were decapitations. Hangings in Norway. Group stabbings in Israel. Some say the problems are worse in Italy.

    School violence isn't confined to the United States. But until recently there was little communication across borders between researchers, even though some countries like England, Norway and New Zealand have been effectively dealing with violence in schools for decades.