Two Social Work faculty receive University research awards
School of Social Work faculty members Jessica Toft and Jeffrey Waid have been awarded Grant-in-Aid of Research, Artistry and Scholarship (GIA) awards by the Office of the Vice President for Research. The awards promote faculty research, and scholarly and artistic activities as well as academic excellence throughout the University.
Below, Toft and Waid share a snapshot of their accepted research proposals, including ways the social work community can engage with this exciting work!
“The Effects of Neoliberal Managerialism on Social Worker Professional Discretion
in Minnesota”
Toft’s project studies the effects of neoliberal managerialism—or simply “managerialism”—on social workers and social work practice across the state of Minnesota.
In public forum settings, practicing social workers have expressed concern about workload and caseload issues, staff turnover, pay and general working conditions, practice quality, and negative impacts on clients. This survey is first of its kind to assess the effects of managerialism throughout an entire state, yielding important information that could address what is perceived widely as the declining professional authority and work-life quality of social workers.
If you are a licensed social worker, please keep an eye out for the survey coming this fall!
Read more about Toft’s work relating to this research in the following articles:
Toft, J. (2020). Words of common cause: Social work’s historical democratic discourse. Social Service Review, 94(1), 75-128.
Toft, J. (2020). History matters: Racialized motherhoods and neoliberalism. Social Work, [published online 7-17-20].
“Development and feasibility of a family navigation prevention service:
A proof of concept study”
Waid’s study will evaluate a novel family navigation prevention service that is designed to increase access to health and social services for Minnesota’s underserved children and families.
Thirty caregivers of children under age 18 will be recruited to receive a 12-week, telephone-based intervention focused on (1) comprehensive assessment and identification of personalized community-based health and social services, and (2) assistance resolving barriers to service access and navigating to needed services.
The goal of the intervention is to support early access and engagement with preventive health and social care before non-voluntary interventions (e.g., child welfare, juvenile justice, psychiatric hospitalizations, school expulsions) are indicated. Evaluation results will be used to enhance the navigation model and refine the study protocol for a statewide pilot randomized trial.
If you are interested in learning more about the project or would like to partner with the study team to strengthen access to preventive health and social services in your community, please contact the Minnesota Family Navigation Project by phone or email at (877) 437-4457 or familysupport@umn.edu.
Read more about Waid’s work relating to this research via the following open-access paper:
Waid, J., & Kelly, M. (2020). Supporting family engagement with child and adolescent mental health services: A scoping review. Health and Social Care in the Community, 1-10.