The 3DL Partnership is a joint initiative of the School of Social Work and the College of Education. Our mission is to raise the profile and practice of Three-Dimensional Learning—social, emotional and intellectual—helping educators and youth organizations prepare young people for success in school, work and life. In fulfilling our mission, we:
For more information, contact Todd Herrenkohl at 206-221-7873.
The overarching goal of all studies within the Behavioral Medicine Research Group is to improve the lives of children and adults through research designed to explore the etiology and mechanisms of adverse health conditions, and to develop interventions designed to prevent or mitigate the impact of these conditions. For questions, contact BMRG, 206-616-2358
The Center for Women's Welfare is devoted to furthering the goal of economic justice for women and their families. Partnering with a range of governmental, non-profit, women's, children's, and community-based organizations, the Center researches questions involving poverty measures, public policies and programs that address income adequacy.
The Center's core activities revolve around researching and creating the Self-Sufficiency Standard, an alternative measure of income adequacy that measures how much income is needed for a family of a given composition in a given place to adequately meet its basic needs without public or private assistance. County by county reports, which calculate the self-sufficiency requirements for 70 different family types, have been created for 37 states as of January 2012. Advocates, employers, policymakers, and service providers, have used the Standard as a tool for targeting higher wage jobs, employment and training programs, improving career counseling services, and creating public policies designed to help families reach self-sufficiency.
Examples of other Center projects include the development of on-line budget calculators that help workforce development counselors and clients make informed decisions about job training, potential wages and eligibility for work supports and subsidies, and "Above and Below" studies that count the number of individuals falling above and below the Standard, as well as their characteristics, such as race, age of children, occupation, marital status and gender.
For questions, please contact Dr. Diana Pearce, Principal Investigator, (206) 616-2850, pearce@uw.edu
For more information, visit www.selfsufficiencystandard.org.
The Collaborative Health and Prevention Group conducts basic and intervention research related to sexual health and the promotion of sexual safety among children, teens, and young adults, often employing a mixed methods approach. Past research projects have included longitudinal research on development of children’s and teens’ attitudes toward health and risky behaviors; development and testing of interventions to increase sexual safety for teens; and interventions for Vietnamese immigrant families. CHAP recently completed the QVoices study, a mixed methods study of service needs of LGBTQ teens funded by NIMH. The group’s current study, funded by NICHD, is Guys’ Turn, which explores young men’s expectations and norms for courtship and sexual behavior. The group has had a major impact in building theoretical models often used in research on sexual behavior, and furthers the empirically derived knowledge about under- and sometimes difficult-to-recruit populations through use of cutting edge methodologies.
For questions, please contact Elizabeth Wells, bwells@uw.edu
The Council on Social Work Education National Center for Gerontological Social Work Education, funded for eight years by the John A. Hartford Foundation, aims to prepare all social work students nationally with foundation competencies to work effectively with older adults and their families. The rationale is that workforce data consistently show that the majority of social workers interact with older adults, regardless of practice setting, but lack the preparation to do so. Four domains are oriented toward this goal: educational policy and accreditation, programmatic and curricular change, e-learning and foundation textbook infusion projects, and resource development for sustainability. We encourage students to visit the Gero-Ed Center website, www.Gero-EdCenter.org, for excellent resources on gerontological readings, exercises, videos/DVDs, assignments, lecture notes, e-learning, website links, and “best practices” from other social work programs across the country. Gerontology Practicum Partnership Scholarships are available to second-year MSW students in academic year 2008-2009, the final year of Hartford funding for this unique rotational model of field education. Watch the gerontological bulletin board in the School located near the student lounge for other resources. Contact Nancy Hooyman, Nancy R. Hooyman Endowed Gerontology Professor, hooy@uw.edu, for additional information.
Karina Walters (Choctaw), Director
William P. and Ruth Gerberding University Professor
Polly Olsen (Yakama), Community Relations and Development
206-616-8731
polly@uw.edu
The Indigenous Wellness Research Institute (IWRI) is a University-wide, interdisciplinary institute whose vision is to support the inherent rights of Indigenous people to achieve full and complete health and wellness by collaborating in decolonizing research and knowledge building and sharing. In order to achieve this vision, the mission of IWRI is to marshal community, tribal, academic, and governmental resources toward innovative, culture-centered, interdisciplinary, collaborative social and behavioral research and education. IWRI collaborates with Indigenous people in three areas—research, tribal capacity building, and knowledge sharing.
IWRI supports regional Indigenous communities by partnering with tribal organizations to develop research that is community-driven and responsive to needs defined by those communities. These research partnerships create unique opportunities to build tribal research capacity and technology as well as create pipeline initiatives for Indigenous youth to develop their science and research skills in the area of health disparities.
IWRI’s infrastructure is supported by a faculty and staff comprised primarily of American Indians and Alaska Natives. IWRI's two major research centers are supported by five institutional cores; community relations and development, administration, communications and media, research policy and methods, and research translation and dissemination.
IWRI’s two major research centers are:
Current Projects
IWRI supports students from a variety of disciplines through academic mentorships and financial, social, and cultural support. IWRI Faculty and staff mentor undergraduate and graduate Native students across UW through research placements, practicums, and fellowship support. IWRI hosts student luncheons, speaker series and distributes a newslet¬ter. IWRI is also raising funds for a doctoral-level research scholarship, The Ingrid Washinawatok El-Issa Eagle Flying Woman Fund, for studies related to Indigenous environmental environmental health and sovereignty.
For more information visit www.iwri.org or call 206-616-8731.
An interdisciplinary applied research entity, the Innovative Programs Research Group conducts studies designed to achieve a greater knowledge of the characteristics and needs of underserved populations and assess the effectiveness of innovative means for reducing barriers to the delivery of effective social and mental health services.
Current research efforts include
For more information visit http://depts.washington.edu/iprg or call 206-543-7511
The Intergroup Dialogue, Education, and Action (IDEA) Center at the University of Washington School of Social Work integrates the practice and pedagogy of intergroup dialogue into social work practitioner education. The center serves as a resource for other campus and community efforts geared toward addressing inequalities, fostering empowerment, and building alliances for social justice.
The IDEA Center is guided by its deep commitment to building alliances across differences for personal and social change. It advances the following principles:
Intergroup dialogue, a viable and transformative means of engaging across differences, especially when these differences are marked by culture, identity, and power. Our ways of communicating and relating often replicate the same oppressive dynamics that are both the content of our deliberations and the targets of change. Dialogue offers a communicative action to bridge social divides.
Education, signifying our commitment to the learning and unlearning processes required to confront oppression and injustices. Learning new information and skills, as well as unlearning socialized and prejudiced ways of being in the world, helps expand participants’ capacity for critical consciousness about the impact of multiple levels of inequalities and privilege in their lives, and agency to impact upon those forces.
Action, referring to our belief that deep engagement in the intergroup dialogue and education processes can motivate and build participants’ capacity for becoming change agents. For social work practitioners, this means developing knowledge, values, passion, commitment, and skills to work in diverse settings and promote greater social justice.
IDEA's Activities
In 2006, the IDEA Center received the prestigious University of Washington Brotman Award for Instructional Excellence for outstanding collaborative achievements in teaching and fostering excellent learning. The IDEA Center is directed by Associate Professor Biren “Ratnesh” Nagda. See IDEA website for more information.
The University of Washington School of Social Work is playing a major role in an innovative public-private partnership committed to working towards positive change for children who are involved in the child welfare system or at risk of being involved. Founded in 2007, Partners for our Children (POC) is a unique collaboration between the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS), the University of Washington School Of Social Work and the private sector.
The UW School of Social Work brings to this partnership its world-class expertise, its ability to educate the next generation of child-welfare professionals, and an infrastructure to support this ambitious endeavor. The School hopes the partnership will make a large and direct difference in the lives of children under state care.
DSHS brings the experience of the public institution charged with primary responsibility for children in out-of home care. The state is also in a position to act quickly to implement promising and evidence-based policies, programs, and practices identified through the work of Partners for Our Children.
Funding provided by private donors strengthens the partnership’s independence to pursue cutting-edge projects. The donor community can also provide social capital and momentum to open important doors to maximize the likelihood that successful projects will lead to changes in both policy and practice.
Benjamin de Haan, PhD., leads POC as Executive Director.
For more information, visit www.partnersforourchildren.org.
Promoting Mental Health through Advances in Social Welfare
The University of Washington School of Social Work's Prevention Research Training Program (funded by the National Institute of Mental Health) supports social welfare doctoral students focused on research promoting mental health resilience and prevention of mental health problems and disorders. Continuously funded since 1998, ours is among a very few doctoral programs in social work that have been awarded this type of training resource. Participating students undertake courses focused on prevention and mental health, closely mentored research internships with experienced faculty, and a year-long seminar with students spanning phases in their doctoral training to foster a sense of community among student colleagues.
The Training Program draws upon the expertise and active research of the School of Social Work’s faculty as well as experienced senior researchers in allied disciplines, such as Nursing, Psychiatry, Psychology, and Public Health. It thus serves as one nexus in the School’s research and research training priorities wherein students interested in varying populations, forces of inequality, problems in living, and policy and practice interests come together under a common set of commitments to mental health and to the use of prevention, translational, and health promotion research methods and principles. Participating students have exceptional opportunities to engage with local and visiting senior scholars and access to specialized training developed with program priorities in mind.
Graduates of this program are now active scholars in mental health promotion research in major universities and research settings throughout the nation. Funded traineeships are available to six social welfare doctoral students a year. Course and workshop offerings are open to all social welfare students as well as those from allied disciplines interested in mental health and prevention research, thus creating dynamic interdisciplinary learning environments.
For more information, contact Kath Wilham, Assistant Director, 206 685-1680; kwilham@uw.edu or Paula Nurius, Director, 206 685-1682; nurius@uw.edu.
For nearly 30 years the Social Development Research Group (SDRG), has sought to understand and promote healthy behaviors and positive social development among diverse populations. Founded by Drs. J. David Hawkins and Richard Catalano, this nationally recognized organization consists of researchers from many disciplines who work together to:
SDRG is currently conducting 15 different investigations. Representative projects:
SDRG’s Survey Research Division (SRD) is dedicated to providing high-quality survey research services to the academic community, including developing budgets and survey plans for grant applications; subject recruitment, locating, and tracking; survey administration; data scanning and entry; data cleaning; and programming computer-based surveys and database tracking tools. The SRD's state-of-the-art survey technology offers researchers a variety of survey modes (web, telephone, in-person, and mail) that can be used alone or in combination to collect high-quality survey data while minimizing survey costs.
From proposal development to providing a final dataset, the SRD provides collaborative and professional data collection support. The SRD has collaborated with other UW researchers in the schools of Social Work, Public Health, Nursing, Medicine, and Information, as well as other universities, research organizations, nonprofits, and government-sponsored community organizations such as Harvard, MIT, Oregon Health and Science University, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, Portland State University, Public Health – Seattle & King County, and the University of Oregon. Visit our website (http://www.sdrg.org/srd/) to learn more.
For more information about the Social Development Research Group or their research, visit www.sdrg.org.
The West Coast Poverty Center facilitates nationally significant, locally relevant social policy research by connecting scholars, policymakers and practitioners; magnifying the reach of new knowledge; and fostering the next generation of anti-poverty scholars. Students are welcome at the Center’s seminar series, which features presentations and conversations with policy and poverty researchers; graduate students may receive credit for attending seminars and completing a complementary assignment.
For more information visit wcpc.washington.edu
