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This exploratory study examined the impact of Heroes Circle, a martial arts-based curriculum on stress, emotional, and behavioral problems in elementary school children. While students completed classroom surveys at baseline, post-curriculum surveys were collected from teachers, students, and parents/guardians 2 and 5 months after COVID-19-related school shutdowns. Satisfaction with the curriculum was high among those who received the intervention. Children reported increased mindfulness and decreased stress over the school year. Most children (77%) were still using the program's techniques and reporting benefits 5 months later, including lower internalizing symptoms and COVID-19-related fears. These patterns were not observed at the control school.

Purpose: This study explored the scholarship experiences of top-ranked African American faculty in schools of social work. Method: Qualitative interviews were conducted with N = 10 top-ranked African American faculty identified as achieving considerable productivity and impact of scholarship. Findings: Four major themes were identified, each of which had 2-3 subcategories. These included (1) mentorship, (2) collaboration, (3) time, and (4) strategic planning. The data revealed that of these identified themes, mentorship was the most prominent, and collaboration, although important, was the least. Implications: The noted experiences and strategies highlighted in this study could be of great utility for those seeking to enhance their scholarly productivity and impact, particularly for (a) junior faculty, (b) African American faculty, and (c) doctoral student researchers and candidates.

Purpose: We assessed citation impact scholarship of women in the top 25-ranked schools of social work in the United States. Method: We used a mixed methodology. Part 1 was a secondary data analysis of the top-25 "U.S. News and World Report" ranked schools from 2012 using the Hirsch h-index over a 10-year period. Qualitative interviews were conducted with graduates from top-ranked schools. We then examined the faculty websites. Results: The mean h-score was 18.64. The majority of these women were employed at the University of Washington (n = 6), followed by Columbia University and the Universities of Southern California (n = 3, respectively), Michigan, and California at Berkeley (n = 2, respectively). Discussion: The overall impact scores for these women are significant and speak to a number of factors including negotiating long-standing systemic and structural variables. We continue to describe elements of research cultures, which are essential to our profession's academic development in today's corporate university cultures.

Coming out to parents can have beneficial long-term mental health outcomes for gay men. Though studies have explored the phenomenon of coming out, there are limited qualitative insights regarding the emotions that gay men experienced after disclosing their sexual orientation. Nineteen interviews with Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino American, and White/Caucasian American self-identified and out gay men, ages 19–30, were analyzed using the iterative process associated with inductive qualitative thematic analysis. Data showed that parental willingness to engage in conversations about their son's sexual identity helped sixteen participants to (i) have a release from heteronormative expectations, (ii) have renewed self-confidence, (iii) be unapologetically themselves, and (iv) engage in critical normalization of sexual identity conversations. Interestingly though, for three participants, these conversations had no overall impact on their mental health. For the majority, coming out helped to create a positive shift in overall mental health—more specifically the conversations helped improve their self-esteem; as once their parents knew of their sexuality, they no longer cared about social pressures to conform. Accordingly, they began publicly building social support and friendship networks. For a few, coming out was viewed as a formality and had no lasting impact on their overall mental health. Study findings underscored both the benefits and importance of open communications between parents and their gay sons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on Black/African American males' depressive experiences and expressions is still developing. While research has shown that men are less likely to be diagnosed with depression when compared to women, the experiences of Black/African Americans are often ignored at a far greater level. This study aimed to highlight how Black/African American men understood, discussed, and dealt with their depression. Interviews of N = 4 Black/African American men were analyzed from a larger qualitative study that examined depression among Blacks/African Americans. Qualitative content analysis techniques, which included open coding, were used to identify themes within the interviews that identified similarities across participant's experiences. The themes highlighted within this report included: (a) depressive episodes as responses to traumatic life events; (b) family and paternal significance for Black/African American men; (c) substance use and sleeping as coping/treatment; and (d) stigma as the greatest impediment to help-seeking and service use. Blacks/African Americans experienced depression within the classical contextualization of the DSM-V. However, they quickly learned to adapt to their experiences, push through the pain, and identify their experiences as normal parts of everyday living. The paper ends with some recommended practice implications for service providers who are interested in working with Black/African American men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The current study seeks to investigate the extent to which factors such as income and child support along with relationship factors such as family structure and communication with the custodial mother potentially mitigate overall parent satisfaction for African American noncustodial fathers (NCFs) with multi-partnered fertility (MPF). Methods: 163 noncustodial fathers without and with children other than the custodial parents were selected. An independent sample t-test was conducted to determine differences in satisfaction levels. Multiple linear regression was conducted to predict participants' overall level of parental involvement satisfaction by income, child support, and relationship factors. Results: The data illustrates the combined influence of income, child support, relationship factors, and family structure account for a significant amount of the variance in satisfaction. Fathers without MPF reported greater satisfaction levels. Conclusions: Future study is recommended to advance our understanding of the predictors of NCFs parent satisfaction among NCFs with and without MPF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how parental involvement satisfaction (PIS) in terms of accessibility, engagement, and responsibility (A-E-R) among of noncustodial African American fathers (NCAAFs) may be explained by the pre- and post-conception relationship durations they have with their children's mothers, controlling for quality of communication satisfaction (QCS) with the mothers. Method: A multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was performed with a sample size of N=163 NCAAFS who were surveyed participants in the Parenting Time Visitation Program (PTVP) in Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia communities. Results: There no significant relationships found between pre/post-conception relationship durations and PIS in terms of A-E-R, even when controlling for QCS. Correlational and crosstabulation analyses did reveal some interesting patterns of note. Discussion: This study extends the literature on noncustodial father involvement with their children and provides valuable insight to co-parenting studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parent-child communications have historically played a critical role in helping to socialize adolescents' and young adults' attitudes toward sexual behaviors. However, there are limited studies that have examined the impact of parent-child communications with gay males, and sexual behaviors. Nineteen (N = 19) Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino American, and White/Caucasian American gay males were asked about the impact of having communications with their parents on topics regarding sexual behavior and sexual identity. Interviews were transcribed using the iterative processes associated with thematic analysis. For many of the participants, these conversations resulted in parent-child communications that were effective, especially regarding a) sexual safety, b) condom use, and c) comfort with talking about sex. For some, however, these conversations were most effective when they were single and non-monogamous. Lastly, a few participants stated that these conversations were not effective as the contents of the conversations did not apply to their sexual desires. For these participants, the conversations with their parents helped shaped their sexual behaviors and practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mood and anxiety disorders are the most burdensome mental health disorders related to work functioning. This study conducted an in-depth analysis on how mood and anxiety disorders impact work functioning and what strategies may be effective in managing challenges at work. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 11 clinicians and 6 patients. Participants reported mood and anxiety symptoms impacted productivity, tardiness, absenteeism, and interpersonal difficulties. Participants also reported challenges with disclosure and stigma upon disclosure in the workplace. Most common treatment strategies used were CBT, DBT, and mindfulness. These results inform intervention and educational efforts to improve work outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This exploratory study examined the impact of Heroes Circle, a martial arts‐based curriculum on stress, emotional, and behavioral problems in elementary school children. While students completed classroom surveys at baseline, post‐curriculum surveys were collected from teachers, students, and parents/guardians 2 and 5 months after COVID‐19‐related school shutdowns. Satisfaction with the curriculum was high among those who received the intervention. Children reported increased mindfulness and decreased stress over the school year. Most children (77%) were still using the program's techniques and reporting benefits 5 months later, including lower internalizing symptoms and COVID‐19‐related fears. These patterns were not observed at the control school. This exploratory study examined the impact of a martial arts‐based curriculum—the Heroes Circle—on stress, emotional and behavioral problems in elementary schoolchildren. Heroes Circle participants reported increased mindfulness and decreased perceived stress over the academic year. Most children were still using the program's techniques and reporting benefits (e.g., lower anxiety/depression, lower COVID‐19‐related fears) up to 5 months after COVID‐19‐related school shutdowns. Martial arts may be a promising approach for improving child well‐being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study explored the scholarship experiences of top-ranked African American faculty in schools of social work. Method: Qualitative interviews were conducted with N = 10 top-ranked African American faculty identified as achieving considerable productivity and impact of scholarship. Findings: Four major themes were identified, each of which had 2–3 subcategories. These included (1) mentorship, (2) collaboration, (3) time, and (4) strategic planning. The data revealed that of these identified themes, mentorship was the most prominent, and collaboration, although important, was the least. Implications: The noted experiences and strategies highlighted in this study could be of great utility for those seeking to enhance their scholarly productivity and impact, particularly for (a) junior faculty, (b) African American faculty, and (c) doctoral student researchers and candidates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose:This article examines the publication productivity of the (N= 14) top-ranked U.S. Black/African American scholars in theU.S. News and World ReportSchools of Social Work, as identified by Huggins-Hoyt, Holosko, Briggs, and Barner (2015).Method:Publication information for each participant were taken from the Publish or Perish software site with an “author impact” search criteria that examined their lifetime publication history.Results:Results suggested that these authors: (a) published collaboratively, (b) published highly on issues pertaining to Black/African American inequality, and (c) published in journals with both high-impact scores and high-impact readership.Findings:Despite the low numbers of Black/African American scholars serving as full professors in U.S. colleges and universities, the techniques they used to circumvent systematic and structural academic barriers provide helpful tips that younger Black/African American scholars could employ when writing and publishing their research findings. However, additional research is needed to further unearth differences, and/or expectations, based on numerous variables, which includes but not limited to: (a) academic rank, (b) funded research, (c) promotion and tenure expectations, and (d) advancement of more Black/African American academic scholarship. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The extent of the representation of concepts of race, racial disproportionality, racial disparities, and diversity in child welfare journal publications and authorship are the foci of this content analysis study. Two top-tier and one second-tier child welfare-focused journal outlets were examined. The frequency of mention of the concepts of racial disproportionality, racial disparities, and diversity is lower than the number of articles published. Also, first authors who were male and those from non-Caucasian racial/ethnic background were least likely to be represented. This study highlights recommendations for increasing the research and scholarly publications by authors from diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds as a means for increasing the emphasis on race, racial disproportionality, racial disparities, and diversity in research, scholarship, policy, practice, and the future education of social workers specializing in the field of child welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]