Professors to present studies on diabetes, hip-hop influence at SSWR meeting

Wednesday, Jan 20, 2021 Valerie Hill

School of Social Work

School of Social Work faculty, graduate students and alumni will make nearly 60 presentations of critical mental health research at one of the nation’s leading behavioral science conferences next week.

The research will be presented during the Society for Social Work and Research 25^th Annual Conference, which begins Wednesday, Jan. 20., and continues through Jan. 22. This year’s conference, themed “Social Work Science for Social Change,” will be virtual.

SSWR, as the organization is referred, was founded 25 years ago and includes Social Workers, academics, students, social welfare professionals and researchers among its members. The professionals gather annually in January to review the most up-to-date research in the Social Work field.

The UTA presenters will offer important studies on behavioral science topics including violence against women, parenting practices among Black fathers and one presentation on the use of a survey to measure parents’ abilities to protect children from maltreatment.

Other UTA Social Work presenters will reveal critical research in mental health.

Assistant Professor of Practice Dr. Pamela Fox will present evidence on Jan. 20, the opening day of the conference, that primary care physicians’ usage of a mental health model is helpful to some Blacks and Latinos who suffer from diabetes and depression.

The mental health model, called the “Improving Mood-Promoting Access to Collaborative Treatment,” or IMPACT, care model was “very beneficial,” she said, to a small sampling of Blacks and Latinos in Southern Dallas who were included in her study.

“My research is important to clinical Social Work practitioners because there is limited research evidence on how adults with Type-2 diabetes come to understand their diabetes distress and their mood dysregulating depressive disorders,” Dr. Fox said.

The UTA assistant professor’s study, titled “Making an IMPACT: Behavioral Activation & Depression Care for Persons Living with Type 2 Diabetes,” could lead to enhancements in the quality of life,improvements in overall outcomes and to a lessening of healthcare disparities for Blacks and Latinos, Dr. Fox said.

“I am hoping to share the diabetes and mental/behavioral health inequalities in communities of color,” she said, adding that the healthcare industry needs to “develop innovative interventions…as potential strategies to improve the overall health outcomes” for Blacks and Latinos.

In other areas of research, Dr. Maxine Davis, an assistant professor of Social Work, will present a study concluding that hip-hop and rap music – genres widely criticized with degrading women – may, or can, prevent violence against them.

“The study results illuminate the healing power of hip-hop/rap music as a potential resource in discouraging and preventing IPV related abusive behaviors,” Dr. Davis’ research concludes. “With a strong following by Black-Americans (due to its development in the ethnic community), hip-hop music may hold particular advantages in impacting health behaviors within romantic or intimate relationships that are most vulnerable” to intimate partner violence.”

Dr. Davis’s study, “Hip Hop Music and Intimate Partner Violence: Shedding Light on the Songs That Intend to Raise Awareness,” will be presented by the professor along with Social Work graduate research assistant and doctoral student Jessica Williams and a group of young women co-researchers who are on a Grand Prairie track and field team.

The young athletes played critical roles in “nearly every stage of the research process, from research question refinement to data collection and analysis of song lyrics,” Dr. Davis said.

“Just like other experienced scientists/presenters, the girls will share the procedures and findings of the study on a national stage,” Dr. Davis said. “They will also likely discuss their individual or collective contributions and reflections about youth-led community based participatory research.”

Dr. Davis’s study will be presented on the final day of the conference, Friday, Jan. 22.

“I hope this presentation will inspire more nuanced conversations about the potential role of hip-hop music in interpersonal relationships,” she said, “celebrating its use as a tool of violence prevention instead of usual emphasis on violence endorsement.”

This year’s national conference will be virtual due to the concerns of COVID-19.

“Your health and safety were our top priorities,” Society President Luis H. Zayas, said in an open letter to the organization’s membership regarding the switch from in-person to virtual for the 2021 conference.

Zayas said a virtual conference “is the most responsible decision” in light of the worldwide health pandemic.

To view the nearly 60 presentations by School of Social Work researchers, click on the links below:

University of Texas At Arlington Presentations

https://sswr.confex.com/sswr/2021/webprogram/start.html#srch=words%7CUniversity%20of%20Texas%20at%20Arlington%7Cmethod%7Cand%7Cpge%7C1

SSWR Conference Schedule-At-A-Glance

https://secure.sswr.org/2021-conference-home/schedule-at-a-glance/

SSWR Meeting Program

https://sswr.confex.com/sswr/2021/webprogram/meeting.html

List of University of Texas at Arlington School of Social Work Presenters*

1. Validation of the Parent Assessment of Protective Factors Survey Measure with Caregivers at Risk for Child Maltreatment in the State of Texas
Catherine LaBrenz, PhD, Assistant Professor

2. Student-Led Journal Clubs: A Case Study for Social Work Education and Research

Erin Murphy, LMSW, Doctoral Student, Research Assistant