Faculty Research Interests
Research interests: Confirmatory factor analysis of cultural specific measures; intervention; model development.
“I seek to further study: (a) the social cultural and ecological determinants of behavioral health disorders, poor adjustment and risky sexual health issues among emerging adult African Americans; (b) race, smaller and larger system determinants of unequal child welfare service outcomes among youth of color and sexual minorities; and (c) the extent to which the well-being of sexual minorities, race and African Americans are a focus in social work.”
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Research interests: Social policy and consumer debt, predatory lending, informal economy, poverty policy, community economic development.
“My research focuses on the relationship between poverty, personal debt, the welfare state and capitalism. Specifically, I want to understand how low-income people utilize informal, fringe and predatory financial services to make ends meet within the context of changes in social policy and the political economy.”
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Research interests: Racial/ethnic health disparities, research methods, social determinants of health, development of change interventions, examination of barriers to the adoption of interventions
“My research focuses on empirically documenting barriers of access to health care, mental health services, social services, educational opportunities and employment opportunities for underserved populations. It also focuses on engaging communities as copartners in the design and implementation of interventions that improve the overall health and well-being of disadvantaged populations locally, nationally and globally.”
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Research interests: Impact of macro- and mezzo- level child welfare structural factors of youth and family outcomes
“My research focuses on the impact of macro and mezzo- level child welfare structural
factors of youth and family outcomes. This research seeks to explore opportunity points for policy and practice interventions that facilitate permanency, decrease placement disruption, and improve service delivery within the child welfare system.”
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Research interests: Interpersonal and multigenerational trauma; violence, abuse and loss; PTSD and trauma-related disorders; ecological/transactional and risk/resilience processes across the lifespan; culturally responsive, trauma-informed and transdiciplinary research and practice.
“My clinical social work practice, research and teaching expertise centers broadly around complex interpersonal, intergenerational and historical trauma. My current research focuses on culturally responsive, trauma-informed, multisystemic, and trans-disciplinary approaches to addressing trauma, violence and abuse. I currently serve as PI/Co-PI on several local projects promoting individual, family, school, and community well-being in trauma-exposed populations.”
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Research interests: Supporting new mothers with opioid use disorders to increase treatment adhenrence so they can engage in loving and safe parenting.
“My research focuses on the mental health and well-being of young children and their mothers, especially in families experiencing child maltreatment, intimate partner violence, and substance use disorders. My current projects include a study of sleep and its role in mediating behavioral health
in foster care alumni, and a supportive intervention for pregnant women with opioid use disorders to evaluate its effect on improving maternal and infant outcomes.”
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Research interests: Sexual minority youth, behavioral health outcomes, technology and health research, religious identity dissonance, spatial analysis, social network analysis
“My research focuses on the relationship between psychosocial stressors, mental
health and substance use for sexual minority (e.g., gay, lesbian, bisexual) young adults. Using innovative, technology-driven methods (e.g., spatial analysis, geosocial networking app probability sampling), I explore the factors that contribute to health disparities for the purpose of intervention development.”
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Research interests: Poverty and workforce development, international social development, social innovation, social policy, social work practice.
“My research program focuses on structural poverty and social exclusion in the United States and in the global context. I partner with local community-based initiatives of nonprofit and philanthropic organizations to develop bottom-up strategies for system change by empowering low-income individuals and families in their quest to achieve self-sufficiency. I have developed the Transforming Impossible into Possible (TIP) model that applies the theory and metrics of psychological self-sufficiency (PSS) to strengthen individuals’ goal-directed process to reach success outcomes, along with the Transforming Opportunities into Productivity (TOP) model for system-level organizational development. These efforts continue to support bottom-up advocacy for social service efficacy and social policy adjustment and mission alignment.”
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Research interests: Public policy, civil rights.
“I have developed a scholarly and research agenda that centers on clinical practice effectiveness and group work with clients and families overwhelmed by personal and environmental stressors; identification of success factors for long-term married, civically engaged, and high-achieving Afro-American couples; program evaluation and effectiveness; human rights, civil rights and social justice; contributions of Historically Black Colleges and Universities to the profession.”
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Research interests: Innovation in nonprofit organizations, employee creativity, assessing the effectiveness of Design Thinking, B-Corporations
“Design thinking method is becoming increasingly popular in the nonprofit space, but do we know how effective this method is? My research focuses on exploring the effectiveness of this method at the individual, team, and organizational levels. My secondary research focus is on B-Corporations as an increasingly popular organizational form. What is the motivation behind getting certified as a B-Corporation? What are the benefits of becoming a B-Corporation? are among the questions I am exploring.”
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Research interests: International social work; barriers to service; mental health service, policy, and history; workplace safety; social justice
“The profession is challenged by persistent internal and external difficulty that forever requires us to be leading advocates against old and new social problems. My research interests include mental health service and social policy issues, African American service concerns, barriers to service, and collaborative models for international education.”
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Director, Institute for Nonprofit Organizations, MA NML Program, and Certificate in Nonprofit Management and Leadership Program
Research interests: Social services policy, contemporary social systems, poverty reduction
“I help to design, implement and evaluate community-based interventions related to unemployment, job training and financial asset-building, as well as advocate for the development of public policies aimed at alleviating poverty. I also work with colleagues here at UGA and in the community help build the capacity of nonprofit organizations locally, nationally and globally to fulfill their missions.”
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Research interests: Communty-based participatory research, cooperatives and the social economy; care work and labor justice; community and social development; poverty and society inequality.
“My research and teaching strive to enliven conversations and (re)imagine possibilities for greater community health and wellbeing. By making use of community-based participatory research methods, I explore and evaluate culturally-responsive models of human service delivery to enhance not only service access and quality but also dignified labor conditions and grassroots leadership development.”
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Research interests: Human rights & social work, motherhood & trauma, survivors of torture & asylum seekers, arts & activism, inequality.
“My scholarship sees social work through a human rights lens, and I apply human rights principles to research, teaching, and service. I create tools to promote rights-based practice that are used to challenge the social work profession in China, Spain, Croatia, Albania and beyond. Locally and globally, my research promotes anti-discriminatory and rights-based practices in the areas of maternal/child health, criminal justice, and migration.”
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Behavioral Health Internship Program Coordinator
“My research includes considering antioppressive pedagogies as well as the intersection of aging and sexual expression. I have a practice in Athens working as a licensed clinical social worker and AASECT certified sex therapist with extra training in work with couples and families, especially the LGBTQ community. I am a certified yoga instructor and am experienced with a range of behavioral and mindfulness-based clinical approaches, including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).”
Research interests: Access to mental health services, criminal justice, child welfare-involved caregivers, older adults
“My research examines mental health and substance use service utilization and delivery. My specific areas of research include utilization and delivery in different contexts including among individuals in the criminal justice system, child welfare involved families, and older adults with physical health problems.”
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Research interests: Evidence-informed programs and policies for victims and survivors of sex and labor trafficking in the global context; the cross-section of poverty, victimization and human trafficking; mechanisms for building household and community assets that have long-term benefits to vulnerable children; cross-national development and validation of instruments to identify and assist suspected trafficking survivors in the global context; the long-term impacts of the trafficking experience among survivors of trafficking; international relief and development
“My current interdisciplinary and international research aims to create evidence-informed policies and programs for survivors of human trafficking in several West African countries. As a director and member of the African Programming and Research Initiative to End Slavery (APRIES), we are analyzing data from survivors, key informants, as well as three waves of survey with female survivors of trafficking who received post-trafficking intervention. We are designing a sound methodology to collect baseline prevalence data that can guide program implementation.”
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Research interests: African American health and well-being, health disparities in underserved populations, social work education
“My research interests are situated in the intersections of issues that affect the health and well-being of African Americans and other marginalized groups and the roles of communities and stakeholders in helping to negotiate these issues. My research also examines mental health and substance use service utilization and delivery.”
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Research interests: Behavioral health care, criminal justice, community-based services for severe mental illnesses, psychiatric advance directives
“My research focuses on adults with severe mental illnesses and their intersection with legal systems in policy and practice. I am also interested in rural stress, particularly among farmers, My commitment is to providing students with an excellent education and deepening their passion for social justice. It doesn’t matter whether you are a clinician or a community organizer—social justice is central to the mission of all social workers.”
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Research interests: Health disparities in chronic kidney disease; chronic disease self-management in older adults; dementia caregiving, implementation science and implementation research
“My research interests include aging, health/minority health, and caregiving. Of note, I designed and pilot-tested a caregiver respite program, Houseguest, in partnership with the Athens Community Council on Aging. My current project, Building Evidence for Respite, is funded by the Health Foundation for Western & Central New York.”
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MSW/MPH Dual Degree Program Coordinator
Research interests: Health disparities, medical home model for children with special health care needs, impacts and outcomes of interdisciplinary training in neurodevelopmental disabilities, electronic portfolios for integrated learning and professional development
“I am interested in advancing inclusion, accessibility, and equity for people with disabilities. My research focuses on patient and family-centered approaches for both children and adults with disabilities. The courses I teach and the trainings I conduct reflect my belief that the these principles are essential in reducing and eliminating health disparities experienced by people with disabilities and other underserved populations.”