Helen Bader School of Social Welfare faculty presented at the Council for Social Work Education’s (CSWE) annual program meeting in Kansas City. According to organizers, the conference theme — It’s Time to Act: Indigenous Knowledge Sovereignty and Environmental Justice — builds on the themes of previous years that advocated for the need for critical conversations about racism, justice, and human rights.
Social Work Assistant Professor Angela Matijczak and collaborators presented, “Conducting a Photovoice Study with LGBTQIA+ Latine Adults: Methods and Lessons Learned.”
Photovoice is a research method in which participants use photographs and narratives to reflect on and communicate their experiences. Matijczak and collaborators used photovoice methods to explore experiences of stigma and resilience among Latine LGBTQ+ adults living in Central Texas.
As part of the study, participants were interviewed about their photos. They described engaging in multiple strategies of resistance that promoted feelings of joy, pride, hope, and frustration. Participants and researchers from the study displayed these photos in a series of pop-up art exhibits aimed at dispelling stigma and spreading awareness across the Central Texas area.
Suicide Prevention Training Prepares Future Social Workers
As a gerontologist, I have witnessed the impact of untreated mental illness in older adults, who experience multiple losses over their lifespan.
Social Work Professors Lisa Berger and Colleen Galambos recently completed a project that addresses the underrepresentation of suicide prevention training at the baccalaureate level of social work curriculum. At the CSWE meeting, Berger presented the culmination of their project, “Development and Evaluation of a Suicide Prevention Training (SPT) Project in a BSW Program.”
The Suicide Prevention Training project team created a microcredential course, “Suicide Prevention Across the Lifespan.” This microcredential pairs an introductory course in Human Behavior in the Social Environment with knowledge and skills on the epidemiology, assessment, and prevention of suicide across the lifespan.
“As a gerontologist, I have witnessed the impact of untreated mental illness in older adults, who experience multiple losses over their lifespan,” Galambos said. The older adult age group comprises 22% of deaths by suicide. The most recent data from 2022 indicates that people over the age of 85 have the highest rate of suicide among all age groups.
Funded by the local Charles E. Kubly Foundation, the project was an opportunity for social work faculty to focus on depression and suicide prevention. “The topic needed to be addressed more in our curriculum in order for our students to better serve their future clients,” Berger said.