Brown School

Over half a million women die annually due to maternity complications. Studies support that utilization of health services reduces maternal mortality. Using a nationally representative sample of 7878 previously pregnant women from Nepal we examined if gender empowerment is associated with health service use. Findings showed that three of the five indicators of empowerment – women’s age at birth of their first child, their education and knowledge about sexually transmitted diseases – significantly increased utilization of health services, especially antenatal and delivery services. Women’s opinion about wife beating and their participation in intra-household financial decisions were insignificant. Implications for social work practice are discussed.

Michael Sherraden's book, Assets and the Poor: A New American Welfare Policy, broke new ground on social policy in 1991. Twenty years later, its impact is still being felt around the world. In Assets and the Poor, Sherraden, PhD, the Benjamin E. Youngdahl Professor of Social Development at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, writes that asset accumulation is structured and subsidized for many non-poor households, primarily via retirement accounts and home ownership.

Luis Zayas' commitment to U.S. Latinas and their struggle with suicide started in the 1970s when he encountered the pain and suffering that teenage girls and their parents were experiencing during his work in emergency rooms and mental health clinics. "Latinas have the highest rate of suicide attempt among teens in comaparison to white girls or African-American girls," says Zayas, PhD, the Shanti K. Khinduka DIstinguished Professor of Social Work at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. Zayas brings compelling personal stories and nearly 40 years of research to his new book, 'Latinas Attempting Suicide: When Cultures, Families and Daughters Collide', published by Oxford University Press.

As fuel prices soar, food prices are beginning to creep up to crisis levels most recently seen in 2007. "Coupled with the financial crisis, high food prices can take a significant toll on nutrition, especially in developing countries," says Lora Iannotti, PhD, a public health expert and professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. "The same consequences can be true for wealthier countries, as households opt for less expensive, poor quality foods. Hidden hunger is a problem across the globe." Iannotti discusses her study that looks at the impact of high food costs on calorie intake in developing countries.

Dr. Donald H. Baucom, one of the founders of cognitive-behavioral couple therapy and the Richard Lee Simpson Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of North Carolina, presents "Couple Therapy for Complex Cases."

Carol Bellamy, former director of the Peace Corps and former UNICEF executive director, served as the International Service & Higher Education Symposium’s keynote speaker. Bellamy’s lecture, "International Service and Global Citizenship", was co-sponsored by Missouri Campus Compact.

Dr. Michael Sherraden , the Benjamin E. Youngdahl Professor of Social Development and Director of the Center for Social Development, presents "Creating & Testing Social Innovations: Notes from Asset Building".

Students from the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis and community members discuss the elements of an American Indian Pow Wow and its importance. The 21st annual Pow Wow at Washington University will be held Saturday, April 9, in the Field House.

The following is a guest blog post by Paul Shattuck, PhD, for autismspeaks.org: Do the challenges of having an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and the needs for special supports magically disappear in adolescence? No! But many families are pushed off a cliff when it comes to accessing needed services for their young adults with an ASD. My team and I used data from a large national survey to look at the use of diagnostic medical services, mental health services, case management, and speech therapy during the first few years after leaving high school. In a report published this month in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, we found that overall rates of service use were 23.5 percent for medical services, 35 percent for mental health services, 41.9 percent for case management, and 9.1 percent for speech therapy. This compares with higher rates of service use while in high school: 46.2 percent received mental health services, 46.9 percent had medical services, 74.6 percent were getting speech therapy, and 63.6 percent had a case manager. We also found that 39.1 percent were completely without all four of these essential supportive services. African-American youths and those from poorer households were at much higher risk for this total lack of services. I was especially troubled by the low rate of accessing speech therapy. Youths with an ASD are especially vulnerable during this period because of their core challenges with communication and social interaction. Succeeding at a job, at school, or in the community depends on being able to communicate with other people. Speech therapy can help with these issues. But many insurance plans and state programs for vocational support or serving adults with developmental disabilities do not reimburse for speech therapy. Building in speech therapy as an eligible expense in adult-serving programs should be an immediate priority for policy improvement. Why did I ask these questions? Many people who have, or work with, young people who have special needs already know that services drop off after high school. But there are many people and policy makers who have no clue about how dysfunctional these policies are. This study adds hard facts that can be used to educate and raise awareness about how the current system (mal)functions. The majority of a typical lifespan is spent in adulthood. Yet the majority of what we know about ASDs is based on a lot of research focusing on very young children. I pursued these questions as part of a broader research mission aimed at understanding how to improve life for people with an ASD and their families across the lifespan. Autism Speaks, the Organization for Autism Research, and the National Institute of Mental Health have generously supported this ambitious agenda. I look forward to giving you more updates in the years ahead as we begin to build a stronger evidence base for helping adults with an ASD and their families have brighter futures.

The FDA, through the new Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, is considering banning outdoor tobacco product advertising at various distances from schools and playgrounds. The tobacco industry is challenging these rules on First Amendment grounds, arguing that they would lead to a near complete ban on tobacco advertising in dense urban areas. A new study by the Center for Tobacco Policy Research (CTPR) at Washington University in St. Louis found that a 1000-foot buffer would still allow for tobacco ads. Smaller buffer zones of 350 feet may result in almost no reduction of outdoor tobacco advertising. Doug Luke, PhD, CTPR director, discusses the study.

Janet Lauritsen, PhD and Professor of Criminology & Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri - St. Louis, lectures on the relationship between national economic downturns and violent victimization rates. To better understand how changing economic conditions are associated with rates of violence against women and youth violence, victimization trends for the period 1973 to 2008 will be presented and their relationships with poverty and other economic indicators discussed. The implications of these findings for programs designed to reduce violence are also discussed.

Matthew Kreuter, PhD, public health expert and professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, discusses front-of-package nutritional information systems and a new report that he and his colleagues on an Institute of Medicine committee released that says the most important information to highlight on the front of a package -in addition to the information already available in the nutrition facts panel on the backs of all products- are calories, saturated fat, trans fats and sodium.

Dr. David Rowan, a clinical psychologist at the St. Louis VA Medical Center, presents on Motivational Interviewing, a client-centered, directive method used to enhance a veteran's intrinsic motivation to change by exploring and resolving ambivalence. The Stand United for Veterans sponsored monthly guest lecture series will present an overview of an Evidence Based Practice or Empirically Supported Treatment that is currently in use in the VA, DoD, or with military service personnel, their families, or their communities. Case examples of the use of that EBP/EST will be presented and discussed by a VA, military, or community-based provider.

Amanda Moore McBride, PhD, assistant professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis and expert on civic service as research director at the school's Center for Social Development (CSD), discusses current research on international service programs like Peace Corps as well as the impact these programs have on volunteers. For more information visit csd.wustl.edu.

In this faculty colloquium Dr. Wells speaks about her work on reducing health disparities through adherence research. Assistant Professor Anjanette Wells’ research interests center on health, mental health, and community practice with a common thread of interest in issues related to adherence, participation, recruitment, and retention to research and practice with low-income, minority populations

Child Development Accounts (CDAs) are savings accounts that begin as early as birth. CDAs allow parents and children to accumulate savings for post-secondary education, homeownership or business initiatives. Michael Sherraden, professor at Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis and director of the Center for Social Development, discusses CDAs, their benefits, how CDAs are being used internationally and how CDAs are being tested in the United States. Sherraden was recently named to TIME Magazine's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world for his work on asset building for low-income people.

ongress has recently passed the much anticipated and greatly debated health reform legislation. But what does it mean for the region and the nation? Professor Tim McBride, national health policy expert, is joined by for a special panel discussion featuring: Edward Lawlor, Dean of the Brown School; Susan Levy, Chief Advocacy Officer of Ascension Health; William Peck, the Director of the Center for Health Policy.

Dr. Shattuck is a national expert on disabilities, specifically autism. He has published a number of articles on the prevalence and course of autism as well as on policies and services for people with autism and their families. The Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders recently published his article on how autism symptoms can improve with age. In the July 2008 issue of Pediatrics is his study of financial burden in families of children with special health care needs.

This Center for Social Development Lecture's guest speaker is Professor Fred Ssewamala from Columbia University. In this lecture, he speaks on health outcomes and how they relate to economic development. Dr. Fred Ssewamala is an Associate Professor of Social Work and International Affairs at Columbia University School of Social Work; a Global Thought Fellow with Columbia University; and a Senior Research Fellow with New America Foundation. Dr. Ssewamala has several years of practice in the International Social Development field. His practice experience includes serving at the Red Cross (Uganda), where he acted in several programmatic positions related to designing projects and programs for poverty alleviation and community development, and at Justine Petersen Housing and Reinvestment Corporation a 501(c) (3) Missouri (USA) not-for-profit corporation that assists low-to-moderate income individuals and families become homeowners, access financial institutions, start their own micro-businesses, and accumulate assets.

Peter Roberto is the speaker and recipient of the 2010 Distinguished Alumni Award. As director of public health and social services for Guam, Peter Roberto’s work lies at the intersection of public health and social work. He has launched programs, including efforts in smoking cessation, to improve the lives of Guam’s residents. Prior to this role, he has served as director of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, also in Guam.

Buder Scholars discuss the 20th annual Pow Wow at Washington University in St. Louis and offer general Pow Wow etiquette tips for visitors. The Pow Wow is a festival of American Indian cultures, to be held April 10 in the Field House. This event, hosted by the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies at the Brown School, is free and open to the public. Visitors and participants will be able to enjoy dancing, singing, drumming, arts, crafts, and food.

Progressives 100 years ago were concerned about income inequalities, concentrated corporate power, a weak labor movement, high immigration rates. They also worried about threats to small-scale producers and retailers, middle-class debt levels, environmental degradation, unsafe food, terrorism, religious fundamentalism, and the deteriorating quality of family life. Sound familiar? What can we learn from the original Progressives, whose stunning reforms changed America forever? Longman and Boshara discuss their new book, which offers historical insights as well as bold, fresh – and achievable – ideas to move America forward at this transformative moment in our history.

On Jan. 12, 2010, Lora Iannotti, PhD, nutrition and public health expert at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, was in Leogane, a seaside town 18 miles west of Port au Prince, Haiti, working with local officials on improving the health of Haitian children. That’s when a catastrophic earthquake struck the poverty-stricken country. Its epicenter, Leogane. Iannotti survived, but some 230,000 perished. Haiti was devastated; an estimated 3 million were affected by the earthquake in a country already known as the poorest in the Western hemisphere. Since last January, Iannotti, assistant professor at the Brown School, has returned to Haiti a number of times to continue her work on undernutrition and disease prevention in young children. She is back in Haiti again, one year later. Iannotti is spending this week in the north of Haiti training a team of Haitians to help study the effectiveness of ready-to-use supplemental foods such as Nutributter, a peanut butter paste product designed to prevent micronutrient deficiencies among infants and young children. “It was important to me to be back in Haiti for the anniversary,” Iannotti says. Iannotti is working with the St. Louis-based organization, Meds & Food for Kids (MFK), on the project. Nutributter eventually will be produced locally by MFK and have the added advantage of supporting peanut farmers and creating jobs. Patricia Wolff, MD, associate professor of clinical pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, established MFK and serves as executive director of the non profit. Earthquake response Iannotti, who has been working in Haiti since 1990, says that the initial earthquake response from the international community was very good. “People were very quick to respond to immediate problems, like injuries,” she says. “The problem is that many international aid organizations didn’t have the longer view in mind. People were very interested in the groups doing immediate humanitarian work and not as interested in groups focusing on development work — the groups that would end up remaining in Haiti today. They continue work in Haiti and do not have adequate resources or funding.” Iannoti says its important now to develop long-term strategies, like education and improving sanitation and water sources. “People generously brought bottled water to Haiti after the earthquake, but that does not last forever,” she says. “Having access to clean drinking water and adequate sanitation is critical or problems like the cholera epidemic will continue to mount.” Haiti’s reality Iannotti says that earthquake cleanup is far from complete. “Many buildings are still in a lot of rubble and tent communities are pretty widespread,” she says. “The other reality that is hard to accept, given the initial outpouring, is that there are not enough resources to start looking at long-term strategies.” “What we were focused on before the earthquake was the problem of malnutrition and hidden hunger in Haiti — deficiencies in micronutrients — and that problem continues,” Iannotti says. “A third of Haitian children under five are undernourished, stunted from poor nutrition. Our project in the north is looking to prevent undernutrition during this vulnerable period. In Haiti, there are a lot of people working to treat malnutrition and not enough people working to prevent undernutrition.” When the cholera epidemic hit in October, Iannotti and colleagues more rigorously introduced a diarrhea prevention program into their project.

Afternoon conversation hosted by Dean Edward Lawlor. Discussion on violence and injury prevention within the center and within the field. Panelists include Melissa Jonson-Reid, Barbara Shaw and Nancy Weaver from Saint Louis University.

Nearly half of all U.S. children will be in a household that uses food stamps at some point during their childhood, according to Mark Rank, Ph.D., poverty expert at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. Rank says the substantial risk of a child being in a family that uses food stamps is consistent with a wider body of research demonstrating that U.S. children face considerable economic risk during their childhood years.

The first "Brown Bag Luncheon". These luncheons serve as an informal forum to discuss issues and new research among faculty, students and staff. This discussion by Timothy McBride focuses on Health Reform. Professor McBride is an influential health policy analyst and leading health economist shaping the national agenda in rural health care, health insurance, Medicare policy, health economics, and access to health care. He is currently studying the uninsured, Medicare Advantage and Part D in rural areas, health reform at the state and national levels, access to care for children with special health care needs, and long-term social security and Medicare reform. Read more about his work here.

Timothy McBride, Ph.D., health economist and associate dean for public health at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis discusses the next steps for health care reform in the United States.

This academic convocation lecture covers issues dealing with violence free lives for families and children. Dr. Jonson-Reid discusses her work and the work that has contributed to this issue; including scholars, schools and universities. Dr. Jonson-Reid studies outcomes associated with child and adolescent abuse and neglect. She is particularly interested in how the relationship between child maltreatment and later educational, health, and socio-behavioral outcomes may be moderated by child welfare and educational services provision.

Froma Walsh, MSW, PhD, is the co-director and co-founder of the Chicago Center for Family Health and the Mose and Sylvia Firestone Professor Emerita in the School of Social Service Administration and the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Chicago. Dr. Walsh is the leading expert on a family resilience practice approach in fostering recovery from crisis, trauma and loss, navigating disruptive life transitions, and mastering ongoing challenges with chronic, multi-stress conditions and widespread disasters. Dr. Walsh has received awards for her distinguished contributions and leadership in the field of family therapy from the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association, the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, and AFTA. Her books include Normal Family Processes, Living Beyond Loss, Spiritual Resources in Family Therapy, and Women in Families. She speaks and consults internationally on resilience-oriented research, professional training, and practice.

For the 2009 Careers in Aging Week, the Gerontology Student Association at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in Saint Louis hosted guest lecturer Margaret Donnelly, Director of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS). Her talk on "Careers in Government" drew a diverse crowd of students, faculty, and community members. Missouri Governor Jay Nixon slected former state Rep. Margaret Donnelly to head the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. The agency oversees public and community health services, senior and disability services, vital records and emergency preparedness. After being elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 2003, Donnelly, focused on issues relating to families, the elderly and health care. She was the ranking member on the Appropriations Subcommittee for Health and Senior Services, Mental Health and Social Services for two years and on the Budget Committee for four years. Donnelly has also served on the Medicaid Reform Commission.

Dr. Morrow Howell is a national leader in gerontology, widely known for her work on productive and civic engagement of older adults. She is editor of the book Productive Aging, published by Johns Hopkins University Press. She is a member of the Gerontological Society of America's Expert Workgroup on Civic Engagement in an Older America. With support from the Metlife Foundation, The Atlantic Philanthropies, Longer Life Foundation, and the National Institute on Aging, she explores strategies to maximize the engagement of older adults in productive roles. Her research has contributed to understanding about the outcomes for individual, families, and society associated with expanding work, volunteering, civic service, and care giving by older adults. She also studies mental health services to older adults, with support of the National Institute of Mental Health.

MSW student Diana Chaves talks about her work to build sustainable communities with several indigenous groups in Latin America. Trained in architecture and environmental management, Diana has been sponsored by the St. Louis Zoo to consult with the Biosphere Reserve of BOSAWAS in Nicaragua on exploring ways the ecotourism can yield sustainable development for the country’s Mayagna and Miskito communities. Parallel to her studies, Diana has worked in environmental education for undergraduate students in Architecture and other programs, coordinating field trips around Colombia to raise conscience in tropical biodiversity and natural resources. She also kept her position as director of special projects for an engineer enterprise, developing advisory in environmental management, quality coordinator, auditory and administrative management. She has participated as well, in a few consultant projects related with the design of ecological trails in different natural reserves. In addition, Diana had written more than 500 educative articles in the past 7 years, for a magazine for children in Colombia. The topics are related to Environmental Issues, Ecology, Biology, Geography, Conservation, History, Health, Cultures and Human Diversity, among others.

In this talk Brett Drake reviews 20 years of work on substantiation, from field experiences to theory development to funded research to theory testing by others. Dr. Drake researches matters of child welfare. His work focuses on early intervention cases of child neglect and the connections between socio-environmental conditions and child neglect. His current research analyses census and child protective data to assess the efficacy of protective and preventative services. His research focus and his many years of child welfare practice, at the direct and clinical levels, inform the master's level classes he teaches. The topics of these classes range from diversity and human behavior to analysis of practice.

Dr. Gordon is a senior research consultant at the Iowa Policy Project, for which he has written (with Peter Fisher and Elaine Ditsler) a number of reports on health coverage, economic development, and wages and working conditions (including the biennial State of Working Iowa series). He is interested in public policy and political economy within the United States. His first book, New Deals: Business, Labor and Politics, 1920-1935 (Cambridge University Press, 1994), is a major reconsideration of the relationship of the Roosevelt Administration to the business community in the 1930s. His second book, Dead on Arrival: The Politics of Health in Twentieth Century America (Princeton University Press, 2003), is a history of health care policy in the United States across the twentieth century. His third book, Mapping Decline: St. Louis and the Fate of the American City (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008) traces the transformation of metropolitan St. Louis in the 20th century, focusing on local regulation of land use, including restrictive deed covenants, real estate restrictions, and municipal zoning. Mapping Decline employs both conventional archival research and digital (GIS) mapping of a range of archival, demographic, and political data. Colin Gordon received his PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1990. Professor Gordon is the current Chair of the Department of History at the University of Iowa.

Olsen’s talk, “International Volunteering and Service in the 21st Century”, examines trends in volunteering, changing opinions of the communities being served, and understanding the effect volunteering has on the volunteer. Josephine Olsen has had a long and distinguished career with the Peace Corps, beginning as a volunteer in Tunisia. She has served as country director in Togo as well as regional director, chief of staff and deputy director for the agency. President Barack Obama’s transition team named Olsen acting director of the Peace Corps on Jan. 20, 2009.