USF School of Social Work

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

School Website: http://socialwork.cbcs.usf.edu/


​(Updated  10/18/21)


Online Program


Congratulations to the Online MSW Program. TheBestOnlineDegree.com recently ranked the USF Online MSW program as the #4 best online Masters of Social Work Program for 2020. TheBestOnlineDegree.com provides prospective students with unbiased information when evaluating their next college degree opportunity and have helped countless people find the best program or school that meets their educational needs and career goals.

Faculty Accomplishments: 


- Congratulations to Professor Dawn Brown, who led an Enlightenment Series Workshop on Leadership towards Equity and Inclusion: The Power of Action.

-Congratulations to Dr. LuAnne Conforti-Brown who is co-author of an article to be published in the October issue of the Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing. The article refers to a validity study of a self- assessment instrument which she created along with the primary author, Deborah Grassman. Here is the information on the article: 

Grassman, D., Conforti-Brown, L., Katz, A., Wilson, J. (October 2021). Validation of the Soul Injury Self-awareness Inventory. Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing. 23(5) 

-Congratulations to Dr. Kerry Littlewood who was selected for the research affiliates program with the Center for Applied Research on Vulnerable Children and Families. It is a large international faith-based organization. This is a new research program that will help her to network and disseminate her work to broader audiences. 

Dr. Littlewood also had two abstracts accepted for the Kempe’s 2021 Call to Action to Change Child Welfare conference in October 2021: 

  • Utilizing Culturally Responsive Equitable Evaluation Approaches for Kinship Centered Design of UWCA on October 5th at 11:30 AM (Mountain Time) 
  • The Grandfamilies' Outcome Workgroup's National Study of Grandfamilies During Covid-19: Wave 2 Findings…, Wednesday, October 6 from 11:30 AM – 12:45 PM, Mountain


Congratulations to Dr. Kerry Littlewood who has been accepted to the ALL VIRTUAL conference on HIV/AIDS on November 5, 2021 to present findings from providers across the US on capacity building needs for social workers working with aging clients with HIV/AIDS. This is a collaboration with the Professional Association of Social Workers in HIV/AIDS (PASWHA).  

-Congratulations to Dr. Kerry Littlewood and doctoral student Amy Nourie who co-authored a technical report with Lodi Lipien (Child and Family Studies) and others, on a study funded by the Florida Institute for Child Welfare, titled: COVID-19 Workforce Disruptions: Implementation Drivers to Promote Change, a Follow-up Study on Child Welfare Workforce Retention.  

-Congratulations to Dr. Michiel Adriaan (Riaan) van Zyl for his manuscript that was accepted for publication: 

Brown, LL; Pennings, J; Steckel, S; Van Zyl, M (2021). The Organizational Trauma Resilience Assessment: Methods and Psychometric Properties. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. 

-Congratulations to Dr. Maayan Lawental who is a researcher on a NIAAA R43 SBIR grant awarded in the amount of $332,056 to BENTEN TECHNOLOGIES, INC. 

Congratulations to Dr. Maayan Lawental whose manuscript co-authored with one of our former student Dana Williams, was accepted for publication.

Lawental, M., Williams, D., Blay, Y & Shoval, G. (in press). Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Improving Emotion Recognition among Individuals with Substance Use Disorders: A Randomized-controlled Pilot Study in a Naturalistic Setting . Psychiatry Research.
 
-Congratulations to Dr. Jerome Galea with these 3 recent publications:

  1. Galea JT, Greene KY, Nguyen B, Polonijo AN, Taylor J, Christensen C, Zhang Z, Brown B. Evaluating the Impact of Incentives on Clinical Trial Participation: Protocol for a Mixed-Methods, Community-Engaged Study. JMIR Research Protocols. Accepted: September 21, 2021
  2. Brooks MBB, Lecca L, Contreras C, Calderon R, Yataco R, Galea JT, Huang CC, Murray MB, Becerra MC. Prediction tool to identify children at highest risk of tuberculosis disease progression among those exposed at home. Open Forum Infectious Diseases. Accepted: September 21, 2021.
  3. Yuen CM, Puma D, Millones AK, Galea JT, Tzelios C, Calderon RI, Brooks MB, Jimenez J, Contreras Cm Nichols TC, Nicholson T, Lecca L, Becerra MC, Keshajvee. Identifying barriers and facilitators to implementation of community-based tuberculosis active case-finding with mobile X-ray units in Lima, Peru: a RE-AIM evaluation. BMJ Open. 2021;11:e050314. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-050314. PMCID: PMC8264873


…and with these recently accepted abstracts:

Greene K, Nguyen AL, Polonijo AN, Yoo-Jeong M, Ruiz E, Christensen C, Taylor J, Galea JT, Brown B. Co-designing a digital intervention to alleviate social isolation of people aging with HIV during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Poster presentation accepted at the International Workshop on HIV & Aging, 2021, Virtual Workshop, September 23-24, 2021.


Sweetland A, Nava-Ruelas R, Sreenivisa P, Basham A. Fijiwara P and Galea JT (Moderators). TB and Mental Health: Integrating Mental Health into TB Services for Person-Centered Care. Symposium proposal accepted to the 52nd Union World Conference on Lung Health, 19-22 October 2021, Virtual Event.


Chu AL, Huang CC, Lecca LW, Yataco RM, Calderon RI, Jimenez J, Zhang Z, Sweetland AC, Murray MB, Galea JT. Association between latent tuberculosis infection and depressive symptoms in household contacts of tuberculosis patients: a prospective cohort study. Abstract accepted at the 52nd Union World Conference on Lung Health, 19-22 October 2021, Virtual Event.


Kosyluk K, Baeder TC, Tran J, Egan MM, Galea JT. Using a Chatbot to Address Psychological Distress Among First Responders. Poster presentation accepted for the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM) 2021 Virtual Annual Conference, 26-29 September 2021.

Publication 1 and abstracts 1 & 4 feature co-author MSW students Karah Greene (current) and Tanner Baeder (recent graduate).
 
-Congratulations to Dr. Alison Salloum and one of our online MSW students, Robb Holley, whose recent manuscript was accepted for publication. Two other authors are clinicians at the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay (Palantekin, S. Claudio Torres, A.M.).  

Salloum, A., Palantekin, S.; Claudio Torres, A.M., *Holley, R., & Storch, E. A. (in press). Stepping together in stepped care Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Case report of core components. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy.  

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