Professor Rubén Parra-Cardona co-led the training of the first generation of Chilean interventionists in GenerationPMTO. This is an evidence-based, structured intervention designed to help parents strengthen families at all levels. The Chilean trainees will become certified in culturally adapted versions of this intervention.
Current Issue
A bittersweet burden
Doctoral student Christian Vazquez is part of an interdisciplinary team that received the President’s Award for Global Learning in Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean region for 2020. The team will receive up to $25,000 and fully-funded travel to implement the project, “A bittersweet burden: Understanding causes and consequences of diabetes complications using design-thinking in Puebla, Mexico.”
Advocacy matters
Professor Michele Rountree is one of the co-instructors of Community Classroom, a UT Austin initiative that offers advocacy training and resources for concerned residents in low-income neighborhoods. Spearheaded by the Center for Community Engagement, this eight-week course cost $50 or less (depending on financial circumstances), and there’s only one prerequisite: a passion for making a […]
New LGBTQ-affirming training curriculum for healthcare settings
In 2016, researcher Amy Lodge from the Steve Hicks’ Texas Institute for Excellence in Mental Health administered a survey to staff at Texas local mental health authorities. The goal was to assess providers’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes on culturally affirming care to LGBTQ populations. Lodge found that a majority of providers felt that gender identity […]
Health and Latino children with IDD
Children and adolescents with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) in the United States are more likely to be obese than non-disabled children. In addition, Latino children have higher rates of obesity than white children. Despite these disparities, there is very limited research on health and obesity among Latino children and adolescents with IDD. Professor Sandy Magaña […]
A second chance
Social work major Qusay Hussein was featured on a Guardian article about people who are given a second chance in life. Hussein, a native of Iraq, suffered life-threatening injuries as the victim of a suicide bombing in 2006, when he was 17 years old. He lost half of his face and his vision. He came […]
Field Liaison of the Year
Professor Dede Sparks was selected the 2019-2020 Field Liaison of the Year by the Texas Field Educator’s Consortium. This award recognizes excellent work with field practicum students and contributions to social work education.
Awards from the Office of Field Education
Supporting adoption and guardianship
Last October the Steve Hicks School’s Texas Institute for Child & Family Wellbeing released findings from the National Quality Improvement Center for Adoption and Guardianship Support and Preservation. Through this five-year project, a multidisciplinary research team worked with eight sites across the nation (Texas, Vermont, Illinois, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Catawba County in North Carolina, […]
Making science inclusive
As a blind undergraduate studying psychology and trying to accumulate research participation hours, Nazanin Heydarian found that most studies either excluded her as a disabled student or were unwelcoming. She remembers showing up for a study and awkwardly rearranging the computer monitor and keyboard to accommodate her own usable vision while the research assistants watched […]