Research Office News

Professor Andy Grogan-Kaylor’s corporal punishment research was cited in the Guardian. Wales and Scotland have recently banned hitting, smacking and slapping children – and the children’s commissioner for England wants to introduce the same ban in England.

The 2016 meta-analysis of more than 160,000 children found that hitting as a form of discipline is ineffective at positively changing a child’s behavior, in the short and the long term. The analysis also found that children who were disciplined with physical punishment were more​​ likely to become aggressive, display antisocial behavior and exhibit mental health problems.

Associate Professor Terri Friedline’s op-ed in The Emancipator on how reviving post office banking could advance racial equity. “More than 60 million Americans – one-fifth of the population – live in communities without a bank. They’re left either to travel long distances to handle their money or use more expensive nearby options like check-cashing companies, payday lenders and currency exchanges,” writes Friedline. Boston University’s Center for Antiracist Research and The Boston Globe’s Opinion team are collaborating to resurrect and reimagine The Emancipator, the first abolitionist newspaper in the United States, founded more than 200 years ago.

Los Angeles recently opened more than 40,000 bank accounts – one for every first-grader in the Los Angeles Unified School District and contributed $50 to the students’ accounts. William Elliott discussed the LA program and advantages of children’s savings accounts with Here & Now. “Research shows that even small amounts of savings can open up possibilities for kids who might ordinarily never be able to save for college,” says Elliott.

Field Faculty Rosalva Osorio Cooksy and Clinical Professor Julie Ribaudo were part of the national task force that developed the Specialized Practice Curricular Guide for Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health, which was released in early April. The guide is part of the Council on Social Work Education’s (CSWE) Curricular Guide Resource Series.

Osorio Cooksy was part of the team developing Competency 5: Engage in Policy Practice. Ribaudo serves on CSWE’s National Task Force Steering Committee and led the team developing Competency 8: Intervention with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities. 
 
“The aim of the guide and the institute is to close the gap in social work education related to infants, young children and their caregivers. Despite a growing need for infant and early childhood mental health-informed professionals, very few MSW programs currently include related content in their curriculum,” said Ribaudo. “The guide offers materials, activities, and assignments that can be woven into almost any course related to work with children and families, especially in the field of mental health, school social work, medical social work, and child welfare.”
 
“My hope is that more social work programs implement infant and early childhood mental health content as there is a high need to build infant and early childhood workforce,” said Osorio Cooksy.  “Our infants, young children and families need support to build strong relationships.”

Clinical Associate Professors Dan Fischer and Debra Mattison, and Assistant Professor Anao Zhang are all members of Interprofessional Education (IPE) teams that won 2022 IPE Innovation & Excellence Awards. Fischer is part of the Effective Leadership Team. Mattison and Zhang are members of the Discharge Planning Simulation Team. Field Faculty Rosalva Osorio Cooksy had a poster as an Interprofessional Leadership Fellow. 

The awards were established to recognize and celebrate interprofessional education and practice across U-M’s health sciences schools, and were presented on Health Professions Education Day on April 5, 2022.

Professor Luke Shaefer has received the 2021 U-M President’s Award for Public Impact. This award honors individuals whose research and expertise tangibly address a major public-sector challenge.

Shaefer is a leading scholar of contemporary American social welfare policy and the inaugural director of U-M’s Poverty Solutions. He is co-author of the acclaimed book, “$2 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America,” which helped lay the groundwork for current anti-poverty legislative efforts, including President Biden’s American Rescue Plan.

“It means a great deal to me to be at a university that has an award like this honoring public engagement. I think it really lifts up the importance of this kind of work,” Shaefer said. “I’m deeply honored to be a recipient because I greatly admire the scholars who have received it in the past.

The School of Social Work has again been named the nation’s top social work school in U.S. News & World Report’s 2023 Best Graduate School rankings, which were published today.

Professor Lisa Wexler’s research is featured in an article on resilience, which is the April 2022 cover story of NIH News in Health. Wexler discusses how tapping into protective factors — including cultural traditions such as ceremonies, teachings and practices — can help build resilience.