This summer, the School of Social Work offered their second study abroad program to Spain. This program, led by Dr. Carrion and Dr. Joshi, focuses on the socio-cultural context of people's health in two diverse settings - Alicante (a port town situated in the Mediterranean coast) and Madrid (the capital city). In both locations, students visited various community/social service agencies, met with a variety of professionals, and participated in different service-learning activities. In addition, they also had exchanges with professors and students at the University of Alicante's School of Social Work (ranked #1 in Spain for the past 16 years). Furthermore, students had an enriching "immersion experience" in Alicante through the program's "Host Family" component in which they lived with a Spanish family for a week, learned about them, and also ate homemade delicious Spanish food. Here are reflections of two student participants:

Ariana Ayala-Soto (MSW student): "My personal experience with the Spain study abroad program was inspirational and unforgettable. I genuinely would travel to Alicante, Spain again or even live there if the opportunity came up. I participated in the study abroad program to India in 2018, and in comparison, the Spain program provided a different perspective on the role of social workers at the micro and macro levels. With the study abroad to Spain, my favorite aspects were the visit to the Center for Older Adults (El Centro de Adultos Mayores) and living with a host family. The center opened my eyes to the potential the United States could have in more comprehensive care for our older adults' population. The center also demonstrated how culture can play a significant role in healthy aging for older adults. Furthermore, living with host families was wonderful - it really helped us immerse in the context (versus staying in hotels/apartments). Our host mother really made the difference - she took us in as if we were her daughters, really bonded with us, and cooked incredible meals. She also allowed me to practice my Spanish speaking and translation skills. Another valuable aspect of the study abroad in Spain was our participation in the Occupational Therapy Conference. The conference provided some of us the opportunity to share how our participation in study abroad programs has impacted us professionally and personally. This also provided me the opportunity to practice my public speaking skills. I genuinely believe that college students should study abroad at least once. Learning while traveling brings more understanding of other cultures and makes you think more critically. Personally, it has demonstrated how I can better myself and my community, as well as the impact our actions have on a global level. Luckily, with the students for the study abroad to Spain, we created a blog describing our adventures in Madrid and Alicante and is a beautiful time capsule of our journey to Spain during our time in the School of Social Work."

Derek Kee-Haynes (MSW student): On our last day before traveling back to the United States, we had the opportunity to volunteer at St. Vincente de Paul. Derek described it as "an incredibly intense experience of serving the hungry and the homeless. This experience was quite illuminating as we witnessed people from several cultures and backgrounds eat together and "Break Bread" in the true sense of community. We served Eastern Europeans, Russians, Africans, Spaniards, and many ethnic groups. Watching all these groups eat together was so moving. We were all reminded of how fortunate we are not to be food insecure or without housing. This effort truly reinforced many of our core values as Social Workers - Service, social justice, dignity and worth of a person, and integrity, to name a few."

Vets2Success, Inc. is a local community-based nonprofit organization (501c3) that focuses primarily on the at-risk, homeless, and displaced local Veteran population and their families. Vets2Success aims to reintegrate Veterans back into the community through innovative workforce programs. These trainings were developed to help participants find their individual identity through food, brew, and agricultural programs. To learn more about their Vet2Chef program and potential evaluation opportunities, Drs. Christina Dillahunt-Aspillaga and Scott Young went on a site visit to one of their classes held at USF's Culinary Innovation Lab in Lakewood Ranch. To their surprise, Drs. Dillahunt-Aspillaga and Young were fully engaged in the program and made chocolate eclairs from scratch while talking shop. It was quite an interesting day outside the office!

Richard Dembo (Criminology)
Culturally Modified Family Based Therapy for Haitian Youth and Their Families in South Florida
Sponsor: University of Miami (NIDA, NIH flowthrough)
8/1/2018-5/31/2021
Amount: $51,010

Haitian youth are over represented in the Miami-Dade juvenile justice system, and received few culturally informed rehabilitative services. In collaboration with the Miami-Dade Juvenile Assessment Center (JAC), we are implementing and evaluating a culturally informed family intervention (CIFFTA) for use among JAC processed Haitian youth placed in diversion programs and their families. The adapted intervention will address drug use, sexual risk behavior, and delinquency risk, in a pilot randomized trial over a three year period.

Debra Dobbs (Aging Studies)
Palliative Care Education in Assisted Living for Care Providers of Persons with Dementia
Sponsor: Florida Department of Health, Ed and Ethel Moore Alzheimer's Disease Research Program
4/4/2019-2/28/2021
Amount: $249,996

Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other dementias are increasingly prevalent. AD is the sixth leading cause of death in the US. There have been considerable efforts to improve end-of-life care for persons with dementia (PWD). PWD are increasingly cared for in Assisted Living (AL) and 40% die in these settings. A palliative care education program for nursing staff in AL (PCEAL) was pilot tested by Dr. Dobbs in 3 AL settings consisting mostly of residents with advanced dementia. The pilot work showed PCEAL to be a feasible intervention. The scientific premise of this study is that PCEAL for nurses who provide dementia care in ALs in Florida will improve documentation of advance care planning (ACP) discussions, increase assessment of pain, and increase appropriate hospice admission for persons with dementia. This study is a two-year cluster randomized trial among 12 AL facilities (k=12) and PWD (N=225) with a baseline, 3, and 6 months post-intervention to examine the quality of care outcomes for PWD: 1) increased documentation of ACP; 2) increased assessment of pain; and 3) increase of appropriate hospice referral and use. A second study aim is to determine if improvements in outcomes from the PCEAL program are mediated through increased staff knowledge about palliative care.

Kathleen Moore (MHLP)
Effects of remote motivational enhancement and MySafeRX on post-detox engagement and retention in buprenorphine treatment
Sponsor: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
9/30/2018-9/29/2021
Amount: $2,145,349

Kathleen Moore, PhD, Research Professor in the Department of Mental Health Law and Policy at USF, is the Co-Investigator, along with Zev Schumann-Olivier, MD at Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) of a $2.25 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study the effectiveness of a technology-based mobile device platform entitled MySafeRx with the goal to retain more clients in medication-assisted treatment. MySafeRx is a multifaceted program, which includes a medication lockbox that can only be opened with a code from one of the program's recovery coaches. Participants are required to check in daily for videoconferencing sessions, during which they discuss daily recovery goals, assessed for safety, and provided a code to unlock their lockbox and access their Suboxone medication. Participants are being recruited from the Agency for Community Treatment Services (ACTS) outpatient detox prior to being discharged and incentivizing them with this innovative solution to medication delivery.

Kwang-Sun Cho Blair (CFS)
Project EBAS: Enhancing Behavior Analytic Services for Children with Severe Emotional and Behavioral Disorders
Sponsor: US Department of Education
10/1/2017-9/30/2022
Amount: $1,116,824

Project EBAS aims to prepare 29 high-quality scholars to serve as either Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBA) or School Psychologists who can provide evidence-based, focused instruction and individualized positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) in an interdisciplinary team-based approach for school-aged children with severe emotional and behavioral disorders. The project includes a 2-year Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) M.S. degree and a 3-year School Psychology Ed.S. degree programs. Project competencies address: (1) data-based decision-making, (2) focused instruction and individualized PBIS, (3) interdisciplinary collaboration and consultation, (4) intervention evaluation, (5) technology, and (6) legal, ethical, and professional practice. Project EBAS components include: (a) PBS Graduate Certificate Program, (b) coordinated and supervised practicum, (c) seminars, (d) Summer Institute, (e) FCIC trainee program, (f) portfolio development, and (g) case studies or thesis research in high-need schools. This effort represents partnerships with four Florida school districts (Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, and Sarasota).

In Spring 2019 the midterm grade policy changed to make midterm grades due week 7-8 in an effort to facilitate performance toward our student success initiatives. The Office of the Registrar's calendar was recently updated to reflect the new dates in accordance with the new policy. For the Fall 2019, midterm grading opens on October 7 and closes on October 18. The new dates should be reflected in Fall 2019 course syllabi. Click here for the Registrar's calendar.

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