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DSW Research

Hā Kūpuna, the National Resource Center for Native Hawaiian Elders

Hā Kūpuna, the National Resource Center for Native Hawaiian Elders, is one of three National Resource Centers for Native Elders funded by the U.S. Administration on Aging (AoA), Department of Health and Human Services. Funded since 2006, Hā Kūpuna seeks to improve health and increase life expectancy of our treasured kūpuna (Native Hawaiian elders).

Hawai’i Child Welfare Education Collaboration

The Hawaiʻi Child Welfare Education Collaboration is a partnership between the Department of Human Services Child Welfare Services (CWS) and the Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health, Department of Social Work (DSW) to train Master of Social Work (MSW) students to work in public child welfare.

Overdose Data to Action (OD2A)-Care Coordination and Capacity Building (C3)

The OD2A-C3 Project is a grant-funded program by the CDC Overdose Data to Action (OD2A) Project through the Hawaiʻi State Department of Health, Behavioral Health Administration and is managed by a team from the Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

The Hawaiʻi “Overdose Data to Action (OD2A)-Care Coordination and Capacity Building (C3) ” provides activities and resources for social workers and other health and human services providers to address opioid misuse, abuse, and overdose.


RECENT PUBLICATIONS

(To see Recent Publications, please click on this link)


RESEARCH COLLABORATIONS

University and Community

  • R.Arndt – Region XII Representative, National Association of Social Workers, Past President NASW-Hawai`i, Commissioner on CSWE Commission on Membership and Professional Development, and serves on the UH-Mānoa Hawai`i Interprofessional Education Committee.
  • C.Bersamira – Serves on the Hawai`i State Department of Health – Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division Hawai`i Opioid Initiative, State Epidemiological Outcomes Workgroup.
  • K.Braun – Serves as president, Active Aging Consortium Asia Pacific, a network of gerontologists from 30+ countries committed to promoting positive views of aging and supporting programs to enhance life long learning and productivity; Member, National Research Mentoring Network.
  • M.DeMattos – Mr. DeMattos partners with JABSOM’s Native Hawaiian Center on Excellence to implement the Native Hawaiian Interdisciplinary Health Program.
  • M.Godinet – Editorial Board member, Urban Social Work; Peer Reviewer: Journal of Social Work,Journal of Child and Family Studies, Asian American Journal of Psychology, British Journal of Social
    Work, Current Psychology, European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry; Program committee member, Susannah Wesley Community Center.
  • J.Guo – Serves as a member of the UH Mānoa Study Abroad Council; served as the 2018 Convener for Special Interest Group (SIG) on work, family and social policy at the Annual Conference of Society of Social Work Research (SSWR); Current Chair, CSWE Social Welfare Policy and Policy Practice Track;Member, CSWE Council on Global Learning and Practice; Associate editor, Journal of Family and Economic Issues; Member, Hawaii Maternal and Infant Health Collaborative, breastfeeding strategic planning team.
  • S.Hong – Serves on the Board of the Korean Immigration Research Institute in Hawai`i; Member, Korean Adoptees of Hawai`i (KAHI); Vice President, Ewha Women’s University Alumnae Association in Hawai`i.
  • T.Kreif – Advisory Board Member, We Are Oceania; NASW Hawai`i Legislative Committee Chair & PACE member; Member, Council on Social Work Education Special Commission to Advance Macro Practice in Social Work; Non-Veterinarian Member, Hawai`i Veterinary Medical Association Ethics and Peer Review Committee.
  • Y.J. Lee – Dr. Lee collaborates with faculty from Boston University to study social support/strain and depression among older adults, using nationally representative data (Partner: Boston University).
  • R.Stotzer – Mānoa Commissioner on the President’s Commission on LGBTQ+ folks (UH system commission); Expert Witness on a case for the Civil Rights Commission; 07/17-present: Advisory Group Member, “An International Exploration of Trans Male Practices of Reproduction”, Principal Investigator:Dr. Sally Hines, University of Leeds; Ad Hoc Reviewer: Journal of Homosexuality, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Violence and Victims, Journal of the Society for Social Work Research, American Journal of Public Health; Editorial Board: Sex Roles.

Federal

  • National Institute of Health
  • National Institute of Minority Health & Health Disparities
  • National Cancer Institute Department of Health and Human Services
  • Administration on Community Living
  • Department of Justice
  • Office of Justice Programs
  • National Institute of Justice Health Resources and Services Administration 

State of Hawai`i 

  • Department of Health
  • Executive Office on Aging
  • Department of Health
  • Behavioral Health Administration
  • Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division Department of Health
  • Behavioral Health Administration
  • Adult Mental Health Division
  • Department of Human Services

Foundations and Non-Profits 

  • American Cancer Society
  • HMSA Foundation
  • Hawai’i Community Foundation
  • Susan G. Komen
  • Queen’s Medical Center
  • Hawai`i Pacific Foundation

DSW FACULTY RESEARCH AREAS

The Department of Social Work faculty are experts in substantive areas such as behavioral mental health, health equity, addiction, child and adolescent welfare, and gerontology.

Robin Arndt, MSW – Technology in practice and education, interprofessional education, lifelong learning and professional development/competency, values, ethics, & reflective practice, and leadership

Clifford Bersamira, AM, PhD – Addiction/Behavioral Health Policies and Service Delivery, Addiction/Behavioral Health Services and Healthcare Reform, Recovery Support Services and Mutual Aid, Asian, Pacific Islander, and Native Hawaiian Behavioral Health Disparities, Behavioral Health Systems and Services Integration

Kathryn Braun, MPH, DrPH – Social behavioral health sciences, gerontology, indigenous health, minority health, health promotion and disease prevention, community-based and translational research, mixed methods, active aging

Rachel Burrage, MSW, PhD – Indigenous peoples, mental health, resilience, collective trauma, historical trauma, trauma-informed social work practice, qualitative methods, suicide prevention, culturally grounded intervention

Aimee Chung, MSW – Field Education Coordinator, field education, undergraduate education, asynchronous training and education, power-based personal violence, child welfare, differently-abled populations

Mike DeMattos, MSW – Chair of BSW program, youth and families, substance abuse training, indigenous social work practice, culturally relevant practice, program development, curriculum design

Meripa Godinet, MSW, PhD – Delinquency prevention, social and adjustment issues of Pacific Islander youth, multi and cross-cultural issues

Jing Guo, MA, PhD – Chair of Doctoral Program, social welfare policy, child and family issues, gender equity, international and comparative social welfare

Seunghye Hong, MA (MSW equi.), PhD – Chair of MSW Program, health/behavioral mental health, health disparities, healthcare access and service utilization, immigration, social, cultural, and developmental contexts

Francie Julien-Chinn, MSW, PhD – Child welfare outcomes including: permanency, well-being, kinship, and foster care, resilience, homelessness, houselessness, organizational workforce, mixed methods, and qualitative methodology

Sophia Kim, MSW, PhD – Socio-cultural determinants of health, stereotype/bias, mental health disparities, mental health literacy

Jennifer Kishida, MEd – Higher education administration, history of education

Theresa Kreif, MSW – Thompson School Assistant to the Dean, MSW Distance Education Guam Option Program Director, in collaboration with the University of Guam. International Social Work – Community Development, Social and Economic Development, International Social Work – Geographic Region of Micronesia

Yeonjung (Jane) Lee, MA (MSW equi.), PhD – Productive aging, gerontology, health equity and disparities, quantitative research, social work education

Wendy Lum, MSW – Immigrant and refugee rights, equity and social welfare, international/global social work

December Maxwell, MSW, PhD – Maternal mental health during pregnancy, Prenatal mental health needs of survivors of sexual trauma, Perinatal mental health among indigenous populations, Indigenous women’s rights and equity, Integrated obstetric healthcare, Historical and generational trauma, Maternal role transition, Body modification by survivors of trauma, Specific needs of survivors of sexual trauma with a PTSD diagnosis

Shelley Muneoka, MSW – intergenerational wellness, aging and later life, kānaka maoli population

Pua Paul, MSW – Child and adolescent mental health, Native Hawaiian well-being

Rebecca Stotzer, MSW, PhD – Director of Distance Education, prejudice, stereotypes and hate crimes

Jill Sur, MSW, MBA – Disability studies, student success and distance learning in social work education, nonprofit management

Amanda Yoshioka-Maxwell, MSW, PhD – Homeless youth, child welfare, HIV, behavioral health, social network analysis, applied statistics

Emeritus Faculty

P. Adams, MA, MSW, DSW
C. Browne, MSW, MEd, DrPH
L. Lister, MSW, DSW
N. Mokuau, MSW, DSW


GRANT and FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

Click on this link to view Grant and Funding Opportunities


RESEARCH RESOURCES

Office of Research Compliance

Office of Research Services

Office of Vice Chancellor for Research

Research and Innovation

Research Corporation of University of Hawaiʻi (RCUH)

Research Travel

 


BOARD OF REGENTS & UH MANOA FACULTY TEACHING AWARDS

Jing Guo
2019 Presidential Citation for Meritorious Teaching, UHM

Mike DeMattos
2008 Frances Davis Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, UHM

Kathryn Braun
1998 Board of Regent’s Excellence in Teaching Award, UHM

 

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