Pioneers of the 21st Century

TYPICALLY, YOU WOULD relegate robotic and wireless technology to the realm of engineers and scientists. In most cases, you’d be correct. However, in the School of Social Work at The University of Texas at Arlington, groundbreaking and innovative interdisciplinary research has become a core part of the school’s identity. The key is collaboration, and social work professors—working closely with colleagues all over campus—have become pioneers in their creative approaches to addressing society’s pressing issues.

“Collaborations with other disciplines to address social needs are part of our multidisciplinary approach to research at UTA,” says Holli Slater, assistant dean for research and faculty affairs for the School of Social Work. “It’s cutting edge, and it’s taking a holistic approach to improving health and the human condition.”

Multidisciplinary Research

Domestic violence is a pernicious issue that threatens the health and safety of one in four women and one in seven men in the U.S. every year. Researchers in the School of Social Work, in collaboration with researchers in the Colleges of Engineering, Education, and Science, are working toward a solution.

Right now, the researchers are quantifying an individual’s awareness of their rising anger. Pinpointing the brain signals associated with anger could eventually lead to the development of a wearable device that detects when the brain waves associated with anger begin to increase. The device would signal to the wearer that an outburst is imminent, giving him or her the opportunity to exercise learned techniques to calm down or even leave the situation.

Peter Lehmann, professor of social work, notes that mitigating instances of domestic violence could be extremely beneficial for society as a whole.

“Interpersonal violence is a serious social problem that impacts millions of women and children in this country on a daily basis,” he says. “It’s an incredible social problem that has psychological, emotional, and financial costs to every community in this country.”

Elsewhere, UTA’s social workers are engaging with various and wide-ranging departments on campus to help support aging and underserved populations.

Noelle Fields and Ling Xu, both assistant professors in the School of Social Work, are collaborating with Julienne Greer, assistant professor of theatre arts, and UTA Research Institute research scientists Kris Doelling, Mike McNair, and Jeongsik Shin to help improve the psychological well-being of adults. They’re doing so with the help of a 2-foot-tall robot named NAO that performs Shakespearean sonnets, tells stories, dances, and answers questions. The researchers believe interacting with NAO will allow older adults—who often suffer higher rates of loneliness, anxiety, and depression— to experience more social connectivity, thereby lessening feelings of isolation and mitigating depression.

Another project aims to help the Urban Inter-Tribal Center of Texas to assess the needs of the American Indian population in North Texas. Maria Scannapieco, professor of social work; Paul Conrad, assistant professor of history; Barbara Raudonis, associate professor of nursing; and Kelly Visnak, associate University librarian, will create and conduct a needs assessment of the urban-based American Indian population of North Texas, where there is a virtual absence of scholarship on their medical, social, and cultural situation, despite general awareness of an urban Indian health care crisis.

Both the NAO project and the partnership with the Urban Inter-Tribal Center of Texas received Interdisciplinary Research Program grants from UTA in 2016. The grants were awarded to proposals that reflected innovative ideas addressing high-priority issues in society.

“All these awards represent important research innovations and could create a real impact in society,” says Duane Dimos, vice president for research. “By taking advantage of the multiple perspectives offered by interdisciplinary research, the winning teams have proposed new ways of attacking real-world problems, again demonstrating the commitment of our faculty to the highest level of scholarship.”

Teaching Outreach

Each semester, the School of Social Work, through its Office of Field Education, places social work students with more than 600 agencies and organizations throughout Texas and across the country. This equates to more than 600,000 volunteer hours annually.

“Collaborations with other disciplines to address social needs are part of our multidisciplinary approach to research at UTA.”

“As part of the requirement to complete their degree, our Bachelor of Social Work students must complete 480 hours of supervised field education training, while our Master of Social Work students, depending on their academic backgrounds, must complete 480 or 960 hours of supervised field education training,” says Diane Mitschke, associate professor and director of graduate programs. “Our students don’t have to wait until they graduate to make a difference. Through their field internships, they’re already making a difference in the communities and organizations they serve throughout Texas.”

Dr. Mitschke is also a part of the effort to volunteer and give back to the community. Since July 2012, she has volunteered every Sunday to manage a local nonprofit health clinic that provides low-cost physical and mental health care to resettled refugees from Myanmar.

Mitschke manages social service and case management functions for the refugee clinic, which is housed in the Agape Clinic in East Dallas. In addition, she and Beverly Black, social work professor and Jillian Michelle Smith Professor in Family Violence Research, recently collaborated to address teen dating violence by educating resettled refugee youths in Dallas about healthy relationships.

Community-Focused

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, one in five children ages 13-18 has or will have a serious mental illness. Further, about 50 percent of students age 14 and older with a mental illness drop out of high school.

To that end, UTA’s Center for Clinical Social Work has partnered with the Arlington Independent School District to provide counseling services for students who show signs of mental health disorders or issues. Advanced direct practice social work graduate student interns provide the counseling services.

“This collaboration serves an important need for many of our students and families,” AISD Superintendent Marcelo Cavazos says. “Providing this opportunity for counseling is one step to improving the future of our students.”

In another youth-focused initiative, Courtney Cronley, associate professor of social work; Larry Nelson, associate professor of kinesiology; and David Hopman, associate professor of landscape architecture, plan to design and test a project called GOE! (Gardening and Outdoor Engagement) that aims to increase the physical activity and improve the mental health of youths who are homeless and at high risk of negative mental, physical, and behavioral health outcomes.

The long-term goal is to develop an evidence-based curriculum that could be replicated in other communities nationally. The project will use advanced data collection technologies already available in the School of Social Work and the Department of Kinesiology, and it will utilize UTA’s Urban Farm, sponsored by the Department of Planning and Landscape Architecture, as the test site.