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Communities that Care: Interview with Richard F. Catalano, Ph.D.

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[Episode 57] Today's Social Work Podcast is on community-based prevention services for children and adolescents. I spoke with Dr. Richard F. Catalano , who along with J. David Hawkins, developed Communities That Care , a prevention-planning system that promotes the positive development of children and youth and prevents problem behaviors, including substance use, delinquency, teen pregnancy, school drop-out and violence. It is a system for identifying community needs, matching those needs to evidence-based prevention programs, and evaluating the outcomes. The system has been used in dozens of communities around the United States, and has demonstrated effectiveness in reducing problem behaviors and promoting positive youth development. Download MP3 [30:47] But before we get to the interview, I want you to imagine for a moment how you would work with a pregnant 16-year old sexual abuse survivor who was addicted to crack, semi-illiterate, suicidal, diagnosed with bipolar disorder,...

Suicide and Black American Males: Interview with Sean Joe, Ph.D.

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Today�s Social Work Podcast is on Suicide and Black American Males. Why suicide and Black Americans? Well, there is a belief among most Americans, and particularly among African American adults, that Black Americans do not kill themselves (Joe, 2006). When we think of violent death among Black Americans we think of homicide. Suicide is thought of as a �White� problem. While it is true that suicide was not a leading cause of death for African Americans 40 years ago, today it is the third leading cause of deaths among African Americans 15 � 24 years of age. So why Black American Males specifically? Well, among all racial and ethnic groups, the suicide rate is lowest among Black American females. Given that Black American males, particularly youth, are over-represented in social services, social workers need to be aware of the risk for suicide, and prepared to provide potentially life-saving services. One thing that makes social workers professionals is that we are trained to see things t...

Pediatric Oncology Social Work: Interview with Barbara Jones, Ph.D., MSW

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[Episode 55] Today�s Social Work Podcast is about social work with children who have cancer, also referred to as pediatric oncology social work. Although pediatric cancer is relatively rare event, making up less than 1% of the cases diagnosed annually, that single case affects the lives of countless others. From a treatment perspective, when a child is diagnosed with cancer, the whole family is diagnosed with cancer. Children are most likely to get cancer in their first year of life, and least likely between the ages of 5 and 14. If you are white kid in the United States you are nearly two times more likely to get cancer than if you are black. One in 300 boys and one in 330 girls will develop cancer before the age of 20. Every year 2500 children die from cancers with names like Acute Lymphoblastic Lukemia (cancer of the bone marrow - the most common childhood cancer), Hepatoblastoma (cancer of the kidney), neuroblastoma (cancer of the central nervous system), Ewings sarcoma (bone cance...