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Research & Scholarship

The UBC Okanagan School of Social Work is dedicated to innovative and diverse methods of professional education. Its faculty is committed to supporting collaborative, inter-disciplinary research opportunities for faculty and students at the undergraduate and graduate level.

Here are just a few examples of research that is currently being carried out by faculty members from the School of Social Work:

Immigrant Health

Dr. Shirley Chau is the Principal Investigator of a study on the health of immigrants in small cities. This study seeks to illuminate the experience of immigrants’ settlement experience related to their health and wellbeing. An in-depth understanding of the factors that affect their health and wellbeing from the point of view of immigrants is greatly needed in the literature and for evidence-informed decision making in clinical practice and social policy. Co-investigators and collaborator from UBC Okanagan, University of Calgary, and University of Manitoba make up the research team. This research project is funded for three years by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). 

Child Welfare Policy and Practice

The Centre for the Study of Services to Children and Families

Dr, Susan Wells was awarded infrastructure funding from CFI to establish a unique research Centre dedicated to identifying the differential effectiveness of child welfare interventions with specific Canadian populations. Briefly stated, the research will concentrate on child welfare services with specific reference to the questions: what works, for whom, and under what circumstances.

The Centre for the Study of Services to Children and Families will be housed at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in the Okanagan Valley. Following the establishment of research priorities, projects will be designed and funded to build a systematic body of evidence to support interventions that work for Canada’s children and families. Centre research will provide evidence to support the successful treatment of children and families at risk for abuse and neglect and seek to identify the most cost-effective interventions available, research heretofore missing or underdeveloped – in the University, British Columbia, and Canada at large.

Over time, the collective findings from this body of work will aid in reducing the human and financial costs of maltreatment. Additionally, attention to diverse populations will answer longstanding questions about the most effective methods for achieving positive outcomes among specific groups of people. This attention to diverse populations is exceedingly important as Canada struggles to redress the many wrongs of the past associated with child welfare services, The Centre invites participation of all who may benefit from the findings of its research and looks forward to ongoing conversations with members of the community seeking to provide the best support possible to children and families in their own communities.

Aboriginal Child Welfare

Judy Gellispie  research interests are in the area of policy approaches to strengthen the role of community in child welfare and interprofessional education in child welfare . She is currently the principal investigator on a SSHRC funded community-based participatory research project examining community networking to enhance Aboriginal Child Welfare.

Interprofessional Practice in Child Welfare

Judy Gellispie is a co-investigator on an interdisciplinary project funded through a UBC Integration of Teaching and Research grant that brings undergraduate nursing, education, and social work students together in a learning community to examine issues of interprofessional practice in child welfare.

The Social-Psyche Theoretical Research Program

Dr. Brian Rasmussen and Dr .Daniel Salhani are collaborating on a theoretical program that attempts to combine critical social theories with psychodynamic theories in ways that can systematically inform clinical social work practice. Recently, their collaboration has resulted in three peer-reviewed publications:

Rasmussen, B. & Salhani, S. (2010). A contemporary Kleinian contribution to understanding racism. Social Service Review, 84(3), 333-350.

Rasmussen, B. & Salhani (2010). Some social implications of psychoanalytic theory: A social work perspective. Journal of Social Work Practice, 24(2), 209-225.

Rasmussen, B. & Salhani, D. (2008). Resurrecting Erich Fromm. Smith College Studies in Social Work, 78,201-225.

Their current work is focused on articulating a dynamic understanding of social class and classism and its relevance to clinical practice. Other program work includes investigating modern philosophy of social science, and specifically critical realism, as a foundation for an integrated psyche-social approach to social work theory and practice, and an investigation of the conceptual problem of adequately formulating a theory of agency and structure in social work theory and how this inadequacy affects clinical practices. Their intention is to collect all of this material into a book tentatively titled: Studies in psyche-social theory and clinical social work practice.

Investigating Adult Community Living

Dr. Rachelle Hole's research interests are in the area of disability studies, identity theory, discourse analysis and qualitative inquiry. She is currently a co-investigator on a funded project investigating Adult Community Living Services in British Columbia in collaboration with investigators at UBC's Vancouver campus (Dr. Tim Stainton, PI), Kwantlen University College, and the Roeher Institute. In addition, Dr. Hole is working in collaboration with Dr. Cynthia Mathieson (Psychology) exploring the theoretical concept of relational identities in the context of chronic illness.

Seniors' Health Issues

Dr. Mary Ann Murphy has recently been the Principal Investigator for two interdisciplinary UBC Okanagan research teams on issues closely connected to this region: 1) a visual and qualitative research study and museum exhibit on the families who lost their homes in the Okanagan Mountain Park Fires (funded by FORTIS BC and with the support of the Kelowna Museum) and 2) a Seniors' Housing Needs Assessment and Market Analysis for the District of Peachland (funded by the BC Real Estate Foundation and CHMHC) with the urban planning firm City Spaces in Victoria/Vancouver. Her current research program focuses on community development and health issues for seniors, including learning, culture, and homelessness. She is also undertaking research into new community service learning projects she is facilitating on the subject of aging, health and human rights.

Dr. Shirley Chau received funding to investigate social exclusion among immigrant Chinese seniors in Canada. (SSHRC funded; PI is Dr. Daniel Lai, University of Calgary.).

Intimate Violence

Dr, Shirley Chau is currently working on a project entitled Intimate violence against women living in rural and remote communities: Practices and interventions of service providers within child welfare and family law. (SSHRC funded, PI: Dr. J. Hughes, University of Manitoba)

Dissertation Focuses on Critical Theories in Practice and Education

Dr.Susan Hillock recently completed her dissertation on studies in critical, feminist, and anti-oppressive theories and how these theories apply in practice and in social work education.

For more information about these and other research and scholarship activities, please visit the Faculty of Health and Social Development website.

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Last reviewed 11/1/2011 10:12:55 AM