6301 DISCUSSION 11
Candyy31
6301wk11response.docxResponse 1
Collapse Subdiscussion Kimberley Phillips
TuesdayMay 9 at 10:04am
One key takeaway that I got from my research proposal was the actual application of the ethical principles of social work and research (National Association of Social Workers, 2021). More than just an idea of what we should strive to be, applying these principles to actions required in the study offered a glimpse of real-world practice. Working to incorporate ethical guidelines, cultural sensitivity, and professional practice while preparing my study was a valuable lesson.
My proposed study about adolescent drinking as an emotional reaction to trauma is intended to offer screening and early interventions to social workers. The child or adolescent who has experienced trauma could be considered as at-risk for adolescent drinking with the realization of this connection, and early intervention such as education and work in emotional regulation and coping skills could help to curb this complication (Doba et al., 2022; Heleniak et al., 2021; King et al., 2022; Klanecky et al., 2019; Zaso et al., 2023). This, in turn, would avoid continuing to use alcohol as a coping mechanism into adulthood (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 2021).
Quantitative research does not claim control of confounding variables or sample representativeness, so there are fewer limitations in this type of research (Yegidis et al., 2018). However, there are some limitations possible in my proposed study. Since quantitative research relies on numbers and statistics, there is a loss of insight into what the participant is really feeling or thinks about the trauma and drinking as a coping mechanism. This is unavoidable in this method but may be utilized as an area to be considered further for research. The self-report component can cause variations due to problems with participant’s culture and differences in reporting about emotional regulation, as well as understanding some of the questions (Chen et al., 2022; Yegidis et al., 2018). This limitation would need to be stated in the limitations section so that it is a known consideration. One threat to internal validity is ambiguity in the relationship between drinking and emotional regulation (ER); perhaps, it could be that the participant was drinking, this affected their ER, and trauma occurred afterward (Yegidis et al., 2018). I think that this threat might need addressed by some pre-screening of participants to establish this timeline so that it is clear the trauma occurred prior to the drinking behavior.
References:
Chen, Y., Wang, S., & Ling, Y. (2022). Measurement invariance of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire for children and adolescents in Chinese and American adolescents samples. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 41(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/07342829221125312Links to an external site.
Doba, K., Saloppé, X., Choukri, F., & Nandrino, J.-L. (2022). Childhood trauma and posttraumatic stress symptoms in adolescents and young adults: The mediating role of mentalizing and emotion regulation strategies. Child Abuse & Neglect, 132, 105815. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2022.105815Links to an external site.
Heleniak, C., Bolden, C. R., McCabe, C. J., Lambert, H. K., Rosen, M. L., King, K. M., Monahan, K. C., & McLaughlin, K. A. (2021). Distress tolerance as a mechanism linking violence exposure to problematic alcohol use in adolescence. Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, 49(9), 1211–1225. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-021-00805-0Links to an external site.
King, S. A., Hubbard, S. M., Teeters, J. B., & Brausch, A. M. (2022). A longitudinal examination of alcohol use and emotion dysregulation in adolescence. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology. https://doi.org/10.1037/pha0000624Links to an external site.
Klanecky, A. K., Ruhnke, E. J., & Meyer, R. M. (2019). The interaction of child/adolescent trauma exposure, emotion regulation difficulties, and induced negative mood on tension reduction alcohol expectancies. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 33(3), 274–284. https://doi.org/10.1037/adb0000448Links to an external site.
National Association of Social Workers. (2021). Code of ethics of the national association of social workers. https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/Code-of-Ethics-English
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. (2021, May). Underage drinking. https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/brochures-and-fact-sheets/underage-drinkingLinks to an external site.
Yegidis, B. L., Weinbach, R. W., & Myers, L. L. (2018). Research methods for social workers (8th ed.). Pearson.
Zaso, M. J., Read, J. P., & Colder, C. R. (2023). Coping-motivated escalations in adolescent alcohol problems following early adversity. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 37(2), 331–340. https://doi.org/10.1037/adb0000788Links to an external site.
Response 2
Collapse Subdiscussion Andrea Marie Arra Davison
Andrea Marie Arra Davison ( She/Her)
MondayMay 8 at 1:27pm
Share a key takeaway from your research proposal with your colleagues.
My key takeaway from this proposal was the importance of culturally competent research practice. Learning about the importance of including various relevant cultures in research and how to incorporate them into the research process and dissemination were invaluable lessons. For example, ASD impacts all ethnicities. Therefore, I must include individuals from these ethnicities in my study. Failure to represent various ethnicities would limit the generalizability of my research (Yegidis et al., 2018). Likewise, when including different cultures in research, it is essential to ensure your research is culturally relevant and sensitive (Casado et al., 2012; Villagran, 2022; Yegidis et al., 2018). Researchers must take measures to capture language and cultural differences in the research design and analysis. Likewise, dissemination of the research findings should be accessible to various cultures.
Explain how your proposed research would inform social work practice.
Parents and caregivers of children with ASD often seek out and utilize complementary therapies such as EAI to help improve social functioning in their children (McKissock et al., 2022). Therefore, it is essential to understand the usefulness and effectiveness of EAI. Furthermore, if the research demonstrates EAI as effective in improving social functioning in children with ASD, social workers can provide EAI or refer ASD clients to EAI.
Finally, identify what you perceive as the potential limitations of your proposed study and how you might address those if you were to conduct the study.
Clinicians, teachers, and parents measuring social functioning may be biased in their ratings if they expect the intervention to be effective or ineffective. To remedy this potential bias, I would blind the raters to the intervention, meaning they would not know who received the intervention protocol or the mock protocol (control).
Another potential limitation is the individuals providing the intervention, and mock intervention may bias the results by their beliefs that the intervention or mock intervention will be successful or unsuccessful. I will remedy this limitation by blinding the providers as to which intervention is the actual protocol and which is the mock protocol.
Similarly, parents and children could bias the results by behaving in a way they believe they should be, based on the belief that the intervention will be ineffective or effective. I will also remedy this limitation by blinding the parent and child to whether or not they are receiving the intervention or mock protocol.
Another potential limitation is the measure's inability to assess improvements in social functioning accurately. I will address this limitation by using two standardized, valid, and reliable measures of social functioning in children with ASD in United States populations.
Because I will do my research at four different sites, another potential limitation is that variation will exist between sites. I will address this issue in two ways. First, I will strive to make all sites follow strict protocols and have the same trainer. Having the same trainer and protocol will ensure all sites are as similar as possible. Second, I will use statistical analyses to determine if the sites differ significantly in social functioning scores.
References
Casado, B. L., Negi, N. J., & Hong, M. (2012). Culturally competent social work research: Methodological considerations for research with language minorities. National Association of Social Workers, 57(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/swr002Links to an external site.
McKissock, H. B., Bowen, A., Dawson, S., Eldridge, L., McIntire, J., Stanojevic, C., Tamas, D., & McCormick, B. P. (2022). Manualized equine-assisted therapy protocol for clients with autism spectrum disorder. Therapeutic Recreation Journal, LVI(1), 39-54. https://doi.org/10.18666/TRJ-2022-V56-I1-10862Links to an external site.
Villagran, M. A. L. (2022). Cultural competence in research. School of Information Student Research Journal, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.31979/2575-2499.120103Links to an external site.
Yegidis, B. L., Weinbach, R. W., & Myers, L. L. (2018). Research methods for social workers (8th ed.). Pearson.
