Research I. Week 11

RUNNING HEAD: METHODOLOGY

METHODOLOGY

Methodology: Secondary Trauma and It’s Correlation to Depression Experienced Among Silberman School of Social Work Graduate Students Comment by Melissa Meinhart: Incorrect file name

Silberman School of Social Work

Social Work Research I Fall 2019 Semester

Melissa Meinhart

Group 6: Hannah Tessel, Wanda Pena, Qurrat Ain, Rachele Ventrone

November 11, 2019

The mMajority of Silberman School of Social Work students, specifically graduate students, are most likely working with marginalized populations and clientele who currently do or have in the pastwho experience of have experienced trauma and hardships in their lives. To that regardThus, our group is interested in exploring if how secondary trauma experienced by Silberman graduate social work students affects their lives. This research study will focus on whether or not the secondary trauma that Silberman Graduate students experience increases their chances of suffering experiencingfrom depression when compared to those who do not experience vicarious trauma. Comment by Melissa Meinhart: Suggest to review your writing throughout to be as concise and direct as possible Comment by Melissa Meinhart: Very clear – well done! Comment by Melissa Meinhart: Graduate students of SW students?

Participants in this study will include 60 Silberman School of Social Work graduate students. All participants in the study will be volunteers and recruited using convenience sampling conducted by the four group members. In our first attempt, pParticipants will be first recruited via a Facebook Group named HCSWW Entourage dedicated to Silberman students. We will post a thread asking for interested participants to comment in order to reach out through either by email or FB Facebook messenger to indicate their willingness to participate with the surveys they need to complete. We will repost every day for five consecutive days. In another attempt we will set up an outreach table in the lobby of the Silberman School of Social Work. We will have surveys on hand to distribute to any participant who has time to complete them at our table. Additionally, we will have an email sign up for follow ups allowing any student an opportunity to participate even if they do not have time to complete the surveys at that moment. Our last attempt will be reaching out to our own personal contacts via emails and texts. In order to make sure we do not have any participants completing the surveys twice, we will make sure to ask on the questionnaire; “Have you completed this survey with another Silberman student in the past?” Comment by Melissa Meinhart: What kind of response rate is this? Comment by Melissa Meinhart: Very clear on the number but rationale is missing Comment by Melissa Meinhart: Very clear on the approach but rationale is missing Comment by Melissa Meinhart: Make sure to spell out acronyms first Comment by Melissa Meinhart: Actually, I’m not sure in this instance since I imagine this stands for “Hunter College Social Work…” but you might not need to spell it out if the group is actually named HCSWW. Suggest to double check this Comment by Melissa Meinhart: How will you ensure that the same people aren’t responding? Do you have any guesses regarding the type of student who is more/less willing to response Comment by Melissa Meinhart: Need to outline the rationale for this approach. I can appreciate the interest to include a range of methods, but there is a risk of multiple responses from the same participant – how will you mitigate against this?

Participants will complete an Informed Consent, Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale and a Patient Health Questionnaire – 9 Depression Scale. As our topic is on vicarious trauma, depression assessments can assist us in determining how the trauma is now affecting an individuals' mental health, especially depression. Our research group hypothesizes that Silberman Social Work students who experience secondary trauma are more likely to suffer from depression than those who don't. Our questions are if this trauma can impact depression when therapists/clinicians are providing help to PTSD clients. The questionnaire will be a very helpful tool to implement in order to measure the impact that a provider could suffer when providing help to others. Comment by Melissa Meinhart: I thought it was secondary trauma? Comment by Melissa Meinhart: Is this a secondary interest? I don’t recall reading it in the above. It could be an interesting topic – just needs to be clarified a bit earleir

The research design of this study was is non-experimental and correlational as it studied the relationship between the vicarious secondary trauma experienced and depression. The variables in this study were impact of experience working with traumatized, which could range from not at all to very much, and depression symptoms. This study is qualitative research because the method of observation to gather non-numerical data. This type of research refers to the meanings, concepts, definitions, characteristics, metaphors, symbols, and description of things and not their counts or measures. Additionally, it seeks to understand a given research problem or topic from the perspectives of the local population it involves. Qualitative research is especially effective in obtaining culturally specific information about the values, opinions, behaviors, and social contexts of particular populations. This study uses a systematic subjective approach to describe life experiences and give them meaning. Comment by Melissa Meinhart: Your scales are all quantitative! Stopped my review at this point – I think the assignment would benefit from a few more reviews from your group to streamline the language and methods. Please feel free to send me an updated draft before resubmitting. Looking forward to reading these revisions.

Our study is cross sectional due to the fact that at one point in time, it interviews a fresh sample and if carried out again, it would interview another sample instead of following the same participants over the course of some time. It would also be classified as an explanatory research study as it will not be just theoretical or hypothetical, but instead will aim to comprehend the cause and effect between different variables. In this case, it would be variables such as secondary trauma and depression. Furthermore, due to the nature of this study, we would be considered to have nonprobability sampling due to the convenience sampling. Thus, the non-random, effective, and convenience of our sample would classify our sampling as non-probable.

When defining our problem, the two major variables that are under study, in this particular research process are the; depression and social work students. Other variables that are to be taken into consideration include vicarious trauma and how it affects Social Work students particularly those from Silberman. In this particular case, the research will seek to understand the relationship between depression and vicarious trauma. The independent variable, in this case, would be vicarious trauma that students in Social Work experience. The criteria of selecting an independent variable are choosing one that can be controlled or changes within the experiment. In this particular case some of the participants would not have experienced vicarious trauma. The dependent variable on the other is one that relates to or rather is influenced by the independent variable. In this case, depression would be the dependent variable as some students not exposed to vicarious trauma are not expected to experience depression as those who are exposed to it.

The research study that would be utilized is a qualitative research design and specifically survey. The surveys would utilize manual and online platforms to ensure that it is done at the convenience of the participants. Only students enrolled at Silberman School of Social Work would participate in this process.

The vicarious trauma that Silberman Social Work students experience increases their chances of suffering from depression when compared to those who do not experience vicarious trauma. For this study the population that we are considering is 60 students from the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College. The instruction for the sample would be defined including the requirements and information needed. Students would be required to sign a consent form that would ensure that they have participated in the survey willing fully. Evaluation and analysis of the information would also take place in Silberman campus.

We have identified pros and cons that we may encountered while conducting the study, some of the pros are; working within the campus, the process would be relatively cheaper as the samples and people completing the survey are within reach, concentrating the research on a group of people who are most likely to experience vicarious trauma would produce accurate data as the conditions are relevant to the hypothesis, surveys are relatively easier to fill for the participants and this since they remain anonymous, it reassures them of the confidentiality of the information that they provide for the research. This would in turn encourage them to share more and reliable information about their condition. Cons that we have identified are; talking about depression for those who have this condition is not an easy thing especially among peers. Therefore, some of the participants may be uneasy about sharing certain information given that this information is relies on the honesty of the participants, it is therefore most likely that some information shared may be inaccurate and misleading, the sampling method in this case is not random as it requires participants to fulfill a criteria before participating in this process. This means that the process if non-probabilistic and hence may influence the results of the process. Comment by Melissa Meinhart: Missing survey

Measurement (~1-2 pages suggested)

a. Identify and operationally define your independent and dependent variables for the quantitative component. Make sure to include at least one standardized measure, as well as relevant sociodemographic variables.

b. Identify your overall interest in the qualitative component.