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Author: Jessica Famularo

Profs. Lennette Azzi-Lessing and Margaret Lombe Receive Research Award for the Prevention of Violence Against Young Children in South Africa

Professors Lenette Azzi-Lessing and Margaret Lombe, BUSSW faculty and affiliates at The Center for Innovation in Social Work & Health (CISWH), were awarded a one year University-Community Partnerships research grant from the Institute for Early Childhood Well-Being at BU’s Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. The CISWH team will partner with the Children’s Institute at the University of Cape Town and True North, a non-profit organization in Vrygond, South Africa. The partners will build a knowledge base to guide the development of an innovative, evidence-based, and community-informed model to reduce violence against young children in South Africa.

“This project is a clear example of CISWH’s commitment to leadership in social work information-sharing, training, research and policy development in global health equity,” said Ellie Zambrano, CISWH executive director.

Centering Communities in Violence Prevention

The pilot project will highlight how an evidence-based model of violence prevention that responds to family’s economic and other needs and engages local communities reduces the risk of violence against young children in South Africa.

Building a Community and Research-Based Model

The partners will develop the model of violence prevention by:

  • Conducting a review of existing research to pinpoint gaps in knowledge
  • Hosting panels featuring scholars and community and program experts, including local government and community leaders, and parents with lived experience
  • Conducting a workshop combining literature review results and community and researcher-expertise
  • Publishing a scholarly paper and research briefs based on findings from the literature review and community gatherings

Read the full abstract here.


About the Institute for Early Childhood Well-Being’s University-Community Partnerships Research Award

The University-Community Partnerships Research Award supports research addressing new approaches for sustaining young children’s health and overall well-being locally and globally through collaborations among BU early childhood researchers and community collaborators. BUSSW Professor Ruth Paris serves as the associate director for research at the Institute.

 Learn more.

Infographic: Effective Family Partnership Tools to Drive Global and Local Learnings

This graphic was originally presented at the Association for Maternal and Children Health (AMCHP) 2021 national conference and created by Karina Branson at ConverSketch.

The Collaborative Improvement and Innovation Network to Advance Care for Children with Medical Complexity (CMC CoIIN) team at the Center for Innovation in Social Work & Health, alongside partner organization Family Voices National, has released a new infographic that shares CMC CoIIN’s learnings on how to build robust and meaningful family partnerships that lead to improved quality and innovation in clinical systems of care. The tips in this infographic can help elevate and integrate family leaders as equal partners in this important work.

The Problem

Bringing families on board is not done consistently and can be challenging. How does one get started with family outreach? How do clinics and healthcare organizations make sure that community voices are heard?

It Starts With Values

CMC CoIIN works with teams to embed family engagement by making sure that teams and organizations have three core values baked into their action plan:

  • Accountability: Outline an action plan to ensure that your team is truly working towards implementing family engagement and partnerships.
  • Equity: Everyone involved must be on the same playing field. Doctors, family members, and other members of the care team all play a valuable role in improving care for children with medical complexities.
  • Transparency: CoIIN organizes family leader affinity groups where family leaders can bring their true, and sometimes challenging experiences and work through them together before bringing them back to the larger team. Affinity groups provide a safe and supportive space that honors the community’s lived experiences and builds trust with the wider team.

Systemic Barriers

Values provide a good starting point for family partnership work, but it’s important to be aware of the inherent systemic barriers that prevent teams from putting them into practice. These barriers include:

  • Family leaders deserve to be paid for their invaluable work, however funding is often not allocated for this role nor is it built into medical family advisory board policies.
  • Families are often not seen as equal members of the care team.
  • Larger systems changes are required to break down silos and truly engage with families and build strong relationships.

CoIIN’s Proof of Performance

CoIIN has a proven plan to combat these systemic barriers:

  • Family engagement is required. Every single team must have family leaders engaged in their leadership team.
  • Flexibility is key when it comes to working with families and interdisciplinary teams. CoIIN takes an adaptive approach when it comes to supporting teams by incorporating their specific needs.
  • CMC CoIIN supports teams with technical assistance and coaching. They provide ongoing instruction on how to work together as a multi-disciplinary team where family partners play an active role.

Tools for Individual and System Change

Family Focus Groups Facilitator Guide
View the tool

Each state team is required to host focus groups with family members of kids who are enrolled in the clinical program. The focus groups asked families about their child’s quality of life, as well as overall family wellbeing. CoIIN developed a family-driven process in which family leaders come up with the focus group questions, approach, and structure. Rather than simply looking at hospitalization rates or other quantitative data, these focus groups give teams a fuller picture of children and family needs.

Family Engagement in Systems Assessment Tool (FESAT)
View the tool

The FESAT tool helps teams understand family engagement’s role within a medical system. Teams will assess family engagement within four categories and score themselves before coming together to discuss progress and reach consensus on how the work can move forward. These four categories are:

  • Transparency: Do families feel like they know what’s going on behind the scenes in regards to their child’s care? Are family needs represented in decision-making and policies?
  • Commitment: Does the clinic really have commitment to family engagement and family partnership? Are families involved in tangible ways that can be measured?
  • Representation: Are diverse families represented in systems level decisions? Does your family leader and general interdisciplinary team match the patient population that you’re working with in terms of different identities i.e. race, disability status, etc.?
  • Impact: Does the work that you’re doing in terms of family engagement and partnership actually make a difference? Are the patients who are coming into the clinic feeling the effects of these efforts?

 

View Infographic

 

CMC CoIIN is an HRSA-funded project that aims to improve the quality of life for children with medically complex conditions and their families, and increase the cost-effectiveness of their care. The project is housed at the Center for Innovation in Social Work & Health (CISWH) at Boston University School of Social Work.

For more information on the CMC CoIIN’s work around family engagement and family partnership, please visit their website.

CISWH’s Prof. López Joins BU Colleagues and Students to Support Migrant Communities at Texas Border

Photo by Barbara Zandoval on Unsplash

Dr. Luz M López, director of CISWH’s Global Health Core and clinical professor at BUSSW, will join a Border Studies Program at the Texas border from March 4 – March 14, 2022. The program is focused on identifying practices to best support migrants at the Rio Grande Valley Texas border—an area that includes Brownsville and McAllen, Texas, and Matamoros and Reynosa, Mexico. Prof. López will join Dr. Carrie Preston, director of the Boston University Kilachand Honors Program and co-founder of the Initiative in Forced Displacement; and Dr. Muhammad Zamad, professor of Biomedical Engineering. A group of 9 BU students, including dual degree MSW/MPH graduate student, Sharette Bello-Suazo, fill out the BU team headed to Texas next month.

The BU team will collaborate with Refugee Services of Texas, The Rio Valley Relief Project, La Posada Providencia, and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Social Work, organizations currently working with displaced families in the area.

“[Our Texas partners] wanted a social work perspective and clinical mental health support. They learned about the work I had been doing previously with trauma and immigrants and refugees, and I was very happy to collaborate,” said Prof. López.

Displaced people come to the United States border escaping violence, fear, and trauma, only to be faced with more of the same upon arriving in Mexico and the U.S.

“Some are in tents on the border. Some are in detention centers in very difficult conditions, and some are hosted by families or organizations in the area. The goal of this trip is to interview those who are displaced and learn more about the conditions so we can determine how we can contribute and fill in gaps,” Prof. López added.

The COVID-19 pandemic, as well as evolving political and policy challenges are additional hurdles for migrants, and will also be topics of the BU team’s research. Once the initial study is completed, the team hopes to arrange support groups for the families that are waiting for their immigration status, giving them space to talk about their emotional needs. The group aims to provide support to overburdened staff as well, in addition to providing translation and documentation services.

“This is the first iteration of the IFD Border Studies Program, and we are eager to provide additional support for ongoing initiatives to build on what we learn,” said Dr. Carrie Preston. 

Prof. López hopes the border program will serve as a learning opportunity for students. “My intention is to also see if we can further collaborate with our partners in Texas and give our students practical and skill-building experience providing services to those families.”

Rather than a one-and-done research initiative, Prof. López sees the Border Studies Program collaboration as a way to provide sustainable, community-centered support to migrant communities.

4/11: The 2022 Hubie Jones Lecture in Urban Health With Representative Jon Santiago

Transforming Health Through Urban Leadership

Monday, April 11, 2022

4:30 – 6:00 PM
Zoom; BU Trustees Ballroom, 1 Silber Way

A Hybrid Event Presented by
Representative Jon Santiago

 

View the Recording

 

Join the Center for Innovation in Social Work & Health and Massachusetts State Representative Jon Santiago for the 2022 Hubie Jones Lecture in Urban Health. As a practicing ER physician, veteran, and Mass. State Representative serving Boston, Rep. Santiago will share how physicians and social workers can harness their power to inform legislation and help build a healthcare system grounded in equity and social justice.

Program:

4:30 pm: Opening remarks by Ellie Zambrano, CISWH executive director
4:35 pm: Introduction by Dean Jorge Delva, BU School of Social Work
4:37 pm: Representative Jon Santiago presents
5:10 pm: Q&A with Dean Delva and Representative Santiago
5:25 pm: Q&A with in-person and Zoom audience
5:45 pm: Closing remarks by Ellie Zambrano

Content Level: Intermediate

Continuing Education Credit Info:

The target audience of this lecture and discussion is LICSW, LCSW, LSW, LSWA and other health care professionals. Transforming Health Policy Through Urban Leadership is approved by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program to be offered by the Center for Innovation in Social Work and Health as an individual course. Individual courses, not providers, are approved at the course level. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. ACE course approval period: 4/11/2022 – 4/11/2024. Social workers completing this course receive 1.5 continuing education credits. 

1.5 national continuing education credits (free) are available to social workers licensed in the United States after the completion of a brief post-event quiz. The event will provide intermediate-level content and must be attended live in order to receive CE credits. If you would like to receive credits, please provide your license number during registration. The post-event quiz will be sent out at the end of the event and will be a Qualtrics quiz. Applicants will need a score of 70% or higher to receive the CE certificate, which will be sent via email. Questions? Contact [email protected]. 

Learning Objectives:

  • Demonstrate how the role of health providers can influence and change health policy and legislation
  • Explain how social determinants of health exposes inequities in health care systems
  • Identify ways that intersectionality can be addressed within healthcare

Accessibility:

Boston University strives to be accessible, inclusive, and diverse in its facilities, programming, and academic offerings. Your experience in this event is important to us. If you have a disability (including but not limited to learning or attention, mental health, concussion, vision, mobility, hearing, physical or other health-related issues), requiring communication access services for the deaf or hard of hearing, or believe that you require a reasonable accommodation for another reason, please contact the event organizer at [email protected] to discuss your needs.

About Jon Santiago

Service to others is what drives Representative Jon Santiago. As an ER doctor at Boston Medical Center, former volunteer in the Peace Corps, and captain in the U.S. Army Reserves, Representative Santiago’s life has been focused on serving his community. He’s taken these experiences to Beacon Hill and now advocates for Boston as a state representative.

Representative Santiago has fought to address health disparities and combat the opioid epidemic as a state representative in the Massachusetts Legislature. Santiago secured millions of dollars for his neighborhood to address the opioid crisis, helped to preserve and expand affordable housing, and worked to pass a once-in-a-generation education reform bill. 

Santiago also successfully lobbied the MBTA to preserve the #43 MBTA bus, protecting vital public transportation serving seniors and vulnerable communities. Santiago is proud to have been a leader in one of the most productive and progressive legislative sessions in recent memory. 

About Hubie Jones

Hubie Jones (’57), dean emeritus and the School of Social Work dean from 1977 to 1993, helped shape Boston’s civic landscape for over forty-five years, and has been integral in numerous community organizations within Boston’s African American population and throughout all Boston neighborhoods.

As associate and executive director at Roxbury Multi-Service Center in 1967, his Task Force on Children Out of School (now Massachusetts Advocacy Center) published the report The Way We Go to School: The Exclusion of Children in Boston, which led to the first-in-the-nation enactment of two landmark laws that focused on special education and bi-lingual education.

In 2010, Jones received the Purpose Prize, a national prize awarded to select individuals over 60 carrying out encore careers and using their skills and experience to make a difference in their communities and the nation.

Established by an anonymous donor, the Hubie Jones Lecture in Urban Health fund is partially endowed at $50,000. Additional support is being sought from alumni and friends. To make a donation in support of the fund, please click here to make a contribution.

About the Hubie Jones Lecture in Urban Health

The Hubie Jones Lecture in Urban Health is an annual symposium that addresses vexing health issues, featuring national and international leaders at the intersection of health and social justice. The series was established in 2012 by an anonymous donor to honor the vision of Hubie Jones and is hosted by the Center for Innovation in Social Work & Health.

Alumni and friends are encouraged to continue Hubie’s legacy through donations to the Hubie Jones Fund for Urban Social Work Practice. Your support will fund scholarships that help deserving students pursue an MSW degree, as well as research and programs in service of the BU School of Social Work’s urban mission. To make a donation, please click here.

Remembering CISWH Advisory Board Member Dr. Paul Farmer

Photo by John Ra, Courtesy of Partners in Health

The Center for Innovation in Social Work and Health (CISWH) at Boston University School of Social Work mourns the loss of advisory board member and dear colleague Dr. Paul Farmer, who passed away early this week in Rwanda at the age of 62. Dr. Farmer helped guide the Center’s work on global health equity initiatives and strategic partnerships in Africa.

A medical anthropologist and physician, Dr. Farmer dedicated his life to improving health care for the world’s poorest communities. He co-founded international non-profit Partners in Health (PIH) in 1987 to provide quality health care and advocate for those living in poverty. Dr. Farmer led teams in 13 countries over the past 26 years, developing sustainable, community-based strategies for global health care.

The Center’s board chair, Carla Meyer shared, “Paul was a dear friend and inspiration. His loss is irreplaceable. At this time of global pandemic, his insight that – until all receive equitable health care, none will be safe – is more pertinent than ever before. We must find a way to carry on his important work.”

“Paul was a humanitarian, an innovator with a relentless commitment to addressing human rights to improve the lives of the most impoverished populations around the world,” said Dr. Jorge Delva, dean of the BU School of Social Work and Paul Farmer Professor and director of CISWH. “He was a person with a great sense of humor and kindness.”

Dr. Luz Lopez, CISWH Global Health Core director reflected on her work with Dr. Farmer, “Dr. Farmer was actively involved as a board member of CISWH. He was a physician committed to humanitarian work who pioneered new community-based treatment strategies and improved access to quality health care globally. He was a champion for global health and social justice.”

“Dr. Farmer demonstrated the importance of strengthening partnerships abroad to support and bring resources to communities experiencing poverty and health disparities. CISWH continues to honor his work by fostering strategic partnerships in southern Africa and Latin America” said Ellie Zambrano, executive director at CISWH.

The global health equity community faced an incredible loss this week. Dr. Farmer’s impact is immeasurable. However, colleagues, mentees, and partners in the fight for global health equity have made it clear they are determined to carry on his legacy and shared mission.

Boston Globe: Prof. Wilkinson Says Hospital’s Expansion Plans Are Bad for Health Care

Access to quality health care is a social determinant of health. In this letter-to-the-editor, CISWH Leadership Core Director and BUSSW Prof. Geoffrey Wilkinson warns against Mass General Brigham’s continued expansion into affluent suburbs, which could have a negative impact on health equity and underserved communities.

Excerpt from “Pounding Footsteps You Hear Belong to Mass General Brigham” by Prof. Wilkinson, originally published on The Boston Globe: 

“I’m reminded of pharmaceutical company ads designed to drive consumer demand for products with questionable value as compared with effective, less expensive drugs. In MGB’s case, we should have a voice-over warning about all of the potentially dangerous side effects that may occur if the DPH accedes to the health care giant’s demands: ‘These projects may raise your health insurance rates, gut the state’s cost-containment goals, and imperil existing health providers. Don’t take this product if you have concerns about racial health disparities, property tax exemptions for rich corporations, or equitable distribution of health resources.'”

Read the full letter.

Learn More About Prof. Wilkinson’s Research