Art Installation by Claudia Salguero at the School of Social Work, Carleton University, in Ottawa, Ontario.

RESEARCH ARCHIVES

The Research Archives is a testament to the level of research conducted at the School of Social Work at Carleton University.

All Cared Out:
Psychological Health and Safety in Long-Term Residential Care Work (2015-2018)

  • Principal Investigator: Susan Braedley
  • Funded by: Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR)
  • This project is a sub-project of the MCRI Re-imagining Long-Term Residential Care: An International Study of Promising Practices. Drawing from interviews and field notes from ethnographies in 6 countries and four Canadian provinces. The research team are exploring the relationship between working conditions and workers’ experiences of compassion fatigue and burnout, including how workers cope and resist.
  • Current research assistants: Prince Owusu (PhD student) and Anna Przednowek (PhD student)

Promoting Resilience among Trans* Youth:
A Participatory Action Research Project on Trans* Representation (2016-2018)

  • Principal Investigator: Dr. Kenta Asakura; Collaborator: Youth Services Bureau (ysb.ca)
  • Funded by the Social Science & Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Development Grant
  • This Participatory Action Research (PAR) provides a forum for trans* youth in Ottawa to (1) critically engage trans* representations in current mainstream media, and (2) create representations that more accurately reflect their diverse and complex everyday lives. In this project, youth will engage in knowledge dissemination, using social media and other methods, as a form of social activism.
  • Current Research Assistants: Theo Hug (MA Student, Institute of Political Science) and Dillon Black (MSW student, Social Work)

Evaluating the Use of Simulation in Teaching Direct Social Work Practice (2016-2018)

  • Principal Investigator: Dr. Kenta Asakura
  • Funded by the Carleton University Research Start-Up Fund
  • This project surveys how Master of Social Work students engage in learning direct practice through participating in or observing a simulated client session in the classroom.
  • Current Research Assistants: Gareth Park & Brianna Strumm (PhD students)

What Does Social Justice Look Like When Sitting with Clients?:
Teaching Clinical Social Work from a Social Justice Perspective (2015 – 2017)

  • Principal Investigator: Dr. Kenta Asakura; Co-Investigators: Drs. Sarah Todd (Carleton SSW) & Rani Varghese (Adelphi University, NY)
  • Funded by the Carleton University Research Start-Up Fund
  • This grounded theory study uses interviews with social work educators in Canada and the U.S. to develop a conceptual understanding of and pedagogical approaches to teaching clinical social work practise from a social justice perspective.
  • Current Research Assistants: Brianna Strumm (PhD student), Alisa McClain (MSW student)

Tracking Digital Declarations:
Facilitating Evidence-based Innovation across Youth Centres

  • Principal Investigator: Dr. Sarah Todd
  • Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Partnership Development Grant
  • The Tracking Digital Declarations project explores digital tools for documenting attendance and immediate outcomes at volunteer-based, non-profit initiatives that can be shared with funders, stakeholders and researchers. Together with technology partner Distill Mobile, the national organization Youth Centres Canada and six grassroots youth centres, we will take a participatory approach to understand who uses youth centre programs and to establish tools to link sign-in data to participation patterns and program impacts.
  • Current Research Assistants: Julia Morris

Youth Evaluation Research and Exchange (YouthREX) Eastern Ontario Hub (2014-2017)

  • Principal Investigator: Sarah Todd
  • Funded by the Ministry of Children and Youth Services
  • YouthREX supports grassroots youth organizations to do evaluation and research
  • Current research assistants Anne MacKay, Jackie Stol, Alisa McCain (MSW students).

Interactive Simulation Software (2016-2017)

  • Principal Investigators: Sarah Todd, co-investigator Kenta Asakura
  • Funded by the Faculty of Public Affairs (FPA) and the Educational Development Centre (EDC)
  • This project focuses on developing software for students to engage with a simulated counselling client.
  • Current research assistants: Elaine Waddington Lamont (MSW Student)

Art Installation by Claudia Salguero at the School of Social Work, Carleton University, in Ottawa, Ontario.

Emerging Voices

“Emerging voices: how Syrian newcomers and other key stakeholders perceive Canada’s three sponsorship programs for refugee (re)settlement” is collaborative research funded by SSHRC as a three-city (Toronto, Ottawa and London, Ontario) project. For the Ottawa team – the project lead is Nimo Bokore.

The objectives of this study are to:

  • Establish collaborative, interdisciplinary research networks and partnerships related to Syrian refugee (re)settlement;
  • Exchange and mobilize the knowledge of key stakeholders involved in each of the three sponsorship models of sponsorship in the Syrian refugee (re)settlement process;
  • Identify ‘best practices’ for Canada’s refugee (re)settlement system;
  • Explore the transferable nature of the knowledge gained to other newcomer refugee communities and crisis situations and settings; and
  • Disseminate key findings from the project;
  • Current Research Assistant is: Katarina Koleva (a PhD Candidate at Carleton University – Norman Paterson School of International Affairs)

Evaluation of Women and Gender Diverse Services Program

Evaluation of Shepherds of Good Hope’s case management program aimed at housing chronically homeless women and gender diverse people (2017-2019)

Run by the Centre for Studies on Poverty and Social Citizenship (CSPSC)

  • Principal Investigator: Dr. Adje Van de Sande; Co-Principal Investigator: Dr. Katherine Larose-Hébert (Laval University)
  • Current Research Assistants: Katherine Occhiuto (PhD Student), Tara McWhinney (PhD Student)
  • Funded by the Local Poverty Reduction Fund (Ontario Trillium Foundation

Using a mixed-method evaluation design, this research evaluates the impact of new services being provided at Shepherds of good Hope. The purpose of this project is to determine whether the Women and Gender Diverse Services is any more effective than the existing program offered to women and gender diverse people at the Shepherds of Good Hope.

This program evaluation is intended to answer the following questions:

  • What are the needs of women and gender diverse people in the Women and Gender Diverse Services program?
  • Do women and gender diverse people who receive Women and Gender Diverse Services from SGH transition in greater numbers from homelessness to secure housing than those in the regular SGH programming?
  • Do these participants experience greater housing security and higher self-esteem than women and gender diverse people in the regular SGH program do?

Barrier Identification and Inclusion for Somali Youth

Identifying barriers faced by Ottawa Somali Youth in accessing post-secondary and vocational opportunities (2016-2017)

Run by the Centre for Studies on Poverty and Social Citizenship (CSPSC)

  • Principal Investigator: Dr. Adje Van de Sande; Collaborator: Somali Centre for Family Services of Ottawa (SCFS)
  • Research Assistants: Katherine Occhiuto (PhD Student), Tara McWhinney (PhD Student), Jennifer Colpitts (MSW Student), Ahmed Hussein (Community Researcher) and Ismail Hagi-Aden (Community Researcher)
  • Funded by the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) Seed Grant

In 2016, the Somali Centre for Family Services of Ottawa (SCFS) invited Carleton’s Centre for Studies on Poverty and Social Citizenship (CSPSC) to partner on the completion of a needs assessment focusing on the barriers faced by Somali youth in accessing post-secondary education, and employment training opportunities. In carrying out this research, the SCFS’s main objective was to address social and economic exclusion locally by inviting Somali youth (age 19-30) from the Ottawa area to engage in the conceptualization and design of resources that could best support their participation in education and vocational programs.

Postsecondary Education Connectors (PSEC) Research Project:
Exploring the unique experiences, opportunities, and challenges in accessing post-secondary education for Somali-Canadian youth in Ontario ( 2017- 2018)

Principal Investigator: Nimo Bokore

Funded by: Ontario Black Youth Action Plan: Postsecondary Education Connectors Fund

The objective of this study to learn about the unique experiences, opportunities and challenges in accessing post-secondary education for Somali-Canadian youth in Ontario. It focuses on post-secondary education and peer-mentoring programs by looking at access, costs, provision, etc., in order to understand what is currently available and what needs to be improved upon and in which ways.  It is designed to bring initial insight into youth-identified gaps and policy recommendations.

Current research assistants:

  • Christabel Martey, BSW, MSW (Project Coordinator)
  • Willian Felepchuk (PhD C), Indigenous and Canadian Studies at Carleton University
  • Kory Smith (PhD Student),  Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Carleton University