Utilization Of Social Services Research Articles

A Community-Based Participatory Research Approach to Identifying Facilitators and Barriers to Social Service Utilization for Food Pantry Clients in the South Bronx

Noting the importance of food assistance programs to low income families in New York City (NYC), the research questions for the present study were: (1) What are the facilitators and barriers to social service utilization for food pantry clients in the South Bronx?, and (2) Does receiving food pantry services serve as a point of entry for social service utilization? We surveyed 218 food pantry clients at a community-based, social service organization based in the South Bronx. Our findings indicate that being aware of local social services was the strongest predictor for utilizing social services. Social service utilization was also predicted by high use of the food pantry (weekly or more); high levels of food insecurity, depressive symptoms; and the ability to communicate ef-fectively in English. Given rising inflation costs and the continued higher expenses as-sociated with food consumption in the United States generally and in NYC specifically, our findings suggest that food pantry sites in the South Bronx bear the potential to be vital entry points for social service referral and utilization, particularly for the screen-ing and assessment of depressive symptoms. Given these findings, nonprofit leaders and social service funders should prioritize capacity building of food pantries as sites for the delivery of health promotion interventions and social services.

An incongruence between policy, practice, and cultural values: implications for mental health services in Namibia

ABSTRACT Mental health access, provisions, and utilization of social services in Namibia have seen challenges as well as opportunities for improvement. In this article, the authors 1) discuss Namibia’s antiquated mental health law and policies, 2) discuss the current landscape of social work and mental health in Namibia and similarly situated countries, 3) explore five-to-ten year projections for development, 4) discuss preventative and innovative solutions to address mental health in Namibia in the context of the grand challenge related to eradicate social isolation, and 5) explore opportunities for social work practice and research.

Predictive modeling for identification of older adults with high utilization of health and social services

Aim Machine learning techniques have demonstrated success in predictive modeling across various clinical cases. However, few studies have considered predicting the use of multisectoral health and social services among older adults. This research aims to utilize machine learning models to detect high-risk groups of excessive health and social services utilization at early stage, facilitating the implementation of preventive interventions. Methods We used pseudonymized data covering a four-year period and including information on a total of 33,374 senior citizens from Southern Finland. The endpoint was defined based on the occurrence of unplanned healthcare visits and the total number of different services used. Input features included individual’s basic demographics, health status and past usage of healthcare resources. Logistic regression and eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) methods were used for binary classification, with the dataset split into 70% training and 30% testing sets. Results Subgroup-based results mirrored trends observed in the full cohort, with age and certain health issues, e.g. mental health, emerging as positive predictors for high service utilization. Conversely, hospital stay and urban residence were associated with decreased risk. The models achieved a classification performance (AUC) of 0.61 for the full cohort and varying in the range of 0.55–0.62 for the subgroups. Conclusions Predictive models offer potential for predicting future high service utilization in the older adult population. Achieving high classification performance remains challenging due to diverse contributing factors. We anticipate that classification performance could be increased by including features based on additional data categories such as socio-economic data.

Barriers to Healthcare and Social Service Utilization Among Rural Older Adults Who Use Drugs.

The objective of this study was to understand barriers to healthcare and social service utilization among older adults residing in rural areas who use drugs. A cross-sectional survey of persons who use opioids or inject drugs in rural counties with high overdose rates across ten states was conducted. For this analysis, participants were restricted to only the 375 individuals aged 50 and older. They were asked about barriers to utilizing healthcare and social services. Multivariate analyses were conducted. The most common barriers were a lack of transportation and a fear of stigma. The average number of barriers was 2.53. Those who were either uninsured or homeless endorsed 37% more barriers. For every five-year increase in age, the number of barriers reduced by 15%. Efforts to reduce these barriers may include expanding eligibility for transportation and housing services and leveraging trusted community members to broker linkages to providers to overcome stigma.

Five-year follow-up of the iBerry Study: screening in early adolescence to identify those at risk of psychopathology in emerging adulthood.

The iBerry Study, a Dutch population-based high-risk cohort (n = 1022) examines the transition from subclinical symptoms to psychiatric disorders in adolescents. Here, we present the first follow-up measurement, approximately 3years after baseline assessment and 5years after the screening based on self-reported emotional and behavioral problems (SDQ-Y). We give an update on the data collection, details on the (non)response, and the results on psychopathology outcomes. The first follow-up (2019-2022) had a response rate of 79% (n = 807). Our results at baseline (mean age 15.0years) have shown the effectiveness of using the SDQ-Y to select a cohort oversampled for the risk of psychopathology. At first follow-up (mean age 18.1years), the previously administered SDQ-Y remains predictive for selecting adolescents at risk. At follow-up, 47% of the high-risk adolescents showed significant mental health problems based on self- and parent reports and 46% of the high-risk adolescents met the criteria for multiple DSM-5 diagnoses.Compared to low-risk adolescents, high-risk adolescents had a sevenfold higher odds of significant emotional and behavioral problems at follow-up. Comprehensive assessment on psychopathology, substance abuse, psychotic symptoms, suicidality, nonsuicidal self-injury, addiction to social media and/or video gaming, and delinquency, as well as social development, and the utilization of healthcare and social services were conducted. This wave, as well as the ones to follow, track these adolescents into their young adulthood to identify risk factors, elucidate causal mechanisms, and discern pathways leading to both common and severe mental disorders. Results from the iBerry Study will provide leads for preventive interventions.

Adverse Childhood Experiences, Women Who Are Sex Trafficked, and Social Service Utilization: Implications for Social Work.

The aim of this study was to examine the associations between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and the high levels of social service usage by women who are sex trafficked. Fifty (N = 50) women who were sex trafficked were surveyed using purposive and snowball sampling methods. The ACEs score for respondents ranged from 2 to 10 with an average score of 7.4 (SD = 2.3). Emotional and sexual abuse tied at 88 percent as the most frequently cited ACEs among the women in this sample. The prevalence of ACEs was significantly higher in this sample compared with known estimates in similar populations, ranging from 20 percent to 54 percent (p < .001). Considering the well-established link between ACEs and poor health outcomes, these findings point to the need for innovative and targeted social service provisions to women who were formerly sex trafficked that take into consideration the high level of ACEs of the women. Given the sociodemographic diversity of this sample, there is a need for services that are trauma-informed, innovative, and culturally sensitive in a variety of social service settings.

FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH SERVICE UTILIZATION AMONG OLDER ADULTS WITH FUNCTIONAL OR COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT

Abstract Social services (e.g., senior centers, adult day care centers) and home health services (e.g., in-home personal care, visiting nurses) have been found to provide numerous benefits, such as opportunities for social interaction, physical activity, cognitive stimulation, as well as personal care and regular medical check-ups for older adults. These services may have greater positive impacts among older adults with disabilities or impairments given their limited mobility and reduced capacities to perform daily tasks. However, as most previous studies have focused on the general population, our understanding of factors associated with service utilization among those with disabilities or impairments is limited. This study examined individual characteristics associated with social and home health service utilization among older adults with functional limitations or cognitive impairments using data from the Health and Retirement Study. Results from logistic regression models suggest that older age and being not married were positively associated with utilization of both social and home health services, while being foreign-born was negatively associated with the outcomes, adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics. Respondents with higher educational attainment tend to use social services more and are less likely to use home health services than those with less than a high school education. Rural residence was negatively associated with the utilization of social services, but not with home health services. Providing information on available services and enhancing access by increasing the number of service providers, transportation options, and financial assistance would promote utilization of supportive services among older adults with functional limitations and cognitive impairments.

HELP-SEEKING IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY: EXPERIENCES OF OLDER LATINO IMMIGRANTS NAVIGATING ASSISTANCE IN AMERICA

Abstract Access and utilization of assistance programs for older Latino immigrants focus on familismo or heavy reliance on family for help-seeking. The purpose of this paper is to document the different experiences of navigating services, including healthcare, for immigrants without family support. We also investigate the role of immigration status and age at migration on immigrants’ strategies for accessing and using social services. We conducted 141 in-depth interviews with immigrants 60 and over from Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela. We used a grounded theory approach to code and analyze the data. Three themes shaped the variation we found in the strategies used by older Latino immigrants without family support: formal assistance rooted in state and local policies; age at migration and the resulting patterns of individual agency and resources, and variation by country of origin that captured legal statuses as well as social networks. Our study provides a deeper understanding of a hard-to-reach population’s access to and utilization of social services. It highlights the heterogeneity of Latino immigrants and elucidates differences from culture-based frameworks to understand Latino immigrants’ underutilization of social services later in life. We argue for a shift to perspectives that address how multiple structural dimensions intersect to impact older immigrants’ use of social services.

Social services utilisation and referrals after seeking help from health services for self-harm: a systematic review and narrative synthesis

ObjectivesSuicide prevention is a major public health challenge. Appropriate aftercare for self-harm is vital due to increased risks of suicide following self-harm. Many antecedents to self-harm involve social factors and...

Dementia care navigation: A systematic review on different models and their prevalence

AbstractBackgroundDementia Care Navigators (DCNs) are professionals without clinical training, who provide individualised emotional and practical support to people living with dementia, working alongside clinical services. Navigator services have been implemented widely but the service offered vary without a consistent overview provided. The aim of this narrative systematic review was to describe and compare existing models, and to synthesise evidence regarding their implementation and impacts.MethodsThe review was registered on PROSPERO [CRD42021292518]. Three electronic databases were searched and included studies reported on a DCN model, defined as a service in which non‐clinically trained workers provide personalised advice and support to people with dementia and/or carers in the community. Two independent reviewers screened abstracts and titles and read through full papers for inclusion. Risk of bias was assessed using the Standard Quality Assessment QualSyst.ResultsWe included 13 papers (six studies). All models were US‐based and only varied by integration and training provided. Studies reported different degrees of impact on service utilisation and on symptoms and mental well‐being of people with dementia and their carers, with too little evidence to draw substantial/meaningful conclusions. One study evidenced greater impacts on people with more advanced dementia compared to earlier stages.ConclusionsDCN models have the potential to effectively provide non‐clinical support to people with dementia and carers from the point of diagnosis. Further research from countries other than the USA, focusing on the impact on social care and social support service access and utilisation, and utilising similar stablished outcome measures are required.

Organizational access points and substance use disorder treatment utilization among Black women: a longitudinal cohort study

IntroductionHealth and social service organizations, including the emergency department (ED) and public assistance programs, constitute a social safety net that may serve as an “access point” for substance use treatment utilization. Racialization of substance use disorder (SUD) and gender disparities in access to treatment contribute to differences in health and social service utilization, including substance use treatment for Black women. We therefore explored the role of various access points in facilitating the use of substance use treatment among Black women with substance use and involvement in the criminal justice system.MethodsWe used data from the Black Women in the Study of Epidemics (B-WISE) project (2008–2011), which recruited Black women who use drugs from community, probation, and prison recruitment settings in Kentucky. B-WISE is a three-wave panel survey collected on a six-month interval. We estimated dynamic panel models to understand whether time-varying use of services influenced women’s substance use treatment utilization over 18-months, adjusting for time-invariant characteristics. We stratified the analysis based on where women were recruited (i.e., community, prison, and probation).ResultsThe sample included 310 persons and 930 person-waves. For the community and prison samples, the use of an ED in the 6 months prior decreased women’s likelihood of subsequent substance use treatment use (Coef: -0.21 (95% CI: -0.40, -0.01); -0.33 (95% CI: -0.60, -0.06), respectively). For the probation sample, receiving support from public assistance (i.e., food stamps, housing, cash assistance) increased the likelihood of subsequent substance use treatment use (0.27 (95% CI: 0.08, 0.46)).ConclusionInteractions with health and social service organizations predicted Black women’s use of substance use treatment services and varied based on their involvement in the criminal justice system. Public assistance venues for Black women on probation may be a point of intervention to increase their access to and use of substance use treatment.

Pandemics Interlaced: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Wellbeing of Sober Living Home Residents.

This study aimed to discover how the COVID-19 pandemic altered the implementation of the social model of recovery in sober living homes (SLHs). Researchers analyzed associations between residents' feelings of interconnectedness, social service utilization, and relapse predictors throughout the pandemic. This study provides an understanding of how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted treatment of substance use disorder (SUD). This study used retrospective surveyed data from 105 SLH residents. Correlational analysis was used to determine the relationship between social service use, social connectivity, and relapse predictors at three different time points: February 2020, December 2020, and June 2021. Three residents underwent additional interviews. There was a decline in social service utilization from February 2020 to December 2020 with an associated decline in feelings of social connectivity. From December 2020 to June 2021, there was an increase in residents' use of social services with an associated increase in connectivity. There was a significant negative correlation between relapse predictors and number of supportive services used in February 2020 ( r = -0.217, P < 0.05) and in December 2020 ( r = -0.352, P < 0.001). In June 2020, there was a significant negative correlation between interconnectedness and relapse predictors ( r = -0.297, P < 0.05). The number of interviews was not sufficient for formal qualitative analysis. The results suggest the COVID-19 pandemic possibly interrupted the course of recovery in SLHs. These findings offer insight to how the pandemic impacted individuals recovering from SUD and suggest that SUD treatment professionals should develop interventions to enhance social connectivity to deploy in response to global stressors.

Socio-Demographic Determinants and Utilization of Social Health Insurance Services among Civil Servants in Bayelsa State

Background: Social health insurance is one of the possible organizational mechanisms for raising and pooling funds to finance health services with a view to improving health and well-being. Socio-demographic factors such as level of education, income status, family size, gender, and other factors all contribute to healthcare utilization. This study assessed the socio-demographic determinants of utilization of social health insurance services among civil servants in Bayelsa State. Method: A descriptive cross-sectional survey design was adopted with a population consisting of seven thousand and sixty (7060) civil servants in Bayelsa State. A sample size of 491 was selected using multistage sampling procedure. Data were collected with a structured questionnaire and analyzed using mean, standard deviation, and point biserial correlation at 0.05 alpha level. Results: The results of the study showed that the level of utilization of the national health insurance scheme among respondents was high (3.02±0.89). Utilization of social health insurance services had a significant relationship with socio-demographic factors such as gender (n = 491; r = 0.44; p&lt;0.01), household size (n = 491; r = 0.72; p&lt;0.01), educational status (n = 491; r = 0.54; p&lt;0.01) and income status (n = 491; r = 0.50, p&lt;0.01). Conclusion: The socio-demographic determinants of utilization of social health insurance services among civil servants in Bayelsa State were gender, household size, educational status, income status and availability of services. It was concluded among others that the Bayelsa State government should continue to strengthen advocacy programs in support of social health insurance scheme to all the civil servants in the State.

Exploring factors affecting government delivery of social welfare services using a multi-method approach

The reality is that social welfare services in Nigeria exclude more people than they cover, resulting in the deprivation of basic human needs such as water, sanitation, shelter, healthcare, and education that have hindered the betterment of the living conditions of the citizens (Nkpoyen et al., 2021; Okpa, 2022). This study explored factors affecting the government delivery of social welfare services in Nigeria. Five hundred and seventy (570) respondents’ opinions were purposively sampled using the 36-item Social Welfare Service Delivery Questionnaire (SWSDQ) and an in-depth interview guide. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square statistical technique, and Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software, version 20. As a supplement to the quantitative data, the qualitative data were analysed in themes. Findings from this study revealed that although all the respondents reported knowing about available social welfare services, 44.3% reported not accessing the existing social services because of such factors as political expediency, transparency, accountability, corruption, and perception of social service providers. A key policy issue, therefore, is the need to look into the eradication or mitigation of these factors ascribed to be hindering the delivery of social welfare services. This will expedite the blanket spread of the delivery, accessibility, and utilisation of social welfare services for residents, not just in the study area but across the country

Promoting health and social equity through family navigation to prevention and early intervention services: a proof of concept study

BackgroundHealth and social inequality are associated with multiple adverse childhood experiences including poverty, mental illness, and child maltreatment. While effective interventions currently exist for many health and social problems, large segments of the population experience barriers accessing needed services. In alignment with broader public health efforts to reduce health and social inequality in one state in the U.S.A., the current study describes the development and formative evaluation of a brief, low cost, portable model of prevention-oriented family service navigation called Navigate Your Way.MethodsCaregivers of children experiencing significant unmet health or social service needs were recruited to the study. Participants completed an initial and closing telephone interview which included measures of past and current family health and social service utilization, service barriers, parenting stress, and child internalizing/externalizing behaviors. Between interviews participants created a family service plan and received 10 weeks of telephone and web-mediated family navigation, at which time process and fidelity of implementation data were collected. Frequency and descriptive statistics are provided for participant demographic characteristics, service barriers, intervention engagement, and primary and secondary study outcomes. Paired samples t-tests examined changes in study outcomes between initial and closing telephone interviews.ResultsThirty two caregivers enrolled, twenty-nine completed the study. The age range was 20–59 (M = 39.5, SD = 10.0). The majority identified as female (96.9%, n = 31), racial/ethnic minority (56.2%, n = 18), and reported an average 10 barriers to care (M = 10.4, SD = 4.1). The most frequently reported service needs were mental health care, housing, food security, transportation, and health insurance. The mean duration of intervention delivery was 83 days. Most participants (82.8%, n = 24) were connected to one or more health or social services. Caregivers reported significant improvements to youth internalizing behaviors (d = 2.5, p = .05) and high levels of overall satisfaction with the navigation approach.ConclusionTelephone and web-mediated service navigation is a feasible and practical approach to supporting families in rapidly connecting to health and social care. Future research investigating the efficacy and implementation of Navigate Your Way in routine settings is indicated.

How the Global Violence Against Children and Youth Surveys Help Improve Pediatric Global Health.

How the Global Violence Against Children and Youth Surveys Help Improve Pediatric Global Health.

Socio-demographic factors affecting access to and utilization of social welfare services in Nigeria

The study examined the socio-demographic factors affecting access to and utilization of social welfare services in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, Nigeria. Quantitative and qualitative approaches were adopted to select 570 respondents from the study area. Probability and non-probability sampling techniques were adopted in the selection of communities, and respondents. The quantitative data were analyzed using frequency distribution tables and percentages, while chi-square statistic was used to determine the relationship between socio-demographic variables and access to and utilization of social welfare services. The qualitative data were analyzed in themes as a complement to the quantitative data. This study reveals that although all the respondents reported knowing available social welfare services, 44.3% reported not having access to existing social services due to factors connected to serendipity variables, such as terrain condition, ethnicity and knowing someone in government. Therefore, the study recommends that the government and other stakeholders should push for the massive delivery of much-needed social welfare services to address the issue of welfare service deficit across the nation, irrespective of the ethnic group and whether the community is connected to the government of the day or not, primarily in rural areas.

Relationship between social cohesion and basic public health services utilisation among Chinese internal migrants: a perspective of socioeconomic status differentiation

ABSTRACT Social cohesion and socioeconomic status (SES) have been widely considered important factors influencing health services utilisation, but little is known about the association between social cohesion and health services utilisation across different SES groups. Based on a nationally representative survey, this study explores the influence of social cohesion on basic public health services utilisation in Chinese internal migrants at different SES levels. It is observed that objective and subjective cohesion forms have different effects on health record establishment and health education receipt. The positive effect of objective cohesion on health services utilisation is significantly larger than that of subjective cohesion, but two cohesion forms show similar effect sizes on health services utilisation among poor-SES migrants. With the promotion of SES, the effect size of objective cohesion gradually increases while that of subjective cohesion declines, showing a distribution of ‘scissors gap'. For basic public health services utilisation, migrants not only have the agency to receive but are constrained by their SES. For migrants with poor SES, strong structural constraints hinder the utilisation of basic public health services.

Utilization of Social Support Center on Depression and Suicidal Ideation among Undergraduates in a Tertiary Institution, Benin City

Background: Social support consists of a network of people drawn from the community members that promote mental health wellbeing, as inadequate social support gives rise to various mental illnesses such as depression and this has a negative influence on the life of students which can increases the risk of suicidal ideation. Aim: This study aims to access the utilization of social support among undergraduate students residing in halls of residence at University of Benin. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional non-experimental research design was used for the study. A total of 380 participants was employed using convenient sampling and a self-structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and hypothesis were tested using ANOVA, ANCOVA, Independent T-test, and Multivariate logistic regression model at a 5% level of significance.. All the analyses were done using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0. Results: Findings from this study showed that most 226(59.5%) of the respondents recorded a fair level of knowledge of social support on depression and suicidal ideation. The majority 266(70%) of the respondents had a good level of utilization of social support. Factors that promote the use of social support among undergraduates were nearness to residence (2.50 ± 0.90), availability of time (4.01 ± 0.31), awareness of social support centers (3.90 ± 0.52), free of cost/charges (3.90 ± 0.42), less time-consuming process (4.01 ± 0.21), and concern from family (2.72 ± 0.92). There was a statistically significant difference in the mean knowledge level based on the hall of residence of respondents (F = 6.033, p &lt; 0.001). On the effect of the covariate “Level of respondent” on the outcome variable “Knowledge of social support”. The association between the class level of respondents and their knowledge of social support was not statistically significant (F1,7 = 0.576, p = 0.448), while the association between hall of residence and knowledge of social support was statistically significant (F6,7 = 6.121, p &lt; 0.001). Conclusion: Although the level of utilization of social support services in the present study is encouraging there is a need for improvement as the level of knowledge is poor. Better knowledge of social support services can translate into good utilization among the students. The researchers, therefore, recommend that more sensitization, seminars, conferences, and workshops on the importance of social support services should be organized from time to time to update the students’ knowledge and create awareness on the various social support services available both physical and online.

Stress, Coping, and Quality of Life Among Custodial Grandparents

ABSTRACT An increasing number of custodial grandparents are raising grandchildren, and intensive childcare is stressful with many negative personal, interpersonal, economic, and health implications. Grandparents’ strengths, including resilience, positive caregiving appraisal, and social support should be considered in the face of parenting stress and adversity. Guided by the stress and resilience model, the current study investigated the associations of parenting stress and coping resources with life satisfaction and mental wellness among custodial grandparents (N = 76). Data were collected between December 2020 and April 2021, through collaborations with community-based agencies located in two metropolitan areas, which provide supportive services to custodial grandparents and their families. Findings showed that more parenting stress was associated with less life satisfaction and worse mental health, and that stress management boosted life satisfaction and mental wellness. Grandparents with more informal social support and social service utilization fared better than their counterparts with less social support and no experience of service use. The results of this study suggest that social work interventions should focus on improving stress management to cope with daily and caregiving stressors. Social workers can help with informal social support and formal social services utilization to address caregiving needs among custodial grandparents.