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The November edition of the newsletter highlights the events of the Second Annual Doris Duke Fellowships Meeting that took place at Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago this past September.
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Fellows, mentors, and affiliated scholars gather for the reception at the Second Annual Doris Duke Fellowships Meeting on September 20, 2012
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Notes from Deb
The Second Annual Doris Duke Fellowships Meeting
by DEBORAH DARO, Ph.D. Senior Research Fellow Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago
The Second Annual Doris Duke Fellowships Meeting provided an excellent opportunity for both new and continuing fellows to solidify their understanding of the prevention field, expand their analytic skills, and extend their role in shaping the fellowship's peer learning network and intellectual direction. As the fellowship welcomed a second cohort, I was struck by the increasing diversity of the fellows--both in terms of discipline as well as in the way their research interests are addressing an ever wider range of concerns that limit healthy child and adolescent development. This increased diversity, coupled with our new intentional focus on promoting child well-being and building knowledge to prevent child abuse, generated robust conversations about the role research has played and will continue to play in informing policy and practice.
Specific workshop topics included an overview of the history of child abuse prevention and the changes that have occurred in child welfare and mental health practice; an examination of the various ways in which nonprofit organizations, foundations, and state agencies use data to shape their policy decisions; and the exponential growth in our understanding of how maltreatment impacts human development and how this knowledge is altering the policy framework. We also spent time exploring child abuse prevention from a public health perspective. In addition to these topical panels, methodological workshops were held on analyzing administrative data, utilizing Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM), and conducting qualitative research. For the newest fellows, our discussions focused on using one's dissertation research to build a strong framework for guiding future publications and a promising research agenda. Our more experienced fellows explored a range of professional opportunities both within and outside the academy.
As with our first meeting, however, the most generative aspects of the event were the opportunities for fellows to work collaboratively on a range of activities including joint conference presentations, journal articles, and future in-person meetings. Peer-to-peer learning proved to be a successful vehicle for clarifying the role of the policy mentor. Several-second year fellows and their respective policy mentors shared their approach to working together, and highlighted ways in which their relationships have altered the perspectives of both student and adviser. Strengthening the link between research and public policy remains a key focus of the fellowship and one which we will continue to refine based on the experiences of each cohort moving forward.
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Featured Fellow
Jessica Schaffner Wilen Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research Bryn Mawr College
by AMANDA VAN SCOYOC
Jessica & Amanda interviewed one another about their participation in the Second Annual Doris Duke Fellowships Meeting and the impact of the fellowship on their own academic and professional work.
Jessica's interest in child maltreatment stems from her clinical work with survivors of domestic violence. Many of these survivors experienced sexual abuse at an early age, and as a result, Jessica became interested in the lifelong impact of early maltreatment. For her dissertation, she is conducting a systematic review and network meta-analysis of psychosocial interventions for adult survivors of child sexual abuse.
During the course of the Second Annual Doris Duke Fellowships meeting, Jessica had the opportunity to discuss her research with fellows who challenged her to consider protective factors that may mitigate some of the long-term negative consequences of early exposure to childhood maltreatment. For Jessica, being connected to a peer network of individuals with similar research interests is one of the greatest assets of the fellowship. Although she shares research interests with inspiring faculty members at Bryn Mawr's School of Social Work, she is the only graduate student in her program researching child maltreatment prevention.
During the annual meeting, she enjoyed being immersed in information about maltreatment prevention and felt energized by her conversations with other fellows. This year she is looking forward to continuing to share ideas with her new community as she moves into the middle stages of her dissertation research. Jessica also left the annual meeting with a much stronger understanding of how she can work towards policy change while completing her dissertation. She is currently collaborating with the domestic violence program, Women Against Abuse, to consider ways that the intervention can more sensitively serve and advocate for their clients who have been dually-exposed to both childhood maltreatment and interpersonal violence.
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Featured Fellow
Amanda Van Scoyoc Department of Clinical Psychology University of Oregon
by JESSICA SCHAFFNER WILEN
Amanda's scholarly interests focus on supporting women who are facing adversity during the transition to motherhood. As such, she is planning a mixed methods dissertation about the experiences of pregnant and parenting women receiving inpatient substance abuse treatment. Specifically, she is conducting qualitative interviews that investigate pathways to beginning treatment during pregnancy. Additionally, through quantitative surveys, she is analyzing predictors of long-term treatment success.
The Clinical Psychology program at the University of Oregon emphasizes quantitative research, so Amanda was particularly excited by the Qualitative Methods workshop at the Second Annual Doris Duke Fellowships Meeting. The workshop gave her a deeper understanding of how to frame her qualitative research questions and begin analyses of interviews. Amanda also enjoyed her small group session focused on parenting. Although her research focuses primarily on mothers' roles in childhood development, her conversations with other fellows challenged her to consider the important role played by fathers and other caregivers. Both of these discussions have led her to expand the scope of the questions she asks during her interviews.
Amanda is excited to discover the ways in which the Doris Duke Fellowships will help her to shape her research questions, dissertation, and career path. She is looking forward to additional conversations with other fellows about qualitative methodology and she would like to focus on framing her research so that it is relevant in shaping new policy and treatment outcomes.
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Chapin Hall Researcher Teams with Local Nonprofit to Improve Services
by AMY DWORSKY, Ph.D.
Senior Researcher Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago 
One of the sessions at the Second Annual Doris Duke Fellowships Meeting focused on "using research to inform practice." I was asked to speak about the relationship between Chapin Hall and The Night Ministry (TNM), a nonprofit agency that provides housing and healthcare services to homeless youth and adults in Chicago. For the past few years, I have been working on several projects with Melissa Maguire, TNM's Director of Performance Measurement. Until quite recently, Melissa directed TNM's Youth Shelter Network which includes Open Door Shelter-Lakeview, an emergency shelter for runaway, "locked out" and homeless youth who are pregnant or parenting.
Between May 2007 and December 2011, the shelter collected intake and exit data from the 253 young women served. In addition, 27 current and former residents had been interviewed by a team of researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Neither the intake nor the interview data had been analyzed. I wasn't sure what I would find when I actually looked at the data, but my curiosity had been piqued.
Getting the requisite IRB approval took some time, but it was worth it. There was plenty that could be done with both the quantitative and the qualitative data. However, I was cognizant of the fact that what might be of interest to me, as a researcher, might not be all that important from a practice perspective. Consequently, I had several in-person meetings and conference calls with Melissa and her TNM colleagues to determine what would be most useful to them. Although I wouldn't be able to measure the impact of their program, I could provide them with new information about the youth they serve that would help them improve the services they provide. With respect to the quantitative data, Melissa and her colleagues were particularly interested in the relationship between youth characteristics and youth experiences (e.g., age differences in reasons for becoming homeless; age differences in discharge outcomes). With respect to the qualitative data, what stood out most was the clear need for more intensive parenting education. In both cases, the research findings are being used to modify or enhance the services that TNM provides.
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Academic Mentor Spotlight
Karin Martin, Ph.D. Professor, Director of Undergraduate Studies Department of Sociology University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
by EMILY BOSK 
Emily interviewed her academic mentor about her presentation at the Second Annual Doris Duke Fellowships Meeting and her current research.
Karin Martin is a Professor and the Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Sociology Department at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Drawn to interdisciplinary work, she entered the field of sociology with the desire to integrate principles of psychology, feminist theory, and social theory in her scholarship. While the majority of Dr. Martin's research has focused on the intersection of childhood, sexuality, and gender, her current projects examine the organization and meaning of care for young children and families in the United States. A noted qualitative researcher, she utilizes an inductive approach to her work in order to uncover and highlight processes of meaning making in everyday life.
Dr. Martin shared her methodological expertise with fellows at the Second Annual Doris Duke Fellowships Meeting in Chicago. Facilitating a workshop on qualitative research, she focused on an often-neglected part of qualitative training: data analysis. Fellows learned strategies for coding and memoing, as well as best practices for presenting their results. She was enthusiastic about the ways in which the diverse research interests and experiences of the fellows created a dynamic context from which to explore methodological issues. Reflecting on the workshop, Dr. Martin remarked that she "was impressed by the wide range of questions, the ways in which the fellows were able to talk across disciplines, learn from different disciplinary practices, and the exciting variety of topics that fellows were working on."
After the meeting, Dr. Martin concluded that the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and Chapin Hall have created a unique space that sits at the intersection of research, policy, and practice. This space, Dr. Martin noted, is "a rare treasure for scholars that will help move all of our research forward."
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Policy Mentor Spotlight
Sue Stepleton, Ph.D. Director, Policy Forum Washington University in St. Louis by BYRON POWELL  Byron interviewed his policy mentor about her experience at the Second Annual Doris Duke Fellowships Meeting in Chicago and her views about the potential roles of policy mentors Sue Stepleton has over 35 years of nonprofit leadership and public policy experience in the early childhood and human services sectors. She is currently the director of the Brown School's Policy Forum at Washington University in St. Louis, which is a developing initiative that will utilize events and educational programs designed to enhance the quality of policy discussion and decision making in St. Louis, across the country, and around the world. Prior to coming to the Brown School, Dr. Stepleton was the president and CEO of Parents as Teachers, an international evidence-based home visiting program serving over 350,000 children per year. At the Second Annual Doris Duke Fellowships Meeting in Chicago, Dr. Stepleton had the opportunity to facilitate a panel of three Doris Duke fellows and their policy mentors. When asked about the experience, Sue expressed enthusiasm about the "infinite possibilities" that the policy mentor-mentee relationship provides, noting that it allows for "complete creativity." She emphasized that the fellows benefit from learning how policy "happens." Exposure to multiple aspects of the policy process, which vary depending upon the mentors' and mentees' areas of expertise, add a dimension of learning different from other fellowship opportunities. The panel made it clear that ideal mentor-mentee relationships are characterized by reciprocity, with "win - wins" for both parties. Dr. Stepleton remarked, "For many of us who have lived most of our lives in the policy and practice world, the research capability that the fellows bring is eye opening. With the research expertise of the mentees, there is a really good chance for the mentors to introduce evidence and research to policy activities." She believes that policy mentors can improve the fellows' work by providing a unique, applied perspective, noting that intentionally combining research and policy perspectives will enhance the real world utility of the fellows' research. Dr. Stepleton praised the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and Chapin Hall for pioneering a mentorship model that she hopes gains widespread attention and use in research-oriented doctoral programs and in programs focused on public policy and administration. |
Upcoming Events
Fellowship News
Doris Duke Fellowships Meeting at the University of Washington in St. Louis--Save the Date!
- March 13-15, 2012
- Washington University, St. Louis, MO
Doris Duke Fellowships Now Accepting Applications
- Deadline: December 15, 2012
- Do you know an interested student? Send them here for more information.
Conferences
2012 Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management (APPAM) Research Conference
- November 8-10, 2012
- Sheraton Baltimore City Center and Radisson Plaza Lord Baltimore hotels, Baltimore, MD
- Register and learn more here
Council on Social Work Education (CSWE)
58th Annual Program Meeting
- November 9-12, 2012
- Washington Hilton and Capital Hilton hotels, Washington, DC
- Register and learn more here
Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR)
2013 Annual Conference
Abstracts
Society for Prevention Research, 21st Annual Meeting
13th ISPCAN European Regional Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect
- Deadline for Abstract Submission: January 18, 2013
- Learn more here
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