Research Practicum
This information describes Research Practicum experiences that have been completed in prior years. The Research Practicum opportunities change and vary from year to year. These opportunities are listed ONLY as examples and not intended to imply that any of these opportunities would be available during the years you might be a student in our doctoral program.
Dispute Resolution Center
About DRC: The oldest community mediation program in the State of Minnesota, the Dispute Resolution Center (DRC) was created in 1982 as a pilot project co-sponsored by the City of St. Paul, the Minnesota Supreme Court, and the Ramsey County Bar Association.
The mission of the Dispute Resolution Center is to promote the constructive resolution of conflict through open communication and shared decision making. A private, non-profit organization providing mediation, facilitation, training, restorative justice, and referral services in Ramsey, Dakota, and Washington Counties, DRC is the only provider of comprehensive low- and no-cost alternative dispute resolution services in the East Metro area. The overarching goal of DRC is to provide accessible, effective, affordable mediation and restorative justice services and education to assist in the effective resolution of conflict -- respectfully and nonviolently.
The Service Integration Project: For the past year, DRC has been working to develop a model of integrated services with a primary point of intake and cross-trained staff and volunteers, to achieve both economies of scale and client-centered, streamlined service delivery. To date, the emphasis has been on developing the model. Goals of the project are to ensure that the high-caliber of service delivery is maintained and that the core competencies of both restorative justice and community mediation are preserved. The intern would focus on assessing the effectiveness of the service integration model, to help determine whether the principles of restorative justice and community mediation have been compromised in any way. The nature of the research and role of the student could be flexible, and developed based upon the interest and background of the student. At present, the position would be unpaid, although DRC would be open to exploring funding opportunities.
This project has not yet been approved by SSW and if a student is interested we would need to do further exploring.
SSIS Data Analysis
This involves working on administrative data analysis of the state's SSIS data on re-entry into foster care, racial disparities, and planning future projects. Dr. Wells is open to discussing an unpaid practicum for one or two students to either do an unfounded study that they are interested in or to help on my other studies in data analysis and writing.
The Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare
The Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare (CASCW) has research opportunities for PhD students to gain experience working with secondary administrative data obtained for the Child Welfare Longitudinal Project (CWLP). CWLP uses administrative data on child welfare/child protective services from the Minnesota Department of Human Services, public school enrollment and test score information from the Minnesota Department of Education, and birth vital statistics from the Minnesota Department of Health. These datasets are used in combination to examine policy and practice evaluation topics by tracking children involved in the foster care system or with child maltreatment assessments. The role of the student is to provide an academic and practice/policy-related literature review for the evaluative topic, a research design for the practice or policy evaluation, and a findings write-up and discussion. These documents are then used to develop a IV-E curriculum module for the CASCW website. The practicum is unpaid, unless the student also has a GA position in the Center (contingent on available funds).
Practica Possibilities at Mayo
All social work staff at Mayo have just completed a summary of their practice specific goals, a couple could be possibilities for the PhD. Students.
One ---- we have allocated 4 hours a week to a rural primary care clinic, where we will only see patients with one of 5 selected chronic care conditions. We need to develop a measurement tool to determine how the social work interventions succeed. The social worker leading this project also has a MPH, so she would be a strong collaborator.
Two ---- Our research committee just received Mayo IRB approval to conduct research on "Helpfulness of Social Work". I am sure they could use some help with this research project.
More will come to mind, we would be happy to work with you and PhD candidates to determine if we would have a match. Uncertain at this time whether this would involve pay.
Veterinary College Curriculum
Peter Dimock has applied for a grant that he will use to develop a curriculum at the Veterinary College to teach students counseling skills that they can use to better work with the clients of the pets they treat. Part of the grant involves the evaluation of the skills that students are taught. We will likely use the facilities at the medical school with standardized clients to see if there is a transfer of knowledge to a simulated practice setting and then follow up with a questionnaire latter to determine if the skills were valuable to students in an actual practice setting. This is the hypothesis: Veterinary students who receive classroom instruction in various types of professional, emotionally supportive communication skills and who are provided an opportunity to integrate these skills through practice, will demonstrate an identifiable ability to effectively use these skills in actual patient-client situations.