Journal of Applied Social Science

Trust plays a pivotal role when aiding individuals in vulnerable positions. However, understanding the practical dynamics of trust remains limited. Empirical research on trust, particularly in collaborative and applied settings, is scarce. Trust in communications training is often treated as a nebulous concept, complicating its operationalization. This article delineates the initial stages of an applied research project on trust building in encounters between practitioners and citizens in vulnerable positions, outlines our project’s design, and details our experiences with cultivating trust with our participants. Employing an applied conversation analytic approach, we use video- and audio-ethnography to capture everyday interactions between employees and residents in social and re-socializing institutions. Combining a trust-building approach to get access to the field with rigorous analysis, we eventually aim to identify indicators of trust and distrust. Our distinctive approach, combining design, execution, and collaboration with inspiration from participant-oriented research, ensures relevance, accessibility, quality, and feasibility of our research will contribute to the conceptualization of trust as a social interactional phenomenon. It fosters co-ownership with practitioners, enhancing the impact of our findings, and allows us to rewrite the teaching material for future generations of social workers.

Educational institutions are not always adequately equipped to deal independently with the challenges that LGBTQ+ students experience during their studies, necessitating interdisciplinary approaches. The aim of our study was to identify needs and opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration aimed at addressing issues related to the well-being of LGBTQ+ youth in education. In our qualitative study, we conducted interviews with 27 LGBTQ+ people between the ages of 17 and 41 who are or have been part of the Slovenian education system at some point in their lives. We identified four possible areas where educational institutions have the potential to improve the well-being of LGBTQ+ youth through interdisciplinary interventions: educational climate and representation of LGBTQ+ people, mental health promotion and mental disorder prevention, inclusive sex education, and homelessness among LGBTQ+ youth. We see opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration between schools and mental health professionals, LGBTQ+ specific non-governmental organizations (NGOs), NGOs addressing LGBTQ+ youth homelessness, and health centers and services. The adversities experienced by LGBTQ+ youth in education are often closely intertwined with their everyday lives, intersectional and thus very complex. The solutions to overcome these challenges should therefore be systemic, pragmatic, and interdisciplinary. For comprehensive discussions on interdisciplinary interventions in education, future studies should also consider the perspectives of educators and other relevant stakeholders.

Power misuse by managers in organizations is a wide-spread problem that has significant negative consequences for organizational performance. At the same time, published research on attempts of diagnosing power misuse is scarce. As such, organizations keep facing this problem without help from academia on handling it. The authors of this paper suggest addressing the issue by utilizing a regular survey with the purpose of diagnosing potential power misuse by supervising managers of an organization. The information collected via such a survey can be a powerful feedback instrument toward changing or continuing the state of affairs. Such a survey is developed in this paper. The survey has adequate face validity and Cronbach’s alpha reliability of 0.93. Furthermore, its criterion, convergent, external structure, and discriminant validity results indicate their good levels. Therefore, the survey may be recommended for use in the organizational setting. Utilization of this instrument can potentially lead to the increase of employee accomplishments, and the improvement of organization-wide performance.

Homelessness presents numerous challenges for youth, including physical health issues, mental health problems, substance use, victimization, legal issues, and dropping out of school. Despite these challenges, youth display significant resilience. Using data from a randomized controlled trial on Housing First for Youth, this study examines qualitative narratives delving into the process of resilience (i.e., stressors, coping, and positive adaptation) among 21 youth over one year. Stressors varied among participants, with childhood abuse and instability being the most prominent. Coping mechanisms included creating barriers with unhealthy relationships, rebuilding relationships, and reframing their circumstances. The findings provide an exploration of the resilience process for youth experiencing homelessness, emphasizing the importance of understanding how youth respond to stressors and adapt to their environment. Additionally, this study highlights the significance of community and relationship-based coping strategies alongside individual approaches, thus displaying the pivotal role of community support in fostering resilience among homeless youth.

The study aimed to examine the importance and necessity of using mediation in resolving family disputes in Kazakhstan. From February to August 2020, a sociological study was conducted in Kazakhstan to identify the main causes of modern family problems, the functions of mediation and mediators in dispute resolution. The study involved 1,200 respondents. Data collection methods included both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The study was based on a survey of respondents in major cities of Kazakhstan. The study showed that factors such as lack of love and understanding, financial difficulties, and interference from relatives contribute to the escalation of family disputes leading to breakups. It also confirmed the important role of mediators in reaching appropriate and effective solutions, emphasizing the need to strengthen mediator training, legislative support for free mediation services for vulnerable groups, guaranteed payment for mediation services, and promotion of mediation through local media and service centers.

Evaluations of anti-trafficking services typically use statistical significance to determine effectiveness. However, statistically significant increases in quantitative assessments do not necessarily indicate substantive changes in survivors’ lives. This study employs clinically significant improvement as a standard for measuring outcomes among survivors who received services at the Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking (Cast, N = 167). Analyses focus on Emotional, Medical, Housing, and Social Support needs as measured through a multidimensional assessment administered every three to six months. We operationalize “measurable improvement” as an increase of 0.5 points (12.5 percent of the scale) and “substantial improvement” as an increase of 1.0 point (25 percent of the scale). We use time-to-event analysis to model improvement over time. Median time to measurable improvement ranged from seven to 10 months across dimensions and median to substantial improvement ranged from 12 to 20 months. Labor trafficking survivors had significantly longer timelines to improvement for Medical and Social Support needs than survivors who had experienced both labor and sex trafficking.

The Magnolia Project has served a section of “the Northwest Corridor” of Jacksonville, FL, providing reproductive and well-woman care and intensive case management to reduce infant mortality in the African American community for more than a quarter century. As a grantee of the Federal Healthy Start Program, the Magnolia Project must adhere to certain benchmarks concerning women’s health, strengthening families, and promoting system change. As with many U.S. Federal funded initiatives, these benchmarks are known to change over time. In this paper, we examine a snapshot from the 2019 to 2022 grant period to assess how the Magnolia Project fared with the federally required benchmarks.

Applied social scientists are committed to improving social life through the appropriate use of data. I found in my work with a university-based applied social science research center that clients engage in data collection efforts for a variety of reasons other than a commitment to using the data that result. This reflection is a cautionary tale to encourage applied social scientists to consider ways of promoting meaningful data use and to avoid compromising professional or ethical standards.