American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare Fellows discuss the negative effects of swatting in school, research the changes in student victimization, deploy free drug use prevention programs, and use wind phones as a grief tool.

Fellow Emphasizes Negative Effects of Swatting in Schools

September 10, 2024 — Fellow and director of the Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Daniel Flannery, PhD, underlined the negative impact of swatting incidents on schools. Swatting refers to making hoax phone calls to emergency services which results in SWAT teams responding. “These incidents traumatize students and staff, consume emergency resources and undermine safety,” Flannery said, highlighting the growing frequency of swatting and the urgent need for effective prevention measures.

Read more in 19 News.

A Decline in Student Victimization

September 17, 2024 — Fellow and UCLA Luskin Social Welfare Professor Ron Avi Astor, PhD, co-authored a paper in the Journal of School Violence. The study aims to examine changes over time in school victimization and climate in Israel, and whether these changes varied between Jewish and Arab schools and schools with different socioeconomic statuses.

Read more from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

Fellows Launch Free Drug Use Prevention Program from Parents

September 19, 2024 — The Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County, New York has deployed a free program on drug use prevention that is being used by parents of children aged 9 to 14. Developed by Fellows and University of Washington School of Social Work faculty Drs. J. David Hawkins and Richard Catalano, the program titled "Guiding Good Choices,” aims to equip parents with the knowledge needed to navigate challenges faced by teens and preteens while fostering healthy, drug-free behaviors in their children.

Learn more about the Guiding Good Choices program on LongIsland.com.

Wind Phones, a New Grief Tool

September 20, 2024 — University of Washington Social Work professor and Fellow Taryn Lindhorst, PhD, published an article in The Conversation about wind phones – disconnected rotary phones placed in nature as a tool for processing grief. She reflects on her own experiences of using wind phones for one-sided conversations with deceased loved ones. Dr. Lindhorst notes that there is no clear guidance on how people should deal with grief, but the power of speaking to rather than about the deceased has long been at the root of many grief interventions worldwide.

Read the full article in The Conversation.