Smith School for Social Work provides students with a focus on clinical social work, integrating comprehensive educational theories, skills and practices of clinical work. This collection includes full-text access to theses and dissertations, as follows:
- Smith College School for Social Work Theses, 2007-present Available to anyone both on and off-campus (some with a 5 year restriction limiting access to the Smith community), anyone via interlibrary loan
- Smith College School for Social Work Dissertations, 2009-present Available to the Smith community including off-campus access with a current Smith login, anyone on campus, and anyone via interlibrary loan
2024
Interrogating Whiteness: An In-depth Study of Race and Psychoanalysis in Cross-Racial Dyads, Stephen Friedman, Dissertation
Towards an Understanding of Lived Experiences of Vietnamese American Women in the 1.5 Generation in Relation to Psychosocial Stressors and Adaptation: A Phenomenological Study., PhuongLoan Vo, Dissertation
2023
How Do Psychoanalytic Mental Health Clinicans’ Reactions, Understandings and Formulations Shape Their Work with Gender-Creative LGBTQ+ Clients?, Marco Posadas, Dissertation
2022
Intersectional Experiences of Women of Color Who Had a Baby in the NICU, Mari-Anna Yuko Bergeron Doherty, Dissertation
Understanding Attachment Injury Communications of Traumatized Veterans, John Bucholtz, Dissertation
Developing Cultural Humility: A Qualitative Study on Mental Health Clinicians, Kimberly Calhoun, Dissertation
Perceptions of Clinical Supervision Held by Early-Career Social Workers During Times of Extreme Stress: A Thematic Analysis, Jennifer Khaw, Dissertation
Canine Assisted Therapy and its Role in the Development of Therapeutic Alliance in Working with Early Attachment Trauma: an Intersubjective Lens, Renee Lindquist, Dissertation
Balancing Multiple Identities: Exploring How Multiracial Therapists Navigate Racial Dynamics within Clinical Practice, Sarah Yang Mumma, Dissertation
The Jewish Secularization and Religious Growth Paradox: Why are Secular Jewish Women Adopting Orthodox Judaism?, Sarh L. Ossey, Dissertation
African American Parent Stories About How Race, Culture, Class and Personal Experiences Influence Parental Involvement with Public Schools: A Narrative Analysis, Brandy Stewart, Honors Project
Spiritual Trauma and LGBTQIA+ Individuals: How do Mental Health Practitioners Recognize and Assess Spiritual Trauma with LGBTQIA+ Clients?, Lisa VanVleet, Dissertation
Resiliency of Insecure Attachment Styles: Toward a New Model, Melissa D. Weise, Dissertation
2021
Affect-laden lessons in relationality : a study of forced termination in the internship setting, Catherine Balletto, Dissertation
Whiteness and the Columbine High School Attack: A Psychoanalytic Case Portrait, Carter Carter, Dissertation
"About the brokenness, and the darkness, and the light" : an exploratory study on the effects of the correctional environment on correctional mental health professionals, Stephanie A. Gangemi, Dissertation
The deinstitutionalization of minds : what does deinstitutionalization mean for Bulgarian social workers, Dimitar Andreev Germanov, Dissertation
Too close to home : intergenerational trauma and a caregiver's ability to provide support to their child during trauma treatment, Heather Gregory, Dissertation
Am I there yet? : emerging adulthood for women in an American Orthodox Jewish context, Shira Kessler, Dissertation
Experiences of transgender and non-binary people of color in psychotherapy, Silvia L. Sandoval, Dissertation
Attachment and Behavioral Problems Among Bereaved Children: Secondary Quantitative Analysis from the NCTSN Core Data Set, Mary H. Wise-Kriplani, Dissertation
2020
An exploratory study of primary caregivers' knowledge of the risks and effects of adolescents' exposure to intimate partner violence, Jean Clarke-Mitchell, Dissertation
Closer to home : the influence of parenthood on child trauma therapists' countertransference, Lisa Kennedy, Masters Thesis
A story of identity construction : the example of social work and the North Carolina eugenics program, Dominica Francesca Lizzi, Dissertation
The problem and the solution : the potency of relationships in addressing rural opioid use, Alison Smith Mitchell, Dissertation
Efficacy and feasibility of a tele-mental health intervention to support caregivers caring for a child dependent on mechanical ventilation at home (DMVH), Yudy F. Muneton-Castano, Dissertation
Teaching advocacy to second year Master of Social Work students in clinical field placements, Michael J. Rogers, Dissertation
Awareness and understanding of internalized racial oppression by African American women clinicians and the influence on psychotherapy with African American female clients : a relational liberatory approach, LaTasha L. Smith, Dissertation
2019
Culture, gender, and the social construction of borderline personality disorder, Allegra L. Comas, Masters Thesis
System enactment : how do we understand this co-constructed phenomenon and the impact on clinicians, treatment processes and organizational climate?, Cathleen Morey, Dissertation
BSW faculty perceptions of their gatekeeping role, Lynn Raine, Dissertation
College counseling center clinicians who work with suicidal clients : an examination of negative countertransference and training, supervision, anxiety, and attitudes, Vasiliki Hallas Torres, Dissertation
Factors associated with LGBTQ adolescents' seeking mental health services in school settings, Nichole C. Wofford, Dissertation
2018
Behavioral neuroscience applied : a practice intervention with college students using orienting and interoception for stress management and self-regulation, Elizabeth Steck Anable, Dissertation
The ethics of dying : an exploration of the right to suicide and clinician response to self-determination and suicidal ideation among adults who struggle with mental illness, Shelley Bair, Masters Thesis
Living well in the lives of African American women with chronic illness, Gabrilla Ballard, Masters Thesis
Program evaluation of a transitional age youth program : a project based upon an investigation at ServiceNet, Northampton, Massachusetts, Andrea Carnegie Chester, Masters Thesis
Veterans' stories of substance use, recovery, and moral injury : an exploratory study, Chelsea Faria, Masters Thesis
They will never understand : the challenge of returning to civilian life, Dane Christopher Frost, Dissertation
I'll hang around as long as you will let me : hard country music, the white working class, and the experience of loss in the American neoliberal context, Nicholas Johnston, Masters Thesis
The influence of protective factors on substance use severity when depression and trauma symptoms are reported by rural female opioid abusers, Judith Avery Josiah-Martin, Dissertation
Mental health interventions for homeless young children through an attachment theory lens : a review and analysis of the literature, Kimberly McKittrick, Masters Thesis
Stuck, suffering, and struggling to launch : building typologies of psychopathology from a clinical sample of millennial emerging adults : an exploratory study, Marki L. McMillan, Dissertation
Factors influencing transgender Latina immigrants' decision to immigrate to the United States : a qualitative study, Olivia Mora-Lett, Dissertation
In the wake of vicarious traumatization : making meaning through Jungian theory and engaged Buddhism, Angel Haydn Reed, Masters Thesis
Socioeconomic status and autism spectrum disorder : caregivers' solutions to overcoming service barriers, Rachel Rodriguez, Masters Thesis
Exploring the implementation of restorative practices in Bay Area schools, Vanessa Shea, Masters Thesis
Caregiver experiences of a therapeutic nursery program : an exploratory study, Jaimie Tyler, Masters Thesis
Being Asian and American : bi-cultural subjectivity of therapists in clinical social work practice, Rosie Yap, Dissertation
2017
A mixed-method study examining the intersection of race and sexual violence among LGBTQ prisoners, Sarah J. Aftab, Masters Thesis
Natural Lifemanship trauma-focused equine assisted psychotherapy model : is there a change in children's feelings and behaviors over time?, Julia M. Alexander, Masters Thesis
The impact of Islamophobia on the Muslim American community : accounts of psychological suffering, identity negotiation, and collective trauma, Areeza Ali, Masters Thesis
Two-sided healing : an exploration of Jewish women psychotherapists' experience, Aviva Bellman, Masters Thesis
"As if" : an exploration of the relationship between clincians' theoretical orientations and their conceptualizations of patient-generated metaphors in psychotherapy, Joe Berlin, Masters Thesis
Exploring clinical best practices for working with the co-occurrence of psychosis and a trauma history, Sierra Leah Black, Masters Thesis
Gestalt therapists' perspectives on gender in the therapeutic relationship : implications for anti-oppressive practice, Benjamin Philip Borkan, Masters Thesis
Experiences of first generation college students, Eleanor Grace Stulting Bradley, Masters Thesis
A qualitative study to explore Puerto Rican caregiver needs and supports to better feed their children, Nelly E. Carmona, Masters Thesis
Queer women's sexual experiences after sexual violence in a non-heterosexual relationship, Amee Catalano, Masters Thesis
Exploring refugees' sense of belonging in Chittenden County, Vermont : retrospective accounts of the resettlement process, Sam Chalfin, Masters Thesis
An exploration of the relationship between religion and spirituality and acculturation stress among international students in the western Massachusetts, Mun Ying Kennis Cheng, Masters Thesis
From social work to sex therapy : increasing clinicians' sexual intervention self-efficacy beliefs, Kijao Corbett, Masters Thesis
Educator perceptions of student mental health services in high-performing charter schools, Gabriel Friedl Corens, Masters Thesis
Kinship diversion : exploring experiences of relative probate guardianship in Los Angeles, CA., Alison Davies, Masters Thesis
Do characteristics of children and families influence reported caregiver burden? : a secondary data analysis of the 2009-2010 national survey of children with special health care needs, Chelsea Davies, Masters Thesis
Patient perspectives on mental health therapy for myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) and chronic fatique syndrome (CFS), Brooke Denmark, Masters Thesis
The problem of evidence : philosophy of science and evidence based practice in clinical social work, Bronwyn Deprés, Masters Thesis
Understanding the connection between the supervisory relationship in social work field education and early career social workers' self-efficacy beliefs in the work place : a relational study, Jean-Paul Des Pres, Dissertation
Provider perceptions of people who inject drugs and harm reduction approaches, Ciara DeVozza, Masters Thesis
The voices of survivors of suicide : experiences with forms of support after a suicide loss, Nicole Dietze, Masters Thesis
The celebration of Black beauty in online spaces as a form of social and political resistance, Sabriya Dillard, Masters Thesis
Perinatal depression screening : using antenatal depression screens and patient demographics to predict risk for postpartum depression :, Jackson Doyle, Masters Thesis
Found in translation : how social work education can support student practice with language-discordant client systems, Martha Ann Early, Masters Thesis
Barriers to mental health treatment for refugees in Maine : an exploratory study, Hayley Fitzgerald, Masters Thesis
Navigating romantic relationships among individuals aging out of foster care, Margaux E. Flood, Masters Thesis
Mapping the sexuality-health-technology nexus : an arts based exploration, Adam Joseph Gaubinger, Masters Thesis
"They don't say it up front" : immigrant-origin high school students' experiences of disrespect and racial microaggressions by teachers : a project based upon a group research investigation, Leah A. Gold, Masters Thesis
Race and the internet : ǂb social media and multiracial identity development, Pilar Hailé-Damato, Masters Thesis
The role of spirituality in the reconstruction of identity in older women, Elin Hardenberg, Masters Thesis
How our service systems impact resiliency and recovery of domestic violence survivors : clinical perspectives, Emily Riddle Jacobs, Masters Thesis
"We were all kind of learning together" : the emergence of LGBTQ affirmative psychotherapy & social services, 1960-1987: oral history study, Boston, MA, Sarah Blair Jenkins, Masters Thesis
"if you lived in your body, you'd be home by now" : clincians' perspectives on somatic practices in psychotherapy, Natasha Sunil Jeswani, Masters Thesis
The impact on college students of sexual assault disclosure by a peer : an exploratory study, Margaret Klein, Masters Thesis
Substance abuse and recovery : does peer recovery coaching reduce frequency of crisis, relapse, hospitalization, incarceration, DCF involvement, and other public services use in substance abusers? : a project based upon an agency-based investigation, Stephanie Koenig, Masters Thesis
Compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction, and mindfulness among social workers and graduate-level social work interns, Brian Kornobis, Masters Thesis
"Translating the language of the body" : engaging individuals who self-harm in psychodynamic psychotherapy, Dani Kowalski, Masters Thesis
Looking for ghosts everywhere : the effects of vicarious traumatization on mental health interpreters who work with refugees, Sophie Anna Lembeck, Masters Thesis
Working with trauma : a qualitative and retrospective exploration of the experiences of clinicians who work with trauma, Allyson Rebecca Lent, Masters Thesis
Benefits and challenges of offering peer support to student survivors of campus sexual violence, Zoe Amanda Levenson, Masters Thesis
Reimagining the past, present, & future: science fiction, fantasy, and Afrofuturism as modes of healing for communities of color, Kai Teresa Atacador Lynch, Masters Thesis
Gender identity and childhood experiences : an introductory quantitative study of the relationship between gender identity and adverse childhood experiences, Liam P. Malone, Masters Thesis
Clinicians' perspectives on somatic interventions in the treatment of trauma, Margaret Rose Malone, Masters Thesis
Understanding and negotiating access to preventative sexual health care biotechnology in online communities : a thematic analysis of the Facebook group ""PrEP Facts: rethinking HIV prevention and sex, Dorothy Manley, Masters Thesis
Understanding the impact of shame in designing a psychodynamically oriented therapy model to assist formerly incarcerated African American women, Laverne Marks, Dissertation
Social climate in social work training : the influence of the learning environment on the emerging social worker's professional identity as an agent of social justice, Tatiana Martínez, Masters Thesis
And fetus makes three :a theoretical exploration of clinician pregnancy in psychoanalytic and relational frameworks, Christian Anne McCarroll, Masters Thesis
The experience of resident assistants encountering nonsuicidal self-injury use by a resident : a mixed methods investigation, Katherine M. McCarthy, Dissertation
Alexithymia and comparison of alternative treatments to talk therapy for people who have a mental health diagnosis, Rebekah Milhoan, Masters Thesis
Classism in the therapeutic alliance : implications for clinical social work practice, Taylor Millard, Masters Thesis