Brown School

Open Streets Initiatives, a movement growing around the United States, open urban spaces normally reserved for cars to people, providing a safe environment for socializing and other activities. The goal of the events is to promote healthy living and community building. Researchers at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, with the support of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, evaluated the 2011 St. Louis Open Streets Initiative to examine participation in the events. “With over 1,800 participants in 2011 and leadership from the mayor’s office, St. Louis has the potential to become a model and leader in the Open Streets movement,” says J. Aaron Hipp, PhD, assistant professor of public health at the Brown School.

Students, faculty and staff at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis assist the Marine Corps with their annual Toys for Tots drive to help families in the St. Louis area. Monica Matthieu, PhD, research assistant professor at the Brown School, and SSgt. Scott Hogle, USMC, comment on the school’s successful effort.

Some WUSTL news stories never get old, and some just get better with time. WUSTL news editors picked 11 stories from 2011 — some new, some old — but all worth a second look as we head into 2012.

Michael Sherraden’s book, Assets and the Poor: A New American Welfare Policy, broke new ground on social policy in 1991. Twenty years later, its impact still is being felt around the world. In Assets and the Poor, Sherraden, PhD, the Benjamin E. Youngdahl Professor of Social Development at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, writes that asset accumulation is structured and subsidized for many non-poor households, primarily via retirement accounts and home ownership. He argues that these opportunities should be available to all and proposes establishing individual savings accounts for the poor — also known as Individual Development Accounts (IDAs). Since Sherraden first proposed IDAs, they have been adopted in federal legislation and in more than 40 states.

Nancy Morrow-Howell, PhD, the Ralph and Muriel Pumphrey Professor of Social Work at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, is the new director of the Harvey A. Friedman Center for Aging effective Jan. 1, announced Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. Morrow-Howell succeeds John C. Morris, MD, the Harvey A. and Dorismae Hacker Friedman Distinguished Professor of Neurology and director of the Alzheimer Disease Research Center, the Memory and Aging Project and the Memory Diagnostic Center at WUSTL. 

Veterans are returning home to an abysmal economy and a tough job market. “After World War II, employers used to snap up veterans because of their tremendous skills sets gained in the service — whether that be technical, leadership, or other job specific aptitudes,” says Monica Matthieu, PhD, research assistant professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis and an expert on veteran mental health. “But now, veterans are facing higher unemployment rates than civilians as employers may be concerned about veterans’ struggle with the mental and physical health aftereffects of military service,” she says.

Hanging out with friends after school and on the weekends is a vital part of a teen’s social life. But for adolescents with autism spectrum disorders, social activity outside of school is a rarity, finds a new study by Paul Shattuck, PhD, autism expert and assistant professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.

Perceptions and identity play a pivotal role in people’s access to and use of health and mental health care. “Helping people to be comfortable with the health-care service environment so that they seek it out when they know that they need those services is key,” says Vetta L. Sanders-Thompson, PhD, associate professor of public health at the Brown School.

Increased complexity in health care demands a greater body of knowledge for health social workers. The newly released Handbook of Health Social Work, Second Edition is a key resource for social workers, offering a comprehensive and evidence-based overview of social work practice in health care. “Social workers in health care are active problem solvers who must draw from knowledge at the social, psychological and biological levels to work constructively with other members of the health-care team,” says Sarah Gehlert, PhD, co-editor and the E. Desmond Lee Professor of Racial and Ethnic Diversity at the Brown School and the School of Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis. “The Handbook covers practice and research areas ranging from chronic disorders to infectious disease, physical and mental disorders, and all areas in between.” US News & World Report listed medical and public health social work in their “Best Careers: 2011” article.

Susan Stepleton, PhD, former president and CEO of Parents as Teachers, recently joined the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis as director of its Policy Forum. A new initiative of the Brown School, the forum will host a series of programs and collaborations designed to enhance the quality of policy discussion and decision making in St. Louis, across the country, and around the world.