Kimberly Bender
Biographic Data
| ID | 94299 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Kimberly Bender |
| GIVEN NAMES | Kimberly |
| FAMILY NAME | Bender |
| SIGNATURE | BENDER K |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Denver |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6659-6140 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 81 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 369 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 81 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2002 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 11 |
Information and communication technologies use among youth experiencing homelessness
Given reported high rates of transience and service disengagement among youth experiencing homelessness (YEH), new forms of information and communication technologies (ICT) may represent a novel avenue for intervention. Although studies suggest that ICT use is surprisingly high among YEH, less is known about the factors associated with ICT use and the association between ICT use and online health information seeking behavior (OHISB) among YEH. Us…
Tensions in Young Adult Housing Programs
While young adult homelessness impacts nearly one in ten young adults in the United States, limited work has explored the implementation of housing programs which support young adults. In this paper, we describe research on two case examples of housing programs for young adults in the United States: systematic program observations from Marsha and Marian's Neighbors, a shared housing program in the Mid‐Atlantic region, and resident interviews from…
Understanding Survival Sex Engagement Among Sexual and Gender Minority Young Adults Experiencing Homelessness
Incarcerated Women’s Perceptions of the Role Model Prison Officer as Procedurally Just
Studies applying procedural justice to the prison context have largely been quantitative and sampled men. These studies have explored prisoner’s procedural justice perceptions of the police and courts, but whether and to what extent their perceptions of the prison officer are associated with procedural justice is unknow. This study extends this research by qualitatively exploring how a sample of women incarcerated in an American prison perceive t…
It’s Home for now’
Not often implemented with emerging adults (18 – 25 years), permanent supportive housing (PSH) is an intervention which aims to support transitions from chronic housing insecurity. Ontological security theory (OST) -- a sense of being whole and alive on a continuous spectrum – serves as a lens to understand this transition. Through longitudinal surveys using semi-structured interview questions, emerging adults living in PSH ( N = 28) in western C…
Sense of community among young adults before and after moving into Permanent Supportive Housing
How mutual aid proliferation developed solidarity and sense of collective responsibility in the early months of Covid‐19
Although mutual aid organizing is a social movement practice long sustained by queer/trans people, immigrants, people of color, and disability communities, among other communities pushed to the margins of society, with the emergence of the COVID‐19 pandemic, and subsequent government failures in addressing unmet needs, mutual aid proliferated into new (and more socially privileged) communities in the United States and across the world. Amidst thi…
A message board from the future
Strategic Responses to Navigating Police Encounters among Black Baltimore Residents
Research on police-citizen interactions has largely explored the treatment of citizens by the police with less attention paid to citizens’ behavior toward the police. Studies that have examined the behavior citizens’ exhibit during police encounters have found that citizen behavior affects how they are treated by the police; yet, little scholarly attention has been given to the strategic responses’ citizens use during their encounters with office…
Creating Ecosystems of Care Through Mutual Aid
As COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease) spread in the United States in Spring 2020, conventional safety nets were overwhelmed and unable to meet widespread and growing needs. Mutual aid practices proliferated as an essential form of resource provision and community care, including exchanges of food, financial assistance, and social connection. Our qualitative study interviewed 25 individuals engaged in mutual aid in Colorado, USA to investigate the per…
Substance use and sentiment and topical tendencies
Purpose This study investigates associations between Facebook (FB) conversations and self-reports of substance use among youth experiencing homelessness (YEH). YEH engage in high rates of substance use and are often difficult to reach, for both research and interventions. Social media sites provide rich digital trace data for observing the social context of YEH's health behaviors. The authors aim to investigate the feasibility of using these big …
Understanding Young People’s Navigation of Housing Barriers Through a White Supremacy Lens
Like a weight off my shoulders”
The aim of this study is to explore how young people experiencing homelessness or housing instability experience participating in peer support from paid peer support specialists with shared lived experiences. The present study used participatory qualitative methods, specifically a photovoice project with young people ( N = 8) experiencing homelessness or housing instability, to understand their experiences of being in a relationship with a peer s…
Self-Identification of Mental Health Problems Among Young Adults Experiencing Homelessness
Navigating, subverting, and replacing conventional academic structures and expectations to co-create with participatory action research (PAR) teams
In this paper, six social work scholars at varying career stages and institutions used collaborative autoethnography to identify (1) structural constraints and tensions to engage in participatory action research (PAR) in the academy, (2) the strategies we have used to navigate this work, and (3) suggestions for structural changes necessary to meaningfully value this work in the academy. Key structural constraints and tensions center around questi…
How was mutual aid being conceptualized during its proliferation in the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic? A critical phenomenological analysis
Mutual aid, a longstanding practice among socially marginalized communities, has proliferated as a widespread form of collective care amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and compounding crises. We used critical phenomenological methods to understand how participants (N = 25) who engaged in mutual aid in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic conceptualized mutual aid, and how their social identities intersect with their conceptualizations. We found t…
“It kinda breaks my heart”
The association between place stayed and self-identification as homeless among unstably housed young adults in seven U.S. cities
Limited research has explored whether young adults that experience homelessness and housing instability (YAEH) self-identify as homeless. This study uses the Homeless Youth Risk and Resilience Survey (HYRRS) dataset, a seven-city sample of 1426 YAEH, to examine the relationship between the type of place a young adult stayed the night before their interview and whether they self-identified as homeless. While all participants were classified as hom…
Exploring the Relationship Between Public Assistance Use and Depressive Symptoms Among Young Adults Experiencing Homelessness
I just want to move forward”
Experiences of discrimination among young adults experiencing homelessness
1,055) reported experiencing at least one of the five forms of everyday discrimination experiences at least a few times a year, with the most common reason attributed to their housing situation (46%). Sexual orientation, juvenile justice involvement, and having been homeless for 2 years or more were associated with increased odds of experiencing discrimination. Discrimination was a strong predictor of psychological distress but was significant on…
The intersection of housing and mental well-being
We examine the challenges formerly homeless young adults (FHYAs) face after they transition out of homelessness. Considering the adversities FHYAs face, it is unclear how transitioning to stable housing may affect their mental well-being or what types of stressors they may experience once housed. This study investigates the social environment young adults encounter in their transition to stable housing and examines trauma and social coping predic…
Values and Beliefs Underlying Mutual Aid
Objective: Mutual aid has been a longstanding practice among communities who experience short-term crises (such as natural and human-made disasters) as well as long-term crises (such as systemic marginalization and poverty). It has proliferated as a widespread practice during the COVID-19 pandemic as a way for individuals and communities to share resources when government and nongovernmental services have failed. Our study aims to understand the …
Making power explicit
AIMS: Participatory action research (PAR) is a research methodology that uses collective and endemic knowledge to inform action and address social concerns. The aim of this study was to understand how one PAR team (comprised of university and community researchers) navigated power dynamics, especially considering the team's power differentials. METHODS: Drawing upon phenomenological and case study methodologies, this qualitative study used loosel…
Emergent media scan of digital mutual aid organizing during the Covid-19 pandemic
A rapid emergent media scan, describing 1) how mutual aid emerged as a response to COVID-19 and 2) how digital organizing was used for mutual aid, was conducted using a media bias framework to select media outlets, standardized search terms to identify relevant content, and content analysis to describe themes. A variety of digital tools (e.g., social media, crowdsourcing, video conferencing) were used to coordinate people/resources, raise funds, …
Homeless Youth
Distinguishing between causes and consequences of youth homelessness is often difficult. Characteristics may have existed prior to youths' leaving home, likely contributing to their running away, or may develop once the youths become immersed in "street culture." Owing to these complexities, characteristics and contributing factors associated with youth homelessness often intersect. Homeless youths' diverse backgrounds and experiences, including …
Why do some maltreated youth become juvenile offenders
Gender, coping strategies, homelessness stressors, and income generation among homeless young adults in three cities
Treatment Engagement
Your Pants Won't Save You
The politics of "Black Respectability" foreground Black citizens' individual and collective responsibility to prioritize self-policing, polish, and propriety. Proponents believe that the steady performance of restraint and decorum is critical and that any departure from that repertoire can result in punishment. The belief that racially minoritized youth must earn respect and autonomy, rather than see those rights protected as a standard afforded …
Perceptions of Resiliency and Coping
This study explored the perceptions of resilience and coping among homeless young adults, a focus that differs from previous research by considering the unconventional resilience and coping of this high-risk population. Semistructured qualitative interviews were conducted with 45 homeless young adults. Individual interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and analyzed by coders using an iterative process of content analysis. Findings revealed f…
Exploring the Relationship between Self-Awareness and Student Commitment and Understanding of Culturally Responsive Social Work Practice
This study explores the relationship between self-awareness and social work students' commitment and understanding of culturally responsive social work practice. Data consisted of assigned papers (N = 23), submitted by graduate social work students, which asked them to describe their ethnic/racial background and ancestors' process of assimilation, and to reflect on their ethnic and racial identity as a means toward increased self-awareness and fu…
Experiences and needs of homeless youth with a history of foster care
Explaining Homeless Youths’ Criminal Justice Interactions
A Comparison of Addiction and Transience among Street Youth
An Exploratory Factor Analysis of Coping Styles and Relationship to Depression Among a Sample of Homeless Youth
Homeless Youths’ Interests in Social Action via Photovoice
Engaging homeless youth in services is challenging. Novel methods are needed to better retain and empower this population. Photovoice, an innovative form of community-based participatory research, facilitates participants' use of photography to document their everyday lives and struggles, while advocating for social change. This study examines, among 22 homeless youth, whether and why youth would be interested in participating in Photovoice activ…
Predictors of Transience Among Homeless Emerging Adults
This study identified predictors of transience among homeless emerging adults in three cities. A total of 601 homeless emerging adults from Los Angeles, Austin, and Denver were recruited using purposive sampling. Ordinary least squares regression results revealed that significant predictors of greater transience include White ethnicity, high school degree or equivalent, homeless residence in the 6 months prior to the study, longer period of homel…
Asking for Change
Technology Use among Emerging Adult Homeless in Two U.S. Cities
Researchers have shown increasing interest in technology use among youths and emerging adults (Bleakley, Merzel, VanDevanter, & Messeri, 2004; Redpath et al., 2006; Valentine & Bernhisel, 2008). However, no research to date examines this issue among emerging adult homeless. As these young people are more difficult to engage in services (Ensign & Bell, 2004; Hudson, Nyamathi, & Sweat, 2008) and have higher rates of mental illness (Merscham, Van Le…
Employment Status and Income Generation Among Homeless Young Adults
This mixed-methods study identified correlates of unemployment among homeless young adults in five cities. Two hundred thirty-eight homeless young people from Los Angeles ( n = 50), Austin ( n = 50), Denver ( n = 50), New Orleans ( n = 50), and St. Louis ( n = 38) were recruited using comparable sampling strategies. Multivariate logistic regression results indicate that homeless young adults were more likely to be unemployed if they had been on t…
Values and Beliefs Underlying Mutual Aid
Objective: Mutual aid has been a longstanding practice among communities who experience short-term crises (such as natural and human-made disasters) as well as long-term crises (such as systemic marginalization and poverty). It has proliferated as a widespread practice during the COVID-19 pandemic as a way for individuals and communities to share resources when government and nongovernmental services have failed. Our study aims to understand the …
Emergent media scan of digital mutual aid organizing during the Covid-19 pandemic
A rapid emergent media scan, describing 1) how mutual aid emerged as a response to COVID-19 and 2) how digital organizing was used for mutual aid, was conducted using a media bias framework to select media outlets, standardized search terms to identify relevant content, and content analysis to describe themes. A variety of digital tools (e.g., social media, crowdsourcing, video conferencing) were used to coordinate people/resources, raise funds, …
On the fringes
This study used Photovoice methods with young adults experiencing homelessness to collaboratively identify issues that are of greatest importance in an open‐ended, exploratory, and inductive manner. Participants selected two concepts to focus their inquiry: freedom and prosperity. Within these concepts, participants discussed nature as a source of inspiration, a desire to better themselves and to change their situations, and passion for contribut…
Risk Detection and Self‐Protection Among Homeless Youth
Utilizing qualitative interviews with a large sample of 145 homeless youth seeking services at homeless youth service agencies from across three U.S. cities (Los Angeles, Denver, and Austin), this study sought to explore youths' perspectives on ways in which they detect risk and protect themselves on the streets. Results indicated that youth use a combination of internal cues (affective responses) and external cues (reading people) to detect dang…
How was mutual aid being conceptualized during its proliferation in the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic? A critical phenomenological analysis
Mutual aid, a longstanding practice among socially marginalized communities, has proliferated as a widespread form of collective care amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and compounding crises. We used critical phenomenological methods to understand how participants (N = 25) who engaged in mutual aid in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic conceptualized mutual aid, and how their social identities intersect with their conceptualizations. We found t…
Stop-gaps, lip service, and the perceived futility of body-worn police officer cameras in Baltimore City
Body-worn cameras (BWCs) are touted as a much-needed remedy to address police misconduct. Proponents argue that BWCs can serve not only as an accountability instrument, but that their use will lower costs attributed to investigation and evidence collection in the event of a civilian or internal complaint. However, the push for furnishing patrol officers with BWCs in order to bolster accountability, professionalism, and faith in institutional legi…
Social Connectedness, Self-Efficacy, and Mental Health Outcomes Among Homeless Youth
Homeless youth frequently meet diagnosis criteria for depressive and/or substance use disorder(s). Although prior research has established that both social connectedness and self-efficacy buffer vulnerable youth's adverse health outcomes, few studies have compared the potential of these protective factors on homeless youth's mental well-being. The current study analyzes comparative effects of social connectedness and self-efficacy on meeting crit…
Social Estrangement Factors Associated with Income Generation Among Homeless Young Adults in Three U.S. Cities
This study examines social estrangement factors associated with 3 forms of income generation used by homeless young adults: formal sources (i.e., full-time, part-time, temporary employment), informal sources (e.g., selling personal possessions, selling drugs, theft, prostitution), and the combination of formal and informal sources. A sample of 601 homeless young adults was recruited from 3 cities (Los Angeles, CA [n = 200], Austin, TX [n = 200], …
Training Social Work Graduate Students in the Evidence-Based Practice Process
Objective: This study tested the effects of integrating evidence-based practice (EBP) process material into a research curriculum for master of social work (MSW) students. Methods: A quasi-experimental design ( N = 152) was used across 12 sections of a required program evaluation course, with half integrating EBP process material and half using the traditional curriculum. A version of the Evidence-based Practice Process Assessment scale (EBPPAS) …
Poetry Therapy as a Tool for Strengths-Based Practice
This article explores the congruence between poetry therapy and the strengths perspective of social work. It demonstrates the ways in which poetry therapy is consistent with the strengths perspective and discusses methods for its utilization in direct practice settings. Case examples are provided to help the practitioner learn how to utilize poetry therapy with clients from diverse backgrounds. As a tool in strengths-based practice, poetry and po…
The Social Problem of Depression
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the social problem of depression from a multi-theoretical perspective. It explores depression through the lens of two psychologically based theories of human behavior, existential theory and cognitive theory, as well as through the vehicle of two sociological theories, Marxist theory and the theory of oppression. By understanding how each of these theories explains depression, social workers may be helped t…
Faculty perceptions of curricular deficits in preparing students for practice with Latinos
Qualitative responses to a survey of 314 social work faculty from nearly half of the graduate schools of social work (MSW programs) in the United States elucidated valuable information about culturally sensitive social work education. This article explores faculty perceptions of the deficits or MSW programs in preparing students for culturally sensitive social work practice with Latinos. While nearly 90% of social work MSW faculty agreed or stron…
Capacity for Survival
Treatment Engagement
Research Note Keeping Families Engaged
Engagement of high-risk adolescents and their families in treatment is a considerable challenge for service providers and agencies. Despite its importance, little research has been conducted that explores this important treatment process. To address this gap, a test of an innovative method to improve engagement in family therapy was undertaken. Findings of this study of 42 intervention group families and 41 comparison group families (N=83) sugges…
A Comparison of Addiction and Transience among Street Youth
The Four P s of Publishing
Since the 1990s, the field of social work has placed substantial value on social work research. As a result, publishing has become an important aspect of contributing to the social work field. While encouragement for faculty to publish may vary across settings, publication has not traditionally been expected of doctoral students. The purpose of this article is to demystify the publication process and to encourage doctoral students to produce publ…
Exploring the Relationship between Self-Awareness and Student Commitment and Understanding of Culturally Responsive Social Work Practice
This study explores the relationship between self-awareness and social work students' commitment and understanding of culturally responsive social work practice. Data consisted of assigned papers (N = 23), submitted by graduate social work students, which asked them to describe their ethnic/racial background and ancestors' process of assimilation, and to reflect on their ethnic and racial identity as a means toward increased self-awareness and fu…
Preventing Childhood Bullying
Twelve-month follow-up outcomes from a group-randomized trial (GRT) of a classroom curriculum aimed at preventing bullying and victimization among elementary students in the Denver, Colorado, public school system are presented. Twenty-eight elementary schools were randomly assigned to receive selected modules of Youth Matters (YM), a skills-training curriculum that targets bullying and victimization, or to a no-treatment control group. Linear gro…
A Meta-Analysis of Interventions to Reduce Adolescent Cannabis Use
Objective: This meta-analytic review assesses the effectiveness of substance abuse interventions to reduce adolescent cannabis use. Method: A systematic search identified 15 randomized controlled evaluations of interventions to reduce adolescent cannabis use published between 1960 and 2008. The primary outcome variables, frequency of cannabis use, and quantity of cannabis use, were measured between 1 month and 1 year posttreatment completion. Res…
Why do some maltreated youth become juvenile offenders
Enhancing Self-Awareness
A primary goal of social justice educators is to engage students in a process of self-discovery, with the goal of helping them recognize their own biases, develop empathy, and become better prepared for culturally responsive practice. While social work educators are mandated with the important task of training future social workers in culturally responsive practice with diverse populations, practical strategies on how to do so are scant. This art…
Comparison of Social Estrangement Among Youth Who Are Accessing Homeless Services in St. Louis, Missouri and Austin, Texas
The purpose of this study was to compare young people seeking homeless services in two distinct geographic locations (Austin, Texas and St. Louis, Missouri). To determine differences between the two populations, the study used a guiding conceptual model of social estrangement that included four domains: institutional disaffiliation, psychological dysfunction, human capital, and identification with homeless culture. A sample of homeless youth (N =…
Homeless Youth
Distinguishing between causes and consequences of youth homelessness is often difficult. Characteristics may have existed prior to youths' leaving home, likely contributing to their running away, or may develop once the youths become immersed in "street culture." Owing to these complexities, characteristics and contributing factors associated with youth homelessness often intersect. Homeless youths' diverse backgrounds and experiences, including …
Effects of Correctional-Based Programs for Female Inmates
Objective: To examine the effectiveness of interventions for incarcerated women. Method: The researchers use a two-model system: the risk-reduction model for studies analyzing interventions to reduce recidivism rates, and the enhancement model for studies that target psychological and physical well-being. Results: Incarcerated women who participate in substance abuse interventions appear less likely to reoffend than those who do not participate. …
Substance abuse treatment for juvenile offenders
Are case management services associated with increased utilization of adolescent mental health treatment
Correlates of street‐survival behaviors in homeless young adults in four U.S. Cities
This study assessed the prevalence and correlates of behaviors used by homeless young people to survive on the streets. Survival behaviors include prostitution, selling blood or plasma, dealing drugs, stealing, and panhandling. One hundred ninety-six homeless young adults from 4 metropolitan areas-Los Angeles, CA (n = 50); Austin, TX (n = 50); Denver, CO (n = 50); and St. Louis, MO (n = 46)-participated in individual, semistructured, face-to-face…
Exploration of Arrest Activity among Homeless Young Adults in Four U.S. Cities
Research suggests that in comparison with their housed peers, homeless young adults have disproportionately greater involvement in criminal activity, including theft, property offenses, and illicit substance use (Baer, Peterson, & Wells, 2004; Thompson, Jun, Bender, Ferguson, & Pollio, 2010). Because 20% to 30% of the nearly 2 million homeless young people have arrest histories (O'Grady & Gaetz, 2004; Whitbeck, 2009), a conservative estimate tran…
Substance use and victimization
Employment Status and Income Generation Among Homeless Young Adults
This mixed-methods study identified correlates of unemployment among homeless young adults in five cities. Two hundred thirty-eight homeless young people from Los Angeles ( n = 50), Austin ( n = 50), Denver ( n = 50), New Orleans ( n = 50), and St. Louis ( n = 38) were recruited using comparable sampling strategies. Multivariate logistic regression results indicate that homeless young adults were more likely to be unemployed if they had been on t…
Training Social Work Graduate Students in the Evidence-Based Practice Process
Objective: This study tested the effects of integrating evidence-based practice (EBP) process material into a research curriculum for master of social work (MSW) students. Methods: A quasi-experimental design ( N = 152) was used across 12 sections of a required program evaluation course, with half integrating EBP process material and half using the traditional curriculum. A version of the Evidence-based Practice Process Assessment scale (EBPPAS) …
Predictors of Transience Among Homeless Emerging Adults
This study identified predictors of transience among homeless emerging adults in three cities. A total of 601 homeless emerging adults from Los Angeles, Austin, and Denver were recruited using purposive sampling. Ordinary least squares regression results revealed that significant predictors of greater transience include White ethnicity, high school degree or equivalent, homeless residence in the 6 months prior to the study, longer period of homel…
Technology Use among Emerging Adult Homeless in Two U.S. Cities
Researchers have shown increasing interest in technology use among youths and emerging adults (Bleakley, Merzel, VanDevanter, & Messeri, 2004; Redpath et al., 2006; Valentine & Bernhisel, 2008). However, no research to date examines this issue among emerging adult homeless. As these young people are more difficult to engage in services (Ensign & Bell, 2004; Hudson, Nyamathi, & Sweat, 2008) and have higher rates of mental illness (Merscham, Van Le…
Psychology (69 works) · Homelessness and Social Issues (48 works) · Medicine (44 works) · Sociology (41 works) · Political science (38 works) · Psychiatry (35 works) · Social Psychology (33 works) · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies (23 works) · Clinical Psychology (20 works) · Social Psychology (19 works)