Terry A Wolfer
Biographic Data
| ID | 101953 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Terry A Wolfer |
| GIVEN NAMES | Terry A |
| FAMILY NAME | Wolfer |
| SIGNATURE | WOLFER T A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of South Carolina |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3208-4363 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 27 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 57 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 27 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2001 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Tired of being tired: Black college students’ experiences of racial battle fatigue from highly publicized anti-Black violence
The highly publicized murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Ahmaud Arbery in 2020 sparked public outrage and widespread discussion around anti-Black violence. While some studies have examined the effects of anti-Black violence exposure on mental health outcomes, there is a paucity of research that explores how these racially charged events contribute to cumulative stress and "weathering" for Black people, particularly. Informed by racial b…
Conceptualizing the Biopsychosocial-Spiritual Health Influences of Adverse Childhood Experiences and the Application of Primary Care Behavioral Health for Their Treatment
“Take a Mental Break”: Examining the Coping Efforts of Black College Students Exposed to Police Killings
Given the repeated police killings of unarmed Black people and their increasing visibility because of recent technological advances, Black people are especially vulnerable to adverse mental health effects. However, little is known about how they attempt to cope with these incidents or how their efforts may affect their mental health. Informed by trauma theory and stress, appraisal, and coping theory, this study used semi-structured in-depth inter…
Black and Blue: An integrated conceptual framework for understanding the trauma and mental impacts of police violence exposure in Black communities
Because repeated incidents of police violence against unarmed Black people are increasingly visible, as a result of technological advances, there is growing need to understand their potentially traumatic mental health effects for other Black people. This narrative review provides an overview of critical race theory, the stress, appraisal, and coping theory, trauma theory, racial trauma theory, and emotional contagion theory to develop an integrat…
Am I Next: A qualitative study of Black college students' experiences of stress, trauma, and grief from exposures to police killings
There is little research that explores the experiences of Black people exposed to police killings of other unarmed Blacks, despite the fact these incidents repeatedly and disproportionately affect this population. While some quantitative studies have examined the impacts of police violence exposure on mental health in recent years, there remains a dearth of in-depth qualitative research exploring the processes through which chronic exposures to p…
Insights From a CSWE Summit for Critical Conversations on Religion, Faith, and Spirituality in Social Work Education
The role of religion and spirituality within social work education has varied throughout the profession’s history, with recent research calling for increased attention to this area of diversity. In response, the Council on Social Work Education hosted and sponsored the 2021 Summit for Critical Conversations on Religion, Faith, and Spirituality in Social Work Education and Practice, with each of the coauthors serving as presenters and facilitators…
Using the Reflective Judgment Model to Understand and Appraise Effective Reasoning by Social Work Students
Research suggests that most college and beginning graduate students lack the cognitive complexity required to engage in effective practical and ethical reasoning. Studies on cognitive development support the view that how people approach complex problems varies significantly depending on the underlying epistemic assumptions they use to guide their problem-solving strategies and justify their decisions. We recommend King and Kitchener’s Reflective…
Development and validation of the peer assessment motivation scale (Pams) in higher education
Measurement of students’ peer assessment motivation is critical to understand how they participate in such activities in higher education. The current study was conducted to develop and validate a brief scale that measures student peer assessment motivation in higher education using the Expectancy-Value Theory (EVT). Initial items were developed, revised, and administered to 369 students. Exploratory factor analyses suggested a three-factor model…
Finding Joy in Social Work: Practical Strategies
Based on the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotion, this article suggests that efforts by social workers to find joy in the profession may help them broaden their scope of attention, cognition, and action; build physical, intellectual, and social resources for future use; and increase resilience. This article explains Fredrickson's broaden-and-build theory as a basis for exploring and seeking positivity and outlines several practical strat…
Korean women’s marital distress and coping strategies in the early stage of intercultural marriages
Many Korean women married to American men have experienced marital conflict and psychological distress. Although some studies examined acculturative distress and marital satisfaction among Korean/American intercultural couples, there is little evidence on the strategies for coping with marital conflict and psychological distress from immigrant women’s perspectives. Thus, this qualitative study aims to explore marital conflict, psychological distr…
Baby Boomers as Congregational Volunteers in Community Ministry
Religious congregations are a significant setting for volunteerism in the United States, and increasing rates of volunteerism correlate with age. Because of their prolonged health and increased longevity, the large boomer generation represents a potentially significant volunteer resource for congregations. But current research on boomers and congregational life provides little information about this age cohort for engaging them in community minis…
Incorporating Evidence-Based Practices into Faith-Based Organization Service Programs
Faith-based organizations (FBOs) are increasingly involved in providing a range of services in communities and research indicates that such involvement will increase in the future. However, like other types of organizations, FBOs generally have been slow to embrace evidence-based practices (EBPs)—those that have scientific evidence of being beneficial. We contend that incorporating EBPs into both new and existing FBOs’ service programs can enhanc…
Psychometric Analysis of a Scale to Assess Particularized Trust in Families and Community- And Congregation-Based Groups: Particularized Trust Scale Psychometrics
The Relationships in Community Groups Trust Scale (RCG-TS) is an 11-item questionnaire to assess particularized trust in 3 groups: community- and congregation-based groups and families. It was developed using a multimethod approach employing in-depth interviews and qualitative analysis, followed by quantitative psychometric evaluation for construct, convergent, and concurrent validity and internal reliability. Means were compared between groups. …
The Use of Decision Cases to Foster Critical Thinking in Social Work Students
This article discusses the vital importance of developing critical thinking skills in social work students and explores the use of case-based instruction as a means of fostering those skills. The challenges inherent in the teaching and assessment of critical thinking are addressed. The history and theoretical underpinnings for the use of decision cases as a valid and efficacious teaching tool are presented. Literature evaluating the outcomes of t…
Finding Joy in Social Work II: Intrapersonal Sources
Despite the social work profession's strengths orientation, research on its workforce tends to focus on problems (for example, depression, problem drinking, compassion fatigue, burnout). In contrast, this study explored ways in which social workers find joy in their work. The authors used an appreciative inquiry approach, semistructured interviews (N = 26), and a collaborative grounded theory method of analysis. Participants identified interperso…
Psychometric Analysis of a Scale to Assess Norms of Reciprocity of Social Support in Community-Based and Congregation-Based Groups
Reciprocity, a core component of social capital, is rarely theorized or measured leaving the relationship between reciprocity and health ambiguous. Historically, reciprocity measures have not been used in the context they were designed causing measurement error. This multi-phased study was designed to develop and validate a reciprocity measure for formal and informal groups within communities and congregations as part of a more comprehensive soci…
Decision Cases for Advanced Social Work Practice: Confronting Complexity
Protestant Christian Volunteers in Community Social Service Programs: What Motivates, Challenges, and Sustains Their Service
This article presents findings from a research project exploring the motivations of 25 volunteers from Protestant Christian congregations involved in community service programs. These volunteers are motivated primarily as their way of responding to God and to the needs of others. As they serve, beneficial relationships with others and other personal benefits become motivations for their continuing service. Their motivations help them sustain thei…
Expanding Diversity in Social Work Discourse: Exploring the Possibility of a Theistic Perspective
Postmodernism has helped to illustrate that scientific advancement occurs most effectively in an academic milieu comprised of diverse perspectives. Furthermore, insiders—those with personal knowledge of the phenomena under study—are often uniquely positioned to contribute to scientific discourse. The increasing calls for research on spirituality and religion suggest the need for spiritual insiders to participate in the emerging conversation. Whil…
Congregational Service-Learning Characteristics and Volunteer Faith Development
A research study surveyed 946 volunteers from congregations who were actively involved in community service, as well as 3,959 other congregational attenders who were not involved in volunteer service, to understand the relationship between service learning and faith development. Findings show that service-learning is powerfully related to a mature faith and to other faith practices such as prayer, Bible study, and worship. Authors explore the cha…
Promoting Tolerance: The Imago Dei as an Imperative for Christian Social Workers
Although tolerance is a foundational social work value, surprisingly little has been written on the subject. Given the challenges posed by the nation's growing diversity, we believe that the topic warrants some discussion. In this article, we construct a rationale for Christian social workers to exhibit tolerance based upon the concept of the imago Dei, or the image of God. Our hope, however, is that others will join this postmodern-based convers…
Social Work with Religious Volunteers: Activating and Sustaining Community Involvement
Social workers in diverse community practice settings recruit and work with volunteers from religious congregations. This article reports findings from two surveys: 7,405 congregants in 35 Protestant congregations, including 2,570 who were actively volunteering, and a follow-up survey of 946 volunteers. It compares characteristics of congregation volunteers and nonvolunteers.Volunteers tended to be married, older, more highly educated, longer-ter…
Using the Decision Case Method to Teach Legislative Policy Advocacy
Social work educators have long struggled with making policy practice real “more”, especially to micro-oriented students (Sundet & Kelly, 2002). The decision case method can generate excitement about social policy advocacy while educating students about current advocacy work, particularly if the case involves state or local efforts to influence policy. Such state/local cases make policy advocacy more accessible and engaging. Wanting to introduce …
The Decision Case Method: Teaching and Training for Grassroots Community Organizing
Although seldom used for educating community organizers, the decision case method of teaching fits well with grassroots community organizing philosophy. The decision case method can help students and grassroots leaders learn how to critically analyze problems, develop successful solutions, and learn more about themselves and collaborative work. Instructors may use it as a strategy for teaching grassroots community organizing in the social work cl…
Teaching Content on Social Work Practice with Religious Congregations: A Curriculum Module
This pilot study represents an effort to implement and evaluate use of a curriculum module on Charitable Choice and social work practice in a faith-based organization. Using a nonequivalent control group design, repeated measures MANOVA showed significant differences between the treatment (n=54) and comparison groups (n=53) on knowledge and degree of comfort at posttest. Despite the use of a small sample (n=107) of MSW students at a public univer…
Am I Next: A qualitative study of Black college students' experiences of stress, trauma, and grief from exposures to police killings
There is little research that explores the experiences of Black people exposed to police killings of other unarmed Blacks, despite the fact these incidents repeatedly and disproportionately affect this population. While some quantitative studies have examined the impacts of police violence exposure on mental health in recent years, there remains a dearth of in-depth qualitative research exploring the processes through which chronic exposures to p…
Battered Women Speak Out: Welfare Reform and Their Decisions to Disclose
Recent attention has been given to the challenges and unintended negative consequences of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996 on the economic well-being and safety of battered women and their children. This study focused on battered women's perceptions and experiences of disclosing their abuse histories to welfare-to-work case managers. The study found that women are prepared and expect to disclose, but various factors in…
Finding Joy in Social Work II: Intrapersonal Sources
Despite the social work profession's strengths orientation, research on its workforce tends to focus on problems (for example, depression, problem drinking, compassion fatigue, burnout). In contrast, this study explored ways in which social workers find joy in their work. The authors used an appreciative inquiry approach, semistructured interviews (N = 26), and a collaborative grounded theory method of analysis. Participants identified interperso…
The Decision Case Method: Teaching and Training for Grassroots Community Organizing
Although seldom used for educating community organizers, the decision case method of teaching fits well with grassroots community organizing philosophy. The decision case method can help students and grassroots leaders learn how to critically analyze problems, develop successful solutions, and learn more about themselves and collaborative work. Instructors may use it as a strategy for teaching grassroots community organizing in the social work cl…
Social Work with Religious Volunteers: Activating and Sustaining Community Involvement
Social workers in diverse community practice settings recruit and work with volunteers from religious congregations. This article reports findings from two surveys: 7,405 congregants in 35 Protestant congregations, including 2,570 who were actively volunteering, and a follow-up survey of 946 volunteers. It compares characteristics of congregation volunteers and nonvolunteers.Volunteers tended to be married, older, more highly educated, longer-ter…
Black and Blue: An integrated conceptual framework for understanding the trauma and mental impacts of police violence exposure in Black communities
Because repeated incidents of police violence against unarmed Black people are increasingly visible, as a result of technological advances, there is growing need to understand their potentially traumatic mental health effects for other Black people. This narrative review provides an overview of critical race theory, the stress, appraisal, and coping theory, trauma theory, racial trauma theory, and emotional contagion theory to develop an integrat…
Using the Decision Case Method to Teach Legislative Policy Advocacy
Social work educators have long struggled with making policy practice real “more”, especially to micro-oriented students (Sundet & Kelly, 2002). The decision case method can generate excitement about social policy advocacy while educating students about current advocacy work, particularly if the case involves state or local efforts to influence policy. Such state/local cases make policy advocacy more accessible and engaging. Wanting to introduce …
Baby Boomers as Congregational Volunteers in Community Ministry
Religious congregations are a significant setting for volunteerism in the United States, and increasing rates of volunteerism correlate with age. Because of their prolonged health and increased longevity, the large boomer generation represents a potentially significant volunteer resource for congregations. But current research on boomers and congregational life provides little information about this age cohort for engaging them in community minis…
Psychometric Analysis of a Scale to Assess Particularized Trust in Families and Community- And Congregation-Based Groups: Particularized Trust Scale Psychometrics
The Relationships in Community Groups Trust Scale (RCG-TS) is an 11-item questionnaire to assess particularized trust in 3 groups: community- and congregation-based groups and families. It was developed using a multimethod approach employing in-depth interviews and qualitative analysis, followed by quantitative psychometric evaluation for construct, convergent, and concurrent validity and internal reliability. Means were compared between groups. …
The Use of Decision Cases to Foster Critical Thinking in Social Work Students
This article discusses the vital importance of developing critical thinking skills in social work students and explores the use of case-based instruction as a means of fostering those skills. The challenges inherent in the teaching and assessment of critical thinking are addressed. The history and theoretical underpinnings for the use of decision cases as a valid and efficacious teaching tool are presented. Literature evaluating the outcomes of t…
Developing and Teaching anMSWCapstone Course Using Case Methods of Instruction
Using an innovative process, the authors and their colleagues developed a case-oriented MSW capstone course. This article outlines the process of developing the course, choosing instructional methods and materials, and preparing instructors to teach the course. It reviews the process of teaching the course, including preparing to teach individual class sessions, identifying and dealing with several instructional challenges that emerged, and desig…
Developing and Teaching anMSWCapstone Course Using Case Methods of Instruction
Using an innovative process, the authors and their colleagues developed a case-oriented MSW capstone course. This article outlines the process of developing the course, choosing instructional methods and materials, and preparing instructors to teach the course. It reviews the process of teaching the course, including preparing to teach individual class sessions, identifying and dealing with several instructional challenges that emerged, and desig…
Battered Women Speak Out: Welfare Reform and Their Decisions to Disclose
Recent attention has been given to the challenges and unintended negative consequences of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996 on the economic well-being and safety of battered women and their children. This study focused on battered women's perceptions and experiences of disclosing their abuse histories to welfare-to-work case managers. The study found that women are prepared and expect to disclose, but various factors in…
Teaching Content on Social Work Practice with Religious Congregations: A Curriculum Module
This pilot study represents an effort to implement and evaluate use of a curriculum module on Charitable Choice and social work practice in a faith-based organization. Using a nonequivalent control group design, repeated measures MANOVA showed significant differences between the treatment (n=54) and comparison groups (n=53) on knowledge and degree of comfort at posttest. Despite the use of a small sample (n=107) of MSW students at a public univer…
The Decision Case Method: Teaching and Training for Grassroots Community Organizing
Although seldom used for educating community organizers, the decision case method of teaching fits well with grassroots community organizing philosophy. The decision case method can help students and grassroots leaders learn how to critically analyze problems, develop successful solutions, and learn more about themselves and collaborative work. Instructors may use it as a strategy for teaching grassroots community organizing in the social work cl…
Using the Decision Case Method to Teach Legislative Policy Advocacy
Social work educators have long struggled with making policy practice real “more”, especially to micro-oriented students (Sundet & Kelly, 2002). The decision case method can generate excitement about social policy advocacy while educating students about current advocacy work, particularly if the case involves state or local efforts to influence policy. Such state/local cases make policy advocacy more accessible and engaging. Wanting to introduce …
Congregational Service-Learning Characteristics and Volunteer Faith Development
A research study surveyed 946 volunteers from congregations who were actively involved in community service, as well as 3,959 other congregational attenders who were not involved in volunteer service, to understand the relationship between service learning and faith development. Findings show that service-learning is powerfully related to a mature faith and to other faith practices such as prayer, Bible study, and worship. Authors explore the cha…
Promoting Tolerance: The Imago Dei as an Imperative for Christian Social Workers
Although tolerance is a foundational social work value, surprisingly little has been written on the subject. Given the challenges posed by the nation's growing diversity, we believe that the topic warrants some discussion. In this article, we construct a rationale for Christian social workers to exhibit tolerance based upon the concept of the imago Dei, or the image of God. Our hope, however, is that others will join this postmodern-based convers…
Social Work with Religious Volunteers: Activating and Sustaining Community Involvement
Social workers in diverse community practice settings recruit and work with volunteers from religious congregations. This article reports findings from two surveys: 7,405 congregants in 35 Protestant congregations, including 2,570 who were actively volunteering, and a follow-up survey of 946 volunteers. It compares characteristics of congregation volunteers and nonvolunteers.Volunteers tended to be married, older, more highly educated, longer-ter…
Protestant Christian Volunteers in Community Social Service Programs: What Motivates, Challenges, and Sustains Their Service
This article presents findings from a research project exploring the motivations of 25 volunteers from Protestant Christian congregations involved in community service programs. These volunteers are motivated primarily as their way of responding to God and to the needs of others. As they serve, beneficial relationships with others and other personal benefits become motivations for their continuing service. Their motivations help them sustain thei…
Expanding Diversity in Social Work Discourse: Exploring the Possibility of a Theistic Perspective
Postmodernism has helped to illustrate that scientific advancement occurs most effectively in an academic milieu comprised of diverse perspectives. Furthermore, insiders—those with personal knowledge of the phenomena under study—are often uniquely positioned to contribute to scientific discourse. The increasing calls for research on spirituality and religion suggest the need for spiritual insiders to participate in the emerging conversation. Whil…
Psychometric Analysis of a Scale to Assess Norms of Reciprocity of Social Support in Community-Based and Congregation-Based Groups
Reciprocity, a core component of social capital, is rarely theorized or measured leaving the relationship between reciprocity and health ambiguous. Historically, reciprocity measures have not been used in the context they were designed causing measurement error. This multi-phased study was designed to develop and validate a reciprocity measure for formal and informal groups within communities and congregations as part of a more comprehensive soci…
Decision Cases for Advanced Social Work Practice: Confronting Complexity
The Use of Decision Cases to Foster Critical Thinking in Social Work Students
This article discusses the vital importance of developing critical thinking skills in social work students and explores the use of case-based instruction as a means of fostering those skills. The challenges inherent in the teaching and assessment of critical thinking are addressed. The history and theoretical underpinnings for the use of decision cases as a valid and efficacious teaching tool are presented. Literature evaluating the outcomes of t…
Finding Joy in Social Work II: Intrapersonal Sources
Despite the social work profession's strengths orientation, research on its workforce tends to focus on problems (for example, depression, problem drinking, compassion fatigue, burnout). In contrast, this study explored ways in which social workers find joy in their work. The authors used an appreciative inquiry approach, semistructured interviews (N = 26), and a collaborative grounded theory method of analysis. Participants identified interperso…
Incorporating Evidence-Based Practices into Faith-Based Organization Service Programs
Faith-based organizations (FBOs) are increasingly involved in providing a range of services in communities and research indicates that such involvement will increase in the future. However, like other types of organizations, FBOs generally have been slow to embrace evidence-based practices (EBPs)—those that have scientific evidence of being beneficial. We contend that incorporating EBPs into both new and existing FBOs’ service programs can enhanc…
Psychometric Analysis of a Scale to Assess Particularized Trust in Families and Community- And Congregation-Based Groups: Particularized Trust Scale Psychometrics
The Relationships in Community Groups Trust Scale (RCG-TS) is an 11-item questionnaire to assess particularized trust in 3 groups: community- and congregation-based groups and families. It was developed using a multimethod approach employing in-depth interviews and qualitative analysis, followed by quantitative psychometric evaluation for construct, convergent, and concurrent validity and internal reliability. Means were compared between groups. …
Baby Boomers as Congregational Volunteers in Community Ministry
Religious congregations are a significant setting for volunteerism in the United States, and increasing rates of volunteerism correlate with age. Because of their prolonged health and increased longevity, the large boomer generation represents a potentially significant volunteer resource for congregations. But current research on boomers and congregational life provides little information about this age cohort for engaging them in community minis…
Korean women’s marital distress and coping strategies in the early stage of intercultural marriages
Many Korean women married to American men have experienced marital conflict and psychological distress. Although some studies examined acculturative distress and marital satisfaction among Korean/American intercultural couples, there is little evidence on the strategies for coping with marital conflict and psychological distress from immigrant women’s perspectives. Thus, this qualitative study aims to explore marital conflict, psychological distr…
Finding Joy in Social Work: Practical Strategies
Based on the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotion, this article suggests that efforts by social workers to find joy in the profession may help them broaden their scope of attention, cognition, and action; build physical, intellectual, and social resources for future use; and increase resilience. This article explains Fredrickson's broaden-and-build theory as a basis for exploring and seeking positivity and outlines several practical strat…
Insights From a CSWE Summit for Critical Conversations on Religion, Faith, and Spirituality in Social Work Education
The role of religion and spirituality within social work education has varied throughout the profession’s history, with recent research calling for increased attention to this area of diversity. In response, the Council on Social Work Education hosted and sponsored the 2021 Summit for Critical Conversations on Religion, Faith, and Spirituality in Social Work Education and Practice, with each of the coauthors serving as presenters and facilitators…
Using the Reflective Judgment Model to Understand and Appraise Effective Reasoning by Social Work Students
Research suggests that most college and beginning graduate students lack the cognitive complexity required to engage in effective practical and ethical reasoning. Studies on cognitive development support the view that how people approach complex problems varies significantly depending on the underlying epistemic assumptions they use to guide their problem-solving strategies and justify their decisions. We recommend King and Kitchener’s Reflective…
Development and validation of the peer assessment motivation scale (Pams) in higher education
Measurement of students’ peer assessment motivation is critical to understand how they participate in such activities in higher education. The current study was conducted to develop and validate a brief scale that measures student peer assessment motivation in higher education using the Expectancy-Value Theory (EVT). Initial items were developed, revised, and administered to 369 students. Exploratory factor analyses suggested a three-factor model…
Conceptualizing the Biopsychosocial-Spiritual Health Influences of Adverse Childhood Experiences and the Application of Primary Care Behavioral Health for Their Treatment
“Take a Mental Break”: Examining the Coping Efforts of Black College Students Exposed to Police Killings
Given the repeated police killings of unarmed Black people and their increasing visibility because of recent technological advances, Black people are especially vulnerable to adverse mental health effects. However, little is known about how they attempt to cope with these incidents or how their efforts may affect their mental health. Informed by trauma theory and stress, appraisal, and coping theory, this study used semi-structured in-depth inter…
Black and Blue: An integrated conceptual framework for understanding the trauma and mental impacts of police violence exposure in Black communities
Because repeated incidents of police violence against unarmed Black people are increasingly visible, as a result of technological advances, there is growing need to understand their potentially traumatic mental health effects for other Black people. This narrative review provides an overview of critical race theory, the stress, appraisal, and coping theory, trauma theory, racial trauma theory, and emotional contagion theory to develop an integrat…
Psychology (20 works) · Sociology (17 works) · Political science (15 works) · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology (10 works) · Medicine (9 works) · Public relations (9 works) · Social Psychology (8 works) · Social Work (8 works) · Religion, Society, and Development (7 works) · Computer Science (6 works)