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 UTSA faculty who are involved in mental-health
research or are planning to pursue this type of research are
annually invited to participate in the summer research awards
program. The primary purpose of this award program is to help
faculty develop competitive grant proposals to advance their
program of research. Three research awards are made each summer.
The awards provide summer salary for one month and one course
release in the fall semester. At the end of the fall semester,
each award recipient is expected to submit a grant proposal
(minimum level of $50,000 a year).
The
Advisory Committee will review applications for the
awards and determine the recipients, with preference to junior
faculty, although associate professors will also be given
consideration. At the
end of the summer, award recipients will submit progress reports
and the Advisory Committee and the Program Director will provide
feedback. At the end of the fall semester, the Advisory
Committee and Director will review the grant proposals and
provide feedback. Recipients will then be expected to submit
their proposals to extramural granting agencies.
2005 Faculty
Research Award Recipients>>
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Norma S. Guerra,
Ph.D.
"ASSESSING ENGAGEMENT STYLES:
LIBRE MODEL DEVELOPMENT"
Dr. Norma Guerra received her
training in Educational Psychology at Texas A&M University and
has worked at UTSA in various capacities for a number of years.
In 2004, she assumed the challenge of serving as a tenure-track
faculty person committing herself to the traditional academic
triad of teaching, research and service. In terms of research,
Dr. Guerra is interested in the development and examination of a
problem-solving framework which she calls the “LIBRE Model”.
This cognitively-based approach relies on modeling and
self-regulation to both address a client’s complaint as well as
to provide a framework for future independent problem solving.
As a result of her work in a variety of settings including
counseling, teaching, and higher education she has determined
that the approach can provide useful insight into the nature and
level of usual engagement. Defined as various identifiable
points along a continuum of attention ranging from initial to
sustained, she is interested in exploring the potential
contributions and applications that are possible.
Dr. Guerra's proposed study examines “cross cultural
sensitivity” in counseling with its implications for access
among Hispanics while also providing an opportunity to further
develop an emerging therapeutic LIBRE Model. Preliminary
clinical work with the LIBRE Model has resulted in favorable
results. The LIBRE Model has been well received by low-income
public housing, rural community and undergraduate and graduate
upper middle-income Hispanics and non-Hispanics. Preliminary
stability and test-retest analysis have resulted in reasonable
levels for both. Problem solving (processing) has been examined
across context, content, and facilitator – client combinations.
Extant validity studies suggest association between attention
and confidence, initial and sustained, in processing the problem
solving activity, category of engagement, and likelihood of
action. The significance of this line of inquiry can be better
understood considering the basis for initial and sustained
attention. Initial attention, which is generally learned in the
home, with family and through cultural experience contrasts with
sustained attention which tends to be more reflective of the
current context and based on “groomed experience” that is,
experience involving schools, and other valued social systems.
The current inquiry is intended as a natural experiment looking
at several aspects of client-practitioner interaction and
satisfaction. The counselor training at UTSA is intending to
implement a practicum component to training that includes the
pairing of master’s level trainees and undergraduate students.
This provides the opportunity to examine the influence and
impact of cross cultural and culturally matched dyads. The
specific research objectives to be addressed include:
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• differential receptivity to counseling based on the
utilization of the LIBRE Model for ethnically matched and cross
matched counselor-client dyads
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• differential satisfaction with the counseling experience based
on the utilization of the LIBRE Model for ethnically matched and
cross matched counselor-client dyads
• differential assessed engagement
based on the utilization of the LIBRE Model for ethnically
matched and cross matched counselor-client dyads
Contact Information:
Office Phone: 210.458.2648
E-mail: norma.guerra@utsa.edu
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Elaine
Wittenberg-Lyles, Ph.D.
"COMPETENTLY COMMUNICATING
BEREAVEMENT: THE ROLES OF CULTURE AND PATIENT LOCATION ON
CAREGIVER IMPACT"
Elaine M. Wittenberg-Lyles,
assistant professor in interpersonal communication, received her
Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma, 2004. Her research
program entails an examination of the interpersonal processes
occurring in the context of death and dying. She is a visiting
faculty member at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center
in the Department of Medicine where she is actively involved
with the Geriatric Palliative Care Consultation Service. She has
examined communication in hospice enrollment conversations which
will be appearing later this year in the American Journal of
Hospice and Palliative Care. Recently, Dr. Wittenberg-Lyles was
one of only 37 applicants selected to participate in the
National Institute on Aging, Summer Institute on Aging Research.
More recently, she completed a grant proposal to study the role
of culture in the perceptions and practices of complementary and
alternative medicine treatment among Latinos in South Texas,
with an overall goal of developing an instrument to assist
physicians in recognizing Latino CAM users. Her current research
agenda a focuses on the mental health of hospice caregivers in an
effort to develop culturally-appropriate bereavement
interventions.
In line with this program of
research, Dr. Wittenberg-Lyles' proposed project delves into the
development of successful bereavement interventions as a
function of culture among Latina/o caregivers.
Contact Information:
Office Phone: 210.458.7338
E-mail:
elaine.wittenberg@utsa.edu
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