Five MSW Students Honored for Thesis in Las Vegas

Five students were recognized in Las Vegas on February 1 and 2, 2016 for their peer-reviewed research presentations at the 19th Annual American Association of Behavioral and Social Sciences Conference.

The conference is one of the largest professional conferences for professors, doctoral students, master students, and practitioners who present their advanced research and practice papers from various disciplines including social work, sociology, psychology, health sciences, public health, criminal justice, and many other fields.

To present their research at the conference, students had to submit a brief summary of their research findings, which, in turn, had to pass a rigorous review and selection process. Not everyone who submitted their proposal was accepted as a presenter.

Of the 850 research presentations at the conference, five were presented by CSULB School of Social Work students. The following three students made Paper Presentation along with their MSW Thesis Chair/Advisor/Mentor, Dr. Santhiveeran. They are listed along with their research title:

Thuy Le, MSW Candidate 

Paper Presentation Topic: The Effects of Gambling on the Perceived Social Support and Financial Well-being of Family Members.

Alma Sarinana, MSW Candidate
Paper Presentation Topic:  Cognitive Development among Preschoolers

Brenda Godinez, MSW Candidate
Paper Presentation Topic: How Psychological Distress and Citizenship Status are Associated with Externalizing and Internalizing Behaviors of Latino Adolescents

The following two students made Poster Presentations along with their MSW thesis Chair/Advisor/Mentor Dr. Janaki Santhiveeran. They are listed along with their research title:

Maritza Avila, MSW Candidate
Poster Presentation Topic: Delay in Health Care for the Hispanic Population in California: A Quantitative Study

Cynthia Magana, MSW (Recent Grad)
Poster Presentation Topic: Stress and Self-Efficacy among Latino Immigrant Parents

These students chose rigorous quantitative research involving several hours of conceptualization, writing a research proposal, literature search and writing reviews to research what is known, data analysis, writing results and completing the thesis. Two of the three students used a secondary data to complete their research. Two of them collected data from various counties in California.  One obtained evaluative data from preschool in Orange County to carry out her research paper.  These students spent several hundred hours to complete their research projects with precision due to their perseverance and passion for their topics. Although all five of these proposals were not funded research from any external sources, students received several hours of mentoring from Janaki Santhiveeran, PhD, full professor, School of Social Work, as a part of their MSW curriculum.  The students were glad to receive conference grants from CSULB Student Services to meet their expenses related to conference registration, travel, and other expenses.

The School of Social Work is one of the largest schools situated at the College of Health and Human Services. The school has been offering research opportunities for their MSW students for the past several years. Several faculty members have mentored hundreds of MSW thesis Students year after year.

Dr. Santhiveeran has mentored more than 250 MSW students to conduct MSW thesis research/projects during her tenure as a professor in the past 17 years.  She has published half a dozen peer-reviewed research articles with her MSW students as a result of her mentoring.  Also, Dr. Santhiveeran has mentored over four dozen students from her social policy class to publish opinion articles in various newspapers including Daily 49er, Press Telegram, Long Beach Post, Long Beach Times, Gazette, Sun News, and Bellflower Bulletin.