Social Work major Trisha Droubie has received HURA Award for the project Police Social Work: Potential Collaborative Response to Crisis Situations.
Social Work major and senior Trisha Droubie has received a 2019-2020 Hooper Undergraduate Research Award (HURA) for the project Police Social Work: Potential Collaborative Response to Crisis Situations. Law enforcement and social work professionals frequently work with overlapping populations experiencing a variety of crises. This proposed study will aim to identify the overlapping roles and duties of law enforcement and social work, as well as explore the attitudes that professionals have regarding this potential partnership and possible barriers to implementation of a formal collaboration. Interviews will be conducted in order to compare response protocols in the two fields, and to identify how the two disciplines collaborate and reflect on the partnership. Then, interviews will be analyzed to determine the similarities and differences that exist in crisis response between the two fields and to better understand the potential for the two fields to collaborate for the benefit of the communities they serve. Droubie is the primary investigator on the project and will be conducting all elements with supervision and guidance from faculty advisor and associate professor Dr. Michael McCarthy. Her goal is to submit for peer review and publication during the spring 2020 semester. She will be presenting her research at the Undergraduate Research Symposium, the HURA recipient conference, and submitting for the National Conference on Undergraduate Research in Montana in 2020.