Featured Scholar: David Wilkerson, Ph.D., MSW
Director of the Office of e-Social Work Education and Practice
Associate Professor, IU School of Social Work
Affiliate Research Scientist, Regenstrief Institute
Research Video: https://youtu.be/qxXgFpnMRbg
Digital Hybrid Psychoeducation: Model Development and Case Demonstrations
Professor Wilkerson's research focuses on the uses of technology to advance social work practice and education. In the area of practice, he's interested in ways to improve the delivery of online support as an aspect of psychoeducation. He also works on the delivery of online mental health services through rural public libraries and looks for methods to best infuse digital practice into the social work curriculum.
In 2016, Dr. Wilkerson's interest in tele-practice led him to become a member of a multidisciplinary team that researches social media technology for support and self-management of caregivers of persons with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. The team developed a web app and has published two articles from its pilot study in 2017 and 2018 on the uses of Facebook for joining social and support networks through Friendsourcing and Social Micro-volunteering. This work has resulted in an emerging international reputation and in 2019, he became the PI for a transnational research study that planned to replicate the Friendsourcing social media intervention for 80 Irish caregivers. The transnational project included collaboration with the Alzheimer's Society of Ireland and Care Alliance, Ireland. Related published telehealth research in 2020 included a design for online psychoeducation intervention for parent management training to enhance the delivery of peer support and the development of mutual aid. The online intervention is currently being redeveloped through a collaboration with eDesign and Learning Services/UITS for delivery through IU Expand and it will become an arm of a Telehealth School Safety Project that is in development with other IUSSW researchers. Other publications in this area in 2020 included his work on a Telepractice CE program that had international impact in response to COVID-19 and a perspective on the issue of balancing caregiver rights for privacy and their right to online support.
Professor Wilkerson's translation of research into better mental health interventions is another excellent example of how IU Indianapolis's faculty members are TRANSLATING their RESEACH INTO PRACTICE.
Selected Publications in IU Indianapolis ScholarWorks
With several research works contributed to IU Indianapolis's free, open access repository, Professor David Wilkerson has made translational research knowledge available to professionals, researchers, students, and communities around the world.
Wilkerson, D. A., & McCarthy, K. (2021). A Social Work Distance Educator Community of Practice: Description, Outcomes, and Future. Professional Development: The International Journal of Continuing Social Work Education, 24(1), 29–39. https://hdl.handle.net/1805/27209
Wilkerson, D., Wolfe-Taylor, S., & Kinney, M. K. (2019). Adopting e-Social Work Practice: Pedagogies for Student Decision-Making to Address Technology Uncertainty. Journal of Social Work Education. https://hdl.handle.net/1805/21355
Wilkerson, D. A., Brady, E., Yi, E.-H., & Bateman, D. R. (2018). Friendsourcing Peer Support for Alzheimer’s Caregivers Using Facebook Social Media. Journal of Technology in Human Services, 0(0), 1–20. https://hdl.handle.net/1805/17846
Bateman, D. R., Brady, E., Wilkerson, D., Yi, E.-H., Karanam, Y., & Callahan, C. M. (2017). Comparing Crowdsourcing and Friendsourcing: A Social Media-Based Feasibility Study to Support Alzheimer Disease Caregivers. JMIR Research Protocols, 6(4), e56. https://hdl.handle.net/1805/15529
McGregor, K. A., Hall, J. A., Wilkerson, D. A., Bennett, L. W., & Ott, M. A. (2016). A social work perspective on paediatric and adolescent research vulnerability. Social Work & Social Sciences Review, 18(2). https://hdl.handle.net/1805/18033
Wilkerson, D., & Kim, H.-W. (2010). “We Have a Lot of Sleeping Parents”: Comparing Inner-City and Suburban High School Teachers’ Experiences with Parent Involvement. Advances in Social Work, 11(2), 144–157. https://hdl.handle.net/1805/29971
Ouellette, P. M., & Wilkerson, D. (2008). “They Won’t Come”: Increasing Parent Involvement in Parent Management Training Programs for At-Risk Youths in Schools. School Social Work Journal, 32(2), 39–53. https://hdl.handle.net/1805/29969
Decker, V. D., Suman, P. D., Burge, B. J., Deka, A., Harris, M., Hymans, D. J., Marcussen, M., Pittman, D., Wilkerson, D., & Daley, J. G. (2007). Analysis of Social Work Theory Progression Published in 2004. Advances in Social Work, 8(1), 81–103. https://hdl.handle.net/1805/29968
Wilkerson, D., & Ouellette, P. M. (2005). Community Alternatives for Love and Limits (CALL): A community-based family strengthening multi-family intervention program to respond to adolescents at risk. Advances in Social Work, 6(2), 263–275. https://hdl.handle.net/1805/29970