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Patricia Welch Saleeby

Assistant Professor
206 Bellerive Hall
Telephone: 314-516-4654
Fax: 314-516-6416
e-mail: saleebyp@umsl.edu

Patricia Welch Saleeby, Assistant Professor, received her BA from Oberlin College, MSSA from Case Western Reserve University, and she has completed her Ph.D. at Washington University. Her professional areas of interest include social, health, and disability policy, disability and chronic conditions, health disparities, international health systems, and social and economic development.

She has conducted research at Washington University School of Medicine on several projects funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). As a National Science Foundation Fellowship recipient, she conducted a comparative research project on disability policy between the U.S. and Japan. Most recently she has been the principal investigator on a grant funded by the Japan ICF Collaborating Center, World Health Organization Family of International Classifications, in which she has been examining the subjective aspect of functioning and disability and developing an electronic data base of literature on this subject

Trish has consulted for multiple organizations in the area of disability and health including the American Psychological Association (APA) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Locally, she has worked with the Starkloff Disability Institute in collaboration with the East-West Gateway Council of Governments to improve the accessibility of transportation services in the Greater St. Louis area. Currently, she is consulting with Paraquad Center for Independent Living to improve breast health services for women with disabilities on two related projects funded by the St. Louis Affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Foundation and the Missouri Foundation for Health.

Her clinical experiences include practice as a group home supervisor for the Lorain County Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities in Ohio and as a program specialist at the American Youth Foundation in St. Louis. She is the current Board President of the St. Louis Chapter of the American Parkinson Disease Association.

Research Interests:

• Social Health and Disability Policy
• Disability and Chronic Conditions
• Health Disparities
• International Health Systems
• Social and Economic Development

Education:

• Ph.D., Washington University in St. Louis
• MSSA, Case Western Reserve University
• BA, Oberlin College

Recent Publications:

Inoue, M., Pickard, J.G., Saleeby, P., Johnson, S. (2009). African American caregivers’ breast health behavior. Health Education Research [In Press]. Currently published on-line, awaiting print.
Purpose: This study is examines factors related to African American caregivers’ breast cancer screenings, including mammograms, clinical examinations, and self examinations.
Design and Methods: Data are from the Black Rural and Urban Caregivers Mental Health and Functioning Study. We performed separate logistic regressions for mammograms, clinical examinations, and self examinations.
Results: Results from logistic regression analyses reveal that care recipients’ having a cancer diagnosis, having a regular doctor checkup, and living in rural areas are associated with receiving a mammogram. Having greater income, having more than a high school degree, and having a regular doctor checkup are associated with receiving a clinical examination. Increased caregiver strain, being 40 years old or older, having less social support, and living in rural areas are associated with performing a self examination.
Implications: Targeting African American caregivers, an understudied minority group with distinctive features, who do not receive a regular doctor checkup, particularly in rural areas, for increased education on the importance of receiving breast cancer screenings is crucial to eliminating health disparities. Making resources available, encouraging caregivers to get a clinical examination and a mammogram, and directing public education toward caregivers are important points of intervention.

Howard, D., Nieuwenhuijsen, E., and Saleeby, P. (2008). Health promotion and education: Application of the ICF in the US and Canada using an ecological perspective. Disability and Rehabilitation 30(12), 942-959.
(Abstract: Health promotion is an issue comprised of complex and multi-layered concepts that involves a process of enabling people to increase control over and improve their health. The aims and applications of the World Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), with its focus on components of functioning, activities and participation, and environmental factors are salient to health promotion and health education efforts. For individuals with or without disabilities, health promotion occurs within the community in which they reside and is influenced by a complex interaction of personal and environmental factors. The aim of this paper is to discuss how the ICF can be useful in enhancing social change through health promotion and health education for all people, in particular those with disabilities and chronic conditions. In doing so health promotion concepts and the ecological approach linked with the ICF, the relationship of social change and social support to the ICF, the potential role of the ICF for national and local (city) policies, and the role of health professionals in this process will be examined. Building on this body of knowledge, the authors recommend that future research should focus on the relationship between policies and the social participation of people with disabilities in the community, the use of ICF measurement tools to improve the indicators established by the National Organization on Disability, the development of a new ICF core set for community accessibility and inclusion, better interventions to enhance social support, and enhancing the role of professionals in health promotion for people with disabilities or chronic health conditions.)

Saleeby, P. (2007). Applications of a Capability Approach to Disability and the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) in Social Work Practice. Journal of Social Work in Disability and Rehabilitation 6(1), 217-232.
(Abstract: As disability rates increase more social workers will require greater preparation to practice effectively with individuals with disabilities. The Capability approach and the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health provide helpful tools for social worker training. The capability approach emphasizes the need to assess what individuals are able to do in their real-life environments (capabilities) rather than capacity or functional status. The ICF provides helpful disability-related terminology and an actual classification to assist social workers to develop appropriate interventions that facilitate capability development among individuals with disabilities. Using the capability framework with the ICF will contribute to improved understanding of disability among social work students and practitioners.)

Putnam, M., Sherraden, J., Edwards, K., Porterfield, S., Wittenburg, D., Holden, K., and Saleeby, P. (2005). Building Financial Bridges to Economic Development and Community Integration: Recommendations for a Research Agenda on Asset Development for People with Disabilities. Journal of Social Work in Disability and Rehabilitation 4(3), 61-86.
(Abstract: Research on asset accumulation among the population of people with disabilities is quite limited. Previous work indicates that people with disabilities have significantly fewer assets than people without disabilities. Research on asset development suggests that in general, individuals in lower income tiers are able to save and that holding assets has a positive relationship with general personal well being, economic security, and civic behavior and community involvement. Many individuals with disabilities are living in chronic poverty. For those who are unable to work, the accumulation of assets is difficult. Without significant savings, people with disabilities are unable to afford down payments on homes, capitalize small businesses, pay for advanced education, purchase assistive technology, or make accessibility-related architectural modifications to their homes. This paper recommends four significant areas to be considered in developing a research agenda on asset development for people with disabilities.)

Courses:

FS2009

• SW 4300 - Interventive Strategies in Social Work with Organizations and Communities
• SW6200 - Family Policy
• SW 6800 - Graduate Field Practicum II