Sarah Dow-Fleisner

Sarah Dow-Fleisner, PhD

Assistant Professor

Social Work

Office: ART135
Email: sarah.dow-fleisner@ubc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Summary

Development trajectories and resilient functioning of children and families in high-risk contexts; Parent-child and sibling relationships in families experiencing parental mental illness and substance use; Intervention and prevention programs for families and children; Utilization of advanced statistical methodology to examine complex social phenomenon.

Courses & Teaching

Courses:
SOCW525: Human Development for Clinical Social Work
SOCW553: Research Methods and Evidence in Clinical Social Work Practice
SWK382: Social Work Research Methods II
SWK707: Research for Social Work Practice

Directed Studies:
SOCW541: Directed Studies in Human Development in the context of forced family separation
SOCW541: Directed Studies in Research Methods and Statistical Analysis in Child Welfare Research
PSYO509: Directed Studies in Applied Mixed Methods Research
HMKN 545: Special Topics in Health and Exercise Sciences: Resilience and quality of life among survivors of intimate partner violence related brain injury

Websites

Centre for the Study of Services to Children and Families: https://csscf.ok.ubc.ca/

Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sarah_Dow-Fleisner

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=5l9ldKQAAAAJ&hl=en

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2414-5856

Degrees

PhD in Social Work, Boston College
MA in Child Development, Tufts University
BSc (honours) in Child Development, Colby-Sawyer College
BA (honours) in Psychology, Colby-Sawyer College

Research Interests & Projects

Principal Investigator (September 2021 – August 2026) The ADAPT Project: Adaptation, Development, and Positive Trajectories in the context of childhood adversity (Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar Award)

This project utilizes a mixed-methods approach to explore pathways to wellbeing in the context of CA, focusing on the timing and type of protective factors. To fully understand how socio-environmental and biological factors contribute to health and wellbeing inequity due to CA, we must examine the pathways to impairment and wellbeing using a developmentally informed framework.

Principal Investigator (September 2021 – August 2022) Examining the Mental Health Impacts of COVID-19 in Canada: A Combined Statistics and Machine Learning Equity-Informed Study (IURC BC Interior Region Seed Grant)

This project aims to explore the changes in behavior and wellbeing related to COVID-19, examine how these changes differ among people in equity-denied groups, identify important factors influencing mental health conditions, and make recommendations on effective, equity-informed policy strategies. We will integrate statistics and machine learning methods to robustly analyze available Canadian datasets.

Principal Investigator (July 2017 – March 2022) Child Protective Services Organizational Environment, Practice, & Outcomes (SSHRC Insight Grant)

The purpose of this project is to determine the relationships among organizational environment, approach to practice, and case outcomes in a diverse array of CPS delegated Indigenous agencies in British Columbia.

Selected Publications & Presentations

Dow-Fleisner, S. J., Stager, M., Gregoire, N., Woodmass, K., More, J. W., & Wells, S. J. (2023). Development of a Measure of Child Welfare Practice Excellence. Research on Social Work Practice. https://doi.org/10.1177/10497315231180296

Dow-Fleisner, S. J., Baum, C., Pandey, S., & Hawkins, S. S. (2023). Parenting While Depressed: The Influence of Interpersonal Supports and Community Resources for Mothers. Journal of Family Issues. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X231181369

Dow-Fleisner, S. J., Lomness, A., & Woolgar, L. (2022). Impact of Safe Consumption Facilities on Individual and Community Outcomes: A Scoping Review of the Past Decade of Research. Emerging Trends in Drugs, Addictions, and Health. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.etdah.2022.100046

Dow-Fleisner, S. J., Pandey, S., Baum, C., & Hawkins, S. S. (2021). Heterogeneity in Child Health and Well-Being in the Context of Maternal Depression: A Latent Profile Analysis. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research, 12(1), 131-154. https://doi.org/10.1086/713569

Stene, K. L., Dow-Fleisner, S. J., Ermacora, D., Agathen, J., Falconnier, L., Stager, M., & Wells, S. J. (2020). Measuring the quality of care in kinship foster care placements. Children and Youth Services Review, 116, 105-136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105136

Struik, L. L., Dow-Fleisner, S., Belliveau, M., Thompson, D., & Janke, R. (2020). Tactics for drawing youth to vaping: Content analysis of electronic cigarette advertisements. Journal of medical Internet research, 22(8), e18943. https://doi.org/10.2196/18943

Dow-Fleisner, S., & Hawkins, S. S. (2018). Child physical well-being in the context of maternal depression. Social Work Research, 42(2), 95-105. https://doi.org/10.1093/swr/svy006

See Google Scholar for Full List of Publications: https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=5l9ldKQAAAAJ&hl=en

Selected Grants & Awards

Principal Investigator (September 2021 – August 2026) The ADAPT Project: Adaptation, Development, and Positive Trajectories in the context of childhood adversity (Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar Award)

Principal Investigator (July 2021 – August 2022) Centre for the Study of Services to Children and Families (CSSCF) (Collaborative Research Mobility Award)

Principal Investigator (April 2020 – March 2022) Using Linked Data to Examine the Impact of Family Adversity on Academic Wellbeing (Collaborative Research Mobility Award)

Principal Investigator (July 2017 – March 2022) Child Protective Services Organizational Environment, Practice, & Outcomes (SSHRC Insight Grant)

Co-applicant (January 2019 – January 2022) – Rural Health Equality Research Cluster (UBC Eminence Fund)

Co-Principal Applicant (January 2020 – January 2021) – Youth Vaping Assessment, Prevention and Early intervention (Y-VAPE): A combined policy and intervention approach to curb youth vaping. (CIHR Planning and Dissemination Grant)