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Solveig Spjeldnes received her M.S.W. and Ph.D. in Social Work from the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, and her M.A. in Education from San Diego State University. Her primary research interests are the effects of reentry services and environmental factors associated with male criminal recidivism and improved child well-being—with a growing focus on the father-child relationships of former inmates. Her publications have appeared in journals such as Social Work, Social Work Research, Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, and Marriage & Family Review. She has presented at several national conferences and an international conference. As an Assistant Professor in the Social Work Program in the Department of Social and Public Health, she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in social welfare history and policy at Ohio University in Athens, OH and is a Director of Studies for the Social Work Program in the Honors Tutorial College. When she served as a post-doctoral fellow at the Center on Race and Social Problems at the University of Pittsburgh, School of Social Work, she worked on a longitudinal study of jail reentry factors and continues to conduct research with team members.

During her doctoral studies, she served as the project coordinator for a study of African American mothers with low-income and their young children and the effects of factors such as maternal depression, social support, father involvement, and interparental relations, and child care that was funded by the National Institutes of Mental Health. Other research interests include risk and protective factors and their effects on children of families’ with low-income (e.g. interparental relations, parenting, father incarceration, father involvement, and social supports.

EDUCATION

• Ph.D. at University of Pittsburgh, PA (2007)

RESEARCH INTERESTS

• Jails and Criminal Justice
• Criminal Justice Policy
• Factors Associated with Recidivism
• Reentry Services
• Former Male Inmates Well-being and Family Relationships
• Children of Incarcerated Fathers

COURSES RECENTLY TAUGHT

• SW 290: Social Welfare Overview and Trends
• SW 390: Social Policy
• SW522: Social Welfare Policy and Services I: History of Social Welfare and Social Work
• SW523: Social Welfare Policy and Services II: History of Social Welfare and Social Work

PUBLICATION HIGHLIGHTS

Spjeldnes, S., Maguire, L., Yamatani, H., & Jung, H. (Forthcoming). Positive family social support: Counteracting negative effects of mental illness and drug abuse to reduce jail ex-inmate recidivism rates. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment.

Mann,  A., Spjeldnes,  S., & Yamatani, H.  (Forthcoming). Male county jail inmates: A profile and self-reported human service needs. Journal of Evidenced-Based Social Work.

Yamatani, H., & Spjeldnes, S. (2011). Saving our criminal justice system: The efficacy of a collaborative social service, Social Work, 56(1), 53-62.

Jung, H., Spjeldnes, S., & Yamatani, H. (2010). Recidivism and survival time: Racial disparity among jail inmates, Social Work Research, 34(3), 181-188.

Spjeldnes, S., & Goodkind, S. (2009). Gender differences and offender reentry: A review of the literature. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 48(4), 314-335.

Spjeldnes, S., & Choi, J. (2008). Direct and indirect effects of interparental relationship quality on child behavior problems in Black, nonmarital families with low-income, Marriage & Family Review, 44(4), 411-438.