Bowen McBeath, Ph.D.Bowen McBeath, Ph.D.
Primary research and clinical interests
Bowen McBeath, who received his MSW and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, is interested in the development, translation, and diffusion of consumer-centered interventions that seek to improve health, mental health, and well-being for child welfare populations. Currently an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work and Hatfield School of Government (Division of Public Administration) at Portland State University, Dr. McBeath is involved in intervention studies funded by NIMH and NICHD focused upon promoting sibling and peer relationship development for foster youth as well as a NIDA-supported study applying parent management methods to the community corrections population. He is also engaged in examinations of service utilization and child welfare system outcomes using longitudinal datasets. These latter studies are documenting disparities in care for particularly at-risk subpopulations and are investigating organizational and caseworker correlates of child well-being and family reunification.
He is also interested in the articulation of culturally-centered models of evidence-based practice at the clinical, programmatic, and agency levels. He has received awards and fellowships for his scholarship from the Academy of Management, the Aspen Institute, the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action, the Center for Child Welfare Policy of the North American Resource Center for Child Welfare, the Council on Social Work Education, the Nonprofit Academic Centers Council, the Society for Social Work and Research, and the University of Michigan.