Young people, third places, and sense of community

• Littman, D.M. (2024). Practices and settings which promote a psychological sense of community among young people who experience social marginalization: A scoping review. Children & Youth Services Review. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2024.107620 

• Littman, D.M., Milligan, T., Berry, R.+, Holloway, B., Scott, M.L. (2024). What do recently housed young people imagine for the future of third places? Using game-based inquiry to (re)imagine affirming, youth-centered third places. American Journal of Community Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12750    

• Littman, D.M., Holloway, B., Cummings Melton, C., Teixeira, S. (2024). From contested spaces to choice-centered places: Using geographic interviews to understand young adults’ experiences in permanent supportive housing. Children’s Geographies. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2024.2335189  

• Gearhart, M.C., & Littman, D.M. (2024). Assessing the emotional and behavioral impact of community and extracurricular activities, police contact, and collective efficacy among youth. Journal of Community Practice. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705422.2024.2310321 

• Littman, D.M. (2021). Third places, social capital, and sense of community as mechanisms of adaptive responding for young people who experience social marginalization. The American Journal of Community Psychology, 69(3-4), 436-450. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12531

• Littman, D. M. (2020). Third place theory and social work: Considering collapsed places. Journal of Social Work. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468017320949445  

 Support for young people experiencing homelessness 

(*indicates co-authorship with community-based researchers)

• Littman, D.M., Resing, K.+, Milligan, T., Williams, O., Bender, K. (2023). Sense of community among young adults before and after moving into permanent supportive housing: A mixed methods longitudinal analysis. Children and Youth Services Review. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2023.107413

• Mollica, M.*, Littman, D.M., Marvin, C.*, Erangey, J.*, Lucas, T.*, Bender, K., & Milligan, T. (2023). “Like a weight off my shoulders”: Participating in peer support from the perspectives of young people experiencing homelessness. Journal of Community Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.23032

• Erangey, J.*, Marvin, C.*, Littman, D.M., Mollica, M.*, Bender, C., Lucas, T.*, Milligan, T (2021). How do peer support specialists value self-directed growth over traditional change goals among young people experiencing homelessness? The Journal of Community Psychology, 50(4), 1935-1951. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.22649

• Erangey, J.*, Marvin, C.*, Littman, D.M., Mollica, M.*, Bender, C., Lucas, T.*, Milligan, T. (2020). How peers initiate relationships with youth experiencing homelessness. Child and Youth Services Review, 119, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105668

• Littman, D.M., DeChants, J., Shelton, J., Bender, K., Hsu, H-T., Narendorf, S.C., Barman-Adhikari, A., Ferguson, K.M., Prock, K.A., Santa Maria, D., Petering, R. (2020). The association between place stayed and self-identification as homeless among unstably housed young adults in seven U.S. cities. The Journal of Social Distress and Homelessness, 31(1), 34-44. https://doi.org/10.1080/10530789.2020.1864211

• Chassman, S., Littman, D. M., Bender, K., Santa Maria, D., Shelton, J., Ferguson, K., Hsu, H., Narendorf, S., Barman-Adhikari, A., & Petering, R. (2020). Educational attainment among young adults experiencing homelessness in seven cities across the United States. Child and Youth Services Review,119, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105676

Mutual aid amidst the COVID-19 pandemic [and beyond]

• Dunbar, A.Z., Boyett, M., Littman, D.M., Bender, K., Melton, C.C., Saavedra, K., &  Milligan, T. (2024). A message board from the future: Signals of mutual aid futures from U.S. based organizers during COVID-19. [accepted, Futures]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2024.103327 

• Karaya, M.+, Holloway, B., Littman, D.M., Melton, Colleen C., Bender, K., Sarantakos, S. (2023). “F*ck capitalism:” Mutual aid participants’ experiences of burnout during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Abolitionist Perspectives in Social Work. https://doi.org/10.52713/apsw.v1i1.13 

• Littman, D.M., Boyett, M., Bender, K., Dunbar, Z., Hostetter, R., Morris, K., Holloway, B., Sarantakos, S. (2023). How do participants conceptualize mutual aid in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic? A critical phenomenological analysis. The Journal of Community Practice. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705422.2023.2210136 

• Bender, K., Saavedra, K., Milligan, T., Littman, D.M., Dunbar, A. Z., Boyett, M., Holloway, B. (2023). How mutual aid participation developed social bonds and sense of collective responsibility in the early months of COVID-19. American Journal of Community Psychology. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajcp.12721 

• Dunbar, A.Z., Littman, D.M., Boyett, M., Bender, K., Saavedra, K., Melton, Colleen C., Milligan, T., Bogle, C. (2023). Using foresight practice to imagine the future(s) of mutual aid. Social Work and Society. https://ejournals.bib.uni-wuppertal.de/index.php/sws/article/view/841/1423 

• Bender, K., Littman, D.M., Dunbar, Z., Boyett, M., Milligan, T., Santarella, M., Becker-Hafnor, T. (2021). Rapid Emergent Media Scan of Digital Mutual Aid Organizing during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Journal of Community Practice, 29(3), 280-298. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705422.2021.1980477

• Littman, D.M., Boyett, M., Bender, K., Dunbar, A.Z., Santarella, M., Becker-Hafnor, T., Saavedra, K., Milligan, T. (2021). Values and beliefs underlying mutual aid: An exploration of collective care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal for the Society of Social Work and Research. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.1086/716884

Participatory action research (PAR) methodology 

(*indicates co-authorship with community-based researchers)

• Littman, D.M., Ortega-Williams, A., Beltrán, R., Wagaman, A., Bender, K., Wernick, L. (2023). Navigating, subverting, and replacing conventional academic structures and expectations to co-create with PAR teams: Where to for PAR scholarship? Journal of Community Practice.  https://doi.org/10.1080/10705422.2023.2271923 

• Littman, D.M., Bender, K., Mollica, M.*, Erangey, J.*, Lucas, T.*, Marvin, C.* (2020). Making power explicit: Using power and values mapping on power-diverse participatory action research (PAR) teams. The Journal of Community Psychology, 49(2), 266 282. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.22456

Prison arts programming & Restorative practices

• Littman, D.M., Valdovinos, M., Sliva, S.M. (2023) “He went from being a monster to a person:” Using narrative analysis to explore how victim-offender dialogue (VOD) participants transform through the VOD process. Qualitative Social Work.  https://doi.org/10.1177/14733250231202050

• Littman, D.M., Sliva, S., Lin, J. (2021). Closer to the problem: Can a virtual prison arts event foster psychological proximity to the issue of incarceration? Contemporary Justice Review, 25(1), 4-23. https://doi.org/10.1080/10282580.2021.1995719

• Littman, D.M., and Sliva, S. (2020). “The walls came down:” A multi-site mixed-methods evaluation of a prison arts program. Justice Evaluation Journal, 4(2), 237-259. https://doi.org/10.1080/24751979.2020.1853484

• Littman, D.M., and Sliva, S. (2020). Prison arts program outcomes: A scoping review. The Journal of Correctional Education. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27042216?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

Reflexive practice for practitioners

• Hammoor, C., & Littman, D.M. (2022). Unrehearsed moments: Interstices of policy, preparation, and reflexivity. Arts Education Policy Review. https://doi.org/10.1080/10632913.2022.2037484

• Littman, D. (2018). Reflective practice and psychodynamic understanding. The Advocate’s Forum, pp. 49-58. Reflective Practice and Psychodynamic Understanding | Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice (uchicago.edu). 

Social work futures

• Littman, D.M., Bell, F., Al Wazni, A., Speck Glennon, A., Young, J., Goldkind, L., Prussia, L., Nissen, L. (2024). Pedagogies of possibility: Case studies from using foresight tools in the social work classroom. Social Work Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2024.2368171  

• Nissen, L., Beaudoin, L., Bell, F., Bradley, S., Brooks, L.A., Dunagan, J., Littman, D. M. (2023). Using futures thinking to imagine the evolution of anti-racism practice in social work: Four scenarios that may or may not involve a future of the profession. In L.S. Abrams, S.E. Crewe, A.J. Dettlaff, J.H. Williams (Eds.), Social Work, White Supremacy, and Racial Justice: Reckoning with Our History, Interrogating our Present, Re-Imagining our Future. Oxford University Press.