Beth Okantey is a doctoral student at Florida State University’s College of Social Work. She is a research assistant with the Center of Population Sciences for Health Equity. Beth has assisted in various projects on aging and cognitive decline in diverse populations. She assisted in survey collection and qualitative interviews focused on the safety risks of those aging with HIV and aging and cognitive decline among aging Latinos, Asians, and Black Americans. She also completed a systematic review of how students gain cultural awareness in social work education. Beth’s research interests include African immigration, acculturation, and the impact on mental health.

She brings over 28 years of practical social work experience working with various populations, including 16 years of work internationally, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. She developed a BSW/MSW field placement program in Ghana, West Africa, supervising 90 students from 18 universities. She has also spent 13 years teaching at the undergraduate and graduate level, both online and in the classroom, for various institutions. Currently, she teaches practice with groups and practice with communities and organizations at the BSW level at Florida State University.

AREAS OF FOCUS

• International Social Work
• Culturally responsive engagement, assessment, and intervention

EDUCATION

• MSW, 2001, Walla Walla University; Social Work
• BSW, 1996, Pacific Lutheran University; Social Work

ARTICLES PUBLISHED

Okantey, B. (2021-Fall-Web Exclusive). Cultivating cultural curiosity in social work. Social Work Today. https://www.socialworktoday.com/archive/exc_102621.shtml

Okantey, B. (2023).  Are universal and guaranteed basic income programs effective in the United States?  A review. Research on Social Work Practice, [Online First], https://doi.org/10.1177/10497315231202781

Xavier Hall, C.D., Okantey, B, Meng, Z., Sabuncu, B., Lane, B., Millender, E., Queiroz, A., Kim, J.H., Okada, L., Gillespie, A., Simoncini, G., Barile, J.P., Ma, G.X., Wong, F.Y. (2024). Examining bio-psycho-social predictors of risk for cognitive impairment among a racially diverse sample of men who have sex with men living with HIV. Therapeutic Advances in Infectious Disease. (Accepted)