College of Education and Human Development

Family Social Science

Armeda Wojciak

  • Pronouns: she/her/hers

  • Associate Professor and Couple & Family Therapy Program Director

Armeda Wojciak

Areas of interest

Improving outcomes for at-risk individuals and families with adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) through interventions that include:
(a) sibling-sibling
(b) caregiver/parent-child
(c) teacher-parent-student formats

Degrees

Ph.D., Marriage and Family Therapy, The Florida State University
M.S., Marriage and Family Therapy, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
B.A., Psychology - University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Biography

Dr. Wojciak has developed a robust research program in improving outcomes for at-risk youth and families with adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) through interventions that are designed and evaluated across family, foster care, school, and youth camp formats.

Her scholarly work has been published in Children and Youth Services Review, the Journal of Social Work, and Journal of Family Issues, among others. She has contributed chapters to six books on issues around youth in foster care and ACEs.

Wojciak was a founding member of the multidisciplinary team who create the inaugural “Building a Resilient Iowa” workshops for educators, health care, public health, and community agencies to build trauma informed care systems across Iowa’s care systems.  

Nationally she has presented at the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy annual meetings, the Society for Research on Adolescence, National Council on Family Relations and Society for Prevention Research.  She has served as the associate editor of the Journal of Couple and Relationship Therapy and on the editorial boards of the aforementioned Journal and the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy.

As CFT Program Director, Wojciak is responsible for the future direction of the accredited Couple and Family Therapy Program, teaching and advising students, and providing clinical supervision as a couple/marriage and family therapist.

Publications

Conrad-Hiebner, A., *Johnson, V., *Gamboni, C., & Wojciak, A. S. (in press). Can diapers prevent child maltreatment? A literature review on the use of material support in the child welfare system. Child Abuse Review.

Fish, J. N., Baams, L., Wojciak, A. S., & Russel, S. T. (2019). Are sexual minority youth overrepresented in foster care, child welfare, and out-of-home placement? Findings from nationally representative data. Child Abuse and Neglect, 89, 203-211.

Thompson, H. M., Wojciak, A. S., & Cooley, M. E. (2019). Family-based approach to the child welfare system: an integration of Bowen family theory concepts. Journal of Family Social Work.

Waid, J., Wojciak, A. S. (2019). Evaluating the impact of camp-based reunification on the resilience of siblings separated by foster care. Children and Youth Services Review, 100, 274-282.

*Gutierrez, D., *Gamboni, C., Wojciak, A. S. & *Frazier, A., (2018). Relationship quality and attachment outcomes of adults with parents in same sex relationships. The Family Journal, 26, 166-173.

Wojciak, A. S., *Range, B., *Gutierrez, D., *Hough, N. A., & *Gamboni, C. (2018). Sibling relationships in foster care: Foster parent perspectives. Journal of Family Issues, 39, 2590-2614.

Thompson, H. M., Wojciak, A. S., Cooley, M. E. (2018). The experience with independent living services for youth in care and those formerly in care. Children and Youth Services Review, 84, 17-25.

Wojciak, A. S., McWey, L. M., Waid, J. (2018). Sibling relationships of youth in foster care as a predictor of resilience. Children and Youth Services Review, 84, 247-254.

Cooley, M. E., Thompson, H. M., & Wojciak, A. S. (2017). Risk, resilience, and complexity: Experiences of foster parents. Children and Youth Services Review, 76, 35-41.

*Range, B., *Gutierrez, D., *Gamboni, C., *Hough, N. A., & Wojciak, A. S. (2017). Mass trauma in the African American community: Using multiculturalism to build resilient systems. Contemporary Family Therapy, 40, 284-298.

Presentations

Wojciak, A. S. (2019). Adverse childhood experiences: The important role of MFTs. One-hour session presented at American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, Austin, TX.

Wojciak, A. S. and *Gamboni, C. (2019). Working with biological parents involved in child welfare. One-hour session presented at American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, Austin, TX.

Wojciak, A. S. (July, 2019). Understanding ACEs in Education. Keynote presented at Iowa State Education Association, Des Moines, IA.

Wojciak, A. S. (November, 2018). Considering the whole child: Using a trauma sensitive lens in education. 3 Hour Keynote presented at the Iowa Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, Ames, IA.

Wojciak, A. S. (September, 2017). Trauma informed work in elementary schools. Building a Resilient Iowa Workshop. 2-day workshop.

*Watters, E., Reed-Fitzke, K., *Gamboni, C., Wojciak, A. S., & Ferraro, A. J. (2018). The multigenerational transmission of abuse: The effects on communication and family conflict. Research Discussion presented at the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, Louisville, KY.

Wojciak, A. S., & *Range, B. (2018). Trauma Informed Care: The importance of resilience in schools. Research Discussion presented at the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, Louisville, KY.

Wojciak, A. S. (2018). Mental health disparities of LGB youth in a national sample of child welfare involved youth. Paper presented to Society for Research on Adolescence, Minneapolis, MN.

Fish, J. N., Baams, L., Wojciak, A. S., & Russell, S. T. (2018). Overrepresentation of sexual minority youth in foster care: Findings from two representative samples. Paper presented to Society for Research on Adolescence, Minneapolis, MN.

Wojciak, A. S. (May, 2017). Adverse childhood experiences. What is it? What is the impact? What can we do? Workshop presented to Practitioners and Researchers Overcoming Problems of Literacy annual conference.

Professional Associations and Memberships

National Council on Family Relations, Member since 2007
American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy, Member since 2008