Advocacy for immigrant families undertaken by social workers, attorneys, and other supporters to ... more Advocacy for immigrant families undertaken by social workers, attorneys, and other supporters to protect against deportation, detention, and unfair government policies occurs mostly in immigration and federal courts. Social workers bring unique knowledge and skills that enhance legal teams’ representation of immigrants. This paper provides case illustrations of social work’s contribution in three types of legal actions. One illustration from immigration court demonstrates the social work consultant’s role in cancellation of removal cases when undocumented immigrants have US-citizen children. A second case is a federal class-action lawsuit to end the detention of asylum-seeking families. The third case was a federal lawsuit to dismantle bureaucratic policies and procedures that undermined the legal rights and well-being of unaccompanied children. In each of these actions, social work knowledge influenced lawsuits that can have lasting policy impact. While this paper focuses on social...
Among adolescents, Latinas are at an increased risk of experiencing suicidal ideation and attempt... more Among adolescents, Latinas are at an increased risk of experiencing suicidal ideation and attempts compared to non-Hispanic, White youth. Previous research indicates that family dynamics are influential as both protective and risk factors. Although significant research has been conducted over the past several decades examining the mother-daughter relationship, few studies have examined the father-daughter relationship among Latina adolescent suicide attempters. The relationship dynamics between fathers and daughters of Latina descent are both similar and unique compared to mother-daughter relationships. Given this, an in-depth analysis is warranted. To address this gap, the present study utilized dyadic thematic analysis to describe father-daughter relationships (N = 10 dyads, 20 individual interviews) and fathers' reactions to their Latina daughters' suicide attempt(s). Three themes emerged from the results (a) dynamic proximity, which describes the variation in emotional and physical closeness between fathers and daughters; (b) father as protector, which describes fathers' roles in protecting or failing to protect their daughters; (c) responses to the suicide attempt, which describes the various ways fathers responded to daughters' suicide attempts, ranging from helpful action to apathy. Themes gleaned from in-depth interviews informed a deeper understanding of these complex, multifaceted relationships, and how they may be linked to fathers' responses to daughters' suicide attempts. Implications for future research and clinical practice with youth at risk for suicidal ideations and behaviors, along with the impact of such experiences on families, are discussed.
Three groups of children from Mexico and Central America are vulnerable to effects of U.S. immigr... more Three groups of children from Mexico and Central America are vulnerable to effects of U.S. immigration policies: (1) foreign-born children who entered the United States with undocumented immigrant parents; (2) unaccompanied children who entered the United States alone; and (3) U.S.-born citizen-children of undocumented immigrant parents. Despite the recent demographic growth of these youth, scholarship on their strengths and challenges is under-theorized and isolated within specific disciplines. Hence, service providers, researchers, and policymakers have insufficient research to inform their efforts to support the children’s well-being. A group of scholars and service providers with expertise in immigrant children convened to establish consensus areas and identify gaps in knowledge of undocumented, unaccompanied, and citizen-children of undocumented immigrant parents. The primary goal was to establish a research agenda that increases interdisciplinary collaborations, informs clinic...
More than 8 of 10 intravenous drug users infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are... more More than 8 of 10 intravenous drug users infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are black or Hispanic. Recognizing that sociocultural factors affect HIV transmission, public health officials have called for interventions designed for ethnic-racial minority groups. Considered in this paper are the nature and extent of AIDS among ethnic-racial minorities and the cultural aspects of drug use and sexual behavior related to HIV transmission. That drug users and their associates are practicing safer needle use is evident; that they are changing their sexual behavior is less so. Calling for rapid advances in knowledge and expanded efforts in intervention, Federal agencies have instituted numerous programs to support innovative research and demonstration projects in ethnic-racial minority communities. Needed are studies that (a) describe the phenomena of drug use and sexual behavior among ethnic-racial minority populations, (b) establish the efficacy of culturally specific AID...
The prevalence of substance use behaviors during adolescence is an important concern in the Unite... more The prevalence of substance use behaviors during adolescence is an important concern in the United States and internationally. Of particular importance to the U.S. is our ability to compare prevalence estimates and trends with those of neighboring countries, particularly those that feed our immigrant population and have a circulatory migration pattern with us. One of the fastest-growing Hispanic groups is Dominicans, who are also a young group, with a third of Dominicans in the United States under age 18. However, cross-national comparisons of the substance use rates of youth in the U. S. and the Dominican Republic have not been done. Our study represents, to our knowledge, the first such comparison. We conducted a secondary data analysis comparing data from the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) 1997 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), a biennial survey in the U.S., to data from a survey conducted by the Ministry of Education of the Dominican Republic in 1997...
This pilot study examined the impact and role of interpreters in videotaped and some live diagnos... more This pilot study examined the impact and role of interpreters in videotaped and some live diagnostic interviews of Hispanic outpatients in an urban psychiatric service. The study, conducted from June 2002 to February 2004, included 98 bilingual or Spanish-speaking monolingual adult Hispanic outpatients who participated in live or videotaped diagnostic interviews with English-speaking, non-Hispanic (N = 33) or Hispanic (N = 16) clinicians. Interpreters provided assistance to patients and to non-Hispanic clinicians in 71 cases. After completing live interviews or watching videotaped interviews with interpreter assistance, clinicians independently filled out questionnaires asking for diagnoses and other information (questions about the clinical encounter and rating of symptom severity). Clinicians reported high confidence in their assessments because interpreters provided unbiased, accurate information. Without interpreters, clinicians reported that patient diagnoses and functioning would have been assessed as less severe or the same. Interpreters helped patients with limited English navigate mostly videotaped interviews and respond to clinician queries. Interpreters brokered cultural expressions and colloquialism, distinguished easily misunderstood words and concepts, and were challenged by patients with cognitive deficits and thought disorders. Findings point to functions, process, and logistics of interpretation, including reaching for linguistic and conceptual fidelity and acting as unobtrusive, disciplined participants to maintain diagnostic accuracy. Recommendations for assuring useful research-quality data are applicable to diagnostic practice.
Hispanic adolescents in the United States have been virtually neglected in the literature on yout... more Hispanic adolescents in the United States have been virtually neglected in the literature on youth suicide. Among Hispanic youth, adolescent females constitute a subgroup at risk for depression and suicidal behavior. The author reviews extant literature on adolescent suicide, and discusses such psychosocial and cultural factors as socioeconomic disadvantage, traditional gender-role socialization, acculturation, cultural identity, and intergenerational conflict within the context of suicide attempts among adolescent Hispanic females. It is proposed that the interactive effects of these factors may contribute to suicide attempts among low income, first and second-generation Hispanic adolescent females.
This study evaluates an abbreviated version of the Hispanic Stress Inventory-Immigrant version (H... more This study evaluates an abbreviated version of the Hispanic Stress Inventory-Immigrant version (HSI-I) with a nonclinical sample of 143 adult Hispanic immigrants residing in a large midwestern city. The HSI-I consists of 73 items and 5 distinct subscales that assess psychosocial experiences on five dimensions, namely, occupational/economic, parental, marital, immigration, and familial/cultural. Five items with the greatest loading in each of the five sub-scales were aggregated to compose the abbreviated HSI-I. Exploratory factor analysis supports a two-factor structure that combines factors identified in previous research. Internal consistencies are acceptable across all subscales, ranging from .68 to .83. Convergent validity of the abbreviated HSI-I revised is supported with moderately positive relations through self-report measures of depression, anxiety, and anger mood levels. These findings provide initial support for the reliability and validity of the abbreviated HSI-I in Hisp...
Treating clients from diverse cultural backgrounds, and supervising clinicians who are treating c... more Treating clients from diverse cultural backgrounds, and supervising clinicians who are treating clients of the same ethnicity and gender, are now common experiences in our mental health system. As the growth of minorities in the US greatly outpaces the training of minority clinicians, more attention to these situations is needed. Operating from the premise that interpersonal sensitivity is a fundamental
Adolescent Latinas continue to report higher levels of suicide attempts than their African-Americ... more Adolescent Latinas continue to report higher levels of suicide attempts than their African-American and White peers. The phenomenon is still not understood and is theorized to be the result of the confluence of many cultural, familial, and individual level factors. In Latino cultures, belief in the importance of the family, the value known as familism, appears to protect youth's emotional and behavioral health, but parent-adolescent conflict has been found to be a risk factor for suicide attempts. The role of familism in relation to parent-adolescent conflict, self-esteem, internalizing behaviors, and suicide attempts has not been studied extensively. To address this question, we interviewed 226 adolescent Latinas, 50% of whom had histories of suicide attempts. Using path analysis, familism as a cultural asset was associated with lower levels of parent-adolescent conflict, but higher levels of internalizing behaviors, while self-esteem and internalizing behaviors mediated the relationship between parent-adolescent conflict and suicide attempts. Our findings point to the importance of family involvement in culturally competent suicide prevention and intervention programs. Reducing parent-daughter conflict and fostering closer family ties has the added effect of improving self-esteem and shrinking the likelihood of suicide attempts.
Objectives. We examined how US cultural involvement related to suicide attempts among youths in t... more Objectives. We examined how US cultural involvement related to suicide attempts among youths in the Dominican Republic. Methods. We analyzed data from a nationally representative sample of youths attending high school in the Dominican Republic (n = 8446). The outcome of interest was a suicide attempt during the past year. The US cultural involvement indicators included time spent living in the United States, number of friends who had lived in the United States, English proficiency, and use of US electronic media and language. Results. Time lived in the United States, US electronic media and language, and number of friends who had lived in the United States had robust positive relationships with suicide attempts among youths residing in the Dominican Republic. Conclusions. Our results are consistent with previous research that found increased risk for suicide or suicide attempts among Latino youths with greater US cultural involvement. Our study adds to this research by finding simil...
Advocacy for immigrant families undertaken by social workers, attorneys, and other supporters to ... more Advocacy for immigrant families undertaken by social workers, attorneys, and other supporters to protect against deportation, detention, and unfair government policies occurs mostly in immigration and federal courts. Social workers bring unique knowledge and skills that enhance legal teams’ representation of immigrants. This paper provides case illustrations of social work’s contribution in three types of legal actions. One illustration from immigration court demonstrates the social work consultant’s role in cancellation of removal cases when undocumented immigrants have US-citizen children. A second case is a federal class-action lawsuit to end the detention of asylum-seeking families. The third case was a federal lawsuit to dismantle bureaucratic policies and procedures that undermined the legal rights and well-being of unaccompanied children. In each of these actions, social work knowledge influenced lawsuits that can have lasting policy impact. While this paper focuses on social...
Among adolescents, Latinas are at an increased risk of experiencing suicidal ideation and attempt... more Among adolescents, Latinas are at an increased risk of experiencing suicidal ideation and attempts compared to non-Hispanic, White youth. Previous research indicates that family dynamics are influential as both protective and risk factors. Although significant research has been conducted over the past several decades examining the mother-daughter relationship, few studies have examined the father-daughter relationship among Latina adolescent suicide attempters. The relationship dynamics between fathers and daughters of Latina descent are both similar and unique compared to mother-daughter relationships. Given this, an in-depth analysis is warranted. To address this gap, the present study utilized dyadic thematic analysis to describe father-daughter relationships (N = 10 dyads, 20 individual interviews) and fathers' reactions to their Latina daughters' suicide attempt(s). Three themes emerged from the results (a) dynamic proximity, which describes the variation in emotional and physical closeness between fathers and daughters; (b) father as protector, which describes fathers' roles in protecting or failing to protect their daughters; (c) responses to the suicide attempt, which describes the various ways fathers responded to daughters' suicide attempts, ranging from helpful action to apathy. Themes gleaned from in-depth interviews informed a deeper understanding of these complex, multifaceted relationships, and how they may be linked to fathers' responses to daughters' suicide attempts. Implications for future research and clinical practice with youth at risk for suicidal ideations and behaviors, along with the impact of such experiences on families, are discussed.
Three groups of children from Mexico and Central America are vulnerable to effects of U.S. immigr... more Three groups of children from Mexico and Central America are vulnerable to effects of U.S. immigration policies: (1) foreign-born children who entered the United States with undocumented immigrant parents; (2) unaccompanied children who entered the United States alone; and (3) U.S.-born citizen-children of undocumented immigrant parents. Despite the recent demographic growth of these youth, scholarship on their strengths and challenges is under-theorized and isolated within specific disciplines. Hence, service providers, researchers, and policymakers have insufficient research to inform their efforts to support the children’s well-being. A group of scholars and service providers with expertise in immigrant children convened to establish consensus areas and identify gaps in knowledge of undocumented, unaccompanied, and citizen-children of undocumented immigrant parents. The primary goal was to establish a research agenda that increases interdisciplinary collaborations, informs clinic...
More than 8 of 10 intravenous drug users infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are... more More than 8 of 10 intravenous drug users infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are black or Hispanic. Recognizing that sociocultural factors affect HIV transmission, public health officials have called for interventions designed for ethnic-racial minority groups. Considered in this paper are the nature and extent of AIDS among ethnic-racial minorities and the cultural aspects of drug use and sexual behavior related to HIV transmission. That drug users and their associates are practicing safer needle use is evident; that they are changing their sexual behavior is less so. Calling for rapid advances in knowledge and expanded efforts in intervention, Federal agencies have instituted numerous programs to support innovative research and demonstration projects in ethnic-racial minority communities. Needed are studies that (a) describe the phenomena of drug use and sexual behavior among ethnic-racial minority populations, (b) establish the efficacy of culturally specific AID...
The prevalence of substance use behaviors during adolescence is an important concern in the Unite... more The prevalence of substance use behaviors during adolescence is an important concern in the United States and internationally. Of particular importance to the U.S. is our ability to compare prevalence estimates and trends with those of neighboring countries, particularly those that feed our immigrant population and have a circulatory migration pattern with us. One of the fastest-growing Hispanic groups is Dominicans, who are also a young group, with a third of Dominicans in the United States under age 18. However, cross-national comparisons of the substance use rates of youth in the U. S. and the Dominican Republic have not been done. Our study represents, to our knowledge, the first such comparison. We conducted a secondary data analysis comparing data from the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) 1997 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), a biennial survey in the U.S., to data from a survey conducted by the Ministry of Education of the Dominican Republic in 1997...
This pilot study examined the impact and role of interpreters in videotaped and some live diagnos... more This pilot study examined the impact and role of interpreters in videotaped and some live diagnostic interviews of Hispanic outpatients in an urban psychiatric service. The study, conducted from June 2002 to February 2004, included 98 bilingual or Spanish-speaking monolingual adult Hispanic outpatients who participated in live or videotaped diagnostic interviews with English-speaking, non-Hispanic (N = 33) or Hispanic (N = 16) clinicians. Interpreters provided assistance to patients and to non-Hispanic clinicians in 71 cases. After completing live interviews or watching videotaped interviews with interpreter assistance, clinicians independently filled out questionnaires asking for diagnoses and other information (questions about the clinical encounter and rating of symptom severity). Clinicians reported high confidence in their assessments because interpreters provided unbiased, accurate information. Without interpreters, clinicians reported that patient diagnoses and functioning would have been assessed as less severe or the same. Interpreters helped patients with limited English navigate mostly videotaped interviews and respond to clinician queries. Interpreters brokered cultural expressions and colloquialism, distinguished easily misunderstood words and concepts, and were challenged by patients with cognitive deficits and thought disorders. Findings point to functions, process, and logistics of interpretation, including reaching for linguistic and conceptual fidelity and acting as unobtrusive, disciplined participants to maintain diagnostic accuracy. Recommendations for assuring useful research-quality data are applicable to diagnostic practice.
Hispanic adolescents in the United States have been virtually neglected in the literature on yout... more Hispanic adolescents in the United States have been virtually neglected in the literature on youth suicide. Among Hispanic youth, adolescent females constitute a subgroup at risk for depression and suicidal behavior. The author reviews extant literature on adolescent suicide, and discusses such psychosocial and cultural factors as socioeconomic disadvantage, traditional gender-role socialization, acculturation, cultural identity, and intergenerational conflict within the context of suicide attempts among adolescent Hispanic females. It is proposed that the interactive effects of these factors may contribute to suicide attempts among low income, first and second-generation Hispanic adolescent females.
This study evaluates an abbreviated version of the Hispanic Stress Inventory-Immigrant version (H... more This study evaluates an abbreviated version of the Hispanic Stress Inventory-Immigrant version (HSI-I) with a nonclinical sample of 143 adult Hispanic immigrants residing in a large midwestern city. The HSI-I consists of 73 items and 5 distinct subscales that assess psychosocial experiences on five dimensions, namely, occupational/economic, parental, marital, immigration, and familial/cultural. Five items with the greatest loading in each of the five sub-scales were aggregated to compose the abbreviated HSI-I. Exploratory factor analysis supports a two-factor structure that combines factors identified in previous research. Internal consistencies are acceptable across all subscales, ranging from .68 to .83. Convergent validity of the abbreviated HSI-I revised is supported with moderately positive relations through self-report measures of depression, anxiety, and anger mood levels. These findings provide initial support for the reliability and validity of the abbreviated HSI-I in Hisp...
Treating clients from diverse cultural backgrounds, and supervising clinicians who are treating c... more Treating clients from diverse cultural backgrounds, and supervising clinicians who are treating clients of the same ethnicity and gender, are now common experiences in our mental health system. As the growth of minorities in the US greatly outpaces the training of minority clinicians, more attention to these situations is needed. Operating from the premise that interpersonal sensitivity is a fundamental
Adolescent Latinas continue to report higher levels of suicide attempts than their African-Americ... more Adolescent Latinas continue to report higher levels of suicide attempts than their African-American and White peers. The phenomenon is still not understood and is theorized to be the result of the confluence of many cultural, familial, and individual level factors. In Latino cultures, belief in the importance of the family, the value known as familism, appears to protect youth's emotional and behavioral health, but parent-adolescent conflict has been found to be a risk factor for suicide attempts. The role of familism in relation to parent-adolescent conflict, self-esteem, internalizing behaviors, and suicide attempts has not been studied extensively. To address this question, we interviewed 226 adolescent Latinas, 50% of whom had histories of suicide attempts. Using path analysis, familism as a cultural asset was associated with lower levels of parent-adolescent conflict, but higher levels of internalizing behaviors, while self-esteem and internalizing behaviors mediated the relationship between parent-adolescent conflict and suicide attempts. Our findings point to the importance of family involvement in culturally competent suicide prevention and intervention programs. Reducing parent-daughter conflict and fostering closer family ties has the added effect of improving self-esteem and shrinking the likelihood of suicide attempts.
Objectives. We examined how US cultural involvement related to suicide attempts among youths in t... more Objectives. We examined how US cultural involvement related to suicide attempts among youths in the Dominican Republic. Methods. We analyzed data from a nationally representative sample of youths attending high school in the Dominican Republic (n = 8446). The outcome of interest was a suicide attempt during the past year. The US cultural involvement indicators included time spent living in the United States, number of friends who had lived in the United States, English proficiency, and use of US electronic media and language. Results. Time lived in the United States, US electronic media and language, and number of friends who had lived in the United States had robust positive relationships with suicide attempts among youths residing in the Dominican Republic. Conclusions. Our results are consistent with previous research that found increased risk for suicide or suicide attempts among Latino youths with greater US cultural involvement. Our study adds to this research by finding simil...
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