The largest percentage of new immigrants to the United States is from Mexico (Chomsky, 2007). One half of all immigrants from Mexico living in the United States are undocumented, totaling 5.9 million adults and children (Passel & Cohn, 2009; Passel, Van Hook, & Bean, 2005). There is a significant gap in the psychological literature with regard to recommendations for providing mental health services with undocumented immigrants from Mexico. The purpose of this study was to contribute to the multicultural psychology literature by gathering the clinical experiences of mental health professionals who work with undocumented immigrants from Mexico along the U.S./Mexico border and to define culturally responsive interventions while highlighting potential opportunities for clinicians to engage in socially-just professional practice. The study utilized a qualitative methodology by which first-person narratives were gathered via interviews with 12 social workers, psychologists, and counselors who work with undocumented immigrant clients in the border states of New Mexico and Texas. The resulting interview transcripts were analyzed using a consensual qualitative research (CQR) approach (Hill, Knox, Thompson, Williams, Hess, & Ladany, 2005). The results of the study were distilled into promising practices for service provision highlighting the role of feminist multicultural counseling psychology in the development of cultural competency, expansion of professional roles, provision of culturally- and linguistically-appropriate treatment, and encouragement of clinician self-care.

No description available.

Thesis (M.A.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Linguistics and English Language, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 74-75).

Cervical cancer is the second most common malignancy worldwide. Infection with HPV is a necessary cause of cervical. Hispanic women in the U.S. experience significantly higher rates of invasive disease than non-Hispanic Whites. In this population, HPV vaccines hold significant potential to eliminate further disparities in cervical cancer morbidity and mortality. The purpose of this study was to examine factors associated with Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine acceptability among a national sample of Spanish speaking callers to the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Cancer Information Service (CIS). Specifically this research aimed to identify the sociodemographic, sociocultural and attitudinal determinants of HPV vaccine acceptability. This research involved a cross-sectional study with phone-based interviews conducted in Spanish (n = 836). All female Spanish callers to the CIS were asked to respond to a three-part questionnaire that included items relating to ethnic identity and acculturation, knowledge of cervical cancer and related risk factors, and HPV vaccine acceptability. Descriptive, univariate and multivariate logistic regression were used to characterize the study population and to determine the effect of each of the demographic/sociocultural variables on vaccine acceptance. Independent predictors of HPV vaccine acceptability were determined using multivariate linear regression models. Results showed that HPV vaccine acceptance was high among this group of Hispanic women (78%) and that attitudes about vaccines in general and the HPV vaccine specifically were positive. Factors associated with vaccine acceptance included physician recommendation, awareness and accurate knowledge about HPV, and speaking only or mostly Spanish. Other important predictors included influence of peers, positive attitudes about vaccines in general, higher education and being a mother of a female adolescent. The primary reason cited by those who did not favor vaccination was concern over vaccine safety. This research was the first study looking at vaccine acceptability in a large, national sample of Hispanic women. HPV vaccination can lead to important public health benefits for Hispanic women. Targeted educational interventions must take into account the important sociocultural and attitudinal influences on the decision to vaccinate, such as those identified in the present study. Future educational efforts must involve the physician and take into the account the cultural context of attitudes and beliefs regarding vaccine safety and disease susceptibility. Further studies elucidating the interplay between culture specific beliefs and practices regarding vaccination and the decision to participate in HPV vaccination are needed.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2004. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 116-122).

This dissertation presents a comprehensive literature review of the acculturation process and describes the following aspects: constructs, theoretical models, measurement instruments, limitation in research, and an emphasis on the acculturation process and its proposed relationship with alcohol consumption among Hispanics. Included are also findings from an study conducted on the relationship between the acculturation process and hazardous alcohol use among 180 Hispanic college students in late adolescences. Final results from the study were obtained using a path analysis, a confirmatory approach to test hypothesis. Evaluation indices suggest the path analysis had good model fit, CFI, RMSEA and SRMR (1.00, 0.001, and .02, respectively). In regard to the first hypothesis, data show that behavioral enculturation was a statistically significant (beta = .69, p < .05) predictor of greater alcohol consumption. Further, moderation analyses indicate that behavioral enculturation (beta = .59, p < .05) was a greater risk factor of alcohol use for men than women. Regarding hypothesis two and three, acculturative stress, intragroup marginalization, and depression did not mediate the indirect influence of acculturation and enculturation on alcohol use. However, higher scores of enculturation were associated to greater acculturative stress and higher score of acculturation were related to greater intragroup marginalization. In turn both acculturative stress and intragroup marginalization were statistically significant predictors of depression. In all, the model accounted for 31 percent of the variance in depression and 20 percent in alcohol consumption. In view of these results, interventions should be designed to target segments of the Hispanic populations that are likely to be enculturated. Further, interventions should consider introducing gender socialization differences regarding attitudes toward alcohol use that directly attending to the moderating role of gender. Given that data also indicate that pressure from both the heritage culture and dominant culture may increase the risk of depression, mental health providers should be attune to these effects of the acculturation process to help adolescents negotiate expectations of both cultures. Lastly, interventions for alcohol use and depression may incorporate family effectiveness training, to attend to differential acculturation as a systemic family issue that needs to be addressed at the family interactional level.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI/Dissertation Abstracts International.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI/Dissertation Abstracts International.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.