The purpose of study was to explore depression among Hmong refugees and the ways they use their coping skills to deal with stressful life events.

Though it is known that eating disorders (EDs) affect individuals of all racial/ethnic backgrounds (Cheng, Perko, Fuller-Marashi, Gau, & Stice, 2019), people of color tend to be overlooked in the ED literature. South Asian Americans, a specific subset of individuals traditionally categorized within the larger umbrella group of “Asians,” have been notoriously neglected in both the broader mental health literature, and in the ED literature (Inman, Devdas, Spektor, & Pendse, 2014; Iyer & Haslam, 2003, 2006). Currently, very little information exists on the etiology and presentation of EDs amongst South Asian communities. Even less is known about culturally-specific barriers to treatment-seeking for this population. To begin to address these issues, this study used focus group methodology with South Asian American women to identify salient themes. Thematic analysis revealed several key themes for body image and EDs, as well as perceived barriers and facilitators of ED treatment-seeking behavior for this group. Notably, South Asian American women are subjected to multiple appearance ideals, experience unique cultural stressors related to living in the United States, and perceive relatively high expectations and pressures from multiple social domains, including parents and community members. Both generalized and social stigma about mental health, parents’ mental health concerns, lack of knowledge about EDs, and healthcare providers’ biases were important barriers to treatment-seeking. To address these obstacles, participants recommended that clinicians facilitate intergenerational conversations about mental health, create ED psychoeducational health campaigns, and train providers in culturally-sensitive practices for detecting and treating mental health and ED concerns. Findings can inform the assessment, prevention, and treatment of EDs via the development of a culturally-sensitive ED assessment measure designed specifically for South Asian American women.

Sexual minority women (SMW) demonstrate lower rates of cervical cancer screening than heterosexual women. This is concerning as lesbian and bisexual women tend to engage in higher rates of substance-related cancer risk behaviors, unprotected sex, and tend to have higher body mass indices, all of which are risk factors for cancer development. Another major risk factor, screening avoidance, places SMW at increased risk for the development of high grade cervical lesions in the absence of early detection practices, which is likely to impact overall cervical cancer morbidity in this population. The aim of the present study was to utilize the Health Equity Promotion Model in order to investigate the interplay of medical heterosexism, social and community, behavioral, biological, and social identity/position factors on cervical cancer screening rates in a sample of SMW from a large metro area in the southeastern United States. 145 women who identify as sexual minorities were recruited from local LGBT-friendly venues, events, community organizations, email LISTSERVs, and related social media accounts and were asked to complete a fifteen-minute survey. A series of bivariate correlation, t-test, and multivariate regression analyses were run. Findings from mediation analyses demonstrated that health communication factors mediated the relationship between perceived medical heterosexism and cervical cancer screening outcomes. Further, after accounting for demographic factors, greater provider communication quality, provider trust, eHealth literacy, and ever having an HIV test significantly and differentially predicted cervical cancer screening outcomes in the multivariate models (ps < .05). Findings suggest that health communication factors play an important role in facilitating cervical cancer screenings for SMW, and provider training interventions and policy that focus on reducing medical heterosexism may aid in improving patient-provider relationships in this population.

The purpose of this study was to revise the Awareness of Privilege and Oppression Scale (Montross, 2003) and to improve upon the psychometric properties of the original instrument. The APOS-2 is a diversity training outcome measure that is designed to measure the social justice-related construct awareness of privilege and oppression. I retained 26 items from the original APOS (Montross, 2003) and utilized an expert focus group to generate new test items for the APOS-2. Feedback from an expert rater group was solicited and then incorporated into the APOS-2 to help reduce the number of items, improve item content, and evaluate content validity. The newly revised scale was then administered to a combined sample of 484 undergraduate students at a large public university through an internet-based survey. Item-analysis procedures and an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with direct oblim oblique rotation were utilized to further reduce the number of items and then determine the psychometric properties of the final solution. The EFA of the APOS-2 data provided support for the theoretical four-factor solution. The observed Cronbach alpha reliability estimates for the final 40-item total score and subscale scores were as follows: Total score (.92), Awareness of Heterosexism (.84), Awareness of Sexism (.73), Awareness of Classism (.84), and Awareness of Racism (.86). The APOS-2 correlated low and positively (r = .29) with a measure of openness to diversity and negatively and close to zero (r = -.10) with a social desirability measure. These collective data suggest the APOS-2 may be a viable alternative to the original APOS with a stronger initial effort to link item content to the extant literature, improved subscale reliability estimates, continued support for the use of the theoretically derived subscales, and a predictable relationship with measures of convergent and discriminant validity.

Sexual minority students’ encounters with discrimination and harassment are increasing in school settings. Per the research, the discrimination and harassment they experience partly stems from teachers’ negative attitudes toward sexual minorities and a lack of understanding of the needs of these individuals, which can negatively impact students’ psychological well-being and create an unwelcoming environment (Dessel, 2010; Mudrey & Medina-Adams, 2006; Riggs, Rosenthal, & Smith-Bonahue, 2011). Teachers are responsible for ensuring a safe environment for students that promotes mental and physical health (Larrabee & Morehead, 20’10; Mudrey & Medina-Adams, 2006; Riggs et al., 2011). Therefore, it’s vital to determine ways to reduce teachers’ negative attitudes and increase their knowledge and empathy toward sexual minorities in order to enhance students’ well-being and create a supportive school atmosphere (Maddux, 1988). Although researchers have independently tested the effectiveness of intervention strategies (e.g., workshops, courses) designed to reduce negative attitudes, a comprehensive study to determine which one may be most successful in reducing negative attitudes, while enhancing knowledge and empathy, has yet to be conducted. The current study assessed the effects of three intervention strategies designed to reduce pre-service teachers’ negative attitudes, and increase their knowledge and empathy toward sexual minorities. Due to conservative religious beliefs being a main contributor to negative attitudes toward sexual minorities, this study also examined the impact of religious beliefs on participants’ responses to the interventions. Pre- and post-data were collected from 139 pre-service teachers enrolled in undergraduate educational psychology and teacher education courses at a Southeastern University. Students participated in one of three intervention strategies, a video documentary, a workshop, or regular classroom instruction. Results demonstrated that there were no significant differences between participants in the video, workshop, and control groups on attitudes, knowledge, or empathy from pre- to post-intervention. However, within group differences were found in the video and workshop interventions on certain aspects of attitudes, empathy, and knowledge. In addition, results illustrated that religious beliefs had an impact on participants’ knowledge and empathy towards sexual minorities. Contributions to the literature and implications of the findings are discussed as well as limitations and directions for future research.

African American students are graduating from high school and enrolling in higher educational institutions at greater rates than in previous years (U.S. Department of Education, 2009). Yet, they have not achieved the same level of academic success as their racial counterparts (American Council on Education, 2010; Ross, 2012). Ultimately, this disparity has resulted in only 17.7% of the African American population 25 years of age and older having at least a Bachelor’s degree (U.S. Department of Commerce, 2012). Many researchers have employed comparative study designs to explore this disparity. Additionally, researchers commonly study academic success through the exploration of intrapsychic or environmental contributing factors. As a result, limited studies examining the confluence of these factors exist in the literature, and the impact of these contributing factors is not clearly understood. This study seeks to explore the predictive factors of academic success among African American students by attending to both intrapsychic and environmental factors without the comparison of African American students to students from other races/ethnicities. Employing Tinto’s longitudinal model of institutional departure (Tinto, 1993) and positive psychological approaches, this study will use multiple foci and strengths to answer the research question: Do racial identity, goal commitment, and institutional climate predict academic success among African American college students? Academic success was measured in this study by academic adjustment, social adjustment, and self-reported grade point average (GPA). Data consisted of 240 African American freshmen from colleges and universities across the nation. Participants completed an online survey that assessed their perceptions regarding racial identity, institutional climate, goal commitment, academic adjustment, social adjustment, and GPA. The results showed that racial identity and institutional climate predicted academic adjustment and social adjustment, but not GPA. Goal commitment predicted academic adjustment, social adjustment, and GPA. When all predictors were combined in the same regression analysis, academic adjustment, social adjustment, and GPA were each predicted and unique significant contributors to the explained variance in those analyses emerged. These findings may help address some of the gaps in the literature regarding academic success among African American students These results can aid in the understanding of the impact of racial identity, institutional climate, and goal commitment among African American college students. Additionally, these results may to the creation of environmental conditions that can facilitate a connection and commitment to higher educational institutions and thus, adaptive academic and psychological outcomes.

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a complex issue among African American children, who experience significantly higher rates of CSA (Sedlak et al., 2012). Despite this, a dearth of research has examined CSA prevention among African American children. Moreover, there are no established culturally sensitive prevention programs targeted at addressing CSA among this demographic. This study addressed a significant gap in the literature by developing and evaluating the Speak7 African American Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Program (Speak7). Speak7 is a culturally sensitive, adult-focused CSA prevention program that aims to enhance the CSA prevention competence of adults who provide for African American children. Speak7 was developed by the principal investigator of this study using the National Standards for the Primary Prevention of Sexual Assault through Education (Carmody et al., 2009). Speak7 was evaluated using a formative approach to assess and enhance the acceptability of this intervention for African American adults. A qualitative design consisting of a pilot intervention with a focus group and key informant interviews was adopted to enable a detailed exploration of African American adults’ perceptions of Speak7’s program design, strengths, weaknesses, cultural congruence, and value. Qualitative data were analyzed using thematic content analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Nine themes emerged from the data: (1) acceptable design, (2) identified strengths, (3) identified weaknesses, (4) culturally appropriate, (5) valued by targets, (6) recommendations, (7) appropriate for targets, (8) dynamic engagement, and (9) views of CSA. Findings reveal critical insights into participants’ perspectives regarding the acceptability of Speak7 and inform program revisions.

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Global self-worth -- Sense of competence -- Acculturation -- Psychological adjustment -- Self-Perception Profile for College Students -- Multicultural Acculturation Scale -- Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL) -- One-way MANOVA.

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