Social Justice Commons^™

Black Maternal Healthcare: The Impact Of Black Doulas On Pregnant Black Women, Andrea M. Siame

Scripps Senior Theses

Pregnancy disproportionately puts the lives of Black women at risk, causing stress, mistrust, and discomfort to be integral aspects of their perinatal experiences. This stress, mistrust, and discomfort is rooted in Black women’s understanding of the structural racism embedded in the healthcare system. In order for Black women’s psyche to be adequately cared for during their pregnancy, they need perinatal support that places Black feminist theories into practice in their support of Black women. This means that it is necessary to provide support that is rooted in reproductive justice, giving autonomy to Black women during their pregnancy. This support can …

The Effect Of Early Intervention On Reducing Recidivism, Claire Meyer

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The current punishment-based system has not led to promising recidivism rates showing the lack of effect it has on changing behavior. By working to understand the effect interventions can have on reducing recidivism, society can improve the criminal justice system. The intention of this paper is to show the benefits of moving to a system focused on rehabilitation instead of punishment, specifically for juvenile offenders. By conducting a literature review of available research, it can be seen that an incarceration-based system is not as effective as the implementation of intervention and prevention methods can be. Cognitive behavioral therapy and community-based …

Student-Athlete Mental Health: University Of Montana Case Study, Abigail M. Sherwood

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Research suggests that Division I college-student athletes experience higher levels of stress and other behavioral health issues than their non-athlete counterparts, with up to 20% of them suffering from depression (Sudano et al., 2017). Two studies on student athletes’ well-being conducted in 2020, reported that athletes continue to report higher levels of mental health concerns (Johnson, 2022). Since the fall of 2020, rates of mental exhaustion, depression, and anxiety have improved minimally with rates remaining 1.5 to two times higher than reported before the COVID-19 pandemic (Johnson, 2022). Naomi Osaka withdrawing from the French Open in 2021 and Simone Biles …

An Exploration Of The Lived Experiences And Psychological States Of Migrants And Refugees, Zainab Akef, Senel Poyrazli, Isabel Quintero

The Qualitative Report

UNHCR reports that about 82.4 million individuals were forcibly displaced as they attempted to avoid persecution, conflict, or human rights violations in their home countries. In addition to traumatic experiences, refugees encounter stressors such as low income, reduced social support, and language barriers. This qualitative study aimed to explore the impact of pre-migration trauma and political detainment on mental health outcomes and living conditions. A total of eight interviewees participated in video conferencing interviews. A non-probability convenience sampling using the snowballing technique was utilized to identify participants. Data were analyzed using an inductive approach for thematic analysis. The software Dedoose …

Exploring The Factors That Influence Female Offending In The U.S. And Mexico, Dana Villasenor

CMC Senior Theses

Hollywood has painted a picture of the criminal woman as a sexy, sneaky, and often psychotic female fatale. This is because men run Hollywood. Much like movies, research on why women offend had historically focused on men as their stellar. However, towards the turn of the century and with the disproportionate rise in female incarceration, literature caught up to the fact that women and men do not experience the same socialization, standards, or reality and, therefore, have different reasons for and ways of offending. This research explores those reasons for women in the U.S. and Mexico and paints the picture …

The Role Of Hope In The Lives Of Sexual And Gender Minority Youth: The Relationship Between Bullying And Life Satisfaction, Jedediah E. Bragg, Daniel Howell, Shane R. Brady

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Among sexual and gender minority students, 70% are bullied at school every year in the United States (2019). This study utilized a random 6% sample (n = 400) from the 2018 Washington State Healthy Youth Survey (n = 32,271), to assess the relationships between sexuality, bullying and life satisfaction, and then how hope moderates this established relationship. Results of this study illustrate the negative effects of bullying on life satisfaction for all students, while highlighting differences across sexuality. Additionally, this study illustrates that interventions to address the impacts of bullying might be best served by including the positive construct of …

Acknowledgments, Matt Wappett

Developmental Disabilities Network Journal

No abstract provided.

Advancing Strength-Based Inclusive Mental Health Research In Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities, Luther Kalb, Joan B. Beasley

Developmental Disabilities Network Journal

No abstract provided.

Factors That Contribute To Perceptions Of Police-Civilian Interactions, Shelby Wynne

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Perceptions of police-civilian interactions have been found to be impacted by the perspective in which they are viewed, with first-person perspectives eliciting negative perceptions of civilians and positive perceptions of police. However, the nature of the relationship between race and camera-perspective has not been fully explored. Black people are more likely to harmed by police at a disproportionate rate compared to White people, and consequently, have more negative perceptions of police. Three studies investigated what factors informed perceptions of police encounters, particularly when camera perspectives differed. Results showed partial support for my prediction that Black people are as not susceptible …

Language Acquisition, Mental Health, And Acculturation Among Migrants In Canada, Ali Jasemi

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation examines the integration of first-generation migrants in Canada, focusing on the constructs of acculturation, language proficiency, and mental health. With nearly a quarter of Canada's population comprising migrants (Statistics Canada, 2022), understanding their adjustment is critical. Acculturation, language proficiency, and mental health can all have an impact on the success of migrants in their new country (Balidemaj et al. 2019; Brance et al. 2023; Iversen et al. 2014; Rousseau et al. 2019; Rashtchi et al. 2012; Salami et al. 2019). There are a limited number of studies examining these variables in relation to certain migrant groups, such as …

Dancing Around And Through Harm: Examining The Lived Experiences Of Women Of Colour With Gender-Based Violence In The Toronto & Kitchener-Waterloo Latin Dance Communities, Lexi Salt

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Given the systemic nature of gender-based violence in Canada, as well as the increasing popularity of Latin dance, it is important to better understand the particular and culturally-specific ways gender-based violence manifests itself within the Latin dance community. This research study examines the lived experiences of women of colour with gender-based violence in the Toronto and Kitchener-Waterloo Latin dance communities. Two groups of participants took part in semi-structured interviews: 14 women of colour dancers, and six “Power Players”, leaders in the Latin dance community who are in a position of power (e.g., instructors, organizers, DJs). The data was analyzed using …

Bi-Negativity: An Assessment Of Negativity Surrounding Bisexuality From The Lgbtq+ And Heterosexual Communities, Whitney R. Ford

The Confluence

This study was conducted to test the hypothesis that negative attitudes towards bisexual people (bi-negativity) exists within the LGBTQ+ and heterosexual communities and to determine if levels of bi-negativity are higher within the LGBTQ+ group. I administered the Gender-Based Attitudes Towards Bisexuality (GBAB) Scale by Nielsen et al. (2022) to measure bi-negativity using an online survey. The results, obtained from 87 participants who identify as LGBTQ+ and 121 participants who identify as heterosexual between the ages of 18 and 80, support my hypothesis that bi-negativity exists within both groups. However, contrary to my second hypothesis, higher levels of bi-negativity were …

Negative Psychology Of Anti-Semitism: Fear Of The Uncategorizable, Benjamin Strosberg

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Anti-Semitism is a pervasive global issue, particularly prominent in the United States. Studying and defining anti-Semitism prove remarkably challenging for scholars, leading to inadequate understanding and exclusion from contemporary academic discourse and social justice initiatives. In this dissertation, I made the case that anti-Semitism is hard to categorize, stemming, in part, from the difficulty in categorizing what it is to be Jewish, which seems to be multi-form (a figure of thought, a race, an ethnicity, a religion, a nation, none of the above). In thinking about the difficulty in categorization, I constellated various instances of anti-Jewish practices across historical epochs …

Traumatic Consequences In Native Hawaiians After Colonization, Andrea Morland-Tellez, Elizabeth Drummond

Honors Thesis

The Native Hawaiian population is a marginalized group that has endured cultural trauma due, in part, to their history of colonization by Europe in 1778. This colonization has contributed to the Native Hawaiian’s loss of cultural identity, land, native language, and their way of life. As a result, many Native Hawaiians are left questioning their cultural identity. This project sought to better understand the impact of colonization on the Native Hawaiian people, specifically on their experience of homelessness, substance use, and overall disempowerment over time. A systematic review of multiple literary and anecdotal sources was conducted including peer- reviewed articles …

The Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On The Well-Being Of People Incarcerated In United States Prisons, Kimberly Rivera

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the population as a whole. However, the incarcerated population (which also experiences a variety of health disparities) has been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Due to overcrowding, poor ventilation, and lack of resources, the incarcerated population already is at a heightened risk for negative health outcomes, made worse by the recent pandemic. To adapt to the rapidly changing conditions during the pandemic in 2020 and into 2022, new safety measures were implemented, but the unintended consequences associated with the implementation of these procedures have yet to be examined empirically. I conducted a qualitative content …

Bisexuality, Biphobia, And Its Effects On Sexual Identity, Religious Identity And Mental Health: Examining Clinical Implications, Diana Ramirez

Dissertations

Bisexuality is a sexual orientation, sometimes known as “bi,” that includes sexuality in which certain people are attracted to more than one sex and gender. Bisexuality differs from other sexual- and gender-nonconforming experiences (McInnis et al., 2022). According to Ross et al. (2018), bisexuality is frequently described as an invisible sexual orientation, and only in the last 20 years has research on biphobia and bisexuality increased (McInnis et al., 2022). Experiences unique to bisexuality include bisexual invisibility from a societal level (Dyar et al., 2015), bisexuals are more prone to experience sexual orientation instability (Bostwick et al., 2014), and bisexual …

Spotlight On Mental Health On A Healthcare Campus: An Assessment Of Psychological Trauma Awareness, Training, And Treatment In The University Of Nebraska Medical Center College Of Public Health Community, Jenny E. Mueller

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

Background: Psychological trauma has been recognized as a public health concern of epidemic proportions globally. Public health community awareness of and education in trauma is likely to be integral to preparing future public health professionals to work effectively and safely in the field. Currently, the extent of trauma awareness, training, and treatment on the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health (UNMC COPH) campus is not known.

Aims: The aims of this project are to investigate and assess the level of psychological trauma awareness, training, and treatment on the UNMC COPH campus; and to provide recommendations for actions …

A Policy Evaluation For California’S Care Act And The Application Of The Social Determinants Of Health, Adelina Mercedes Lang

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

In 2022, California passed a legislative bill, SB 1338: the Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Act, which created a new statewide procedure for treating mentally ill homeless adults diagnosed with psychotic disorders through a court-ordered CARE plan. SB 1338 intends to alleviate the mental health and homeless crisis. This capstone project provides an early assessment of SB 1338 using a modified formative policy evaluation methodology, including a scoping literature review and applying a policy assessment using the CDC's Policy Evaluation Framework. A stakeholder survey was also applied to gather stakeholders' perspectives on SB 1338. The literature review supported the …

Book Review: Kings, Conquerors, Psychopaths: From Alexander To Hitler To The Corporation, Tim Bakken

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

The book Kings, Conquerors, Psychopaths is a survey of a vast amount of human wrongdoing. It lays bare the motivations of aggressors who wish to subjugate nations or groups of people and corporate executives and government bureaucrats who make discretionary decisions that harm people. Along with cataloging mass killings by despots and soldiers, the book includes stories about Ponzi-schemers and the deaths of automobile drivers and passengers who were killed by vehicle defects known to the manufacturer. The book posits that “[p]owerful, elite forces are trying to force us backward toward a non-democratic state, one where power, wealth, and prerogative …

Housing Discrimination And Negative Attitudes Towards Ex-Offender Parents, Julie Wertheimer-Meier

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

While the Fair Housing Act prohibits housing discrimination because of race, gender, religion, sex, disability, family status, and national origin, it allows housing providers to discriminate on the basis of criminal history. Prior research shows that housing providers disproportionately deny housing to ex-offender applicants and single parent applicants with young children. An ex-offender parent’s inability to acquire safe and affordable housing decreases the potential for reunification with their children and increases the risk of lost custody or parental rights termination. This dissertation consisted of two experiments that examined the effects of negative attitudes towards ex-offender parents on those parents’ ability …

Book Review It Takes An Ecosystem: Understanding The People, Places, And Possibilities Of Learning And Development Across Settings, Denise Montgomery

Journal of Youth Development

It Takes an Ecosystem: Understanding the People, Places, and Possibilities of Learning and Development Across Settings, edited by Thomas Akiva and Kimberly H. Robinson, is a call to take a holistic and dynamic ecosystem approach to thinking about, designing, developing, and investing in the allied youth fields to more equitably and effectively support young people’s learning and development. Published in 2022, the volume outlines a vision for out-of-school time programs and systems, schools, community-based organizations, and the public sector to move beyond focusing separately on individual systems to a learning and development ecosystem approach that more accurately and inclusively reflects …

Adults' Subjective Experiences Of Exploitation In South Africa, Fatiema Benjamin, Rachel Chinyakata Dr, Edna Grace Rich Professor, Erica Koegler Professor, Nicolette Vanessa Roman Professor

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

The exploitation of people in the environments in which they live and work continues to be a challenge globally despite efforts by stakeholders at national and international levels to bring this to a halt. Exploitation has both short-term and long-term impacts on the lives of the survivors. Attention should be given to preventing new incidents and addressing ongoing exploitation. However, there is a lack of research that focuses on the subjective experiences of different forms of exploitation within the Western Cape, South Africa. Therefore, this paper explores individuals’ experiences of being exploited, focusing on the types of exploitative situations participants …

“Social Workers By Day And Terrorists By Night?” Wounded Healers, Restorative Justice, And Ex-Prisoner Reentry, Allely Albert

Articles

Common to many post-conflict societies, former political prisoners and combatants in Northern Ireland are often portrayed as security threats rather than as potential contributors to societal peacebuilding processes. This distrust limits their ability to contribute to the transitional landscape and additionally hinders desistance processes during their reentry from prison. Drawing from the work of Maruna, LeBel, and others on “wounded healers,” this article critically examines the restorative justice work of ex-prisoners who have become involved in leadership roles within community based restorative justice. It is argued that such practitioner work can help former combatants overcome many of the challenges typically …

Mind, Body And Race: A Look Into How Implicit Biases Influence The Perception Of Emotion, Faiza Ahmad, Adam Anderson, James Dalton Rounds, Christina Chick, Alize Hill

Research Symposium

Background: Most research examining the effects of implicit race-based biases in emotion perception has focused on the perception of Black faces as being angry. Limited work has been done examining the perception of “approach” emotions such as fear. Furthermore, most studies have predominantly used White subjects. Our study examined the role of implicit racial biases in shaping the perception of both anger and fear in White, Black and Asian participants.

Methods: 78 participants completed a Go/NoGo task in which they were asked to categorize different race faces as portraying either anger or fear. Participants would be asked to press the …

Development Of An Intervention To Foster Post-Traumatic Growth And Perceived Social Support Among Economically Disadvantaged Students In Thailand: A Design-Based Research Study, Ramida Mahantamak, Nanchatsan Sakunpong, Ittipaat Suwathanpornkul

Journal of Health Research

Background: In Thailand, there is a lack of studies investigating the assistance provided for children who are economically disadvantaged. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to develop assistance specifically designed for economically disadvantaged students (EDSs) which takes into account both psychological and social dimensions.

Methods: We utilized a design-based research (DBR) approach for a study with 33 participants. The key participants consisted of nine Thai EDSs, aged between 13 to 15 with trauma resulting from emotional abuse by parents. Non-key participants consisted of twenty-four parents, peers, and teachers. The design involved two iterations in the design cycle.

Results: The completed …

Differences In Internalized Weight Stigma And The Treatment Of Clients In Larger Bodies Among Mental Health And Medical Professionals, Alexis Dosal

Dissertations

Weight is a complex interaction of several factors, including genetics, environment, adverse childhood experiences, culture, physiology, and emotional circumstances (Hale, 2019). By solely considering the categories of food consumption and individual activity, the belief of personal responsibility and controllability is perpetuated, which may lead to intentional or unintentional harm within interpersonal interactions and throughout medical services (Nutter et al., 2020). Weight bias refers to “stereotypes, negative attitudes, and discriminatory behavior toward individuals with larger bodies” (Nutter et al., 2020). Weight bias can be displayed as discomfort around those in larger bodies, holding beliefs that fat people are lazy or unattractive, …

Understanding The Experiences And Associated Symptomology Of Disclosers And Non-Disclosers Of Sexual Victimization, Kaitlin Carson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

ABSTRACT

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, as many as 43% of women report experiencing some form of sexual victimization, with the highest rates occurring in emerging adulthood. It is estimated that 75% of survivors disclose this experience to someone else; the remainder of survivors keep the experience to themselves. While disclosure can be therapeutic, there are multiple factors that can complicate the disclosure process for sexual victimization survivors. There is limited research investigating why some women choose to disclose sexual victimization experiences and how their reasons may relate to psychopathology. Additionally, extant research primarily focuses on …

Tongues Out Of Place: Narratives Of Hereness And Images Of Be(Long)Ing, Christopher Hoffman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

What is the role of the psychologist during times of gentrification, climate change, and inequity? Using Hall & Massey’s (2010) term conjunctural crisis, or the overlapping of multiple disasters that bleed into each other, I argue that psychologists have a responsibility to combat social inequity and work towards tangible strategies in collaboration with communities to dismantle structures of oppression. In times of gentrification and climate change, I argue that psychologists must play a role in promoting public science, a praxis of research committed to applying social science with communities in order to work towards social justice and build a more …

Breaking Down Bias: A Comparative Analysis Of General Public And Police Officer Attitudes Toward Mental Illness And Officer Decision-Making In Mental Health Crises, Therese L. Todd

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Police responses to persons with mental illness (PMIs) compared to those without appear to be more likely to result in negative outcomes, underscoring the importance of understanding these interactions and the factors that may influence them. Relatively little research has examined officer attitudes toward mental illness, and no study has examined implicit bias toward mental illness among police officers or how police culture may impact outcomes in mental health crises. The present study sought to: 1) measure explicit and implicit bias toward PMIs among the general public and police officers to understand how these constructs may vary among these populations; …

The Lived Experiences Of Teachers Of Color And Racial Microaggressions, Torine Champion, Linda Wilson-Jones

Journal of Research Initiatives

This qualitative study describes the lived experiences of teachers of color and identify commonalities within the lived experiences of teachers of color employed in predominately White K–12 schools. This study utilized interpretive phenomenological analysis, viewed through the White racial frame lens. There were 15 participants who were included in this research study. Participants were teachers of color with at least five years of teaching experience in predominately White K–12 environments. Data collection procedures included confidential virtual, semi-structured interviews with specific information the researcher wanted to explore. A lack of professional connectivity and microaggression was revealed as a theme. While teachers …