Sociology Commons^™

Healthcare Access And Experiences Among Transgender University Students, Micah Reisner

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Background

As transgender identification rises in younger generations, it is imperative that colleges and universities account for the health and wellbeing of this growing subset of the student body. Previous research indicates that transgender populations experience unique barriers to accessing healthcare, including socioeconomic barriers and a lack of healthcare providers experienced in transgender medicine. These barriers contribute to low rates of healthcare utilization and significant health disparities in transgender populations.

Methods

A community health assessment of transgender and gender-nonconforming (TGNC) students at the University of Central Florida was conducted in order to assess: (1) students' access to and experiences with …

The Perfect Storm: Motherhood, Intimate Partner Violence, And Covid-19, Kelly Blauschild

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is an insidious societal problem with potentially lethal ramifications. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, widespread conditions and virus risk mitigation procedures like social distancing and stay-at-home orders exacerbated factors that contribute to IPV such as poverty and substance use. Though anyone can experience IPV, mothers carried unparalleled burdens in the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic such as increasing childcare responsibilities, growing financial difficulties, and worsening mental health, and many of these factors have been linked to experiencing IPV. The growing body of literature indicates a rise in IPV during COVID-19, but little has …

Reflections On White-Passing Black Identity, Edi Mucka

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Now, there are more options than ever for racial identity. Identities such as Black, White, Native, Asian, and Latino have put into contention how past racial boundaries and definitions interact with newer racial color lines. Racial passing is one concept that captures both older and newer forms of identity maintenance. Racial passing refers to when a person classified as a member of a racial group is accepted or perceived as a member of another. In this thesis, I review the literature on racial passing to understand its history and theoretical explanations. Based on the review, I examine a convenience sample …

Becoming Racially Aware: A Social Process Of (Re)Constructing An Alternative White Identity, Ashley Sobke

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Structural and systemic mechanisms reinforce institutionalized racism, whiteness, and white supremacy in the United States. These mechanisms prove adaptable and resilient, shifting and changing to continuously restructure and reinforce the material reality that people experience within a racialized social order. White people's incomprehension of complicity in racism and privilege, along with color-blind ideologies, perpetuate racialized disparities resulting from this social order and render white superiority as "normal" and "universal." This underlies an often internalized sense of normative, white American identity interconnected with racism and white supremacy. In a society where many white Americans remain sheltered from and/or resistant to acknowledging …

Between The Noise And Silence: An Autoethnography Challenging Schools Of Social Work To Evolve For Trans Students, Isaac M. Akapnitis, G. Trey Jenkins, Natasha S. Mendoza

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Social work programs have been largely silent in the face of legislative at- tacks on transgender/nonbinary (TGNB or “trans”) communities across the U.S., which signals to TGNB students that they may not be supported in their respective programs. Consequently, TGNB students, staff, and faculty shoulder the burden to advocate for change within social work academic institutions and to speak out about violence perpetrated against TGNB communities. Using our voices as two trans doctoral students and a queer cisgender associate professor, we employed collaborative and critical autoethnography to share insights about the impact of this burden on TGNB social work students …

Volume 50, Issue 1 (2023)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

No abstract provided.

Teaching Beyond Trans-Competency: Exploring Trans-Affirming Pedagogy Through Applied Case Studies, Sam Harrell, Sarah Mountz, Hazel (Bobbi) Ali Zaman

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In this paper, we share two applied case studies social work instructors can use to teach trans-affirming, anti-oppressive practice. These cases span two practice arenas, child welfare and low-barrier shelter services, and are derived from practice in the authors’ personal and professional experiences in the Northeastern and Midwestern regions of the United States. For each case, we describe the accompanying class context, share our pedagogical approach, name the underlying assumptions and structures that facilitate harm, explore relevant practice skills, and identify theoretical, philosophical, and ethical commitments essential for trans-affirming practice. Our approach to social work education on transgender and gender …

"We're All We Have": Envisioning The Future Of Mutual Aid From Queer And Trans Perspectives, Brendon T. Holloway, C. Riley Hostetter, Karaya Morris, Jax Kynn, Maximillion Kilby

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Mutual aid has prevailed for as long as humans have existed. However, the concept of mutual aid became popularized in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the racial uprisings in response to the continued police brutality toward Black people, and an increase in global climate crises. Mutual aid spread as a way of survival and collective care when formal systems, such as federal and local governments within the U.S., were failing to meet people's needs. Using a subset of data from semi-structured interviews, the current study relied on a desire-based research framework and foresight lens to capture the …

Applications Of Transformative Justice Principles For Centering Transgender And Gender Expansive Experiences In Social Work Education And Practice, E. Bickford, Angela Matijczak, Aaron Kemmerer, Florence Martinez, M. Alex Wagaman

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Social work education has traditionally used frameworks, such as cultural competency, to guide implicit and explicit curricula that shape how we think about communities that live and thrive outside of white supremacist and cis/heteronormative norms and values. While the cultural competency framework intends to promote a level of consciousness and attention that is required to practice with diverse individuals, families, and communities whose identities differ from that of the social worker, it instead inadvertently creates a knowledge base that reinforces harmful power dynamics between social worker and client/community. The cultural competency framework is absent of historical and structural context and …

'Logics Of Redistribution' Under Welfare Reform: The Case Of Welfare For Families With Children, Anthony Huaqui

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article builds upon the “logics of redistribution” approach to welfare state theory, which argues that different theoretical explanations, referred to as “logics”, apply to different programs based on context and constituencies. I argue that individual programs’ can have their logics change over time as well via institutional restructuring in policymaking. To demonstrate this, I use Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), later renamed Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), as a case. This program underwent institutional restructuring in 1996 by way of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA). I use yearly state-level data from 1984 …

Examining The Early Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Black/African American Adults, Laurie Blackman, Kathryn S. Krase, Donna Wang, Anthony C. Hill, Megan Cambridge

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The COVID-19 pandemic revealed a disproportionate risk of the disease in communities of color. The present study explored the impact of the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic on self-reported adaptation and coping, compared by the race of the respondent. Results from an anonymous, cross-sectional, online survey administered in June 2020 found that Black/African American adult respondents were less likely than non- Black/African American adult respondents to agree that they felt prepared for the COVID-19 outbreak; they were more likely than non- Black/African American adults to agree that they were personally affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, and more likely to …

Assessing Pandemic Preparedness, Response, And Lessons Learned From The Covid-19 Pandemic In Four South American Countries: Agenda For The Future, Andrea Ramírez Varela, Michael Touchton, J Jaime Miranda, Juliana Mejía Grueso, Rachid Laajaj, Gabriel Carrasquilla, Martha Vives Florez, Ana María Vesga Gaviria, Ana María Ortiz Hoyos, Esteban Orlando Vanegas Duarte, Alejandra Velásquez Morales, Nubia Velasco, Silvia Restrepo Restrepo

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic emerged in a context that lacked adequate prevention, preparedness, and response (PPR) activities, and global, regional, and national leadership. South American countries were among world's hardest hit by the pandemic, accounting for 10.1% of total cases and 20.1% of global deaths.

METHODS: This study explores how pandemic PPR were affected by political, socioeconomic, and health system contexts as well as how PPR may have shaped pandemic outcomes in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Peru. We then identify lessons learned and advance an agenda for improving PPR capacity at regional and national levels. We do this through a …

Genetic Associations Between Sleep Traits And Cognitive Ageing Outcomes In The Hispanic Community Health Study/Study Of Latinos, Yuan Zhang, Michael Elgart, Einat Granot-Hershkovitz, Heming Wang, Wassim Tarraf, Alberto R Ramos, Ariana M Stickel, Donglin Zeng, Tanya P Garcia, Fernando D Testai, Sylvia Wassertheil-Smoller, Carmen R Isasi, Martha L Daviglus, Robert Kaplan, Myriam Fornage, Charles Decarli, Susan Redline, Hector M González, Tamar Sofer

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Sleep phenotypes have been reported to be associated with cognitive ageing outcomes. However, there is limited research using genetic variants as proxies for sleep traits to study their associations. We estimated associations between Polygenic Risk Scores (PRSs) for sleep duration, insomnia, daytime sleepiness, and obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) and measures of cogntive ageing in Hispanic/Latino adults.

METHODS: We used summary statistics from published genome-wide association studies to construct PRSs representing the genetic basis of each sleep trait, then we studied the association of the PRSs of the sleep phenotypes with cognitive outcomes in the Hispanic Community Healthy Study/Study of …

Pregnancy-Related Covid Worry, Depressive Symptom Severity, And Mediation Through Sleep Disturbance In A Low-Income, Primarily Latinx Population In California’S Central Valley, Jennifer N Felder, Patience A Afulani, Kimberly Coleman-Phox, Serwaa S Omowale, Charles E Mcculloch, Lauren Lessard, Miriam Kuppermann

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: This study (1) assessed the psychometric properties of a pregnancy-related COVID worry scale, (2) explored variations in pregnancy-related COVID worry over the course of the pandemic, and (3) examined associations between pregnancy-related COVID worry and depressive symptom severity, and evaluated sleep disturbance as a mediator.

Methods: Data were drawn from an ongoing randomized trial comparing the effectiveness of two enhanced forms of prenatal care. The current analysis includes baseline pre-randomization data collected from participants who enrolled November 2020-November 2021 (n = 201). Participants were pregnant individuals with low income and primarily Latinx.

Results: Our 7-item scale was valid and …

Black Liberation In Transnational Terms: The Case Of Haiti And The United States, Dulanda F. P. Saintcyr

UROP Posters

Haiti made history on January 1st, 1804 when it secured independence from France. Not only did Haiti become a sovereign state, it also earned the title of being the first independent Black nation in the world. The latter accomplishment should not be ignored. The Haitians’ efforts created an impact that transcends their national border, particularly in the context of Black liberation. For example, the United States' history of working towards achieving full freedom for Black people resembles the Haitian struggle. Whether the connection between the two states is widely acknowledged is a point of interest. As a result, this project …

A Mixed-Method Analysis Of The News Media Framing Of Gender Non-Conforming Victims Of Homicide In The U.S. From 2012 To 2022, Susana Avalos, Hayley Jackey, Iyan Wickel

Sociology & Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Recent analyses of transgender homicide victims find that the news media often uses improper terminology, delegitimizes, and victim blames them. These analyses, while insightful, are limited as they have largely analyzed cases involving trans women and trans feminine individuals. The present study employs a mixed-method approach to analyze news media articles (N = 88) published in U.S. online news media outlets about 17 gender non-conforming victims killed between 2012 and 2022. We found that most articles did not delegitimize or victim blame. However, we find (1) victim blaming occurred when reporting on cases of officer-involved shootings, (2) certain victims …

Sexuality And Gender Inclusivity In Victim Service Providers' Information Materials, Shon M. Reed

Sociology & Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

[Introduction] Intimate partner violence (IPV)[1] is a serious social problem which impacts people from all walks of life. National estimates indicate that roughly two in five women and men will experience physical violence at the hands of an intimate partner during their lifetime (Leemis et al., 2022). While this high frequency of violence across gender groups is a serious concern, statistics show that IPV victimization is extremely high in LGBTQ+ population (Messinger, 2017; Walters et al., 2013). Victimization rates are particularly pronounced when it comes to the transgender population where estimates show that roughly half of the transgender population has …

Gender Equality In Ocean Science For Sustainable Development : Analysis Of Ocean Science Institutions In Kenya, Renis Auma Ojwala

World Maritime University Ph.D. Dissertations

Gender inequality poses a serious problem for national and international developmental programmes such as the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (the Ocean Decade) and appears in both developed and developing countries. The fundamental aim of the Ocean Decade is to improve ocean health worldwide through generating knowledge, supporting innovations, discovering creative ideas and developing solutions to achieve equitable and sustainable development under the changing environmental, social and climate conditions. The paucity of women in ocean management has been documented as a major hindrance to ocean sustainability and a top challenge to diversity in workplaces because of …

Mental Health Experiences Of Black Males Beyond Juvenile Delinquency, Jasmine D. Spratling

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Incarceration rates around the United States continue to increase for Black male adolescents. These numbers are even more significant in Atlanta, where youth spend time in juvenile detention centers and return soon once released. Summary findings from existing research showed the lack of mental health services provided once a youth has been released from incarceration, but a lack of specifics around the services needed remains. The purpose of the current study was to explore the experiences of Black male adolescents who received little to no trauma informed care post-incarceration. A qualitative, phenomenological approach was used to conduct semistructured interviews with …

The Role Of Mistrust In African American Organ Donation, Gina M. Williams

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractAfrican Americans (AAs) who suffer from life-threatening organ failure often need an organ transplant to sustain or to improve their quality of life. The shortage of donor organs, and AAs willing to become organ donors, limits the number of organs available for transplant. The purpose of this study was to understand the lived experience of AAs regarding the role of mistrust and to understand its influence on their organ donation decision-making. Social cognitive theory guided this qualitative descriptive phenomenological study designed to gain an understanding of the lived experiences of the AAs related to the role of mistrust in their …

School Officials' Perceptions Of Threat Assessment Programs, William Ward

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Acts of targeted violence on school grounds, and most notably school shootings, continue to occur and are a serious concern for many people. Behavioral threat assessment programs are one method being used to address this problem, and while considerable research has been conducted on threat assessment programs, very little research has been conducted on how school officials implement, operate, or understand these programs. A more informed awareness of how school officials perceive the implementation, operation, and usefulness of threat assessment programs may provide insight into ways to improve the implementation and management of these programs. This was a qualitative phenomenological …

The Lived Experiences Of Entry-Level Employees With Posttraumatic Growth Following Workplace Gaslighting, Marielys Camacho-Reyes

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Although researchers have studied workplace gaslighting (a devious and manipulative tactic used by abusers) in recent years, little is known about it. The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to examine the lived experiences of entry-level employees with gaslighting. The conceptual frameworks for this study were the resilience and posttraumatic growth (PTG) concepts. The sample consisted of currently employed participants ages 20 - 45 with two or more years of college experience who, during their first year in an entry-level position, experienced gaslighting. Semi-structured interviews were conducted via Zoom and data was analyzed and coded manually. The analysis revealed …

How Government Organizations Can Sustain Remote Work Post Covid-19, Chikwendu Pius Nweke

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractGovernment organizations are unprepared to sustain remote work post-COVID-19. Even though COVID-19 seems to be under control, organizations are still struggling with the aftermath of the pandemic and the need to sustain remote work. Challenges include lack of necessary information technology tools, software, technological skills, strategies for remote work, leadership skills, real-time communication; activity planning and program implementation, scheduling meetings, organizing child care, managing caseloads, fostering team work, and effective supervision. A conceptual framework based on organizational adaptation theory was used to guide this qualitative case study. Since the study was to ascertain how government organizations can sustain remote work …

Human Service Professionals’ Experience With Vicarious Trauma, Saundra Mcglothan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to explore the vicarious trauma (VT)experiences of nonlicensed human service professionals (HSPs) between the ages of 30 and 65 from Central Texas who work with male intimate partner violence (IPV) victims. The conceptual framework that guided this study was the constructivist self-development theory. A purposive sample of 11 HSPs who experienced VT because of working with male IPV victims was obtained through flyers posted on social media. Huberman and Miles’s approach to thematic analysis was used to analyze the data and create codes, categories, and themes. The 13 themes that were identified …

Puerto Rican Retired Teachers’ Perceptions About Their Financial Sufficiency, Rossana López León

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In Puerto Rico, the Teachers’ Retirement System, which has a membership of around 36,000 retired public-school teachers, is currently facing major restructuring and budget cuts, as part of a larger restructuring of all government agencies to meet the economic emergency they were facing. The recent retirement system reforms were focused mainly on cutting benefits, such as medications, Christmas and summer bonuses, and the cost-of-living adjustment. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of retired teachers regarding their financial sufficiency, and to identify their attitudes, beliefs, and opinions/feelings in light of their socioeconomic profile. The research question focused …

Well-Being Among Foster Parents Of Children With A History Of Sexual Abuse, Jelenny Marquez

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There are over half a million children and adolescents living in foster care in the United States, and many of them endure frequent disruptions to their placements. Disruptions are more common among children with a history of sexual abuse. The disruption of placement increases the likelihood of undesirable outcomes for both the children and their foster parents. Foster parents who are willing to offer a home that is safe and stable for a child in the foster care system are more important than ever. This qualitative study explored foster parents’ experiences of well-being after having fostered children with a history …

Staff Perspectives On Parent Withdrawal From Maternal, Infant, And Early Childhood Home Visiting Programs, Dr. Laquetta Delores Peoples

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The problem that was investigated through this study was the high withdrawal rates of families that enroll in MIECHV programs. Examining this issue provided data that will be shared with MIECHV programs to identify potential strategies to reduce high withdrawals. This basic qualitative study with semistructured interviews examined MIECHV staffs’ perspectives on the reasons for high withdrawals. The purpose of this study was to examine MIECHV program staff members’ perspectives on the reasons for the high withdrawal. The study was guided by Mowder’s parent development theory (PDT) and examined parenting as a continual process whereby parents constantly adjusted their parenting …

Impact Of Minority Incarceration On The Family Unit, Huey S. Ratcliff

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The economic impact of incarceration on minority family units has both secondary and third-order effects on the minority family unit when a family member is incarcerated, which is exacerbated when the incarcerated family member was both the primary breadwinner and a parent. The purpose of this study was to identify the social and economic effects incarceration has on minority families. The study addressed how minority families adjust to changes in organic composition and how the minority family copes with increased debt and loss of earning potential. Further, the study sought to answer how minority families overcome economic hardship when the …

Impact Of Minority Incarceration On The Family Unit, Huey S. Ratcliff

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The economic impact of incarceration on minority family units has both secondary and third-order effects on the minority family unit when a family member is incarcerated, which is exacerbated when the incarcerated family member was both the primary breadwinner and a parent. The purpose of this study was to identify the social and economic effects incarceration has on minority families. The study addressed how minority families adjust to changes in organic composition and how the minority family copes with increased debt and loss of earning potential. Further, the study sought to answer how minority families overcome economic hardship when the …

An Evaluation Of Community-Based Juvenile Firesetting Programs Through The Custodial Lens, Peter William Blaich

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Using general strain theory and social learning theory as the foundation, this generic qualitative study addressed whether interventions and prevention services for juvenile firesetters in the City of Charlotte–Mecklenberg County met needs from the perspectives of critical stakeholders. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with 12 parents/guardians of justice-involved adolescent fire offenders. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using a six-step procedure for thematic analysis by Braun and Clarke. The study's results revealed that the current juvenile firesetters intervention and prevention program is perceived as inadequate when applied without input from the adolescent’s parent or guardian. The participants perceived the need …