LATINO FAMILIES IN THERAPY: ENGAGEMENT AND EVALUATION*

General guidelines are offered for the successful engagement of Latino families in family therapy. It is suggested that a therapist's involvement of Latinos in therapy requires both skills in family therapy and sensitivity to cultural issues. Factors found to be useful in the family assessment are presented. Furthermore, issues in the engagement and evaluation phases of family therapy with Latino families are discussed, and illustrative clinical material is presented.     

Income support for Australian carers since 1983: social justice,social investment and the cloak of gender neutrality

Income support for carers has been available in Australia since the early 1980s. In contrast to most other forms of income support, eligibility for Carer Payment has been progressively expanded in recent years, and increasing numbers of carers are claiming the payment as a result. This article examines the history of income support for carers by reviewing changes in eligibility criteria in the social security legislation and considering how those changes were framed. We argue that reforms to carers' income support have developed within competing frames of social justice and social investment, with an increasing emphasis on a social investment discourse, which prioritises paid work over care. Neither of the dominant frames addresses gender equality, and in practice, income support policy has reinforced familial (women's) responsibility for caring. Given the gendered nature of caring in Australia, gender equality issues must be considered in future policy reforms to ensure that the competing pressures on women to care and to engage in paid work do not lead to greater disadvantage and inequality for women and the people for whom they care.     

A grassroots prototype for trauma-informed child welfare system change

The development of trauma-informed child welfare systems (TICWSs) that advance individual agency practice to target transformation of the system as a whole has been conceptualized but not documented. A grassroots effort to build a TICWS with key participants (e.g., Department of Human Services, Community Mental Health, Family Court, schools) in nine Michigan communities provides a field tested model for implementation. This article described what emerged as the core elements for a TICWS, which includes (1) development and support of a project champion, (2) trauma identification, (3) comprehensive assessment of traumatic impact, (4) evidence based trauma treatment, (5) establishing a common trauma language, and (6) trauma-informed decision-making. Several new instruments for assessing aTICWS are identified. Lessons learned are highlighted for consideration of communities seeking to develop TICWSs.     

Multi-Systems Life Course: A New Practice Perspective and Its Application in Advanced Practice With Racial and Ethnic Populations

To better respond to social work's directive of increased sensitivity to cultural and ethnic diversity, it is imperative that theory development includes explicit consideration of the complex experiences of racial and ethnic minorities. For a more advanced and culturally relative practice, the authors posit the development of an encompassing perspective referred to as multi-systems life course (MSLC). Using a case example, this article applies a MSLC perspective to practice with women of color experiencing intimate partner violence. Implications for social work practice and an overview on incorporating a MSLC perspective into a graduate social work curriculum are included.     

Predictors of Frequency of Sexual Health Communication: Perceptions from Early Adolescent Youth in Rural Arkansas

Parent–child communication about sex-related themes can shape adolescents’ attitudes and beliefs, and have the potential to contribute to their decision either to engage in or abstain from sexual activity. Despite the burgeoning literature in this area, few studies have examined the issue as it pertains specifically to rural early adolescent youth. The current investigation addresses this gap by examining whether familial, situational, and sociodemographic factors were associated with youth’ perceptions of frequency of communication with parents about multiple sex-related topics among a rural population (N?=?252). Multiple regression results suggest that being a female, being a youth of color, level of closeness with father and spending enough time with one’s father predicted increased frequency of sex-related communication between parent and child. Our findings show that situational and sociodemographic differences play a significant role in predicting frequency levels of sex communication. Intervention efforts aimed at rural early adolescent youth should be planned with such differences in mind.     

Tribulations and achievements: The lived experiences of African American college students formerly in foster care

This qualitative study explores the factors contributing to the college matriculation of African Americans formerly in foster care. One-on-one interviews were conducted with 10 participants who were enrolled in diverse colleges and universities. The findings reveal that the participants’ social circumstances and the maltreatment they endured before and while in foster care were key influences on their decisions to go to college. These resilient participants predicted better lives through educational means. The results suggest the need for cultural focused counseling services, mentor programs, and college preparatory programs for older youth interested in college. The implications of the findings for social workers, helping professionals, and higher education systems are presented.     

Nonparametric estimation of regression models with mixed discrete and continuous covariates by the K-nn method

In this article we consider the problem of estimating a nonparametric conditional mean function with mixed discrete and continuous covariates by the nonparametric k-nearest-neighbor (k-nn) method. We derive the asymptotic normality result of the proposed estimator and use Monte Carlo simulations to demonstrate its finite sample performance. We also provide an illustrative empirical example of our method.     

Social-ecological science in the humane metropolis

The Humane metropolis is a rubric to summarize and promote environmental and social quality in contemporary urban mosaics. Because cities, suburbs, and exurbs, as spatially extensive and connected socio-ecological systems, exhibit many negative features, the humane metropolis identifies a strategy to combat the ills and instill more positive and sustainable features and processes in urban systems. Because the humane metropolis as a program has arisen primarily from social motivations, there is the opportunity to articulate more explicitly the role that science can play in addressing the humane metropolis program and evaluating its success. A humane metropolis can be summarized as one that 1) protects and restores ecological services in cities and suburbs, 2) promotes physical and mental health and safety of residents, 3) enhances efficiency by conserving energy, matter, water, and time, 4) facilitates equity by being inclusive, as well as socially and environmentally just, and 5) maintains a sense of community and a sense of place. We clarify the nature of science as a contributor to the social program, pointing out the social values motivating science, and the role that scientific knowledge and metaphor play in linking science with the social program of the humane metropolis. We further identify roles that socio-ecological research can play in meeting the goals of the humane metropolis. We use examples of environmental history, watershed function and restoration, and environmental justice research and action from the Baltimore Ecosystem Study, Long-Term Ecological Research program. The humane metropolis as a social program benefits from scientific contributions that 1) expose hidden ecological processes in urban systems, 2) generate knowledge connecting people and institutions to the biophysical environment, 3) contribute to the civic dialog, and 4) bring scientific values to the prioritization and balancing of the goals of the humane metropolis.     

Prevalence, perpetrators, and characteristics of witnessing parental violence and adult dating Violence in Latina, East Asian, South Asian, and Middle Eastern women

The present study describes and compares the prevalence, perpetrators, and characteristics of witnessing parental violence during childhood and experiencing adult relationship violence in 251 college-educated South Asian/Middle Eastern (n = 93), East Asian (n = 72), and Latina (n = 86) women residing in the United States. Results showed that more than 50% of each ethnic group witnessed parental and adult relationship violence. For all three groups, adult psychological violence was more prevalent than physical violence, which, in turn, was more prevalent than injury violence. Significant differences were found for paternal and maternal psychological, physical, and injury violence witnessed within ethnic groups. High prevalence rates and significant differences emerged for psychological, physical, and injury violence experienced as a victim and enacted as a perpetrator within ethnic groups. The implications of college-educated, higher socioeconomic status (SES) women of color being at risk for witnessing and experiencing family violence are discussed.