Search

The primary aim of this study was to examine gender and racial differences in the association between system involvement types (i.e., child protective services [CPS] only, juvenile justice system only, and dual involvement) and academic outcomes (i.e., grade failure, chronic absenteeism). This study used records from a linked database of public youth-serving institutional records within a county's youth court, law enforcement agencies, and CPS. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed. The impact of systems involvement on academic outcomes was most salient among Black males, while none of the system involvement types were associated with chronic absenteeism or grade failure among White males. Findings highlight the need for the development of intervention strategies to address educational needs of youth involved in the CPS and juvenile justice systems, with a heightened attention to Black and male youth, to improve their attendance and academic performance.

Duoethnography offers the narratives of first-generation Black women scholars who created a virtual community as a transformative safe space for peer mentorship and scholarship. Framed through a womanist epistemological lens, our narratives provide insight about challenges and triumphs of navigating the academy from female scholars of African descent. Unique to this chronicle, the development of an Accountability Sistah Circle in 2012 became an organic transformative community for personal and professional growth. Through the components of this model, which can be implemented with others living in the margins, we uncovered our authentic voices, shared resources, expanded social capital, and developed a ritual that provided a safety shield around us and ultimately helped enhance our academic fortitude.

Many urban, low-income adolescents experience violence, often resulting in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) facilitates therapeutic processing of traumatic memories. This purpose of this study is to examine the feasibility of NET among adolescents at-risk for PTSD and depression. Two community-based agencies hosted five focus groups with adolescents (n = 28), aged 18-21, predominantly African- American (71 %) and female (61 %) and one with adolescent service providers (n = 11). Pope's coding framework (2000) and the Socio-Ecological Model for violence prevention (Krug et al. in The Lancet, 360(9339), 1083-1088, 2002 (See CR24)) elicited perceived barriers and facilitators to NET. Individual, relationship, and community level barriers and facilitators to NET therapy engagement were identified. The findings indicate participants have favorable attitudes about NET and the provision of the therapy within trusted community agencies. The results will inform the next steps of NET implementation, training, and psychoeducation., Author(s): Ellen M. Volpe [sup.1] , Camille R. Quinn [sup.2] , Kathryn Resch [sup.3] , Valerie Douglas [sup.4] , Catherine Cerulli [sup.3] Author Affiliations: (1) 0000 0004 1936 9887grid.273335.3University at [...]

African American women survivors of intimate partner violence disproportionately experience homicide due, in part, to the racism and racial discrimination they experience during their help-seeking process. Yet, existing scholarship neglects to examine how this multiply-marginalized population of women navigate sociocultural barriers to obtain crisis services and supports from the domestic violence service provision system. Fundamental to developing culturally-salient interventions is more fully understanding their help-seeking behavior. We conducted 30 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with women who self-identified as African American. Constructivist grounded theory methodology was employed. Sensitizing concepts from the Transtheoretical Model of Change and Intersectionality theories, along with Agency framework were conceptually bound. The Theory of Help-Seeking Behavior emerged from the data. This nascent theory provides practitioners and researchers with a theoretical model to examine African American women's nuanced help-seeking efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: African American women are disproportionately impacted by intimate partner violence (IPV)-related homicide. They reflect the second highest prevalence rates and experience the highest rates of murder resulting from IPV victimization. Although most survivors note that they have experienced rejection and anticipatory stigma as barriers to their help seeking, African American women additionally experience racism and racial discrimination as obstacles that may further preclude their help seeking. This systematic review highlights African American women's experiences of rejection from providers and the effects that it may have upon their ability to secure urgent aid. Method: A dearth of literature examines the subtle ways that African American women survivors experience rejection resulting from the interlocking nature of race, class, and gender oppression. Fundamental to developing more culturally salient interventions is more fully understanding their help-seeking experiences. A systematic review was conducted to provide a critical examination of the literature to understand the intersections of IPV and help-seeking behavior among African American women. A total of 85 empirical studies were identified and 21 were included in the systematic review. The review illuminates both the formal and semiformal help-seeking pathways. Results: We recommend integrating anti-Blackness racist praxis, incorporating African American women's ways of knowing and centralizing their needs in an effort to improve the health and well-being of this population. Conclusions: Eliminating barriers to more immediately accessing the domestic violence service provision system is key to enhance social work practice, policy, and research with African American female survivors of IPV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]