Lessons Learned: Parenting and Support Groups With Refugee Mothers of Young Children Using Trauma-Informed Practices

These pilot projects provided safe and culturally appropriate settings for mothers, refugees from the Middle East and Somalia, using trauma informed practices. One group (Somali) focused on parenting and child rearing practices and the other was a support group for Middle Eastern women. Following the 10-week sessions, participants’ feedback suggests that their participation helped them feel a stronger bond with their child and that the secure environment of the group provided a platform to forge healthier relationships. Having common shared traumatic experiences help these women establish and form relationships with each other and increased their self-awareness and their sensitivity to the needs of their young children.

Objectives

Attendees will be introduced to two field implementations of trauma–informed groups for refugee mothers with young children.Attendees will learn about the group process and the specific trauma informed practices utilized in this projects.Attendees will learn about the culturally appropriate strategies to engage Middle-Eastern and Somali refugee women.Attendees will discuss the lesson learned from these pilots and future directions 

Marriage, Paternal Identity, Parenting Beliefs, and Immigrant Fathers’ Involvement

This study of 127 dyads and immigrant parents of school-aged children hypothesized the spillover and crossover effects of marital adjustment, parenting self-efficacy, and parenting beliefs on fathers’ involvement. The hypotheses were tested with multilevel analyses, using an actor-partner interdependence model. Results confirmed spillover effect of marital adjustment for both parents, and spillover effects of parenting self-efficacy, and parenting beliefs for fathers. Moreover, we found fathers’ parenting self-efficacy was the strongest predictor of their involvement. Finally, crossover effects showed that mothers’ marital adjustment impacted fathers’ perceptions of their own involvement, while fathers’ parenting self-efficacy impacted mothers’ reports of fathers’ involvement.

Objectives

 To examine immigrant parents’ individual and co-parental factors promoting fathers’ involvement with school-age children.To analyze fathers’ involvement from a dyadic perspective utilizing actor-partner interdependence model.To demonstrate spillover and crossover effects on fathers’ involvement using family systems theory.

Generational Differences in Coping and Perceived Support Among Urban Congolese Refugees in Tanzania

Older adult refugees constitute a growing population in cities across the globe, yet little attention is paid to the wellbeing of this group. In-depth interviews with older adult Congolese refugees (n=28) and younger family/household members (n=22) in urban Tanzania gleaned insight into generational differences in coping and perceived supports. Older adults received support from spouses and religious communities; younger females relied on parental support; and younger male refugees emphasized friendship, religous, and familial support across different contexts. Most refugees reside in low- and middle-income countries. It is crucial to identify preferred supports to inform family- and community-based programming in these settings.

Objectives

Identify proximal and distal stressors faced by older adult refugees in urban Tanzania; Differentiate between coping strategies and perceived supports among older adult and adult urban refugees;Discuss the importance of age-specific knowledge in delivering assistance to refugees in post-migration settings.

Maintaining and Preserving Core Indian Values in a Host Culture

Guided by the principles of grounded theory, this qualitative study aimed to explore the Asian Indian immigrants’ experiences in maintaining and promoting the Indian cultural values for themselves and their children, living in the United States. Thirteen participants were recruited through snow ball sampling.   In-depth interviews were conducted with each participant, followed by transcription, coding and analysis of each interview.  Four themes emerged as important to the participants while raising their children on a foreign soil: (i) inculcating the value of family, (ii) preserving one’s native language, (iii) following one’s religious practices and (iv) celebrating festivals.
Keywords: Asian Indians, immigration experiences, value retention

Objectives

To demonstrate the understanding of Asian Indian immigrants’ experiences in maintaining and preserving the Indian cultural values in the U.S.To analyze the strategies adopted by the Asian Indian immigrants to maintain and preserve the cultural values for their childrenTo demonstrate the understanding of Asian Indian immigrants’ definition of family under transnational circumstances

Working With Children Left Behind: Clinical Insights From Nicaragua and El Salvador

Migration has increasingly become a strategy for the economic survival of the family unit. Under the globalized structure of labour, the feminization of migration has prompted a significant increase in women's migration- leaving their children in the care of family members and friends. The focus is on the impacts of maternal migration to the Global North and the clinical implications for working with children and families. This presentation is informed by clinical experience and a qualitative research project with children, family and their communities in Nicaragua and El Salvador. Further, I will explore the gaps in the literature, including the current and theoretical analyses, to arrive at a model for understanding their unique experiences of the migration-development nexus and suggest clinical implications for therapy. 

Objectives

To analyze the current theories of children left behind in the globalized economy. To understand children left behind by parental migration through a gendered lens, using discourses of transnational mothering.  To present a clinical model of working with children and their families to navigated the reconfigure of relationships and experiences of grief.

The Association Between Adolescent Online Risk-Taking and Parental Online Monitoring Among Families in India

In India there is growing concern about monitoring adolescent online activities, while also acknowledging their growing need for privacy (Mohan, 2017). The current study focuses on a subsample of 64 parent-adolescent dyads living in India. Adolescents reported their online risk-taking behaviors and parents reported on monitoring their children online, trust, and warmth. Linear regressions were conducted, with parent gender, parental warmth and parental monitoring accounting for 27.4% of the variance in adolescent online risk-taking. This unique family level data indicates that parental warmth was associated with fewer risky online behaviors while parental monitoring was associated with greater risky online behaviors.

Objectives

1. Types of online risk-taking behaviors engaged in by adolescents in India.2. Types of online monitoring behaviors engaged in by parents of adolescents in India.3. The relationship between parenting and adolescent online risk-taking behaviors.