Examining Strength and Resilience with Resettled Liberian Refugee Families

Although more than one million Liberians were displaced due to 14 years of civil war, Liberian families have exhibited remarkable strength while coping with long-term resettlement stressors and unresolved trauma (Clarke & Borders, 2014). Using semi-structured ethnographic interviews and focus groups with community members, authors explore factors promoting resilience in families from a resettled Liberian community in the Midwest. Results indicate that spirituality, adaptability, ethnic- and faith-based support, and kinship support for newly arriving members have promoted systemic well-being. Results inform the development of strengths-based systemic interventions in the Liberian community, and have potential implications for other resettled war-affected communities.

Objectives

1) To evaluate the individual and relational mental health and psychosocial needs within a war-affected community from a resilience and strengths-based perspective 2) To analyze the strengths and stressors faced by a resettled community in the Midwest using a critical, culturally-informed, and community-based lens 3) To identify how individual and community strengths can contribute to systemic healing efforts and sustainable well-being in a community impacted by mass trauma

Living with Strangers: Overcrowded Housing among Immigrant Families

Using qualitative data collected as part of a Community-based Participatory Research project we explored how undocumented Central American immigrant women (n=15) make sense of and navigate their daily lives, parenting children and "doing" relationships and family while living with strangers in overcrowded spaces. Our preliminary findings indicate that parents navigate insecure, stressful, and complex housing relationships in order to sustain their families and provide for their children despite limited resources and lack of legal status. For couples, there were challenges due to shared living situations, including maintaining intimacy, communicating, and managing highly stressful circumstances.

Objectives

1. To understand the experiences of undocumented Central American immigrant families living in overcrowded housing with strangers. 2. To provide family practitioners working with Central American families living in overcrowded housing with insight into how these circumstances shape parenting and couple relationships. 3. To outline how we engaged our community advisory board (CAB) in this community-based participatory research project in every step of the research process.

Latina Immigrant Mothers in the Rural Midwest: The Role of Family Support Networks

Relationships with parents and siblings provide an important source of social support for many individuals across the life course. We explored the family of origin support exchanges of first generation Latina immigrant women in currently residing in rural Midwestern communities. A subsample (N=34) of the Rural Families Speak about Health participants were interviewed for qualitative phenomenological analysis. Mothers described how geographic distance impacted their support exchanges with their family of origin. Additionally, cultural norms and values, including familismo and marianismo/machismo influenced how mothers navigated these support exchanges. Attempts should be made to support and strengthen connections between transnational family members.

Objectives

To explore the family support networks of first generation Latina immigrant women in rural Midwestern communities. To examined how immigration impacts the women’s support exchanges (emotional, instrumental and financial support) with their family of origin (i.e. parents and siblings). To explore possible professional and policy implications for these findings.

Parenting among Latino Immigrant Families: A Systematic Review of Risk and Resilience

Parenting among Latino Immigrant Families: A Systematic Review of Risk and Resilience This systematic review synthesizes 30 years of empirical literature on Latino immigrant parenting.  The main emphasis of the paper is risk or resilience.  The most frequently examined protective factors were family cohesiveness, warmth, supportive parenting, and high expectations of children; significant risk factors included poverty, discrimination, lack of school readiness, and acculturation gap between parents and youth. Recent articles were significantly more likely to acknowledge subgroups of Latino families (e.g., Mexican, Dominican) and risks inherent to immigration (e.g., language barriers, poverty) than earlier literature.

Objectives

1. To analyze risk and protective factors among Latino immigrant families 2. To show changes over time in the literature on Latino immigrant parenting 3. To raise awareness of discrimination against Latino immigrants