Current Projects

The Latinx Student Experiences Survey was administered to UM self-identified Latinx undergraduate and graduate students in Winter 2018. The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences of Latinx students on a PWI campus. The study gathered information pertaining to students’ experiences as a student of color, knowledge and use of campus resources, and how current national and political climates have impacted students’ lives. This this was a follow-up survey from a previous Latinx Student Experiences survey that was administered in 2014. Some questions were modified and added specifically to address the LA CASA demands.

The Social Work Faculty Attitudes Survey was sent to a random sample of faculty from over 100 MSW-accredited schools of social work across the United States. This survey aimed to identify faculty attitudes and views on the importance of including content on Diversity, Human Rights, and Social and Economic Justice in the MSW curricula. The survey included five sections on: (1) the relative importance of including content on diversity and different forms of discrimination in the MSW curricula, (2) faculty's views on the amount of Diversity, Human Rights, and Social and Economic Justice content in the MSW curricula, (3) attitudes towards different social issues (i.e. felon rights, immigrant rights, marijuana), (4) faculty's beliefs regarding what different theories and social issues should be taught in MSW programs in the United States, and (5) personal and demographic data.

Mexico is the second most populated country in Latin America with over 12.7 million rural indigenous people (World Population Review, 2019), however, there is a dearth of research examining Mexican rural families. This mixed methods study explores Mexican families' experiences with community violence. Specifically, this research project focuses on 200 parent-adolescent dyads residing in a low-income rural neighborhood in Mexico. The study aims to (a) explore Mexican parents’ educational beliefs, aspirations, and expectations for their adolescents; (b) assess Mexican parent and adolescents’ mental health outcomes (i.e. perceived stress, depressive symptoms, and PTSD symptoms); (c) explore Mexican parent and adolescents’ experiences with violence exposure, coping strategies, and their communication about violence, and; (d) explore families’ determinants of and barriers to mental health service utilization.

**This study was funded by the University of Michigan Rackham Graduate School, the School of Social Office of Global Activities Grant for International Research, the UM Center for the Education of Women (CEW) Riecker Research Grant, and the Latin American and Caribbean Studies (LACS) Field Research Grant.