In this study, Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) is utilized as a framework to examine the experiences of hospital social workers who care for unhoused patients. Past research suggests that hospital social workers feel unprepared to appropriately support unhoused patients; this study aims to expand upon that research by introducing a type of intervention that supports the care of this population (based on Relational-Cultural Intervention or RCT) as a way of equipping social workers with additional tools to address this perception. Existing literature indicates that RCT can be a meaningful, reparative intervention to help unhoused individuals find affirmation and support through relational re-engagement. Through the provision of information about relational-cultural techniques, as well as advice on how to utilize these techniques, this research seeks to consider hospital social workers’ impressions of RCT’s potential usefulness as well as increase respondents’ perceptions that interventions performed with unhoused patients can offer meaning and value to both the patient and the social worker. Existing research suggests that meaningful relational exchanges have value for increasing an individual’s confidence in others' support and willingness to engage with services, programs, and other individuals, even in the absence of immediate options for accessing housing.

Vietnamese Amerasians are children of United States service members and Vietnamese women born during the Vietnam War. Many of these children grow up while experiencing various stressors in Vietnam, due to their biracial and inherently political identities. These challenges place them at a higher risk for developing a mental illness. There is limited research on the mental health challenges of Vietnamese Amerasians. I conducted a systematic literature review to examine the current mental health challenges of Vietnamese Amerasians. I identified nineteen relevant articles through a systematic search of APA PsycINFO, APA PsycArticles, and references of included articles.The inclusion criteria required studies to be conducted within Vietnam and the United States, include at least five Vietnamese Amerasians, and focus on mental health and related outcomes. Included articles are analyzed to find themes in the prevalence of mental health illnesses (such as PTSD, Depression, Suicidality, and Anxiety), mental health utilization, factors contributing to mental health illness, and protective factors. Preliminary findings identify high pre-migration expectations, frequency of thinking of ones’ American father, language barrier, experience of discrimination, witnessing traumatic events, acculturation stress, unaccompanied minor status, having multiple surrogate mothers, being African Amerasian, and family conflict as factors contributing to poor mental health outcomes for Vietnamese Amerasians. Family support has been identified as a protective factor. Due to the unique bi-racial identity of Vietnamese Amerasians, more research is needed to determine the applicability of these findings. In addition to informing future research, these findings aid clinicians in the relevant factors impacting Vietnamese Amerasian mental health.

This research investigates Basic Needs Resources and Programs in the city of Kent, Washington. Kent is the sixth most populous municipality in Washington State, with an official population of 136,588, according to the 2020 Decennial Census. Shelter, food, water, education, and healthcare are five basic needs that, when attended to sufficiently, empower marginalized populations and those experiencing personal/financial crises. What are the barriers to assistance programs for those facing basic-need insecurity in areas such as access to shelter and affordable housing? To answer this question, this research pursues five steps. First, defining “Basic Needs” in the United States, Washington State, and Kent. Secondly, this research isolates five material-needs: safe/sustainable shelter and housing, quality food, clean running-water and sanitation, quality kindergarten-through-secondary education, and affordable healthcare and insurance. Third, this proposal notes historical and current resources/programs in Kent, WA, attending to those experiencing housing insecurity, especially due to the importance of providing shelter and housing as a basic need in addressing explicit housing insecurity. Fourth, this proposal outlines the methods to survey those operating affordable housing initiatives and emergency shelter programs and evaluate their activities according to recent research in the field. Fifth, the potential barriers of access to affordable housing in Kent, WA include racial and gender discrimination, socioeconomic disparities in wealth, rising costs of housing incongruent with stagnant rates of compensation among the working class, and the precedence of corporate interests over affordable housing development projects. This research is critical to further understanding the systems that discourage or disempower populations from seeking help in financial mobility.

The mental health of family caregivers who care for elders who have passed is often dismissed by healthcare providers and society because of the age of their family members. When an older adult dies, their death is seen as expected and as the natural ending to having lived their life. However, there is still a tremendous grieving process that family members, friends, and caregivers experience with the death of a loved one. After losing a loved one, family caregivers report experiencing higher rates of depression, anxiety, and ambiguous grief. Additionally, many family caregivers find that medical help decreases drastically after the death, thus creating a sense of isolation. Current studies tend to explore one aspect of the experience of caregiver loss. Furthermore, much of these findings are based on data that is homogeneous in race and social status with an overwhelming majority being white and middle class. No existing studies have attempted to untangle the complexity of emotions that come with family caregiving. This systematic literature review starts to fill these gaps by answering the question: What are the psychological impacts experienced by family caregivers following the loss of an elderly loved one they provided care for? The databases used to identify the articles include PubMed, Web of Science, and PsycINFO. Approximately 15 articles have been identified that meet the inclusion criteria. The preliminary findings are themes of support changing before and after death, relationship with caregiving, relationship with family members cared for, psychological adversities (anxiety, depression, and loneliness), and religion as a way to find peace. These findings will help family caregivers see trends in their experience, helping with the loneliness that comes while grieving. It will also be a starting point to show healthcare workers what to look for when determining whether the grieving process is chronic.

2023 was the Year of Open Science, part of a national push requiring public accessibility to the products of federally funded research. The Infant Brain Imaging Study (IBIS) Network is one such federally funded multi-site research network collecting neuroimaging data to study early brain development in infants with Down Syndrome. Data from the IBIS will be part of the INCLUDE Data Coordinating Center (DCC), a National Institutes of Health (NIH) managed open database intended to accelerate Down Syndrome research through sharable data. Understanding attitudes towards data sharing is important to ensure public trust in scientific research, and though much research exists assessing attitudes towards public sharing of genomic data, there is a lack of knowledge regarding attitudes towards public sharing of neuroimaging data. To combat this gap, I helped develop the CARDS-DS (Capturing Attitudes towards Research and Data Sharing in Down Syndrome) questionnaire, a novel parent-report measure to understand the perspectives of families participating in longitudinal Down Syndrome neuroimaging research. Currently, I am interviewing families enrolled in Down Syndrome neuroimaging research to get their feedback on the effectiveness of the questions asked in the CARDS-DS, a method called cognitive interviewing. Following this pilot study, CARDS-DS will be implemented throughout the IBIS Network. As such, CARDS-DS queries parent attitudes towards aspects of research participation that are particularly relevant to the INCLUDE DCC goals, namely: attitudes towards sharing of a child’s neuroimaging, genomic, and behavioral data, perspectives on data privacy, preferences for return of research results, and attitudes towards ongoing engagement with research teams throughout a longitudinal project. The anticipated data will reveal how attitudes may differ between parents from different sociodemographic or educational backgrounds, how attitudes may differ between the sharing of neuroimaging versus genomic data, whether attitudes are associated with study retention, and how attitudes may change over the course of longitudinal participation.