Badiah Haffejee

Utilizing Technology for Longitudinal Communication With Homeless Youth

The current study investigated forms of technology (phone calls, texts, email and Facebook) for maintaining contact with homeless youth over baseline, 1-week, 6-week, and 3-month follow-up interviews. The study combined quantitative tracking of youths’ response patterns and open-ended interviews regarding youths’ preferred methods of communication. Results indicate that maintaining communication with homeless youth requires persistence, including frequent contact attempts over several days. Cell phone contacts (calls or texts) were most successful in communicating with youth, with e-mail and Facebook messaging useful when phones were lost or stolen. Youth who maintained contact were strikingly similar to youth who discontinued contact.

African Women Refugee Resettlement: A Womanist Analysis

In considering forced migration as a consequence of global conflict, women with refugee status are especially vulnerable. The influx of refugees into the United States, in this case, refugees from Africa, requires us to examine various aspects of what it means to be a refugee. Drawing upon current and extant literature, this article investigates the challenges faced by women refugees from Africa. A womanist framework is described and applied to four areas of resettlement experience including gendered expectations, trauma and mental health, economic self-sufficiency, and cultural integration. In addition, the policy assumptions of the Refugee Act of 1980 are contrasted with the realities and experiences of women refugees from Africa. Implications for social work practice, policy advocacy, and research are discussed.

Developing Cultural Intelligence and Empathy through Diversified Mentoring Relationships.

Given increasing globalization and the foreign-born workforce characterizing many organizations around the world, managers are increasingly called on to effectively manage a culturally diverse workforce. One way to increase the cultural intelligence and empathy of managers was proposed by Ragins, who indicated that mentors in diversified mentoring relationships (DMRs) may become more culturally intelligent and empathic as a result of exposure to the situations and challenges faced by their lower power protégés. To test this proposition regarding the efficacy of DMRs, a quasi-experimental design was employed using an experiential training intervention involving DMRs between primarily White, affluent student mentors and newly resettled refugees to the United States. Grounded in the theoretical foundations of contact theory and DMRs, our findings suggest that DMRs of even limited duration may be influential in increasing cultural intelligence and empathy.

Enhancing Risk Detection Among Homeless Youth A Randomized Clinical Trial of a Promising Pilot Intervention

Homeless youth frequently experience victimization, and youth with histories of trauma often fail to detect danger risks, making them vulnerable to subsequent victimization. The current study describes a pilot test of a skills-based intervention designed to improve risk detection among homeless youth through focusing attention to internal, interpersonal, and environmental cues. Youth aged 18 to 21 years (N = 74) were recruited from a shelter and randomly assigned to receive usual case management services or usual services plus a 3-day manualized risk detection intervention. Pretest and posttest interviews assessed youths’ risk detection abilities through vignettes describing risky situations and asking youth to identify risk cues present. Separate 2 (intervention vs. control) × 2 (pretest vs. posttest) mixed ANOVAs found significant interaction effects, as intervention youth significantly improved in overall risk detection compared with control youth. Post hoc subgroup analyses found the intervention had a greater effect for youth without previous experiences of indirect victimization than those with previous indirect victimization experiences.

Mindfulness Intervention with Homeless Youth

Objectives: Mindfulness-based interventions demonstrate promise in helping individuals cultivate awareness of risks, thereby decreasing likelihood of revictimization; however, mindfulness-based approaches with homeless youth have received little empirical attention. This mixed-methods study investigates a mindfulness-based intervention for homeless youth, investigating (a) quantitatively—to what extent is the intervention effective in increasing youths’ mindfulness over time? and (b) qualitatively—in observing homeless youths’ participation in the mindfulness groups, what strategies appear most helpful in engaging them in this mindfulness intervention and what challenges are encountered? Methods: Using a randomized experimental design, the current study pilot tests an intensive (3 day), skill-building intervention to train homeless youth (N = 97, ages 18–21 years) to practice mindfulness and avoid risks. Youths’ mindfulness was assessed via standardized self-report instruments at baseline and post-intervention (1 week post baseline for youth in the control condition). Results: Repeated-measures ANOVA results indicate that although no effect was found on total mindfulness, a significant effect was found for mindfulness subscales. Intervention youth improved in their observation skills significantly more than control youth (F[1] = 3.88, p < .05, partial-η2 = .05). Qualitatively, certain intervention strategies (i.e., facilitating, personal sharing, teaching, and peer activation) demonstrated notable utility in actively engaging youth in mindfulness material, whereas challenges (meeting basic needs, a fight or flight instinct, and a generalized distrust of service providers) created challenges in implementing mindfulness skills. Conclusion: The intervention improved youths’ attention to internal and external stimuli yet future iterations will need to continue to modify to meet the unique needs of this population.