Gloria T. DiFulvio

Sexual minority youth, social connection and resilience: From personal struggle to collective identity

Sexual minority youth are at increased risk for negative health outcomes including substance abuse, depression, anxiety, and suicide. Researchers suggest that sexual orientation victimization is a predictor of such outcomes. Social connectedness--or the importance of belonging where youth perceive they are cared for and empowered within a given context--has been associated with positive youth outcomes. This qualitative study utilized life story methodology. Life stories are considered to be important expressions of ones identity and are shaped by personal, social, and cultural contexts. Twenty-two interviews were conducted with 15 young people ranging in age from 14 to 22 years. Two focus groups with youth were also conducted. Youth were recruited from rural and urban communities in Massachusetts. This study contributes to the literature on resilience by including the voices of sexual minority youth and explores the meaning of social connection in their lives. Youth discuss the ways in which individual connection and group affiliation served to affirm ones identity, and provided a forum for moving personal struggle to collective action. The findings suggest the need to reconceptualize consequences of disconnection (such as depression or suicide) from individual pathology and attend to these consequences as a response to discrimination and stigma. Implications for these findings and areas for future research are discussed.

Promoting Positive Youth Development and Highlighting Reasons for Living in Northwest Alaska Through Digital Storytelling

Using a positive youth development framework, this article describes how a 3-year digital storytelling project and the 566 digital stories produced from it in Northwest Alaska promote protective factors in the lives of Alaska Native youth and serve as digital “hope kits,” a suicide prevention approach that emphasizes young people’s reasons for living. Digital stories are short, participant-produced videos that combine photos, music, and voice. We present process data that indicate the ways that digital stories serve as a platform for youth to reflect on and represent their lives, important relationships and achievements. In so doing, youth use the digital storytelling process to identify and highlight encouraging aspects of their lives, and develop more certain and positive identity formations. These processes are correlated with positive youth health outcomes. In addition, the digital stories themselves serve as reminders of the young people’s personal assets—their reasons for living—after the workshop ends. Young people in this project often showed their digital stories to those who were featured positively within as a way to strengthen these interpersonal relationships. Evaluation data from the project show that digital storytelling workshops and outputs are a promising positive youth development approach. The project and the qualitative data demonstrate the need for further studies focusing on outcomes related to suicide prevention.

“There’s So Much at Stake” Sexual Minority Youth Discuss Dating Violence

The purpose of this study was to explore perceptions of dating violence among a sample of sexual minority youth. Focus groups were conducted as part of a larger study that surveyed 109 sexual minority youth between the ages of 18 and 24 years. Participants identified four main themes contributing to dating violence among same-sex couples: homophobia (societal and internalized); negotiating socially prescribed gender roles; assumed female connection; and other relationship issues. Such information is essential for determining the need for and content of dating violence services, including education, safety planning, and referrals for mental and physical health services for sexual minority youth.

Effectiveness of the Brief Alcohol and Screening Intervention for College Students (BASICS) Program With a Mandated Population

Abstract Objective: This study evaluated the effectiveness of a large-scale intervention designed to reduce alcohol abuse among adjudicated college students. Participants: Participants were college students mandated to attend a Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students (BASICS) program and a randomly selected comparison group of high-risk drinkers. Methods: Data were collected from January 2006 through December 2008. A total of 1,390 (67%) students in the intervention group and 508 (61%) students in the comparison group completed baseline and 6-month follow-up surveys. Results: Male students in the intervention group significantly decreased their drinking at follow-up, whereas those in the comparison group increased their drinking. Women in both the intervention and comparison groups decreased their drinking at 6 months. Conclusions: When implemented with fidelity, BASICS is a generally effective intervention, especially for male adjudicated college students. The intervention was most effective for moderate- and high-risk drinkers.

Measuring Down: Evaluating Digital Storytelling as a Process for Narrative Health Promotion

Digital storytelling (DST) engages participants in a group-based process to create and share narrative accounts of life events. We present key evaluation findings of a 2-year, mixed-methods study that focused on effects of participating in the DST process on young Puerto Rican Latina’s self-esteem, social support, empowerment, and sexual attitudes and behaviors. Quantitative results did not show significant changes in the expected outcomes. However, in our qualitative findings we identified several ways in which the DST made positive, health-bearing effects. We argue for the importance of “measuring down” to reflect the locally grounded, felt experiences of participants who engage in the process, as current quantitative scales do not “measure up” to accurately capture these effects. We end by suggesting the need to develop mixed-methods, culturally relevant, and sensitive evaluation tools that prioritize process effects as they inform intervention and health promotion.

Mobilizing for Change: A Case Study of a Campus and Community Coalition to Reduce High-Risk Drinking

Campus and community coalitions include a partnership between campus leaders and community stakeholders and can effectively address the environment that may promote high-risk drinking. Despite evidence suggesting that coalitions may be effective vehicles for producing sustainable changes in college drinking, few campuses work within such a structure. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a campus and community coalition to implement environmental changes and thereby reduce high-risk drinking and associated consequences. This study utilized a case study method to tell the story of a campus and community coalition (CCC) implemented on a large university campus in the Northeast. The study employed multiple methods including archival document review, review of campus and community level data (i.e. alcohol-related arrests and sanctions) and analysis of student level data. The case study discusses the strategies employed, the environmental changes that occurred and the impact these changes have had on student drinking and consequences. Since implementing the campus and community coalition, the campus has seen an increase in enforcement by campus and local police, changes in community by-laws, and significant reductions in student drinking and consequences. The data provide evidence that a comprehensive approach to reducing high-risk drinking can have an impact on the campus and community environment, which in turn impacts student drinking and associated consequences. The CCC utilized a strategic and comprehensive approach to substance abuse prevention, allowing all participants to have a shared understanding of the challenges and best practices. Implications for research and practice are also discussed.

Examining Dating Violence and Its Mental Health Consequences Among Sexual Minority Youth

Prior research has revealed a disturbingly high prevalence of dating violence among American youth. However, this research has not tended to focus on sexual minority youth. This is of concern as numerous studies have shown that individuals who experience such violence are at increased risk for adverse mental and physical health outcomes, including increased risk of HIV infection among LGBT populations. Research findings also indicate that individuals who are victimized as adolescents are at increased risk for victimization during their college years. This study assessed past and current dating violence (physical, sexual, and psychological aggression—perpetration and victimization) and its relationship to mental health outcomes among a sample of 109 college-enrolled sexual minority youth. Results indicate high rates of all forms of violence among this population during both adolescence and their college years. Physical and psychological perpetration and victimization were found to be associated with negative mental health outcomes including depression and PTSD. Sexual minority youth experience unique stressors that must be considered for appropriate interpretation of these findings and intervention. Implications for future research and practice with this population are presented.

Digital Storytelling as a Narrative Health Promotion Process: Evaluation of a Pilot Study

Digital storytelling (DST) engages participants in a group-based process to create and share narrative accounts of life events. The process of individuals telling their own stories has not been well assessed as a mechanism of health behavior change. This study looks at outcomes associated with engaging in the DST process for vulnerable youth. The project focused on the experiences of Puerto Rican Latinas between the ages of 15 to 21. A total of 30 participants enrolled in a 4-day DST workshops, with 29 completing a 1 to 3-minute digital story. Self-reported data on several scales (self-esteem, social support, empowerment, and sexual attitudes and behaviors) were collected and analyzed. Participants showed an increase in positive social interactions from baseline to 3-month post workshop. Participants also demonstrated increases in optimism and control over the future immediately after the workshop, but this change was not sustained at 3 months. Analysis of qualitative results and implications are discussed.

Creating a community of practice to prevent suicide through multiple channels: describing the theoretical foundations and structured learning of PC CARES

It is critical to develop practical, effective, ecological, and decolonizing approaches to indigenous suicide prevention and health promotion for the North American communities. The youth suicide rates in predominantly indigenous small, rural, and remote Northern communities are unacceptably high. This health disparity, however, is fairly recent, occurring over the last 50 to 100 years as communities experienced forced social, economic, and political change and intergenerational trauma. These conditions increase suicide risk and can reduce people’s access to shared protective factors and processes. In this context, it is imperative that suicide prevention includes—at its heart—decolonization, while also utilizing the “best practices” from research to effectively address the issue from multiple levels. This article describes such an approach: Promoting Community Conversations About Research to End Suicide (PC CARES). PC CARES uses popular education strategies to build a “community of practice” among local and regional service providers, friends, and families that fosters personal and collective learning about suicide prevention in order to spur practical action on multiple levels to prevent suicide and promote health. This article will discuss the theoretical underpinnings of the community intervention and describe the form that PC CARES takes to structure ongoing dialogue, learning, solidarity, and multilevel mobilization for suicide prevention.

Experiencing Violence and Enacting Resilience: The Case Story of a Transgender Youth

Research about victimization among sexual minority youth has focused on documenting the prevalence and consequences of such experiences. Lacking in the literature is an in-depth exploration of the social context of both risk and resilience in the face of violence. This is especially true for transgender youth who are largely absent from the dominant discourse. This case story provides an example of how one transgender youth interpreted and adaptively responded to the discrimination and prejudice she encountered. Katie’s story illustrates the process of resilience. Despite the adversity she has faced, she shares stories of pride and strength in a culture that considers her as “other.”