Seline Szkupinski Quiroga

Barriers to Health Care for Abused Latina and Asian Immigrant Women

This study identifies social, political, and cultural barriers to help seeking from health care organizations faced by abused Latina and Asian immigrant women. Qualitative data were collected through four semistructured ethnic-specific focus group interviews with 28 abused Latina and Asian immigrant women. Participants who had suffered intimate partner abuse were recruited through urban community-based organizations in San Francisco, California. Sociopolitical barriers to help seeking and patient-provider communication included social isolation, language barriers, and, for some, discrimination and fears of deportation. Sociocultural barriers included dedication to the children and family unity, shame related to the abuse, and the cultural stigma of divorce. Abused Latina and Asian immigrant women face significant social, cultural, and political barriers to patient-provider communication and help seeking. Medical and social service providers and policy makers may improve the quality of care for these women by understanding and addressing these barriers.

Stigma, disclosure, and family functioning among parents of children conceived through donor insemination

OBJECTIVE To examine the influence of gender, male infertility factor, and other demographic variables on stigma and whether parents tell their children that they were conceived by donor insemination (DI) and to ascertain if stigma and the disclosure decision affect parental bonding with the child or the quality of the interparental relationship. DESIGN One hundred eighty-four San Francisco Bay Area couples who had become parents by DI were asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire. SETTING A private infertility practice. PATIENT(S) Eighty-two men and 94 women who completed the questionnaire. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE A questionnaire assessing disclosure, stigma, parental bonding, and the quality of the interparental relationship. RESULT(S) Factors that increased the couples likelihood of disclosure included younger age, azoospermia, lower stigma scores, and having more than one DI child. Fathers who scored higher on stigma reported less parental warmth and parental fostering of independence. CONCLUSION(S) Because the decision regarding disclosure of DI treatment was not linked to parental bonding with the child or to the quality of the interparental relationship, we cannot conclude that nondisclosure is harmful to family relationships or is a symptom of family problems. The husbands perceptions of stigma however, may affect the father--child relationship adversely.

The disclosure decision: Concerns and issues of parents of children conceived through donor insemination

OBJECTIVE The purpose of our study was to examine the disclosure decision by parents of children conceived by donor insemination. STUDY DESIGN A qualitative component of a self-administered questionnaire mailed to 184 couples who had become parents by donor insemination encouraged respondents to volunteer their written comments, concerns, or opinions about their disclosure decision. RESULTS A total of 70 men and 86 women submitted written comments indicating that 54% did not plan to disclose the donor insemination treatment (nondisclosers), 30% indicated they would (disclosers), and 16% remained undecided. The only significant relationship between the disclosure decision and expressed concern was with regard to confidentiality and honesty (chi2 = 99.9, p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS Whether parents viewed the disclosure issue as one of honesty (disclosers) or confidentiality (nondisclosers) was the major determinant in the decision of whether to tell children about their donor insemination origin. There was no association between disclosure status or gender and expressed concerns about parenting, children, or family relations.

In the Belly of the Beast Effects of Anti-Immigration Policy on Latino Community Members

This paper examines the experiences of Latino adults in South Phoenix, Arizona, during a time of changing immigration policy, through the theoretical lenses of structural vulnerability and macro- and microaggression. The analyses describe how U.S.- and foreign-born Latinos experience the effects of local immigration laws and anti-immigrant sentiment. The results suggest that while there are differences between the U.S.-born and foreign-born in perceived impacts of immigration enforcement, there are few differences in perceptions of vulnerability and no evidence of lesser psychological distress among those who are not the direct targets of immigration enforcement activities. Even if they do not feel directly at risk, most respondents express concerns for family members and others in their social networks as a result of increased attention to immigration enforcement or anti-immigrant sentiment. These shared impacts may have long-term implications for Latino communities in the United States.

Integration of Theatre Activities in Cooking Workshops Improves Healthy Eating Attitudes Among Ethnically Diverse Adolescents A Pilot Study

The purpose of this pilot study was to integrate theatre elements into interactive cooking workshops and assess if these experiences prompted attitude and awareness changes with adolescents about healthy eating. Over a 3-week period, 6 interactive cooking workshops were conducted by an artist-in-residence with a group of 21 low-income, predominantly Hispanic, high school sophomores. Social cognitive theory was used as a guide for lessons and outcomes assessment. Students prepared, discussed, and shared food, stories, and experiences about culture, health, and meals. Qualitative focus groups were conducted 4 weeks after the workshop series ended. The theatre-based cooking workshops elicited positive comments in attitudes about healthy eating, nutrition education, and enhanced cooking awareness among ethnically diverse youth. Results from preworkshop and postworkshop self-administered questionnaires showed positive shifts in healthy eating behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes. Qualitative statements supported ...

Struggling to see Through the Eyes of Youth: On Failure and (Un)Certainty in a Photovoice Project

The authors problematize the notion that photovoice methodology is always an empowering experience for participants who find their “voice”, and argue that while it may potentially be an effective tool of anti-oppressive methodologies, photovoice’s liberatory potential is far from inherent. This chapter argues that researchers committed to anti-oppressive research must live with/in the uncomfortable spaces generated by the irreconcilability and impossibilities that critical reflections raise. The authors reflect on their work with/in a case study of an arts-centered photovoice project conducted with Mexican American tweens in South Phoenix, and examine issues of power that arose. Taking up feminist explications of “failure”, this chapter addresses how the authors struggled in their attempts to enact a critical, participatory project, as they adopt a reflexivity of discomfort.

Of Models and Mechanisms: Towards an Understanding of How Theatre-Making Works as an "Intervention" in Individual Health and Wellness.

ABSTRACT Growing from a multi-year and multidisciplinary research and applied arts investigative team based in North America, this essay presents a model of how performative engagements contribute to individual behavioural change in wellness practices. To be even more specific, this essay analyses and theorises the mechanisms involved in the application of one particular art form to one particular pre-condition for health. The art form: applied theatre. The pre-condition: attitudes, behaviours and beliefs about healthy eating. The co-authors ask not ‘what can theatre-making do to have a positive effect on health-related attitudes and behaviors?’ but rather ‘how does it do that?’ and offer a model towards answering that question that might satisfy the needs of researchers in both applied theatre and health science.

Finding a Way to Get By: Latino Household Economic Strategies in a Time of Economic and Political Strain

Few studies have addressed how Latino families resident in the United States for many years have been impacted by the economic downturn of 2007–2009, the household economic strategies these families adopted to cope with financial distress, or if such efforts are affected by localized responses to immigration policy. Drawing on survey and matched qualitative interview data from a random sample of Latino households in Phoenix, Arizona, we examine the types and number of household economic strategies families deploy; whether social network composition and exchanges vary according to the level of financial strain experienced and the types of strategies used to ameliorate that strain; and how the local policy context affects the strategies. We find that households do not rely on just one strategy but deploy multiple strategies engaged in by different family members concurrently. There is little variation in household social network composition or resource exchange by strategy, but some variation in resource ex...