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This study examines difficulties amid the COVID-19 pandemic in raising children and meeting their educational needs among Korean immigrant parents of children with disabilities, giftedness, and/or limited English proficiency living in the U.S. The Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression analysis examined the associations between the 48 participants' perceived difficulties meeting their children's educational needs, parental stress, and parents' resilience and social support. Additionally, basic interpretive qualitative analysis was conducted for the 18 survey participants who provided data via an open-ended survey response. Results determined that participant difficulties in assisting with their children's educational needs were associated with increased parental stress. Participants also described lack of resources and support, language and communication barriers, internal family conflicts, and developmental concerns about the child. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

This article reviews current research findings and presents a conceptual framework for better understanding the relationship between bullying victimization (hereafter referred to as victimization) and substance misuse (hereafter referred to as SM) among adolescents. Although victimization and SM may appear to be separate problems, research suggests an intriguing relationship between the 2. We present a brief, empirical overview of the direct association between victimization and adolescent SM, followed by a proposed conceptual framework that includes co-occurring risk factors for victimization and SM within family, peer, and school and community contexts. Next, we discuss potential mediators linking victimization and SM, such as internalizing problems, traumatic stress, low academic performance, and school truancy and absence. We then identify potential moderating influences of age, gender and sex, social supports, and school connectedness that could amplify or abate the association between victimization and SM. Finally, we discuss practice and policy implications.

Existing research on bullying and peer victimization among school-age youth focuses on identifying risk and protective factors, developing interventions, and assessing outcomes to address this pervasive problem. This article reviews research on bullying and victimization of Latino and Asian youth. The review suggests that risk and protective factors associated with bullying among Latino and Asian youth might differ considerably from their mainstream peer groups that are often the focus of bullying research. This article examines the macrosystem- (immigration, poverty), exosystem- , and microsystem-level factors (family environment, peers, and school environment), along with ontogenetic factors that are related to bullying involvement among Latino and Asian youth in the United States. It also highlights the need for further investigation into the bullying experiences of Latino and Asian youth, and advocates for the development of culturally relevant interventions.

This study examined the predictive ability of perceived vulnerability to disease (PVD), fear of COVID-19, and coping mechanisms on the Korean immigrants' psychological distress level amid the pandemic. Through purposive sampling, both foreign-born and US-born Korean immigrants residing in the US above the age of 18 years were invited to an online survey. Between May and June 2020, data collection took place, which yielded the final sample of 790 participants from 42 states. An artificial neural network (ANN) was used to verify variables that predict the level of psychological distress on the participants. The model with one hidden layer holding six hidden neurons showed the best performance. The error rate was approximately 27%, and the results from the sensitivity analysis, the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve, showed that the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.801. The most powerful predicting variables in the neural network were resilience, PVD, and social support. Implications for practice and policy are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social service providers play a vital role in addressing the physical and mental health needs of vulnerable individuals, families, and communities during and after disasters. Considering the essential role of social service providers during and after disasters, it is vital to understand the challenges their clients encounter during emergencies. Our study explored social service providers' perceptions of the barriers socially vulnerable individuals and communities experienced after hurricanes Michael and Irma struck coastal communities in Florida in 2017–2018. Seventeen social service workers who provided direct support to survivors during and after the hurricanes participated in four focus group interviews. Providers described five factors that increased vulnerability of their clients including risk perception, socioeconomic constraints, physical and mental health challenges, language and literacy proficiency, and resource dependency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a form of racism that is both subtle and ubiquitous, racial microaggressions (RMAs) can have cumulatively deleterious physical and emotional effects on people of a specific race or ethnicity. While a significant body of knowledge about RMAs has been developed from a Black-White perspective, this study was undertaken to explore extant empirical research that specifically addresses the physical and emotional effects of racism and RMAs on people who are Latinx-American. Through the implementation of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines, we systematically searched multiple databases (PubMed, PsycInfo, Social Services Abstract, and CINAHL) to identify studies that specifically focused on Latinxs' well-being in response to RMA. Following a systematic search and screening process, nine studies met all of the study's inclusion criteria. Researchers reviewed studies for content, methods, effect sizes, and risk of bias. Strengths and shortcomings of the existing studies were identified, followed by suggestions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Providing childcare along with interventions for disadvantaged mothers increases the benefit. However, program designers rarely focus on the implementation of that care and how it affects program participants. Using the common factors model as a lens, this paper explores the challenges that arose in the third year of an intervention that provided childcare to Spanish-speaking immigrant mothers enrolled in a Cognitive Behavioral Treatment (CBT) group when the socioeconomic status of beneficiaries and the population of children needing care changed. We used data collected by the childcare coordinator—participant observation, field notes, and administrative documentation—to examine the meanings participants assigned to problems in the childcare program, their resolution, and how it affected the therapeutic alliance. Data analysis focuses on the extent emerging themes were consistent with the concepts from the common factors approach. Four lessons for providers of interventions with similar supports emerge: attend to the physical environment, anticipate that learning from and rectifying mistakes can improve the therapeutic relationship, select and train childcare providers to understand they are clinical helpers, and recognize that participants view the childcare service as an extension of the intervention. Findings underscore the importance of support services in fostering the success of social work interventions in community settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent anti-immigrant sentiment portrayed through elections, policies, current events and media in the United States should be a concern for localities with regard to the wellbeing of refugees. This exploratory study was in response to the current climate in an attempt to capture how locals perceive refugees and what possible interventions locals believe are occurring to integrate refugees in the community. Semi-structured one-on-one interviews were conducted with 26 members of the community who currently live in the same location as their place of birth. Themes found include participant concerns, sympathy for refugees and community strategies for refugee integration. This study contributes to a more complex depiction of how some community members may perceive refugees in the current national climate of xenophobia, racism and/or nativism. Existing interventions identified by community members in this study indicate what may be working at the local level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anti-Asian sentiment is surging because of COVID-19 and there have been incidents of hate crime. This paper presents a reflection by an Asian social work researcher on the impact of this surge on herself and other Asians in America. Reflecting on the history of pandemic, racism against Asian Americans, and anti-Chinese sentiment among other Asian group, the paper provides important points for us to ponder as a community of social workers in the topics of racial justice [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the moderating role of ethnic identity in the relations between racial microaggressions and depressive symptoms. Using survey data from 353 Asian-American college students, we found that racial microaggressions significantly predicted depressive symptoms and accounted for 24% of the variance in a hierarchical multiple regression analysis. In addition, ethnic identity moderated the relations between racial microaggressions and depressive symptoms. Thus, ethnic identity buffers Asian-Americans against the negative mental health effects of racial microaggressions. Implications for research and practice in the field of social work are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]