2015 Association for Women in Psychology Conference

Autoimmune disorders affect more women than men, and carry multiple sequelae common in chronic illness or disability (CID). This workshop focuses on the psychologist’s role in empowering women with CID to self-manage and advocate. We cover the psychological challenges, psychological and mind/body interventions for symptoms, trauma resolution, developing a wellness plan and working with medical professionals.

When providing psychological services to Latinas, clinicians must be prepared to address a broad range of identities and experiences. Latinas are not a monolithic group and mental health practitioners need to deliver interventions that are responsive to a multiplicity of factors including nationality, geographic location, social class, immigration status, level of acculturation, education, and exposure to discrimination and exploitation. It is paramount that psychologists turn their attention to intragroup differences among Latinas in order to respond effectively to the needs of the many subgroups represented in this population. In this symposium, the presenters will share their experiences and the results of their research studies on culturally responsive practice with Latinas, both in the U.S. and internationally. Throughout the program, implications for research, feminist clinical practice, training, and social justice will be explored. The first presentation will discuss how the experiences of clinicians in New Mexico and Texas may translate into promising practices in the provision of psychological services to undocumented immigrant women from Mexico across the U.S. The next presentation will highlight the role of technology in a multi-year international Participatory Action Research collaboration between U.S.-based researchers and members of Fundación Ana Margarita in Medellín, Colombia who are also survivors of commercial sexual exploitation. The final presentation will introduce a new protocol for a support group for first-year Latina undergraduates focusing on positive identity development, effective methods for handling the transition to college life, the experience of discrimination, and the development of coping strategies to address academic concerns.

Interactive presentation from my book's themes, linking personal healing with activism for world-changing. Anchored in Jewish ethical tradition, I'll share women's courageous (and hilarious) stories, including a fair-minded perspective on Israel-Palestine -- inviting us to face our fears, but not act on them. For anyone who cares about human liberation.

Lesbian couples who had civil unions in 2000-1 and those who did not were interviewed in 2014. Over time many couples in both groups have also gotten married or had civil unions or domestic partnerships in other U.S. states. Lesbians who dissolved their relationship were also interviewed.

Paralleling the early research and unsuccessful attempts to change sexual orientation, clinicians and researchers continue to attempt to permanently change body weight. This symposium discourages lesbians to submit to the weight loss industry by reviewing studies on lesbians and weight, health, weight loss, and body satisfaction.

Deane Metzger (1992) writes "when it is our own life story that we are telling, we become aware that we are not victims of random and chaotic circumstances, that we, too, despite our grief are living meaningfully in a meaningful universe" (p. 55). This workshop will work to facilitate conversations and teachings about feminist narrative therapy and the possibilities it offers for trauma work. We will explore the importance of storytelling and personal narrative in the lives of African American mothers living in toxic traumatic neighborhoods and interventions used to unearth these narratives. We will discuss the personal and collective narratives produced by mothers who experience chronic violence and loss. This presentation is not only intended to explore the various ways in which narrative plays an important role in the lives and treatment of black mothers who are suffering from PTSD, depression, and grief, but also to spark discussion about how stories work in relationship with restorative justice to provide the optimal means of expression and healing. Narrative conversations about violence and loss are less about the passive suffering of trauma and more about growing invigorating identity stories amid the ongoing transitions that trauma occasions. The role of the narrative therapists is as a collaborator or co-author with the client. The narrative frame involves opening space for the authoring of alternative stories, the possibility of which have been previously silenced by the dominant oppressive narrative which maintains the problem. The collaborative approach of the narrative practitioner can be useful for accessing the mother's spiritual strengths by respectful inquiry into her worldview and its nuances of meaning. Attending this workshop will foster a sense of cultural sensitivity and provide a new way to think about black mothers and trauma, professionally and personally with practical applications and skills to be immediately incorporated. Metzger, D. (1992). Writing for your life: A guide and companion to the inner worlds. Harper Collins Publishers: New York

This symposium will be led by four first generation immigrant women-therapists from varied cultural backgrounds. Our presentations will focus on challenges we encountered, and the ways our experiences have transformed us and encouraged personal voice and growth. Because of an increase in immigration, growing number of first generation (recent) immigrant women enter into mental health field, often seeking to improve the lives of their communities (Yakushko, 2009). Their work often focuses on issues of justice related to their community experiences, including racism, poverty, xenophobia, gender violence, and other forms of marginalization and oppression (Yakushko & Espin, 2010). Among key areas discussed by presenters the focus will be on juxtaposition of therapists’ own experiences of immigrant adaptation including clinical work in a second language and the way it contributes to and creates feelings of otherness as well as the role of language as the carrier of implicit cultural messages. Personal and professional identity development from a perspective of an immigrant therapist in training will be also discussed focusing on aspects of establishing personal and professional identity as a therapist, immigration as a possibility for maturation and mending of loss of culturally and personally grounding internally guiding structures, and mourning the loss of the home country. In addition, we will discuss experiences of migration as a psychological process and review its various aspects such as status of immigration, age, motivation to leave the home country, family related responsibilities, and the impact of loss of familiar environment. Lastly, we will focus on issues related to training and supervision with immigrant women who are training to be psychologists.

Over the last 20 years the United States has witnessed the arrival of 8.5 million Latino immigrants (PEW Hispanic Center, 2013). College education can be a platform for leadership and social change. However, in 2012 only 14.5% of U.S. Latinos ages 25 and older had earned a college degree. In this symposium, we focus on particularly vulnerable groups within the Latino community: women, and undocumented youth. The presentations describe the experience of people who reach out beyond the constriction of laws, customs, roles and risks, toward a better future. In two qualitative studies, these minorities –within-a- minority are given voice, and their subjective experience is made visible, so that advocates, clinicians and scholars can work effectively in their behalf. The first interview study compares Latinas who hold a college degree with those who never attended college. Strengths include self-efficacy, a collectivist approach, and resistamce to stereotype threat and the pressure of traditional gender roles. The researcher’s own experiences inform the study. The second interview study shows how immigration policy affects the daily functioning and mental health of undocumented Latino/as. Undocumented students are vulnerable to anti-immigration views, institutional restrictions on legal employment both during and after college, marginalization, discrimination, acculturation stress, fear of deportation and financial struggles. These stressors cumulatively contribute to anxiety, depression, and alienation Findings provide a knowledge base for college counselors and others who seek to address these mental health concerns and to provide comprehensive and knowledgeable service. In the discussion, we use this information, together with the history of advocacy and support , to brainstorm about what teachers, family members, school counselors, and psychologists can do to further the dreams of these young people, now and in the years ahead, while they are prevented from access to the American dream. Dr,Kuba will chair.

Young women in the United States receive many messages about the appropriate way to be an empowered woman. Since the 1980s, or what has been deemed the "postfeminist" society, the popular media has linked women’s empowerment with highly sexualized displays and behaviors. The ways in which the pressures to exemplify this “sexy” empowerment influence women’s actions and choices have been explored in a number of contexts. One understudied context is that of violence prevention. While young women receive pressure to enact “sexy” displays of femininity, messages around violence prevention (particularly sexual assault) encourage women to actively avoid any bodily displays that might be read as "sexy." This in-depth qualitative study of 25 women aged 18-35 explores the extent to which women recognize this tension and the ways it emerges as they discuss personal experiences related to safety concerns, risk and violence. In semi-structured interviews, women were asked about their thoughts and practices surrounding femininity, sexuality as well as the safety practices in which they regularly engage. Thematic analysis was conducted to extract major patterns and differences in women’s reasoning about femininity and sexiness and the ways they related to empowerment and/or vulnerability for violence. A major tension in women’s femininity narratives emerged as women positioned themselves as invulnerable and agentive actors in attenuating risk, yet simultaneously constructed their feminine bodies as inherently and unavoidably at risk for violence. Interviewees actively worked to distance themselves from the “other women” who may become victims, by disaggregating the category of “woman” from femininity, delegitimizing “woman” as a category of relevance for them, and reconstructing femininity in terms of strength and individuality. Women of color were less likely to reproduce the tension between femininity and empowerment suggesting that messages equating femininity with sexiness and/or vulnerability for violence are most pervasive for white women, while women of color rely on alternative narratives of womanhood and strength. The endorsement of feminist ideology at times worked to also provide an alternative narrative of womanhood that was not opposed to strength. Implications and future directions will be discussed.

Feminist Liberation Psychology (FLP) uses a problematizing praxis to explore social justice issues within our communities; this is the praxis of wicked questioning. We use these processes to interrogate injustices and to examine limit situations so that other possibilities are imagined. Limit situation connotes more than the intersectionality of oppressions to include analysis of how power circulates such that people simultaneously inhabit a range of powers to act even in the face of intense power over situations. In moving through intersectional spaces, we exercise and maintain individually maintained moments of empowerment. It is in these moments where empowerment resonates. The challenge for transformative praxis is to create the conditions wherein participants see not only how they are within these limit situations, but also what can be done to shift these situations on personal, interpersonal, and systemic levels within our cultures; this forms a key component of FLP Forum Theatre. We share the results of what happens when we place the authority of voice and narrative at the core of our change work by using the praxis of FLP Forum Theatre with young mothers occupying various identity markers for marginalization. We share the lessons learned from using FLP Forum Theatre to create change, on personal, interpersonal, and systemic levels and to show implications for generative restorative justice. Feminist Liberation Psychology praxis examines limit situations from the inside out to create sustained conditions of intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural change; such change is essential for a transformative restorative justice model.

The word “slut” has typically been used to describe a woman whose behavior is inconsistent with gender norms (Poole, 2013). Researchers have suggested various motivations for “slut-shaming”: intrasexual competition (reducing the value of a sexual rival; Vaillancourt & Sharma, 2011), retribution for non-conformity to feminine scripts (Jost, 2001; Poole, 2013), and female-on-female control of sexuality (Baumeister & Twenge, 2002). While researchers have examined how people view “sluts” (Crawford & Popp, 2003; Fugere et al., 2008), minimal research has explored the perceptions of the “shamers”. One prior study has shown that “shamers” are generally disliked (Papp et al., 2014), and we hoped to expand upon that idea with this project. In this study, we used mock Facebook profiles to illustrate the relationship between the “slut” and “shamer”. Participants were assigned to one of four conditions, in which the socio-economic status (SES) and clothing of the target were randomized. We altered the “slut’s” SES and clothing because these variables may affect how someone is perceived (Kraus et al., 2011; Montemurro & Gillen, 2013; Vaillancourt & Sharma, 2011). Participants responded to measures of person perception (“slut” and “shamer”) and social distance (“slut” and “shamer”), were asked to evaluate the “shamer’s” remark, and indicated if they identified as feminist. SES, clothing, and feminist identity significantly impacted how participants viewed “sluts” and “shamers”. Participants wanted more social distance from the “shamer” if she shamed the conservatively dressed “slut” and wanted more social distance from the high SES “slut” when she dressed provocatively. Participants were more likely to perceive the tone of the “slut-shaming” comment as serious if the “slut” had high SES and dressed provocatively. Women who did not identify as feminists wanted greater social distance from the “slut”, and feminist-identified participants did not find “slut-shaming” justified regardless of the attire of the “slut”.

This paper will discuss how social support operates within online self-injury groups for young adults. Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is described as direct and deliberate destruction of one’s own body (e.g. cutting or burning oneself) in the absence of suicidal intent (Nock & Favazza, 2009) and for reasons not socially or culturally sanctioned (such as piercing or tattooing). The behavior is often preceded by emotional distress and followed by a subjective sense of relief, so it can be conceived of as a coping mechanism. While early research and popular media have stereotypically linked NSSI to Caucasian females only, it is prevalent across genders, ethnicities, and socioeconomic statuses (Klonsky, 2011). This makes accessing these diverse voices imperative to understanding this behavior. This paper will also discuss the stigma surrounding NSSI, something very familiar to those who self-injure. Because of the likelihood of encountering stigmatization, many have turned to the Internet as a safe, anonymous place to talk about their struggles with self-injury and gain social support from similar others (Lewis et al., 2012). This phenomenological research aims to understand how social support operates within online self-injury groups and whether this support is perceived to affect the frequency of users’ self-injury. Participants were ten young adults (ages 18-25) of all genders to ensure the voices of non-gender-conforming individuals could be heard. This research utilized a qualitative questionnaire distributed via email exchange with participants. Data has been collected and is currently under analysis by methods of constant comparison and content analysis. It is my hope that this research will enhance the understanding of how online groups may play a role in supporting young adults who self-injure in their recovery.

Using an ecological framework, multisystem factors contributing to the disparities between majority and underserved ethnic populations can be explored along with ways to heal and rebuild communities through research, collaboration and advocacy. Factors such as cultural beliefs, womens issues, racism, power imbalances, heterosexism, and sexism are among risk factors that will be discussed. This presentation will explore intervention and prevention programs at the individual, community, and societal levels in order to fully address this sexual health disparity. At the individual level, the burden of risky sexual behavior, practices, and outcomes fall heavily on ethnic minority females. Race/ethnicity and gender specific rates show Black and Hispanic females have higher rates of sexual intercourse, putting them at risk of STIs and unplanned pregnancies in high school years. At the microsystem level, family and peers have a strong influence on sexual behaviors. Family communication can have an impact the age of sexual debut, contraception use, and attitudes toward sexuality. Peer relationships, both positive and negative, have a strong influence on adolescent sexual behaviors such as condom use. For instance, when members of adolescent peer groups have positive attitudes toward condoms, it predicts personal usage. Programs using these factors will be discussed. Research on risk and protective factors provide some gender-based directions for constructing community based programs and interventions in school settings. Research has found that effective programs for this population offer access to accurate information about contraceptive use and STIs/HIV using culturally sensitive methods that address factors such as gender scripts of control and dominance. In order to fully address the sexual health disparity affecting ethnic minority adolescents, it is also necessary to examine factors at the macrosystem (societal) level. This paper will explore strategies in advocacy at all levels which help to achieve social change benefiting this population.

This symposium presents both quantitative and qualitative research and clinical strategies related to the experience of sexual minority stress and resilient responses to ward off their effects. Sexual minority stress is the stress that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people experience in addition to the every day stress that all people experience (e.g., Meyer, 2001). The presentation addresses questions about how sexual minority stressors function across different groups of women, about how resilience to sexual minority stressors can best be conceptualized, and about how the damage from sexual minority stress can best be repaired within our contemporary landscape. At the beginning of the symposium, researchers explore LGBQ women’s gender expression to see how masculinity in women influences minority stressors and mental health via a survey study. Outcomes explored include internalized homophobia, identity concealment, expectations of rejection and psychological distress. The second set of researchers examines the question of whether people who have multiple minority identities have increased resilience to sexual minority stressors by examining how LGBT women of color experience social well-being. The ways this population experiences connectedness to communities, loneliness, and social support is explored. Next, a qualitative study queries the ways that resilience functions to support LGB people. It sheds light upon the ways resilient responses can mitigate minority stressors but also upon the potential costs of those same responses. Finally, an eminent therapist examines how, as advances are being made in the social acceptance of LGBTQ populations, sexual prejudices are shifting in form to become increasingly subtle. These covert forms of sexual prejudice may be harder for both clients and therapists to recognize and resist. She shares her clinical insights on how practitioners can refine their practices to help clients repair the effects of sexual minority stressors. We request a 90-minute program slot, if possible.