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Benninger E, Schmidt-Sane M, Massey S, Athreya B. Youth for Youth: Raising the voices of children of incarcerated parents and implications for policy and practice. JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY 2023; 51:2133-2162. [PMID: 36807288 DOI: 10.1002/jcop.23014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2022] [Revised: 01/31/2023] [Accepted: 02/03/2023] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
The aims of our study were (1) to explore the impact of having an incarcerated parent on youth (ages 10-18) wellbeing; and (2) to identify recommendations from the youth based on their needs which address the challenges of having an incarcerated parent and promote individual and community flourishing. We utilized a Youth Participatory Action Research approach, including semistructured interviews, focus group discussions, storytelling, and photovoice with 20 participants, ages 10-18. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis and organized into five thematic categories: (1) youths' perceptions of their communities; (2) incarcerations' impact on families and communities; (3) incarcerations' influence on mental health and flourishing; (4) incarceration as a solution for community safety; and (5) addressing the impact of incarceration on children, families, and communities. Findings provide important implications for practice and policy with children of incarcerated parents and for promoting flourishing individuals and communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth Benninger
- Center for Urban Education, College of Education and Human Services, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
| | | | - Sara Massey
- Department of Psychology, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
| | - Brinda Athreya
- Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
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Lemke MK, Brown KK, Fallah-Fini S, Hall A, Obasanya M. Complex systems and participatory approaches to address maternal health disparities: Findings from a system dynamics group model building project in North Texas. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY 2023; 71:303-316. [PMID: 36378746 DOI: 10.1002/ajcp.12636] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2022] [Revised: 10/23/2022] [Accepted: 11/03/2022] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
Focusing on non-Hispanic Black women (NHBW) in North Texas, this study employed participatory system dynamics modeling to explore three hypotheses: (1) stakeholders will conceptualize structural racism is a pervasive macrostructural force that exerts downstream impacts to shape and perpetuate maternal health disparities among NHBW; (2) stakeholders will identify key causal forces and leverage points that exist across levels of influence; and (3) stakeholders will identify complex interactions, in the form of circular causality, that are present among the key causal forces and leverage points that shape NHBW maternal health disparities. Nine participants engaged in a virtual system dynamics group model-building session that focused on eliciting key variables, behavior-over-time graphs (BOTGs), causal loop diagram (CLD), and targets for action. Participants identified 83 key variables. BOTGs included an average of 6.56 notations and time horizons that, on average, started in 1956. The CLD featured 11 reinforcing and seven balancing feedback loops. Eleven targets for action were identified. Structural racism was revealed as a pervasive macrostructural force that shaped maternal health outcomes among NHBW. Key causal forces and leverage points were identified across levels of influence. Finally, feedback loops within the CLD exhibited circular causality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael K Lemke
- Department of Social Sciences, University of Houston-Downtown, Houston, Texas, USA
| | - Kyrah K Brown
- Department of Kinesiology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas, USA
| | - Saeideh Fallah-Fini
- Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Department, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, Pomona, California, USA
| | - Ariel Hall
- Department of Kinesiology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas, USA
| | - Mercy Obasanya
- Department of Kinesiology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas, USA
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Freedman DA, Clark JK, Lounsbury DW, Boswell L, Burns M, Jackson MB, Mikelbank K, Donley G, Worley-Bell LQ, Mitchell J, Ciesielski TH, Embaye M, Lee EK, Roche A, Gill I, Yamoah O. Food system dynamics structuring nutrition equity in racialized urban neighborhoods. Am J Clin Nutr 2022; 115:1027-1038. [PMID: 34792095 DOI: 10.1093/ajcn/nqab380] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2021] [Accepted: 11/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The food system is a social determinant of health and a leverage point for reducing diet-related racial inequities. Yet, food system interventions have not resulted in sustained improvement in dietary outcomes for underrepresented minorities living in neighborhoods with a history of disinvestment. Research is needed to illuminate the dynamics structuring food systems in racialized neighborhoods to inform intervention development. OBJECTIVES To conduct participatory research examining the complexity and inequity of food systems in historically redlined neighborhoods to identify feedback mechanisms to leverage in efforts to transform system outcomes for racial equity. METHODS We conducted a mixed-methods study in Cleveland, Ohio, USA from 2018 to 2021 using participatory system dynamic modeling with 30 academic and community partners, in-depth qualitative interviews with 22 key stakeholders, and public convenings with 250 local food policy council affiliates. Data were synthesized into causal loop diagrams depicting feedback mechanisms reinforcing or balancing neighborhood-level food system dynamics. RESULTS We identified 10 feedback mechanisms structuring nutrition equity, which was identified as a meta-goal for food systems in racialized neighborhoods. Feedback mechanisms were organized in 3 domains: 1) meeting basic food needs with dignity (i.e., side hustle, government benefits, emergency food assistance, stigma, and stereotypes); 2) local food supply and demand dynamics (i.e., healthy food retail, job security, food culture, and norms); and 3) community empowerment and food sovereignty (i.e., community power, urban agriculture, risk of gentrification). Five exogenous factors moderate feedback dynamics: neighborhood crisis, neighborhood investments, household costs, government benefit funding, and voter participation. CONCLUSIONS We identified nutrition equity as an overarching goal for local food systems, which reflects a state of having freedom, agency, and dignity in food traditions resulting in people and communities healthy in body, mind, and spirit. It is a transformative goal designed to spur system-level interventions that further racial equity through improved local food system dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Darcy A Freedman
- Mary Ann Swetland Center for Environmental Health, Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA
| | - Jill K Clark
- Department of Geography, John Glenn College of Public Affairs, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - David W Lounsbury
- Department of Epidemiology & Population Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, NY, USA
| | | | - Marilyn Burns
- Mary Ann Swetland Center for Environmental Health, Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.,Community Leader, Cleveland, OH, USA
| | - Michelle B Jackson
- Mary Ann Swetland Center for Environmental Health, Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.,Activist and Community Organizer, Cleveland, OH, USA
| | | | - Gwendolyn Donley
- Mary Ann Swetland Center for Environmental Health, Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA
| | | | | | - Timothy H Ciesielski
- Mary Ann Swetland Center for Environmental Health, Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA
| | - Milen Embaye
- Mary Ann Swetland Center for Environmental Health, Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA
| | - Eun Kyung Lee
- Mary Ann Swetland Center for Environmental Health, Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA
| | - Abigail Roche
- Mary Ann Swetland Center for Environmental Health, Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA
| | - India Gill
- Mary Ann Swetland Center for Environmental Health, Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA
| | - Owusua Yamoah
- Mary Ann Swetland Center for Environmental Health, Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA
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