Summary

Background: HIV remains a principal inequity for queer men across the U.S. Artificially, gay men are divided in pre/post AIDS cohorts. Medical advances have cultivated a confusing discourse: on one hand, HIV is a “chronic condition”, which occludes psychosocial context; parallel, multiple technologies exist to “not get” HIV, which over individualizes responsibility and belies inequities. Still, HIV-related stress persists amongst queer men, and regarding HIV as discourse has not been well-represented in prevention and care.Methods: This empirical study seeks to build an HIV-informed model of theory and practice, entitled HIV Stress Exchange. A Queer Discourse Study was conducted on 20 in-depth interviews with younger and elder gay/queer men of all HIV statuses. Parallel, a Social Semiotic Analysis was conducted on 123 material resources (e.g., photos) collected from the men.Results: In all, this data gave voice to the ways HIV is given life in discourse and what meanings it holds in embodied identities, lives, and relationships. Five themes materialized across the interviews and material resources: HIV as “in-/validated”, “un-/voiced”, “un-/intelligible”, holding “intimacy/-ies”, and being “PrEP/-ared”.Conclusion: Based on the findings, the conceptual model for HIV Stress Exchange is presented along with an HIV-informed model for LGBTQ+-affirmative practice. These results provide context for what it means to live long-term under this age of HIV, whether or not infected -- and contributes a social theory for the intergenerational transmission of HIV as social discourse, as these most often unvoiced experiences of living long-term are unintelligible but find traction in everyday communication.

Keywords (separate with commas)

HIV, AIDS, Queer, gay, men who have sex with men, trauma, intergenerational stress, communication

Summary

Violence against gay people in Brazil is widespread. \ It is particularly detrimental when directed towards gay youth as it compromises their possibilities of a full personal development, especially their formal education. In this paper we present data collected from in-depth interviews conducted with gay adolescents attendind a high school located in a poor town in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. The students reported several situations of moral and sexual harassement perpetrated by their peer students but also by the school staff. They also reported that the school administrtation remained silent upon the presentation of their grievances. Lack of debates in school about sexual orientatiion and gender identity was also reported and related with the high degree of homophobic violence. The research findings show, moreover, clear signs of resilience among the victimized students as they are managing, in one way or another, to get their high school diplomas. Social workers should pay more attention to homophobia in schools in order to contribute to a more egalitarian school enviroment as they have a voice and influence in many schools and school districts policies.

Keywords (separate with commas)

Homophobia, Education, Youth

Summary

The experiences, values, and identities of social work students all have an impact on their ability to competently provide services to diverse client populations. Thus, the opportunity to participate in learning experiences that facilitate the development of skills to collaborate with and empower vulnerable populations is essential to the process of competency-based social work education. Providing vulnerable populations with judgment-free accessible services focused on self-determination is a critical component of competent social work practice. This is particularly true when working with groups who have historically been marginalized due to their ethnicity, race, place of origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, immigration status, or experience of mental illness. We will present on a cross sectional online survey design was employed to explore if student demographic characteristics, prior international travel experience, or participation in a structured learning abroad program were associated with levels of Council on Social Work Education (CSWE)-defined social work practice competencies, racial attitudes, or attitudes toward individuals experiencing mental health concerns. A culturally diverse sample of 114 MSW students at a large, southern public urban university in the United States completed the survey. Results indicate that multilingual students and students with prior international travel experience self-reported lower levels of policy skill development and lower overall competency development. In addition, age and race were associated with students’ attitudes towards those experiencing mental health concerns, with younger and/or White students reporting more positive attitudes and lower stigma toward those with mental health concerns. No association was found between student demographic characteristics, learning abroad participation, prior international travel and racial attitudes. Implications for social work education, practice, and research are offered.\ 

Keywords (separate with commas)

learning abroad, social work education, diversity, gender, mental health stigma, racial attitudes

Summary

AbstractRacial microaggression continues to inch its way into the fabric of American society and academia is not immune. The literature provided a noteworthy picture of the impact racial microaggression has had on faculty in education, psychology, sociology, and the STEM programs. This dissertation utilized an Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis and Thematic Analysis in order to understand the lived experiences of Black faculty in schools of social work across the United States.\ This study comprised of interviewing thirteen Black faculty who are currently professors at schools of social work in the South, Southeast, Northeast and Midwest. Each participant was asked nine semi-structured questions and fourteen demographic questions to better understand their experiences with racial microaggressions while working as a faculty member. Taking a IPA approach to each interview, the researcher gathered information through the lens of critical race theory and intersectionality.\ There were five overall themes that materialized during the analysis stage of this study: Themes of Behavior, Themes of Emotion, Themes of Coping, Themes of Avoidance, and Themes of Performative. The first three themes address the types of microaggressions inflicted on Black faculty, Black’s reaction to the microaggression, and how Black faculty cope with microaggressions. The last two themes address the perception of how schools of social work and universities address microaggressions that impact Black faculty in schools of social work.\ \ \ Keywords: Racial microaggression, interpretative phenomenological analysis, critical race theory, intersectionality, lived experiences, Black faculty, BIPOC, stereotyped, social work, and coping\ 

Keywords (separate with commas)

Keywords: Racial microaggression, interpretative phenomenological analysis, critical race theory, intersectionality, lived experiences, Black faculty, BIPOC, stereotyped, social work, and coping\