Summary

While university campuses are continuously becoming more welcoming spaces for LGBTQIAP+ students, services offered in support for LGBTQIAP+ students are still limited. There is numerous research that shows that there are significantly higher rates of  mental health diagnosis including chronic suicidal ideation associated with students who identify as LGBTQIAP+.  The correlation of mental health diagnosis and identity is attributed to factors including lack of familial support, society’s discrimination to the LGBTQIAP+ community, socio-political targeting towards the community, and lack of representation in the macro, mezzo, and micro realms. University counseling centers market their services as LGBTQIAP+ affirming,  but there is little research showing the efficacy of services nor the retention rates of students in services when there is a lack of identity representation from providers. My research would serve to provide the necessary data when informing search committees for hiring staff counselors, staff social workers, and staff psychologists at university counseling centers in efforts to be more congruent with the needs of the LGBTQIAP+ student population.  The purpose of the study is to investigate if the lack of clinical representation for LGBTQIAP+ students affects the outcome of treatment in university counseling centers.  Through this investigation, further determinations can be made when making policies for recruiting and hiring clinical staff at college counseling centers, while also providing adequate ongoing professional development to ensure affirming care.  

Keywords (separate with commas)

Collegiate mental health, LGBTQIAP+ representation, equity in healthcare, policy and legislation 

Summary

\ \ SummaryImmigrants constitute 15% of the U.S. population. Immigrant experiences are influenced by a multitude of factors, including federal policies, which shift with changing administrations. Yet, little is known about the comparative experiences of immigrants under the two most recent presidents, both of whom maintained a heavy focus on immigration. The study we present is the first one to make this comparison. Cross-sectional survey data were collected from 1st\ and 2nd\ generation immigrants under both the Trump (n=490) and Biden (n=306) administrations. Sampling for each survey included non-probability quota and convenience techniques. Survey questions inquired about immigration-policy stress, discrimination, resilience and border stress. For\ policy-related\ stress, race/ethnicity significantly correlated with policy-related stress under Trump, with White participants having lower scores compared to Black. Women were also found to have less policy-related stress under Trump. For\ discrimination, White participants reported less perceived discrimination compared to Black/African American participants. Women reported lower perceived discrimination compared to men under both Trump and Biden though race/ethnicity was not significant under Biden. In terms of\ resilience,\ White participants had higher scores compared to Black/African American participants, though race/ethnicity was not significant under Biden. Finally,\ border stress\ was lower among women than men under both Trump and Biden. For race/ethnicity, White participants had lower border stress than Black/African American participants under Trump. Findings expand upon previous literature that highlights stress associated with exclusionary immigration policies, which were more prevalent under the Trump administration. Social workers should engage in policy advocacy to reduce the burden placed on immigrants of color in exclusionary policy contexts. They can influence positive attitudes among Americans to allow for more social harmony and acceptance of immigrants in the U.S. To support immigrant integration, the study team intends to develop an awareness intervention for social workers engaging with immigrants.

Keywords (separate with commas)

immigrants, policy, exclusionary, social workers

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Summary

Brazil has a public health system with universal access, free of charge, which articulates the federal, state and municipal levels of health, with a guarantee of comprehensiveness – both primary care actions and high complexity – the Unified Health System (SUS). People with HIV and AIDS have access to testing, follow-up, antiretrovirals through the public network. The HIV epidemic is currently growing among black people (60.9%), young gay men and transgender people (45.9% increase in cases in the 15-19 age group) and those with less schooling (up to 9 years). People with HIV and AIDS suffer discrimination, have difficulties accessing formal jobs, in a country of great inequalities – the 11th most unequal in the world. In the last six years, under right-wing governments, neoliberal austerity measures have led to large cuts in health system resources, impacting existing services. In addition, neoconservative positions hampered the development of preventive actions that discuss issues of sexuality, considered exclusively within the family scope, with setbacks in sexual and reproductive rights. A new government began in 2023, in a center-left coalition that needs to face the setbacks related to neoconservatism and, mainly, guarantee funding for the SUS, developing prevention and monitoring actions for people infected with HIV, in order to reach the goal of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) to end AIDS by 2030 - ensure 95% of people living with HIV know their HIV status; 95% of people who know their HIV status are receiving antiretroviral therapy; and 95% of people on treatment have a suppressed viral load. Among the first measures taken by the new government are the recreation of the Department of HIV/AIDS in the Ministry of Health, the repeal of conservative measures that made it difficult to discuss sexual rights, the guarantee of resources for health, pointing to better possibilities.

Keywords (separate with commas)

HIV/AIDS, health policy, neoliberal and neoconservative government.\ 

Summary

This study addresses the issues of workers' health and inability to work. The focus of the study is the Social Security policy, through the National Social Security Institute (INSS) Professional Rehabilitation service, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul/Brazil. The theoretical construction is based on historical and dialectical materialism. The methodology was developed through bibliographic, documentary, and field research. The documentary research scope consisted of 294 subjects who entered Professional Rehabilitation and were rehabilitated between 2015 and 2019. The field research had a 4 workers sample (3 men and 1 woman), drawn from the research scope. Based on the data collected and the bibliographic research, it is indicated the concept of health in the capitalist means of production and the concept of workers' health. Contradictions regarding the inability to work are presented through the broader concept of the health-disease process. The documentary research showed that of the 294 workers assisted: 54.8% were male and 45.2% female; 50% were linked to the manufacturing industry, and 49% had as the main reason for work leave the incapacity caused by musculoskeletal system and connective tissue diseases. To render this analysis, we present the interviewees' perceptions, which emerged from the field research, of the meaning of health, ability, and inability. It is concluded it is essential to understand the historical totality in the health-disease process, inability, and possibilities of return to work. We also concluded Social Security is a core foundation of social protection and that the occupational space of social workers in this policy is a vital professional field for workers' health defense.

Keywords (separate with commas)

Professional Rehabilitation; Social Security; Worker’s Health; (In)ability to work.