Sunset Park Family Support Center brings together adult education and health and social services ... more Sunset Park Family Support Center brings together adult education and health and social services to provide an integrated one-stop hub for families in southwest Brooklyn. Sunset Park is a diverse, low income, Middle-Eastern, Latino, Eastern European, and Asian community that serves as home to many of the immigrants who have come to the U.S. in the last two decades. In the Support Center's Adult and Family Education Program, fifty languages can be heard in the classrooms and hallways as each year 700 students enroll in a variety of basic education, literacy, computer, and English-as-a-Second-Language classes. The Center also offers a reading program for preschool children and their parents; a volunteer program that provides outreach, advocacy, and translating services at the sponsoring hospital, Lutheran Medical Center; and many other social services. A new initiative has begun to link adult education with health education. The Family Support Center illustrates a model of services that can help recent immigrants ease their transition to the U.S., help their children succeed in school, help them find the health services they need, and help them become more fully integrated into their community and political life. Unfortunately, few communities are able to provide recent immigrants with these services, and those that do lack the capacity to meet existing needs. At the Sunset Park Support Center, for example, 600 residents are on a waiting list for services. Now as in the past, the United States is a country of immigrants. How our nation educates immigrants and their children; provides access to adequate health care, housing, and employment; and includes them in our political system will influence our ability to achieve our society's educational, health, economic, and moral goals. In this essay, we examine how adult education, a service that plays a key role in the lives of many recent immigrants, can act as a bridge for the immigrants and their families into both the educational and health care systems, and thus include them more fully in our society. We focus on New York City because it, with a handful of other big cities,
International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 2021
Abstract Few attempts have been made to examine the effects of perceived threats that immigrants ... more Abstract Few attempts have been made to examine the effects of perceived threats that immigrants pose to host society on young people’s preferences for restrictionist or lenient immigration policies. Moreover, the existing literature is scarce on whether such perceived threats mediate the relationship between previously identified demographic antecedents such as gender, race or age and preferences for certain immigration policies. To address these gaps, this study examines direct and mediating effects of perceived economic, cultural and security threats on preferences for lenient or restrictionist immigration policies. Using a sample college students' survey data (N = 604) on their attitudes towards immigration, our findings of logistic regression analysis show that the three dimensions of perceived threat were all positively associated with preference for hardline immigration policies. In addition, regardless of inclusion of perceived threats in the logistic model, being Republican was a consistent positive predictor of the hardline immigration agenda, while female was a consistent negative one. Finally, the results of path analysis of Structural Equation Modeling indicate mediating effects of cultural threat on the relationships between political affiliation (Republican and Independent) and race (Latino) and support for hardline immigration policies.
This study aims to analyze the processes of resilience and empowerment experienced by refugees in... more This study aims to analyze the processes of resilience and empowerment experienced by refugees in southern Spain during their participation in a community-based intervention. Intervention design covered two phases over 15 weeks: (a) accompanying a group of 10 settled refugees to become mentors, making use of a peer-support-group format; and (b) holding four cultural peer-support groups made up of newly arrived refugees led by the previously trained settled refugees, following a peer-mentoring format. We analyzed the mentors' narratives and written evaluations produced over the course of the intervention program. Mentor resilience increased during the first program phase and remained high and stable during the second phase. Mentor empowerment steadily increased throughout the duration of the program, and was fueled when participants became mentors to newly arrived refugees during the second phase. This study highlights how a peer-support and peer-mentoring approach is useful for enhancing the resilience and empowerment of refugees in receiving societies. 1 | INTRODUCTION The current transit of refugees across European Union (EU) borders is reaching unprecedented levels (Silove, Ventevogel, & Rees, 2017). This reality has become a symbol of the suffering of millions of people who desperately need to escape from the violence and poverty that devastate some of the world's regions. According to Eurostat, in 2018, Spain received more applications for international protection than in any other year, making it one of the
Volume 12 of the Qualitative Psychology Nexus series presents contributions to the XIV. Workshop ... more Volume 12 of the Qualitative Psychology Nexus series presents contributions to the XIV. Workshop on Qualitative Research in Psychology on the general topic of "Conflicts in Qualitative Research." It was organized by the Center for Qualitative Psychology and the Department of Pedagogy of the University of Jaen, Spain, during May 17-19, 2013. The presentations cover a broad spectrum of possible conflicts that social researchers using qualitative methods have to overcome, ranging from elaborating on the particular challenge of determining and formulating research questions to researchers' experiences, considerations and reflections in a research setting that involves potentially vulnerable participants in an unequal power context. Other presentations describe - conflicts and models for training workers in enterprises, tackling the problem of achieving sound data on training needs and success by applying the method of focus groups; - the Delphi method as an approach to investigate tutoring in the university; - the case study method as methodological approach to teaching innovation and research on teaching-learning processes; - difficulties arising from the lack of stability in children's answers, when the same instrument is applied a second time even after a short period; - the development of an instrument to check university students' perception of the contribution of the European Higher Education Space towards educational improvement; - the exposure facture as a critical condition relevant for successful acquisition of a foreign language.
In this article I examine undocumented migrant experiences on their journeys to the U.S. Tens of ... more In this article I examine undocumented migrant experiences on their journeys to the U.S. Tens of thousands of Honduran migrants leave their homes in hopes to provide better for their families from afar. In in-depth interviews, 21 migrants from Honduras share the events they endure as they cross Guatemala, Mexico and the borders that divide them. I conducted narrative analyses and specifically used the analytical tools of high points and poises to locate the most salient experiences the migrants narrated as well as identifying particular selves the migrants were presenting. The high points centered around the crossings of the Mexico-U.S. border, encounters with gangs and the police in Mexico, and travels on top of freight trains. Most of these events were highly charged with potential short and long-term effects on the migrants' health. In trying to make sense of their experiences, migrants presented themselves as heroes helping others, victims of the migration systems, good parents, or unaffected bystanders. This research provides insight into the rarely explored psychosocial aspects of undocumented migration, illuminates how Honduran migrants who attempt this journey make sense of their experiences, and proposes interventions to mitigate the potentially tragic consequences of this migration.
Ésta es un versión traducida al español del original en inglés Migration as a Context-Dependent D... more Ésta es un versión traducida al español del original en inglés Migration as a Context-Dependent Dynamic in a World of Global Inequalities.
She has focused on research related to various immigration issues, including journeys of undocume... more She has focused on research related to various immigration issues, including journeys of undocumented migrants from Latin America to the United States and impact of deportations on immigrant communities.
Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 2007
This study explores the expectations and decision-making processes of potential migrants at a com... more This study explores the expectations and decision-making processes of potential migrants at a community in Honduras. Hondurans have become one of the fastest growing populations in New York. Yet, although approximately 80 000 Hondurans try to reach the US annually, only 25 per cent succeed. To reach the United States they must undergo a dangerous journey across Guatemala and Mexico, a process to date under-researched by social sciences. As new undocumented migrant streams continue to expand within the global economies, scholars and practitioners who work on their behalf should understand the pre-migration values and expectations because they shape the way migrants adjust to and develop new cultural patterns in the receiving countries. Drawing on immigration and narrative theory, I hypothesize that narratives of migration from media, prior migrants, coyotes and community practices play an important role in the construction of potential migrant expectations. To represent narratives across several individual and community domains, the research design includes individual interviews, analysis of local newspapers, participant observations and teaching English classes. Analysis across these data reveals complex dilemmas potential migrants face as they weigh the costs and benefits of migration.
This article examines stratification of journeys of undocumented Honduran migrants to the United ... more This article examines stratification of journeys of undocumented Honduran migrants to the United States. The unequal distribution of wealth across the world forces many people to migrate to wealthier countries. Despite the narrative of free movement of goods and finances, migrants run into the ever strengthening security systems of nation states. Migrants' access to mobility (finances and networks) influences how migrants interact with these systems, which impacts their experiences on their journeys. I conducted in-depth interviews with 21 Honduran migrants and subjected these to narrative analysis. I was able to identify several strata of journeys as well as the processes and specific actors that shape them. The degree to which migrants are subject to abuse, robbery, rape, and death on their journeys, and often their success in reaching their destinations, depend on their access to mobility.
In the climate of increased anti-immigrant sentiment, deportations of immigrants from the United ... more In the climate of increased anti-immigrant sentiment, deportations of immigrants from the United States are on the upsurge. This article begins with a review of current immigration laws enabling detentions and deportations of undocumented immigrants, as well as permanent legal residents with a prior criminal conviction. It then explores how immigrants and refugees interact with this national climate in Lowell, Massachusetts, a traditional immigrant city in the Northeast of the United States. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions have clearly had an impact on Lowell. Our findings indicate that fear and mistrust of local authorities is driving behavior of immigrants, who are reluctant to seek medical services or to report violence to the police, whom they suspect of collaborating with ICE.
The aim is to present a series of participatory action research studies focused on town developme... more The aim is to present a series of participatory action research studies focused on town development and inhabitants' needs. The paper discusses how to construct a field investigation that pays attention to people's narratives, as well as how to elaborate a substantive theory, which is inductively derived from the study of the phenomenon. The assessment of the trustworthiness of the intervention is also examined. For a better understanding of how to conduct an intervention in a local community, this paper deals with methodological questions concerning triangulation of sources and sampling strategies. Research instruments such as narratives, community profiles, and SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis are discussed as regards their use within grounded theory methodologies and participatory action research.
Sunset Park Family Support Center brings together adult education and health and social services ... more Sunset Park Family Support Center brings together adult education and health and social services to provide an integrated one-stop hub for families in southwest Brooklyn. Sunset Park is a diverse, low income, Middle-Eastern, Latino, Eastern European, and Asian community that serves as home to many of the immigrants who have come to the U.S. in the last two decades. In the Support Center's Adult and Family Education Program, fifty languages can be heard in the classrooms and hallways as each year 700 students enroll in a variety of basic education, literacy, computer, and English-as-a-Second-Language classes. The Center also offers a reading program for preschool children and their parents; a volunteer program that provides outreach, advocacy, and translating services at the sponsoring hospital, Lutheran Medical Center; and many other social services. A new initiative has begun to link adult education with health education. The Family Support Center illustrates a model of services that can help recent immigrants ease their transition to the U.S., help their children succeed in school, help them find the health services they need, and help them become more fully integrated into their community and political life. Unfortunately, few communities are able to provide recent immigrants with these services, and those that do lack the capacity to meet existing needs. At the Sunset Park Support Center, for example, 600 residents are on a waiting list for services. Now as in the past, the United States is a country of immigrants. How our nation educates immigrants and their children; provides access to adequate health care, housing, and employment; and includes them in our political system will influence our ability to achieve our society's educational, health, economic, and moral goals. In this essay, we examine how adult education, a service that plays a key role in the lives of many recent immigrants, can act as a bridge for the immigrants and their families into both the educational and health care systems, and thus include them more fully in our society. We focus on New York City because it, with a handful of other big cities,
International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 2021
Abstract Few attempts have been made to examine the effects of perceived threats that immigrants ... more Abstract Few attempts have been made to examine the effects of perceived threats that immigrants pose to host society on young people’s preferences for restrictionist or lenient immigration policies. Moreover, the existing literature is scarce on whether such perceived threats mediate the relationship between previously identified demographic antecedents such as gender, race or age and preferences for certain immigration policies. To address these gaps, this study examines direct and mediating effects of perceived economic, cultural and security threats on preferences for lenient or restrictionist immigration policies. Using a sample college students' survey data (N = 604) on their attitudes towards immigration, our findings of logistic regression analysis show that the three dimensions of perceived threat were all positively associated with preference for hardline immigration policies. In addition, regardless of inclusion of perceived threats in the logistic model, being Republican was a consistent positive predictor of the hardline immigration agenda, while female was a consistent negative one. Finally, the results of path analysis of Structural Equation Modeling indicate mediating effects of cultural threat on the relationships between political affiliation (Republican and Independent) and race (Latino) and support for hardline immigration policies.
This study aims to analyze the processes of resilience and empowerment experienced by refugees in... more This study aims to analyze the processes of resilience and empowerment experienced by refugees in southern Spain during their participation in a community-based intervention. Intervention design covered two phases over 15 weeks: (a) accompanying a group of 10 settled refugees to become mentors, making use of a peer-support-group format; and (b) holding four cultural peer-support groups made up of newly arrived refugees led by the previously trained settled refugees, following a peer-mentoring format. We analyzed the mentors' narratives and written evaluations produced over the course of the intervention program. Mentor resilience increased during the first program phase and remained high and stable during the second phase. Mentor empowerment steadily increased throughout the duration of the program, and was fueled when participants became mentors to newly arrived refugees during the second phase. This study highlights how a peer-support and peer-mentoring approach is useful for enhancing the resilience and empowerment of refugees in receiving societies. 1 | INTRODUCTION The current transit of refugees across European Union (EU) borders is reaching unprecedented levels (Silove, Ventevogel, & Rees, 2017). This reality has become a symbol of the suffering of millions of people who desperately need to escape from the violence and poverty that devastate some of the world's regions. According to Eurostat, in 2018, Spain received more applications for international protection than in any other year, making it one of the
Volume 12 of the Qualitative Psychology Nexus series presents contributions to the XIV. Workshop ... more Volume 12 of the Qualitative Psychology Nexus series presents contributions to the XIV. Workshop on Qualitative Research in Psychology on the general topic of "Conflicts in Qualitative Research." It was organized by the Center for Qualitative Psychology and the Department of Pedagogy of the University of Jaen, Spain, during May 17-19, 2013. The presentations cover a broad spectrum of possible conflicts that social researchers using qualitative methods have to overcome, ranging from elaborating on the particular challenge of determining and formulating research questions to researchers' experiences, considerations and reflections in a research setting that involves potentially vulnerable participants in an unequal power context. Other presentations describe - conflicts and models for training workers in enterprises, tackling the problem of achieving sound data on training needs and success by applying the method of focus groups; - the Delphi method as an approach to investigate tutoring in the university; - the case study method as methodological approach to teaching innovation and research on teaching-learning processes; - difficulties arising from the lack of stability in children's answers, when the same instrument is applied a second time even after a short period; - the development of an instrument to check university students' perception of the contribution of the European Higher Education Space towards educational improvement; - the exposure facture as a critical condition relevant for successful acquisition of a foreign language.
In this article I examine undocumented migrant experiences on their journeys to the U.S. Tens of ... more In this article I examine undocumented migrant experiences on their journeys to the U.S. Tens of thousands of Honduran migrants leave their homes in hopes to provide better for their families from afar. In in-depth interviews, 21 migrants from Honduras share the events they endure as they cross Guatemala, Mexico and the borders that divide them. I conducted narrative analyses and specifically used the analytical tools of high points and poises to locate the most salient experiences the migrants narrated as well as identifying particular selves the migrants were presenting. The high points centered around the crossings of the Mexico-U.S. border, encounters with gangs and the police in Mexico, and travels on top of freight trains. Most of these events were highly charged with potential short and long-term effects on the migrants' health. In trying to make sense of their experiences, migrants presented themselves as heroes helping others, victims of the migration systems, good parents, or unaffected bystanders. This research provides insight into the rarely explored psychosocial aspects of undocumented migration, illuminates how Honduran migrants who attempt this journey make sense of their experiences, and proposes interventions to mitigate the potentially tragic consequences of this migration.
Ésta es un versión traducida al español del original en inglés Migration as a Context-Dependent D... more Ésta es un versión traducida al español del original en inglés Migration as a Context-Dependent Dynamic in a World of Global Inequalities.
She has focused on research related to various immigration issues, including journeys of undocume... more She has focused on research related to various immigration issues, including journeys of undocumented migrants from Latin America to the United States and impact of deportations on immigrant communities.
Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 2007
This study explores the expectations and decision-making processes of potential migrants at a com... more This study explores the expectations and decision-making processes of potential migrants at a community in Honduras. Hondurans have become one of the fastest growing populations in New York. Yet, although approximately 80 000 Hondurans try to reach the US annually, only 25 per cent succeed. To reach the United States they must undergo a dangerous journey across Guatemala and Mexico, a process to date under-researched by social sciences. As new undocumented migrant streams continue to expand within the global economies, scholars and practitioners who work on their behalf should understand the pre-migration values and expectations because they shape the way migrants adjust to and develop new cultural patterns in the receiving countries. Drawing on immigration and narrative theory, I hypothesize that narratives of migration from media, prior migrants, coyotes and community practices play an important role in the construction of potential migrant expectations. To represent narratives across several individual and community domains, the research design includes individual interviews, analysis of local newspapers, participant observations and teaching English classes. Analysis across these data reveals complex dilemmas potential migrants face as they weigh the costs and benefits of migration.
This article examines stratification of journeys of undocumented Honduran migrants to the United ... more This article examines stratification of journeys of undocumented Honduran migrants to the United States. The unequal distribution of wealth across the world forces many people to migrate to wealthier countries. Despite the narrative of free movement of goods and finances, migrants run into the ever strengthening security systems of nation states. Migrants' access to mobility (finances and networks) influences how migrants interact with these systems, which impacts their experiences on their journeys. I conducted in-depth interviews with 21 Honduran migrants and subjected these to narrative analysis. I was able to identify several strata of journeys as well as the processes and specific actors that shape them. The degree to which migrants are subject to abuse, robbery, rape, and death on their journeys, and often their success in reaching their destinations, depend on their access to mobility.
In the climate of increased anti-immigrant sentiment, deportations of immigrants from the United ... more In the climate of increased anti-immigrant sentiment, deportations of immigrants from the United States are on the upsurge. This article begins with a review of current immigration laws enabling detentions and deportations of undocumented immigrants, as well as permanent legal residents with a prior criminal conviction. It then explores how immigrants and refugees interact with this national climate in Lowell, Massachusetts, a traditional immigrant city in the Northeast of the United States. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions have clearly had an impact on Lowell. Our findings indicate that fear and mistrust of local authorities is driving behavior of immigrants, who are reluctant to seek medical services or to report violence to the police, whom they suspect of collaborating with ICE.
The aim is to present a series of participatory action research studies focused on town developme... more The aim is to present a series of participatory action research studies focused on town development and inhabitants' needs. The paper discusses how to construct a field investigation that pays attention to people's narratives, as well as how to elaborate a substantive theory, which is inductively derived from the study of the phenomenon. The assessment of the trustworthiness of the intervention is also examined. For a better understanding of how to conduct an intervention in a local community, this paper deals with methodological questions concerning triangulation of sources and sampling strategies. Research instruments such as narratives, community profiles, and SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis are discussed as regards their use within grounded theory methodologies and participatory action research.
Uploads
Papers by Jana Sladkova