Our research is dedicated to increasing culturally responsive counseling interventions for minoritized populations. Three interrelated domains of research are to 1) investigate etic and emic factors contributing to health disparity, 2) examine the impact of parenting, parent-child interaction, and other family processes on minoritized youth’s psychosocial development, and 3) evaluate the training, dissemination, and implementation of culturally adapted interventions into community settings. We have several key research projects currently ongoing. We also use several large publically available datasets (e.g., Add Health, Healthy Minds, Chinese Family Panel Study).
Health Disparities
1. Burmese Youth Psychosocial Development Longitudinal Study. This is an ongoing project to collect longitudinal data from Burmese high school students in south Indianapolis. In collaboration with Ball State University, this project includes several domains of investigation: health and mental health, educational and occupational outcomes, identity development, and civic engagement. This project is funded by the Center for Families.
2. Burmese American Community Institute (BACI) Participatory Action Research (PAR) program. As an ongoing community-engaged scholarship funded by the Purdue Research Fund, Dr. Zhou has been providing mentorship to Burmese students through BACI on research that is informed, conducted, and interpreted by Burmese community members. Counseling doctoral students Brenda Shein and Jenni Thang have been past leaders in the BACI PAR program.
3. Disparity in Sexual Assault and Harassment among Chinese Heterosexual and Sexual Minority Youth. Led by Nina Li, this project uses a large dataset (N = 50,818) to examine the prevalence of sexual assault and harassment among Chinese youth. Our preliminary analyses indicate 1 in 2 Chinese have reported ever experiencing sexual assault and harassment, with women and sexual minorities disproportionately impacted across childhood, adolescence, and emerging adulthood.
Psychosocial Development
1. A Systematic Review of Help-Seeking Barriers for Racial-Ethnic Minority Caregivers Accessing Autism Interventions. Led by Amani as one of two papers for her dissertation. This is a systematic review of the literature on healthcare barriers that exist for racial-ethnic minority families in accessing autism interventions within the healthcare system.
2. Understanding Parenting Students' Experiences. This is an ongoing project using archival and new data to unveil the understudied challenges and strengths of parenting graduate students. We specifically investigated the gendered impact of parenthood on graduate students' well-being.
Culturally Adapted Interventions
1. Culturally Adapted Parenting Intervention to Address Autism Spectrum Disorders among Burmese American Families. This is a pilot study to develop an intervention that addresses the intersecting needs of Burmese American parents who have children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. This project is funded by the NIH Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute.
2. Health Service Psychology Trainee Dismissal Study. This is a qualitative interview study in order to understand trainees' perspectives on the dismissal process. We have completed the data collection and are currently analyzing the interview data via consensual qualitative research (CQR) methodology. This study is funded by the APA Commission on Ethnic Minority Recruitment, Retention and Training in Psychology II (CEMRRAT2) Task Force.
Updated 12/2022