For asylum seekers pursuing claims in the United States, immigration court is often a hostile environment, as a site of exclusion and criminalization. Generations of social and political rhetoric about immigrants’ worth, deservingness of safety and dignity, and humanity are codified into law and policy, which is then enacted on the lives and petitions of thousands of immigrants pursuing their rights to refuge. Asylum seekers are fleeing violence and harms that are often compounded along the journey, in a continuum of structural and interpersonal violence throughout their migration and often continued in the destination country, through detention, deportation, and the court process itself. Immigration court’s purpose is to adjudicate asylum claims; while this decision is executed by judges, the court context where asylum seekers petitions are audienced are made up of prosecutors, legal advocates, expert witnesses, social workers, interpreters, court staff, and others who shape the way that petitioners’ claims are evaluated and the space in which asylum seekers’ claims are heard. This study uses a qualitative ethnographic method, drawing on human rights and critical theories to study immigration court as a culture, and to interrogate how members of this culture understand the nature of the court, their roles and relationships within the immigration enforcement system and how the immigration process identifies and responds to trauma. Data collection spanned 8 months, and included observation of 161 immigration hearings across the four Arizona immigration courts. Participants (n=73) represented various key professions within and adjacent to the court: judges, ICE trial attorneys, defense attorneys, court staff, interpreters, legal team members such as paralegals and social workers, detention center staff, and community advocates. Findings address the physical court space, the roles and professions that interact in the court, and the atmosphere of the court. These center securitization and the ideological friction of the court, credibility determinations as a site of contested power, hostility and adversariality, and the limited approach to human rights and narrow acknowledgement of trauma. These findings contextualize professional and policy recommendations, as well as implications for education and future research.

Background and Objective: Work-related stress has negative implications for worker wellbeing, productivity, absenteeism, and retention. Particularly in the field of Social Work, workers are regularly exposed to the traumatic stress of those they aim to help. In every area of practice social workers are at risk of secondary traumatic stress and other forms of psychological disturbance. Using a longitudinal survey of case workers and advocates in 2 Arizona cities, the present study examined the relationship between job demands and resources and secondary traumatic stress (STS), resiliency, compassion satisfaction, burnout, and somatic experiences. Methods: This study used a repeated measures design to assess mental and emotional health at baseline, the midpoint of the intervention, and 4 weeks after the intervention. Drawing on the Job Demands-Resources theory and the biological processes of the nervous system, this study addressed four research questions to examine the mental health of workers and test a model for traumatic stress mitigation that they could utilize personally and with clients. A purposive sampling strategy was used to elicit participation for the 6-to-8-week study. Each participant attended training on the model for which we are evaluating traumatic stress mitigation effectiveness. Results: Results at baseline suggest that both job demands and job resources influenced secondary traumatic stress, burnout, resilience, and somatic symptoms that workers experienced. Further, there was a positive correlation between professional tenure and rate of secondary traumatic stress: the longer that someone was in the field, the higher their rate of secondary traumatic stress, on average. Evidence from the intervention evaluation suggested that the model was effective at decreasing STS, personal stress, and somatic experiences for those who began the intervention with high stress levels. Implications/Conclusions: The current study’s findings suggest that trainings aiming to increase personal resources pertaining to traumatic stress management, such as the current model, may be useful for those with high levels of stress. Organizations employing case workers and advocates that aim to prioritize employee wellness should also look for interventions beyond trainings, and proactively work with staff to identify and improve problematic job demands and resources.

This study examined the relationship between acculturation and Latinos’ perceptions of health care treatment quality, discrimination, and access to health information. The results of this study indicated that participants who had lower levels of acculturation perceived:

1. Greater discrimination in health care treatment.
2. A lower quality of health care treatment.
3. Less confidence filling out health related forms.
4. Greater challenges understanding written information about their medical conditions.

Participants who identified as immigrants also perceived that their poor quality of medical care was due to their inability to pay and to their race/ethnicity.

This study examined the relationship between the fear of deportation and perceptions of law enforcement, the criminal justice system, and the willingness to report crimes among Latinos in the US. Understanding the relationship between increased immigration enforcement and fear of deportation may promote public safety by improving the relationship between the police and Latino communities.

Multivariate ordinal logistic regression analyses of the data found that participants who had a greater fear of deportation reported:

1. Less confidence that police would not use excessive force (p<.01).
2. Less confidence that police would treat Latinos fairly (p<.05).
3. A lower likelihood of reporting crimes (p<.05).
4. Less confidence that the courts would treat Latinos fairly (p<.01).

The United States is currently the world's largest reception and placement country of the nearly 22 million refugees worldwide. Of the numbers of refugees resettled, almost half of them are under the age of 18 and are arriving in American schools having experienced trauma, stress, and limited education during the conflict in their home country. Teacher experiences with refugee students can have a profound effect on the way refugee children feel they are received in the school community. Drawing on previous studies that emphasize the challenges that refugee students face, this thesis looks at the training that teachers receive that prepares them to work with refugee students in public schools in Maricopa County, Arizona. Through a review of the literature and data collected from teacher and former refugee student interviews, this research explores what teachers know and need to know to teach refugee students successfully. Innovative practices that teachers employ are also highlighted, and recommendations for further research, policy, and practice are provided.

The implementation of substance abuse treatment policy is ambiguous in the Russian Federation. Though policies are in place, financial responsibility and best practice procedures are largely overlooked by the Russian government. The purpose of this thesis is to conduct a policy analysis of the Russian Federation Federal Law, On Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, adopted December 10, 1997. Amendments and additions to this law are integrated. Utilizing Gilbert and Terrell’s (2005) elements of an analytic social policy, including allocation, provision, delivery, and finance, the extent of substance abuse treatment provision is analyzed in the Russian context. Result indicate limited Russian government provision of detoxification for drug and alcohol users, with a nearly absent continuum required for true rehabilitation. The Russian government must provide harm reduction measurements to protect the population from HIV/AIDS. Involving the Russian Orthodox Church in advocacy for the implementation of harm reduction measures is recommended.

The natural environment is becoming an increasing concern within the global society and within the realm of social work practice. Social work practitioners and scholars are advocating for incorporating environmental justice into social work education, but have yet to adequately develop the research and strategies to execute this task. To further develop the research behind this concept, 112 social work students’ attitudes toward the environment were analyzed using the New Environmental Paradigm Scale and questions regarding the intersection of social work and the natural environment. Analysis of the data found social work students were less pro-environment than populations within previous studies. Although, social work students reported the desire to learn more about environmental issues and felt as though it would help them become better social workers. Results also suggested social work students did not know where to find information on environmental issues and misconstrued information on environmental issues, whether or not they felt informed. It will be imperative to further develop the research on incorporating environmental justice into social work education through future pilot programs with student attitudes and cultures into consideration.

This research examined the perceptions of refugees towards social entrepreneurship in Arizona through focus group discussions with 77 members of the refugee communities that have been organized under nine groups. Business experience, problem solving experience, conception of social entrepreneurship, examples, opportunities, support, and needs emerged as the themes of the study. Available opportunities as well as barriers for refugee social entrepreneurship based on the views of refugees in Arizona were explained. The difference between commercial entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship was highlighted and some examples of refugee social entrepreneurship described. Qualitative data analysis revealed that refugees in Arizona have entrepreneurial characteristics such as risk taking, hardworking, problem solving, and determination. They also have a good understanding of commercial entrepreneurship but very little understanding of social entrepreneurship. The findings underlined that social entrepreneurship can be used as a helpful strategy for self-sufficiency of refugees residing in Arizona. Given their life trajectories, refugees in Arizona have high potential to be social entrepreneurs with the right exposure and training. If supported adequately and planned appropriately, the refugee social entrepreneurship project can lead to self-sufficiency and faster integration of participating individuals to the mainstream society. The findings may spark interest among practitioners, policy makers, and scholars. It may redefine refugee social work practices as the passion of enterprising empowers refugees and helps them to discover self-confidence and rebrand their image. Policy makers may consider incorporating refugee social entrepreneurship in to the current self-sufficiency plan for refugee resettlement. Future research needs to investigate how refugee social entrepreneurs can be successful and focus on the measurement of their success.

This study examines the differences in demographic and life characteristics between transgender and female prostitutes in a prostitution diversion program and identifies specialized treatment and exiting strategies for transgender prostitutes. The purpose of this study was to develop a better understanding of the transgender experience in prostitution and to contribute to the descriptive literature. Participants were 465 individuals who were arrested for prostitution and attended a prostitution-focused diversion program. Differences found to be significant between transgender and female prostitutes included demographic characteristics, history of childhood sexual abuse, and experience of violence in prostitution. Implications for treatment, exiting strategies and future research are discussed.