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Community Gardening: a Novel Intervention for Bhutanese Refugees Living in the USA (open access)

Community Gardening: a Novel Intervention for Bhutanese Refugees Living in the USA

Since 2008, the United States (USA) has resettled thousands of Bhutanese refugees, providing brief financial support and pathways to citizenship. Despite the efforts of governing bodies and voluntary agencies which facilitate resettlement, many refugees struggle with adapting to the vastly different lifestyle, economy, language and social structures. In particular, effectively addressing psychological needs of this population is a challenge for service providers operating within an expensive health care system based on Western constructs of mental health. In response to this challenge, refugee resettlement agencies throughout the country use community gardens to promote psychological healing, self-sufficiency, community engagement, and a return of human dignity. Though success of these programs is being shared in the media, there has yet to be empirical data examining their impact. The current study tested whether Bhutanese refugee engagement in a community garden impacts symptoms of depression, anxiety, PTSD and somatic complaints. The study also investigated whether community gardening is associated with perceptions of social support and adjustment to life in the United States. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected from 50 adult Bhutanese refugees in Fort Worth, Texas. Gardening was significantly related to increased social support overall, a key factor in overall functionality within communal cultures; …
Date: August 2015
Creator: Gerber, Monica M.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Effects of Cultural Bias: a Comparison of the WISC-R and the WISC-III (open access)

The Effects of Cultural Bias: a Comparison of the WISC-R and the WISC-III

It has been suggested that the use of standardized intelligence tests is biased against minorities. This study investigates the newly revised Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III in which Wechsler states that the new scale has eliminated biased items. Comparisons of the scores on the WISC-R and the WISC-III of a clinical population of sixteen African American and eighteen Caucasian males, ages ten to sixteen, revealed significant differences between the two groups on the WISC-III. The minority scores decreased predictably from the WISC-R to the WISC-III, but the Caucasian scores increased rather than decreasing. The findings of this study do not support the predictions and goals of revision as stated in the manual of the WISC-III.
Date: December 1994
Creator: Ewing, Melissa Cox
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Relationship of Individual Choice Status to Severity of Personal Problems (open access)

The Relationship of Individual Choice Status to Severity of Personal Problems

The present study is intended to be, as far as possible, an exhaustive examination of sociometric status groupings in regard to the way in which members of the group rate themselves and the others in their groups concerning happiness, problems and worry.
Date: 1958
Creator: Cooley, C. Ewing
System: The UNT Digital Library