Browsing by Author "Sugawara, Carmen Luca"

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    Global solidarity—Voices from Croatian mobile social education partners
    (Warszawa, 2023) Sugawara, Carmen Luca; Matešić, Nadja; Paton, Gordana; Ray-Bennett, Kristina; School of Social Work
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    Higher Education Institutions’ Roles in Strengthening Local Capacity for Community Development: An Analytical Framework
    (University of Georgia’s Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach, 2022-12-15) Sugawara, Carmen Luca; School of Social Work
    Responding to an ongoing disconnect between higher education institutions (HEIs) and contemporary challenges communities face worldwide, universities can become a driving force to strengthen communities’ capacity toward innovative solutions to the challenges they face. This article introduces an analytical framework that provides a roadmap to design, examine, and measure the potential contributions of community-engaged university education in strengthening local capacity for community development (LCCD). The framework proposes three pillars of analysis: community assets, functioning capacity, and transformational capacity. Better understanding the contribution of community-engaged university programs in strengthening LCCD can create the conditions for local communities to leverage their power to foster positive social change while universities reexamine the way they engage communities. Finally, the article discusses implications for social development actors involved in promoting local capacity development to strengthen democracy and civic engagement and the benefits of involving HEIs as key stakeholders for social development.
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    The lived experience of women affected wtih matted hair in southwestern India
    (2014) Dhaske, Govind Ganpati; Adamek, Margaret E.; Sugawara, Carmen Luca; Rosario, José R.; Vernon, Robert, 1947-
    Descriptions about the matting of hair given by medical practitioners show a significant commonality indicating it as a historic health problem prevalent across the globe, however with less clarity about its etiopathogenesis. In southwestern India, the emergence of matting of hair is considered a deific phenomenon; consequently, people worship the emerged matted hair and restrict its removal. Superstitious beliefs impose a ritualistic lifestyle on affected women depriving them of health and well-being, further leading to stigma, social isolation, and marginalization. For unmarried females, the matting of hair can result in dedication to the coercive devadasi custom whereby women end up marrying a god or goddess. To date, the state, academia, and disciplines such as medicine and psychology have paid far too little attention to the social, cultural, and health concerns of the women affected by matted hair. A Heideggerian interpretive phenomenological study was conducted to document the lived experience of women affected by the phenomenon of matting of hair. The subjective accounts of 13 jata-affected women selected through purposive sampling were documented to understand their health and human rights marginalization through harmful cultural practices surrounding matting of hair. Seven distinct thematic areas emerged from the study exemplified their lived experience as jata-affected women. The prevalent gender-based inequity revealed substantial vulnerability of women to health and human rights marginalization through harmful cultural practices. The ontological structure of the lived experience of matting of hair highlighted the unreflective internalization of religious-based discourse of matting of hair. The hermeneutic exploration revealed events that exemplified jata-affected women’s compromised religiosity, and control of their well-being, human development, and ontological security. The religious-based interpretation of matting of hair and associated practices marginalize the health and human rights of affected women through family members, institutions, society, and religious-based systems. The study demonstrates the need for collaborative, evidence-based interventions and for effective domestic as well as global policies to prevent the health and human rights violations of women through cultural practices. The study offered foundational evidential documentation of the phenomenon of matting of hair as a harmful cultural practice that compromises women’s right to health and well-being.
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    Resilience-Related Outcomes Among War-Affected Arab Refugees in the U.S.
    (2020-07) Makki Alamdari, Sara; Kim, Hea-Won; Adamek, Margaret E.; Sugawara, Carmen Luca; Seybold, Peter
    Refugees undergo different kinds of stressors between fleeing their home country and resettling in a new one. Most studies have examined negative aspects of the refugee experience such as mental disorders or resettlement challenges. Building on strengths-based approach, the purpose of this study is to examine resilience-related outcomes. This researcher believes that refugees demonstrate adaptive and positive outcomes in the face of adversities. For this purpose, resilience-related outcomes are conceptualized as local language improvement and social connections in the host country. Using the stress coping model, trauma theory, and resilience theory, this research examines these adaptive outcomes in association with experienced war-trauma and post-migration stressors among Arab-speaking war-affected refugees in the U.S. This researcher recruited 130 participants through mosques and resettlement agencies in Indianapolis. Participants completed a paper-based survey. The researcher conducted several hierarchical regression analyses and found not strong social connections and local language proficiency among the participants. Participants applied problem-focused coping strategies more than other types of strategies. There was a considerable probability of PTSD. Health status and stay length significantly predicted social connections and English language proficiency. In addition, education was found as a significant factor in improving language proficiency. The analysis indicated that problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies buffer the negative effects of war trauma and feeling of loss on social connections. The study revealed negative impact of dysfunctional coping strategies on potential PTSD among the participants. Implications for social work practice, education, and policy, as well as, recommendations for future studies are discussed.