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The Loma Linda University School of Behavioral Health Spiritual Life and Wholeness Committee is announcing a Biopsychosocial-Spiritual Research Conference on November 13 (Friday), from 8:30am-12:00pm! Watch Replay The entire conference will be held online using Zoom. The schedule includes a presentation on the SBH philosophy of integrating spirituality and religion with the social sciences in both theoretical and clinical practice, followed by a panel discussion.

In the USA, there is a well-established correlation between low literacy level and poor health outcomes. Independent predictors of low literacy include poverty and being African-American or Hispanic/Latinx. This, in part, helps to explain the disproportionately high number of chronic conditions and mortality among these groups. To address these persistent health disparities many prevention and lifestyle programs have been developed but often suffer from poor engagement and outcomes among these target groups.

The Department of Psychology has recently approved a new professional concentration in the psychology of religion, which will provide interested students with further knowledge of the theory and literature in this area from the perspectives of both psychology and religion. The department has added an elective course, Psychology of Religion, which will be the foundation of the concentration. This course examines religion, spirituality, and faith using the empirical methods of psychology; attention is given to all five major world religions and atheism.

Latino immigrants experience disproportionate health disparities, are less likely to participate in lifestyle-related interventions and are less likely to succeed when they do. For the undocumented, these disparities are amplified by less use of healthcare and social services, more social isolation, poor mental health, and increased substance use.

Collective Trauma Collectively we have been experiencing trauma. Coronavirus has shifted us away from our norms, and the way things used to be are no more. Sitting at home beginning in March we all felt that we had a common enemy, defeating this virus and slogans like “we are in this together” truly felt like the fight was a collective fight. Then the names begin to ring out—Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd—and reality begins to hit the Black community again, maybe the “we” isn’t collective.

Youth from low- and middle-income countries experience mental health burdens and lack the resources necessary to address them. Most evidence-based treatments (EBTs) come from Western countries. As such, interventions that are "imported" from the West may not be a good fit. Building an intervention relevant to the community includes: accounting for local health services, addressing specific problems faced by the community, and reflecting on the feasibility and implementation of interventions.

Are you a second or 1.5 generation Chinese American, between the ages of 25 and 40, who has lived in Southern California? If so, we want to interview you! Our research team is exploring how second and 1.5 generation Chinese Americans navigate multiple cultures and form a bicultural identity. Study results will help professionals promote cultural self-awareness and resilience for Chinese American individuals and families. Participation takes about 90 minutes and involves completing a brief demographic form and a confidential web-based interview about your life experiences.

Securing a child life internship is not only a rigorous process, but for many it involves the potential need to relocate to anywhere within the United States. The Association of Child Life Professionals (ACLP) Diversity Scholarship program was developed in response to the need for supporting students from diverse backgrounds as they fulfill these requirements.

Multilevel (i.e., hierarchical, nested) data is common within behavioral health research. Examples include data from patients nested within doctors and children nested within childcare centers. Longitudinal data also has a hierarchical structure, where repeated measurements can be viewed as nested within individuals. The nested structure of the data allows for a wide range of potential research questions to be addressed. For example, the influence of both patient-level (e.g., age) and doctor-level (e.g., years of experience) variables on patient health outcomes can be simultaneously modeled.

Dr. Aarti Nair received her bachelor's degree in psychology and anthropology from St. Xavier’s College in Mumbai, India. She came to the United States to pursue her master's degree in clinical psychology from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Upon graduating, she worked at the Center for Autism Research and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, sparking her long-standing interest in the neural substrates of autism spectrum disorder and neuropsychology.