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Evaluation ViewAttendees 4

Category: Vulnerable Populations

Symposium 79 - Reviving Ecological Systems Theory: Applying a Social-Ecological Lens to Mental Health Concerns for Vulnerable and Underserved Populations

Saturday, November 18, 2023
12:30 PM – 2:00 PM PST
Location: Cowlitz (502), Level 5
CE: 1.5

Keywords: Translational Research, Underserved Populations, Transdiagnostic
Level of Familiarity: Basic to Moderate
Recommended Readings: Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). Contexts of child rearing: Problems and prospects. American Psychologist, 34(10), 844–850. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.34.10.844,   Stern, J. A., Barbarin, O., & Cassidy, J. (2022). Working toward anti-racist perspectives in attachment theory, research, and practice. Attachment & Human Development, 24(3), 392-422.,   Ungar, M., & Theron, L. (2020). Resilience and mental health: How multisystemic processes contribute to positive outcomes. The Lancet Psychiatry, 7(5), 441-448.,   ,  


Developmental psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner championed the importance of joy in our relationships; his ecological systems theory focused on a powerful core idea: “Somebody’s got to be crazy about that kid. That’s number one. First, last, and always.” Since its inception, Bronfenbrenner’s theory has been used to guide clinical and research efforts to understand behavior in young people. Ecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) conceptualizes young people as embedded within a complex of interconnected and reciprocal systems, which includes family the broader social environment. By focusing on the interplay between the young person, their families, and the communities they live in, clinicians can harness strengths-based approaches to create long-lasting change and ameliorate behavioral health concerns. Indeed, these principles underscore treatment approaches relevant to a range of populations, many of whom are underserved in their communities (e.g., youth in the juvenile legal system). The application of this model also allows for flexible and tailored approaches that consider individual and cultural factors across the social environment.



 



Despite the utility of this model and importance of the social environment across development, individually focused, acultural, and acontextual interventions predominate in behavioral health service delivery. Current service delivery models fail to consider the many benefits of considering individual differences while intervening on social environmental factors, particularly for individuals who are underserved in mental health care. This symposium seeks to highlight the application of ecological systems theory for diverse and underserved populations, including communities of color, adults on probation and parole, and autistic youth. Across these diverse content areas, the present symposium has three core foci: (a) demonstrate novel links between social-environmental factors and psychopathology in vulnerable populations, (b) the use of cutting-edge methods to study ecological systems theory, (c) how this research may inform interventions for underserved populations.



 



The first presenter will describe recent work using community-based participatory research to propose a multilevel intervention that addresses community-level barriers to mental health treatment for communities of color. Our second presenter will report on family and caregiver practices related to aggressive and disruptive behavior in autistic youth from racially and ethnically minoritized backgrounds. Our third presenter will describe how a broad range of youth characteristics, family functioning variables, peer relations, and school- and neighborhood-related factors are linked with verbal and physical aggression in autistic youth. The fourth presenter will focus on findings related to family and other social-environmental factors related to mental health symptoms for justice-involved adults. Our discussant is a well-established researcher at a nonprofit agency whose research and clinical experiences focus on improving care and outcomes for underserved individuals across the lifespan. He will draw on his experiences to synthesize the presentations.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of the session, the learner will be able to:
  • Describe multi-level factors implicated in worry and stress during the COVID-19 pandemic for communities of color.
  • Identify facets of family functioning linked with aggressive and disruptive behaviors in racially and ethnically minoritized autistic youth.
  • Describe both proximal (i.e., family) and distal (i.e., neighborhood) factors associated with physical and verbal aggression in autistic youth.
  • Understand how characteristics of justice-involved adults' social ecologies are connected to their mental health and wellbeing.
  • Identify at least two strategies for forming academic-community partnerships to conduct social-ecological research.