Hillary Rubesin | Lesley University (original) (raw)
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Papers by Hillary Rubesin
Making Research Public in Troubled Times: Pedagogy, Activism, and Critical Obligations, 2018
International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care
Purpose The refugee journey is fraught with challenges before, during and after resettlement. The... more Purpose The refugee journey is fraught with challenges before, during and after resettlement. There is a critical need for mental health support upon arrival, and refugees face language, cultural and logistical barriers. Arts-based therapies are a promising approach to mitigating such barriers. The purpose of this study was to elicit professional stakeholder perspectives on mental health challenges among refugees, the value of arts-based programs and future directions. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted three 90-min focus groups with 19 professional stakeholders in North Carolina, USA. This included mental health professionals, professors and community services/resettlement workers. Participants were identified from professional networks and snowball sampling. Each group was held by videoconference, audio recorded and transcribed. Data were analyzed through a team-based approach using applied thematic qualitative analysis. Findings Interviewees described a need for ta...
There are currently over 65 million displaced people across the world. Refugee women present a un... more There are currently over 65 million displaced people across the world. Refugee women present a unique subset of those displaced. These women often struggle with “triple trauma,” but these complex issues can go unvoiced and unaddressed as the women work to hold their families together in the midst of shifting landscapes and shifting gender roles and cultural norms. The following study demonstrates how the arts can offer refugee women an opportunity to express themselves and process complex issues in effective, creative, accessible, therapeutic, and cross-cultural ways. It details the process and explores the impact of an art-based participatory action research study conducted with a small group of refugee women from Burma resettled in Orange County, North Carolina. Throughout the four-month data collection period, the refugee women were able to explores issues of importance to them and determine how to best address these issues. An arts-based, public narrative process enabled the ref...
Journal of Applied Arts & Health, 2021
Three expressive arts therapists from the volunteer group, Voces Arts and Healing, review and ref... more Three expressive arts therapists from the volunteer group, Voces Arts and Healing, review and reflect on virtual mentorship and supervision provided to mentees working on the ground in Juarez, Mexico, as the immigration crisis at the border persisted and the COVID-19 pandemic was declared around the globe. The Migrant Protection Protocol (MPP) programme is briefly explained along with implications it posed on the duelling crises. Compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma, burnout and aspects of supervision and art-based supervision are examined within the contexts of these international concerns.
Journal of Applied Arts & Health, 2016
Art Therapy, 2016
Art therapy is a promising form of therapy to address mental health concerns for refugee youth. T... more Art therapy is a promising form of therapy to address mental health concerns for refugee youth. This article describes the development and implementation of a pilot evaluation of an art therapy program for refugee adolescents from Burma currently living in the United States. Evaluation activities were based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's evaluation framework and implemented through a partnership of art therapists and public health researchers in North Carolina. Findings indicate that evaluation activities were feasible, acceptable, and provided baseline measures of mental health for the adolescents sampled. Through a discussion of evaluation components and results, this pilot evaluation offers an example of how art therapy organizations can integrate program evaluation using existing evaluation frameworks, while engaging stakeholders and building organizational capacity.
Health promotion practice, 2016
Art therapy uses the creative process to encourage personal growth and alleviate symptoms of ment... more Art therapy uses the creative process to encourage personal growth and alleviate symptoms of mental illness. The Art Therapy Institute provides programs for refugee adolescents from Burma to decrease their trauma-related symptoms. This article describes and discusses the methods and findings from an evaluation of this program. The challenges of assessing art therapy with this population and assessment tool gaps are explored and suggestions for future evaluations discussed. Four validated clinical assessment tools were administered to 30 participants at baseline and follow-up to measure symptoms of anxiety, depression, and behavioral problems. Focus group discussions with clinicians were used to assess the evaluation. Nearly all participants had experienced one or more traumatic events. At baseline, results showed a higher prevalence of depression than national rates among adolescents. Follow-up results showed improvements in anxiety and self-concept. Qualitative findings suggest tha...
Making Research Public in Troubled Times: Pedagogy, Activism, and Critical Obligations, 2018
International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care
Purpose The refugee journey is fraught with challenges before, during and after resettlement. The... more Purpose The refugee journey is fraught with challenges before, during and after resettlement. There is a critical need for mental health support upon arrival, and refugees face language, cultural and logistical barriers. Arts-based therapies are a promising approach to mitigating such barriers. The purpose of this study was to elicit professional stakeholder perspectives on mental health challenges among refugees, the value of arts-based programs and future directions. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted three 90-min focus groups with 19 professional stakeholders in North Carolina, USA. This included mental health professionals, professors and community services/resettlement workers. Participants were identified from professional networks and snowball sampling. Each group was held by videoconference, audio recorded and transcribed. Data were analyzed through a team-based approach using applied thematic qualitative analysis. Findings Interviewees described a need for ta...
There are currently over 65 million displaced people across the world. Refugee women present a un... more There are currently over 65 million displaced people across the world. Refugee women present a unique subset of those displaced. These women often struggle with “triple trauma,” but these complex issues can go unvoiced and unaddressed as the women work to hold their families together in the midst of shifting landscapes and shifting gender roles and cultural norms. The following study demonstrates how the arts can offer refugee women an opportunity to express themselves and process complex issues in effective, creative, accessible, therapeutic, and cross-cultural ways. It details the process and explores the impact of an art-based participatory action research study conducted with a small group of refugee women from Burma resettled in Orange County, North Carolina. Throughout the four-month data collection period, the refugee women were able to explores issues of importance to them and determine how to best address these issues. An arts-based, public narrative process enabled the ref...
Journal of Applied Arts & Health, 2021
Three expressive arts therapists from the volunteer group, Voces Arts and Healing, review and ref... more Three expressive arts therapists from the volunteer group, Voces Arts and Healing, review and reflect on virtual mentorship and supervision provided to mentees working on the ground in Juarez, Mexico, as the immigration crisis at the border persisted and the COVID-19 pandemic was declared around the globe. The Migrant Protection Protocol (MPP) programme is briefly explained along with implications it posed on the duelling crises. Compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma, burnout and aspects of supervision and art-based supervision are examined within the contexts of these international concerns.
Journal of Applied Arts & Health, 2016
Art Therapy, 2016
Art therapy is a promising form of therapy to address mental health concerns for refugee youth. T... more Art therapy is a promising form of therapy to address mental health concerns for refugee youth. This article describes the development and implementation of a pilot evaluation of an art therapy program for refugee adolescents from Burma currently living in the United States. Evaluation activities were based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's evaluation framework and implemented through a partnership of art therapists and public health researchers in North Carolina. Findings indicate that evaluation activities were feasible, acceptable, and provided baseline measures of mental health for the adolescents sampled. Through a discussion of evaluation components and results, this pilot evaluation offers an example of how art therapy organizations can integrate program evaluation using existing evaluation frameworks, while engaging stakeholders and building organizational capacity.
Health promotion practice, 2016
Art therapy uses the creative process to encourage personal growth and alleviate symptoms of ment... more Art therapy uses the creative process to encourage personal growth and alleviate symptoms of mental illness. The Art Therapy Institute provides programs for refugee adolescents from Burma to decrease their trauma-related symptoms. This article describes and discusses the methods and findings from an evaluation of this program. The challenges of assessing art therapy with this population and assessment tool gaps are explored and suggestions for future evaluations discussed. Four validated clinical assessment tools were administered to 30 participants at baseline and follow-up to measure symptoms of anxiety, depression, and behavioral problems. Focus group discussions with clinicians were used to assess the evaluation. Nearly all participants had experienced one or more traumatic events. At baseline, results showed a higher prevalence of depression than national rates among adolescents. Follow-up results showed improvements in anxiety and self-concept. Qualitative findings suggest tha...