Trauma Exposures, Resilience Factors, and Mental Health Outcomes in Persons Granted Asylum in the U.S. for Claims Related to Domestic Violence and Persecution by Organized Gangs.

Survivors of domestic violence (DV) and of violence perpetrated by organized gangs (GV) face barriers to legal protection under U.S. asylum law. We abstracted data from 132 affidavits based on forensic medical evaluations of asylum seekers granted legal protection in the U.S. on the basis of DV and/or GV. We described claimants’ trauma exposures and resilience factors and used multiple logistic regression to quantify associations with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-5 (DSM-5) diagnoses and improvement in mental health. People seeking asylum based on DV and/or GV have endured multiple types of trauma with significant impacts on their mental health. New experiences of trauma following migration to the U.S. were common and associated with DSM-5 diagnoses. Conversely, resilience factors were associated with improved mental health. Policies that aim to reduce ongoing trauma in the U.S. and to bolster resilience factors may promote asylee mental health and well-being

Understanding the Unique Barriers and Facilitators that Affect Men’s Initiation and Retention in HIV Care: A Qualitative Study to Inform Interventions for Men Across the Treatment Cascade in Malawi

Men in sub-Saharan Africa are underrepresented in antiretroviral therapy (ART) programs. Our secondary analysis of 40 in-depth interviews with Malawian men living with HIV examined barriers and facilitators for ART initiation versus retention. Interviewees included men who never initiated or initiated ART late (initiation respondents, n = 19); and men who initiated ART but were late for an appointment (retention respondents, n = 21). Transcribed interviews were coded using deductive and inductive coding techniques and analyzed using constant comparison methods. Long wait times, frequent facility visits, and insufficient in-clinic privacy were barriers for initiation and retention. Poor knowledge of ART was primarily a barrier for initiation; unexpected travel was a barrier for retention. Key facilitators for initiation and retention included previous positive experiences with health facilities. Having examples of successful men using ART primarily facilitated initiation; support from spouses and male peers facilitated retention. Results may inform interventions to increase men’s engagement in ART services

Imagine Our Norcross: Planning for immigrant Integration

In the spring of 2015, a group of researchers from Georgia Tech’s School of City and Regional Planning created a studio project to collect information about the immigrant populations living and doing business in the city of Norcross, Georgia, as well as the unincorporated parts of the Gwinnett Village Community Improvement District (CID). The goal of the studio was to provide the city of Norcross and the Gwinnett Village CID with two sets of information: one, a portrait of the overall immigrant community—how and where people lived; where they worked; where they played, argued, shopped, and prayed—and two, what this community would need in order to become more engaged in the area’s civic and economic life.City of Norcross, GAGwinnett Village Community Improvement DistrictLatin American AssociationAsian Americans Advancing Justice (AAAJ), Atlant