Lauren Reynolds
It is hard to pick just one evaluation strategy for effectiveness because I am a firm believer of the
fact that the strategies should be combined for full effectiveness. For the purpose of this assignment,
the most effective evaluation strategy for promoting healthy outcomes for Hispanic youth is being
culturally competent in the Hispanic culture. As a social worker you must be knowledgeable &
understanding of history, culture, and tradition of each Hispanic culture, as many are different (Villa,
2002). Vargas discusses how a social worker understanding the culture assists in empowering the
Hispanic youth into moving forward in the acculturation process, but still respecting their own culture
(2017). By understanding the culture more, the social worker shows signs of respeto and can better
understand the acculturation process. According to Cabrera et al.:
"effectiveness begins when you the social worker have appreciation of the types of unique stressors
and circumstances that Hispanics confront" (2011, p.193).
By being aware of the culture the social worker will understand common concepts such as familism,
machismo, respeto, etc. This allows for a positive treatment intervention which would then allow for
an effective evaluation with healthy outcomes. The treatment must first work for the evaluation to be
needed.
I believe that Reina is a wonderful example of promoting healthy outcomes for Hispanics as she
assists in housing illegal immigrants. Reina risks her own life saving Carlito’s from being sold and
knew the dangers that could lie ahead for Carlito’s on his adventure. Reina opens her door to
Carlito’s and also assist in finding a way to LA during this difficult time in Carlito’s life. I also believe
that Enrique could be on this list too because he understood the struggles that Carlito’s was going
through and helped as much as he could in the process though he did not want to at first. Thank you
and I look forward to the other discussion posts.
References
Vargas, L. C., & Erba, J. (2017). Cultural Competence Development, Critical Service Learning,
and
Latino/a Youth Empowerment: A Qualitative Case Study. Journal of Latinos & Education,
16(3), 203– 216. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348431.2016.1229614
Villa, R. (2002). Social work evaluation with Mexican Americans. Culturally competent practice:
Skills, interventions, and evaluations (pp. 370-383).
Villarruel, F., Fitzgerald, H. E., & Cabrera, N. J. (2011). Latina and Latino Children’s Mental
Health [Volume 2]. Santa Barbara, Calif: Praeger.
Leslie James
Children and adolescents of Latino/Hispanic background often face challenges that differ from other
adolescent populations in the United States. Language barriers, issues related to parental
citizenship status, and the economic hardships often faced by these children and adolescents can
result in various negative outcomes, such as depression and substance abuse. While several
programs and interventions targeting Latino children have been implemented there is still much work
that needs to be done. Identification of what works for Latino children and adolescents is a critical
step in furthering efforts to improve outcomes.
Bilingual education for younger children; infusing Spanish and English language into school
curriculums, has the potential to have positive impacts on language development and it also
decreases behavioral issues due to communication and language barriers. Bilingual educators can
also bridge the language and communication gaps by providing students and their parents with a
resource in the schools. Using children as language brokers has been a long and common practice
among Latino communities. The younger family members, on average beginning at age 10 and
sometimes younger are tasked with being language brokers (Cabrera, Villararruel). Community
resources for Carlito and his family would have been a great benefit. The aforementioned resources
would have relieved the burden of language barriers and knowledge of financial resources would
have been of great benefit this family as well.
Cabrera, N.J., Villarruel, F.A., & Fitzgerald, H.E. (2011). Latina and Latino children's mental health,
Riggen, P. (Director), Riggen, P., Barrera, G., & Villalobos, L. (Producers), & Villalobos, L. (Writer).
(2007). Under The Same Moon[Video file].Volume I development and context. ABC Cleo, LLC:
Santa Barbara, California.
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