Susana Mariscal

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https://hdl.handle.net/1805/35558

Caring and Collaborative Communities, Strong and Resilient Families

Dr. Susana Mariscal is an associate professor at Indiana University School of Social Work. She researches child maltreatment prevention and the promotion of resilience among children and families. What is resilience? Resilience is the transformational capacity that all human beings have to overcome adversity. It emerges in the interplay between risk and protective factors. What are risk factors? Risk factors can be adversity, victimization, a traumatic event, or a natural disaster. What are protective factors? They're the strengths, assets, resources, skills, and support systems that children and families have or that they may develop to overcome adversity. One of the most important protective actors is caring relationships. When a child feels seen, heard, understood, safe, loved, and valued that child can take that strength throughout their life. That strength is so critical because it can be transformational. And, it can be a protective factor that can be activated anytime that there are difficult times of adversity.

The beauty of resilience is that caring relationships are not exclusive of parents and children. Parents are not the only adults who can make a child feel safe and loved. Grandparents, any relatives, coaches, teachers, mentors, neighbors can also be that caring adult for children. And the same thing for parents. The more protective factors they have, the better families will do. Protective factors actually may be shielding families from maltreatment. And that is the premise of strengths-based prevention.

One of Dr. Mariscal's projects comes from the approach of strength space prevention. It is implementing a primary child maltreatment prevention program. In Indiana, she and her team of researchers and community partners are implementing four family resource centers. And this is in collaboration with over 200 partners at the state and local levels. This is in collaboration with Firefly Children and Family Alliance and Department of Child Services. Multiple agencies that are supporting her research in different ways. What is offered at the Family Resource Centers? They offer concrete support programs. They have a store that offers baby and hygiene items. They have monthly family fun events that are designed to strengthen those bonds between children and parents. They also offer parent cafes to create informal support among parents. It is important to know that it is okay not have everything figured out about parenting, and the parent cafes are the perfect space to talk about it. They also offer a window between World Studies arts program to support the expression of feelings that are sometimes difficult to express. A variety of other services are available through their wonderful community navigators.

Dr. Mariscal's creation of community resources to strengthen child and family support systems is another excellent example of how IUPUI's faculty members are TRANSLATING their RESEARCH INTO PRACTICE.

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Child Safety Forward Indiana Impact Profile
(2023-03-15) Mariscal, E. Susana; Victor, Bryan G.; Smith, Jamie
Child Safety Forward Indiana (CSF IN) improved the quality of the child fatality review (CFR) process, provided evidence for child fatality policy changes, and developed a data-informed statewide infant safe sleep campaign, which has already started to translate in decreased SUID rates, so that all children can reach their full potential.
If I knew then what I know now: Highlighting Project Lessons Learned
(2023-05-25) Mariscal, E. Susana; Victor, Bryan G.; Ames, Janie; Chandler, Christina
"If I knew then, what I know now" includes an overview of Strengthening Indiana Families strategies, challenges and achievements and highlights lessons learned through the implementation of our macro, mezzo, and micro system approaches. It was presented at the Community Collaborations to Strengthen and Preserve Families Annual Grantee Meeting in Baltimore, MD, May 25. 2023
Updates on Strengthening Indiana Families
(2021-04-22) Mariscal, E. Susana; Victor, Bryan G.; Crone, Angel; Kelly, Jill; Chandler, Christina; Weaver, Tashia
Presented at the Community Collaborations to Strengthen and Preserve Families Annual Grantee Meeting. Virtual Meeting. April 22, 2021.
Child Saftey Forward Indiana: Final Report
(2023-07) Mariscal, E. Susana; Victor, Bryan G.; Smith, Jamie K.; Elliott, Jenna M.; Commodore-Mensah, Miriam; Lown, Mallory; Chase, Kacie; Ashby, Pam; Liang, Sophia; Houston, Allie; Martin, Gretchen
This report is the culmination of an in-depth evaluation of the Child Safety Forward – Indiana (CSF) project carried out from October 2019 through June 2023. Here we detail the findings from 127 child fatality reviews conducted during the project period, along with documentation of the multiple ways that the CSF Indiana team has secured improvements to the child fatality review process in the State (See Appendix 2). We also provide a set of recommendations based on the evaluation that is intended to further enhance the capacity of Indiana communities to prevent child fatalities due to external injury (See Overview of findings). We hope that the report is useful to community members, prevention workers, and policymakers working hard each day to keep children safe.
Strengthening Indiana Families Impact Profile
(2023) Mariscal, E. Susana; Victor, Bryan G.
Strengthening Indiana Families (SIF) improved family support, resilience, and wellbeing, and decreased risk factors for foster care entry through the implementation of Family Resource Centers (FRC) and cross-system collaboration, which may ultimately translate in decreased child maltreatment and foster care entry so that all children can fulfill their promise.
A health research agenda guided by migratory and seasonal farmworkers and the providers who serve them
(Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), 2018-11) Holmes, Cheryl; Levy, Michelle; Mariscal, E. Susana
This document shares the results of an almost two-year process to create a health research agenda specific to migratory and seasonal farmworkers. The purpose was to better understand what health outcomes are important to farmworkers in two Midwestern states and identify research and information gaps. A key strategy in accomplishing this work was not only to engage farmworkers in addition to providers, researchers and various other administrators but to do so in an active, direct and frequent manner, thus highlighting and elevating their voices and perspectives. This document is organized in that spirit.
Resilience following exposure to intimate partner violence and other violence: A comparison of Latino and non-Latino youth
(Elsevier, 2020-06-01) Mariscal, E. Susana
Childhood exposure to violence can have serious consequences for children’s social-emotional development and maltreatment risk. However, growing evidence suggests that these negative outcomes are not inevitable. In order to identify personal and environmental factors contributing to the resilience of youth involved with child welfare and exposed to IPV and other violence, and then compare these factors between Latino and non-Latino youth, this study examined data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being II corresponding to 601 youth ages 11–17.5 under child maltreatment investigation. Sequential structural equation modeling was used to examine the racial/ethnic differences in the relationship patterns between exposure to violence and personal and environmental protective factors on mental health, risky behaviors, and school engagement. Social and adaptive skills moderated the negative effects of youth-reported exposure to severe violence on mental health; caring adults moderated the negative effects of mother-reported IPV exposure on school engagement; and spirituality moderated the relationship between youth-reported mild violence and school engagement. Maternal monitoring had more positive effects on Latinos’ mental health than on “other” youth’s, despite stronger negative effects of exposure to mild violence were identified among Latinos. Findings from this study support the implementation of programs that prevent child maltreatment and IPV and enhance youth’s resilience by building connections (e.g., mentoring), developing personal strengths (e.g., social and adaptive skills), and enhancing parental monitoring among Latinos.
The longitudinal relationship between social support and victimization among latino teens
(Wiley, 2023) Sabina, Chiara; Cardenas, Iris; Vásquez, Desi; Mariscal, Susana; Cuevas, Carlos A.
Purpose: This study examines the relationship between social support and victimization of Latino youth over time, utilizing the stress prevention and support deterioration models. Methods: To address the research questions we utilized data from Waves 1 and 2 (n = 574) of the Dating Violence among Latino Adolescents (DAVILA) study, a national bilingual phone survey of self‐identified Latino youth and their caregiver. Cross‐lagged panel modeling was used to assess the fit of the two theoretical models to observed patterns of covariance among the victimization and social support variables specified. Results: Results show that victimization at Wave 1 was positively and strongly related to victimization at Wave 2 and social support at Wave 1 was positively and moderately associated with social support at Wave 2. As hypothesized, higher levels of victimization at Wave 1 were significantly related to decreases in social support at Wave 2 (β = −.15). Wave 1 social support was not significantly related to victimization at Wave 2. Conclusions: We did not find support for the stress prevention model but did find support for the support deterioration model. Teens who were victimized tended to have lower levels of subsequent social support, highlighting the need to equip peers, family, and significant others to adequately respond to victimization disclosures.
Community- and Systems-level Factors that Contribute to Foster Care Entry: Perspectives from Child-Serving Professionals
(Taylor & Francis, 2023-06-12) Mariscal, E. Susana; Victor, Bryan G.; Elliot, Jenna M.; Smith, Jamie K.; Ashirifi, Gifty D.; Commodore-Mensah, Miriam M.
Discussions around reasons for foster care entry primarily focus on family-level service needs. However, families exist within social environments that can either increase or reduce risk for foster care entry. This qualitative study draws on interviews (n = 27), focus groups (n = 7), and open-ended survey responses (n = 548) from child-serving professionals in Indiana to identify community- and systems-level factors contributing to entry. Through qualitative coding we identified eight themes at the community- and systems-levels that direct attention toward modifiable dimensions of the social environment that can serve as targets for policy and practice reform.
Novel Service Delivery Approach to Address Reproductive Health Disparities within Immigrant Latino Communities in Geographic Hot Spots: An Implementation Study
(Oxford University Press, 2020-08-01) Parker, Amittia; Johnson-Motoyama, Michelle; Mariscal, E. Susana; Guilamo-Ramos, Vincent; Reynoso, Elizabeth; Fernandez, Cielo
Latinx youths continue to have the highest rates of teenage births in the United States and are at increased risk of acquiring sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS. A community-based research partnership piloted Families Talking Together, a brief, parent-based sexual risk reduction program using a novel and culturally relevant approach. This mixed-methods study examined the feasibility and acceptability of Spanish-speaking promotoras de salud (that is, community health workers) as implementers of an evidence-based intervention (EBI) to reach underserved immigrant communities. Findings suggest that promotoras are capable of implementing the EBI with positive organizational, client, and implementation outcomes. Furthermore, promotoras hold particular promise for addressing reproductive health disparities as they are indigenous and trusted members of the community who can reach members of marginalized Latino populations.

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