Date of Award

2018

Document Type

Doctoral Research Paper

Degree Name

Psy.D.

Organizational Unit

Graduate School of Professional Psychology

First Advisor

Henrietta Pazos

Second Advisor

Shelly Smith-Acuña

Third Advisor

Crosby Troha

Keywords

Transnational families, Latinas, Feminist therapy, Family separation, Mental health, Community, Relationships, Empowerment, Identity

Abstract

The experiences of transnational families in the United States have largely been examined as they relate to the impact that separation and migration have on the family system. In most recent years, women have assumed the experience of migration and have moved to countries like the United States to work and provide for their families back home. Transnational families are typically understood as family members who live separated from each other, often across national borders, but continue to maintain unity and connections with each other. The following literature review will examine the social factors impacting Latin American women’s decision to migrate to the United States and incorporates factors impacting those with documented and undocumented status. This paper will examine the history, theory, and key components of feminist therapy and provide a visual guide and suggestions for mental health providers of how this theory can be applied to the commonly identified needs of this particular population. The following paper will examine the benefits of applying feminist therapy to the experience of transnational women while providing an understanding of how this theoretical framework could be modified and adapted when working with cultural factors of this population. Additionally, this paper will explore the limitations of working with transnational women from a feminist therapy perspective and recommendations for further research and interventions. For the purposes of this paper, the term Latina will be used in an effort to address specific challenges, stereotypes, and beliefs of those in the Latinx community that identify as women.

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Extent

39 pages



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