Intersectional Approach Research Articles

Understanding family abuse: an intersectional approach to prevention and addressing family abuse perpetrators

This article provides an original contribution to understanding the motives for and perpetration patterns of family abuse that affects a range of minoritised communities, such as those minoritised on the basis of race, sexuality or transgender identity, and to contribute to debates around prevention. Negative and discriminatory societal attitudes, norms and behaviours towards these groups influence and justify family abuse. Based on empirical research, our study enhances the existing knowledge base to create practice and policy-focused recommendations for improving preventive and intervention efforts. We approached this from an ecological perspective, using a mixed-methods approach to interrogate quantitative and qualitative data to identify motivating factors underpinning perpetrators’ behaviours. Our analysis, drawing on a phenomenological approach, shows an ecological framework with three interacting levels at which motivating factors occur: the individual, the community and society. Along with understanding who perpetrators might be, the types of family abuse and its impacts for victim/survivors, these three motivating factors provide a template for developing interventions with perpetrators of family abuse. The research also suggests that before interventions for perpetrators of family abuse can be properly developed, the field of domestic abuse needs to reconsider how family abuse is positioned as part of domestic abuse.

Services in Minoritized Autistic Adolescents and Adults Varying in Language Skills.

Racially and ethnically minoritized (minoritized) autistic individuals face intersectional disparities in service access in the transition to adulthood. Our understanding of disparities is limited by systematic exclusion from research and inadequate approaches to characterizing services. To address these gaps and effect advocacy, this study (1) examined services received, unmet service needs, and barriers in minoritized autistic adolescents and adults and (2) determined if language, NVIQ, and autism traits predict services when deployed as binary or continuous variables. Academic and community partners tailored community-based participatory research (CBPR) to a local context. Participants (N = 73, ages 13-30) completed a behavioral assessment protocol. Participants and caregivers provided information on services received, unmet service needs, and barriers to services. Data were analyzed using descriptive and regression. Participants received multiple services yet had multiple unmet service needs and barriers. Effects of services differed by approach. Language impairment, but not language scores, predicted receiving more services. High levels of autism traits and autism trait scores predicted more unmet service needs. While the number of services and unmet service needs was similar to prior work, differences in individual service variables and effects support attention to heterogeneity. Findings support intersectional approaches to CBPR and autism research.

Pathways into Computing Fields by Florida’s Community College Students: An Intersectional Descriptive Analysis

ABSTRACT While it is well understood that gender and racial stratification in computing fields continues to exist, we too often approach this workforce problem from a deficit perspective and look to typical sites (where status quo norms are reproduced) to investigate potential solutions. Using an intersectional descriptive analysis on state administrative data on Florida state colleges, we prioritize centering the academic journeys of Asian, Black, Indigenous, Latina/e/o/x, and Multiracial community college women and men, addressing the often-overlooked effects of holding multiple marginalized identities in quantitative research. Analytic results from this study suggest that women of color completed high school computing courses significantly less often than men. Further, our findings reveal that these disparities in high school computing coursetaking were even greater among those who enrolled in Advanced Placement Computer Science. Employing an intersectional approach enabled this study to dive into these and other nuanced effects. Implications offer directions for future research, practice, and policy that may enhance efforts to broaden participation in computing in high school and among community college students.

Making sense of peace in exile? Displaced people’s intersectional perceptions of peace

ABSTRACT This article enquires into how people with lived experiences of conflict and displacement make sense of peace in exile. For the analysis, the article focuses on displaced individuals in Kenya and Germany and theoretically complements the varieties of peace framework, situated knowledge and an intersectional approach. Findings reveal multifaceted perceptions revolving around the three dimensions of structural, collective and individual peace, outlooks shaped by gender-specific experiences, religious beliefs and familial relations. Interlocutors associate structural peace with experiences of sociopolitical, economic and legal conditions in exile, collective peace with support systems and harmonious interactions in communities, and individual or inner peace with desires for and feelings of happiness, hope and healing. Although analytically distinguishable, these three dimensions are inherently intertwined in interlocutors’ daily lives due to their lived experiences prior to and once in exile.

Integrating Intersectionality and Life Course Approaches: Three Women’s Lives

Integrating Intersectionality and Life Course Approaches: Three Women’s Lives

Pop Culture Media as Curricular Text: Designing an Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Seminar Using Abbott Elementary

Abbott Elementary, the Emmy-award winning mockumentary-style comedy television show, chronicles the day-to-day efforts of a group of teachers in a Philadelphia public elementary school who, despite the odds stacked against them, are determined to help their students succeed. With humor and heart, the show also uncovers some of the larger policy issues at play in U.S. urban public education, such as teacher shortages, school funding, and school choice. This essay describes the development of an interdisciplinary Honors seminar for undergraduate students at a large, public university in the Midwest U.S. that used episodes of Abbott Elementary as a central curricular text to support students in analyzing current policy issues in urban education. Drawing on Giroux’s concept of media as public pedagogy, this essay details how the course design employed a critical intersectional multiculturalism cultural studies approach to create opportunities for students to engage in a multiperspectival analysis, including (1) an understanding of political culture, (2) textual analysis, and (3) audience reception. Implications and recommendations are made for selecting and integrating popular culture media as curricular text in interdisciplinary coursework.

Balancing between reality, ideality, and equity: critical reflections from recruiting key informants for qualitative health research.

Key informant interviews (KII) are a widely used method in qualitative health research to gain in-depth insights from individuals with specialized knowledge, experience, or access that is crucial to the research topic. However, there is growing criticism regarding how the selection of key informants is insufficiently described in research. This opacity is problematic as the authority and knowledge of key informants may be given undue weight in research findings, potentially overshadowing other non-expert samples. The resulting imbalance in representation can lead to favoring certain viewpoints while marginalizing others, and thereby reinforcing existing inequities. Using our KII study as an example, we demonstrate how we initially composed an ideal sample based on theoretical considerations and subsequently operationalized it in the field. We employed a selective recruitment strategy informed by intersectional theory, targeting physicians with migration backgrounds from Middle Eastern countries for a study on cancer prevention and screening. Our recruitment process combined direct methods, including database searches and email outreach, with indirect methods like snowball sampling and engagement with multipliers. The recruitment strategy was iterative, allowing for ongoing assessment and adaptation to ensure a diverse and representative sample. The KII study successfully recruited 21 physicians with diverse social categories, including different genders, migration backgrounds, language skills, and medical specialties. Direct recruitment was more effective than indirect methods and allowed for greater control in reaching out to specific subsamples. It highlights the importance of flexible and persistent recruitment strategies to achieve the desired sample. This KII study underscores the interplay between methodological ideals and the practical realities of recruiting a diverse, carefully composed sample of key informants in health research. Our intersectional approach aimed to ensure equitable representation by considering power dynamics and refining recruitment strategies, while balancing the challenges of real-world fieldwork-such as engaging busy physicians with specific recruitment criteria-with practical adaptability. Our KII study emphasizes the need for ongoing reflexivity to balance ideality and equity with practical feasibility.

De Viva voz: An Intersectional Approach to Assessing Student Experience and Fostering Equity at HSIs

ABSTRACT This research project outlines students’ perceptions of belonging, equity, visibility, representation, and culture at their Hispanic Serving Institution. In Latin America, the saying “De viva voz,” emphasizes acknowledging voz [voice]. Through an intersectional framework, this work acknowledges students’ voices, identities, and lived experiences as foundational to identify the barriers at an HSI at the Mexico-United States borderlands region. In doing so, we are able to propose a series of strategies that respond to the cultural context of the university, and the needs of students in order to eliminate structural barriers. Further, this paper explores what it means to be an HSI and the tenuous relationship between Hispanic culture and students at a US university. The implications of this research project add to the body of the literature that challenges homogeneous notions and conceptualizations of HSIs limited to enrollment of Hispanic and Latinx students. In doing so, “De viva voz” names and challenges the historical forms of discrimination and erasure that Latinx, students of color and other minoritized populations have endured in university settings. Moreover, this work models student-centered research practices for other Hispanic Serving Institutions interested in promoting intersectional practices to improve campus climate and foster belonging, equity, inclusion, and diversity.

‘The first initial bit was trying to get her to speak to me’: trauma informed relationship-based practice with female offenders in care

ABSTRACT This article reports on findings from a research project that explored how youth offending practitioners applied a trauma-informed approach to relationship-based practice when working with girls who were in both State care and contact with the Criminal Justice System in England. The study was conducted in three local authorities, using semi-structured interviews with 20 youth offending practitioners. The findings suggest effective youth offending practice with this group of young women is distinctive in prioritising complex welfare needs as a route to addressing offending. This is managed in practice through developing strong and supportive relationships that are individualised and led by young women. This bespoke approach to criminal justice practice presents challenges to the traditional care/control dichotomy and adds to the developing discussion around ambiguities of role when addressing vulnerabilities through a criminal justice lens. It also discusses ethical issues when considering wider systemic structures around these girls and their future pathways. Finally, the article argues that an explicit intersectional trauma-informed approach reframes youth offending practice and allows practitioners to navigate the inherent tension in the care and control dichotomy, creating relationships that are containing, predictable and safe for young women in care with histories of trauma.

Children's beliefs about Black and White men's and women's scientific knowledge: An intersectional approach.

Children are sensitive to other's knowledge and social characteristics when seeking out information, but little is known about how adults' gender and race interact to influence children's beliefs about adults' knowledge. In two studies, 5-8-year-olds (N = 257; 127 girls; 130 boys; 73% White) saw photos of Black and White men and women and rated each adults' science knowledge. In Study 1, children then viewed four adult faces together (one from each gender and race) and chose who knew the most and second-most about the answer to a scientific question. In Study 2, the selection task was modified so that children saw two faces from different categories and chose one, and children were then asked to identify one of four individuals as a scientist. In both studies, children also chose which of four individuals they would want to learn about science from. Children gave similar knowledge ratings to men and women and to Black and White individuals when they rated one adult at a time. However, when children selected the most knowledgeable adult, they showed an ingroup gender-based preference whose strength varied with child age. In both studies, children also showed an ingroup gender-based learning preference, but showed no preferences based on adult race. Children referred to adults' appearance most often when justifying their learning preference and which individual they believed to be a scientist. Together, these findings suggest that, for primarily White American children, a potential adult informant's gender may be more salient than race when evaluating science knowledge. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

What is a Feminist Quantitative Method? Opportunities for Feminist Econometrics

Though feminist economics encourages methodological plurality, quantitative methods and econometrics have overtaken the discipline in recent years. Many feminist economists have demonstrated reasons to be concerned about the increasing foothold of quantitative methods, and others have provided thoughtful criticisms of specific quantitative measurements. However, few have made distinctions between mainstream econometrics and feminist econometrics, and a succinct set of resources for those trying to do feminist quantitative research is difficult to find. Drawing upon insights from feminist economics, queer methods, and intersectional approaches, this article sets forth practical guidelines for feminists using econometric methods. Namely, it considers issues of data cleaning, replicability, survey weighting, comparison groups, non-binary measures of gender, intersectionality, causality claims, identification problems, atheoretical index composition, and measuring “difference.” It raises questions for contemporary feminist economists to consider as we grapple with the methodological identity of our field. HIGHLIGHTS Gender diagnostic estimation can be used to endogenously measure gender. Separate model approaches and CARTs are useful in intersectional work. Econometric models can be structured so they are “studying up.” Oaxaca–Blinder and PCA methods raise some feminist concerns. Cohen’s D and the Index of Similarity can be used to test gender differences.

Digital Advocacy Journalism’s Push for the Narrative Tipping Point of Singapore’s Capital Punishment

A narrative tipping point leading to the abolition of capital punishment will come from specific events and broader trends that move public opinion and the accompanying legal systems away from the justification for death penalties. Through Singapore’s independent digital journalist Kirsten Han’s reflection on her reportage and advocacy for the abolition of capital punishment in the republic, this paper seeks to highlight the role of digital advocacy in pushing for the narrative tipping point on the death penalty online. Against global trends of abolition, retentionist cultures on capital punishment remain resilient, particularly in countries that claim strong domestic support for authoritarian populist narratives of being “tough on crime.” Institutionally sustained and discursively binarized as “Asian values” against rights-based Western individualism and continuously reiterated by national leaders, Singapore’s policy on capital punishment is termed muscular retentionism. Contending with this dominance in cyberspace is Han’s affective emphasis on death row inmates facing imminent execution, particularly those condemned to death for drug trafficking. Using a partially autobiographical approach as the second author of this paper, she illustrates her experiences as a woman activist in Singapore, journeying with these inmates and documenting their experiences as part of the broader effort to move toward the narrative tipping point. Positioned against the largely impersonalized and instrumental justification of the traditional retentionist position established in the pre-Internet decades is Han’s rights-based emphasis on the sanctity of life. Receiving little attention in the republic’s mainstream media, cyberspace has oxygenated this perspective. Aside from facing legal and police scrutiny for her involvement in abolitionist campaigns, Han has also been subjected to misogynist ad-hominem attacks online from supporters of retention. Kirsten Han’s digital advocacy journalism poignantly sharpens the existing feminist critique in Singapore of the carceral regime with a more intersectional approach toward expanding the scope of the discussion to that of predominately male death row inmates. Her emphasis comes from the notion of difference feminism in considering the structural inequalities and power dynamics that render the more socially disadvantaged vulnerable to the regimes of punishment. Aside from being openly singled out and chastised by the state, it may remain difficult to determine the public impact of Han’s journalistic work. Nonetheless, through amplifying the otherwise invisible emotional states and voices of death row inmates and their families as individuals, she exposes the human cost in the regime of capital punishment and in the process inches Singapore toward the narrative tipping point.

Human rights engagement, stigma and attitudes towards mental health among Colombian social work and medical students.

Human rights training in mental health professions is essential to reduce stigma and facilitate recovery processes. The aim of this study was to understand the relationship between engagement to human rights and stigma towards people with mental disorders, as well as attitudes towards mental illness in medical and social work students of a Latin American context. An analytical, cross-sectional study was carried out with a sample of 243 students in the last two years of study. Community Attitudes Towards the Mentally Ill (CAMI), Mental Illness Clinicians' Attitude Scale (MICA), Human Rights Exposure in Social Work (HRXSW) and Human Rights Engagement in Social Work (HRESW) were used as instruments. To determine how the explanatory variables are related to the engagement to human rights (dependent variable) a binary logistic regression model was used. Correlations were found between the scales and their components. Economic condition, intersectional approach, authoritarianism, benevolence and mental health ideology explained 55.11% of the variance for commitment to the engagement of human rights. Some factors related to the stigma of mental disorders and the focus on human rights in future mental health professionals are highlighted that should be more visible in the training practices of these professions.

Ask Your Relative: A mixed method analysis of the Sexual Health and Healthy Relationship Q&As submitted by American Indian Alaska Native young adults

BackgroundDisparities in sexual health outcomes persist among American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) youth due to intersectional challenges accessing youth-friendly health services. AIAN youth have an increased prevalence of STIs and teen pregnancy. To address disparities in sexual health outcomes, the Ask Auntie/Ask Your Relative (AYR) Q&A service has been used by AIAN youth and young adults for over seven years as a trusted resource for information on sensitive health topics. There is a continued need to better understand the health-seeking behaviors of AIAN youth, especially those related to healthy relationships and sexual health, to improve the alignment of health resources to their needs.MethodsThis mixed-method study began with two phases. Phase 1 involved an analysis of all AYR data using Google Analytics and basic frequency counts. Phase 2 reviewed all questions and answers related to sexual health and healthy relationships (N = 240) using thematic analysis, NVivo 12.0, and intersectionality, guided by the social determinants of health. All AYR answers were coded based on type, name/location, number of times viewed, and examples. The final step of the analytic process was to utilize an intersectional approach and socioecological model (Individual, Community, Tribe/Nation, and World) to create a visual model with results.ResultsPhase 1—Since We R Native began tracking AYR data, the service has been utilized by 2.37 M users, with 1.16 M unique pageviews. The average time on the page was 4 min and 46 s. The number of AYR questions submitted varied by year, and were most frequent in 2016, then decreased in subsequent years. In Phase 2, the main themes identified in AYR questions were (1) Reaching Out for Help, (2) Identity and Physical Development, and (3) Healthy Relationships. Analysis of the Q&A answers identified 244 resources, and of these, 100 were Native-specific. The context-specific resources represented 21 uniquely coded health topics, ranging from women's health to behavioral health.ConclusionsThe broad range of healthy relationship and sexual health questions submitted to the AYR service reflects the types of health information that AIAN young adults want to know about. Resources provided in response to their questions connected Q&A viewers to a wide variety of organizations and programs designed to support AIAN young adults in their health and wellness journey. Findings from this study may be useful for creating additional culturally tailored resources.

“Canada remains deeply concerned”: (de)politicized feminist foreign aid, settler colonialism and reproductive justice in occupied Gaza

ABSTRACT Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP) was introduced in June 2017, representing a positive shift in Canadian foreign policy and a reaffirmation of the Trudeau government’s intended global leadership on gender equality and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Since its inception, FIAP has faced growing criticism as a neoliberal, individualized approach to achieving gender equality that is void of an understanding of underlying systemic inequities. This paper applies this critique to Canada’s complicity in Israel’s ongoing military violence in Gaza. Adopting a reproductive justice framework, we argue that the reproductive violence against Palestinian women enacted during the current war on Gaza must be understood as part of Israel’s larger settler colonial project. For Canada to fulfill its commitments to global SRHR as set out in its own foreign policy framework, the Trudeau government must adopt a more politicized and intersectional approach to feminist international assistance, including taking political action against Israel’s colonial violence in Gaza.

‘It's good what we're doing and it's scary what we're facing’: young people’s care-ful environmental action in the UK

ABSTRACT In this paper, we argue for greater recognition of young people’s contributions to environmental action through social and environmental justice. It draws on findings from research based on eleven organisations in the UK exploring young people’s connection with environment-related collective action and activism in the UK landscape. Building on theoretical arguments of ethics of care and implicit activism and capturing a range of practices of young people, the paper explores young people’s multiple framing(s) of activisms – towards the environment and each other. Drawing on the experiences of young people and facilitators within these organisations, we unpack the experiences and representation of minoritised groups in the climate movement and other forms of environmental engagement. The findings demonstrate thoughtful and effective approaches towards inclusion within the UK context and in terms of global climate justice but also highlight a need for more intersectional approaches and awareness of enduring barriers often relating to racialised identities.

A feminist cybersecurity: addressing the crisis of cyber(in)security

Abstract This article draws on feminist security studies (FSS) to construct a more inclusive cybersecurity. We ask: What can a gendered lens do for cybersecurity? Methodologically, this exploratory piece brings FSS insights to bear on studies in cybersecurity (both traditional and critical) to better conceptualize the risks and benefits embedded in the cybersphere, as well as the role of gender in cyberspace. We propose incorporating a gendered lens (an intersectional approach) to shed light on violence and insecurity online. Without recognizing gendering in the cyber realm, including how gender intersects with other systems of oppression, cybersecurity scholars and policy-makers cannot fully understand what we term the crisis of cyber(in)security. Additionally, we challenge simplistic solutions that rely solely on human rights protections in cyberspace. Such approaches often reinforce existing gender and power hierarchies through protectionist discourse. Our FSS-based understanding of cybersecurity has important policy implications. It calls for increased access and diverse participation in cybersecurity policy-making and diplomacy, and promotes a more thoughtful approach to human rights protection to address a broader range of cyber-based insecurities and forms of violence.

Geometric Design Optimization of Speed Tables at Urban Arterials using UAV Assistance

One of the primary risk factors at junctions on urban roads is vehicle speed. To curb over-speeding and road crashes at intersections, traffic calming measures are introduced. Current research aims at studying the impact of different geometries of recently constructed speed tables on the operational speed over such intersections. Since these treatments have been often used to regulate speed in other countries, an evaluation of their efficacy in the Indian context was required. This study utilises 6,000 vehicle samples of four different vehicle classes (two-wheeler, three-wheeler, cars, and buses) from 12 speed tables in total. The speed and acceleration kinematics in addition to the high-quality trajectory data over long road segments were extracted from the video recordings of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). Multi-factor Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was utilized to optimize the geometric parameters (variables) of the speed tables to achieve the requisite operational speed (predictor) at the considered measure. The box plots are provided to indicate descriptives of the parameters regarding the 85th percentile speed. Multiple linear regression and ANOVA identified the variables that were significant and fit to devise the required optimization model. This study can help in identifying the influence zone, concerning physical characteristics of speed tables and their effect on the design speed at the approaches of intersections at urban arterials. The outcomes of the study will cater to enhance the current guidelines and standards in India regarding speed table geometry for urban road sections.

Intersectional Discrimination in Mental Health Care: A Systematic Review With Qualitative Evidence Synthesis.

Discriminatory practices in mental health care undermine the right to health of marginalized service users. Intersectional approaches enable consideration of multiple forms of discrimination that occur simultaneously and remain invisible in single-axis analyses. The authors reviewed intersectionality-informed qualitative literature on discriminatory practices in mental health care to better understand the experiences of marginalized service users and their evaluation and navigation of mental health care. The authors searched EBSCO, PubMed, MEDLINE, and JSTOR for studies published January 1, 1989-December 14, 2022. Qualitative and mixed-methods studies were eligible if they used an intersectional approach to examine discrimination (experiences, mechanisms, and coping strategies) in mental health care settings from the perspective of service users and providers. A qualitative evidence synthesis with thematic analysis was performed. Fifteen studies were included in the qualitative evidence synthesis. These studies represented the experiences of 383 service users and 114 providers. Most studies considered the intersections of mental illness with race, sexual and gender diversity, or both and were performed in the United States or Canada. Four themes were identified: the relevance of social identity in mental health care settings, knowledge-related concerns in mental health care, microaggressions in clinical practice, and service users' responses to discriminatory practices. Discriminatory practices in mental health care lead to specific barriers to care for multiply marginalized service users. Universities and hospitals may improve care by building competencies in recognizing and preventing discrimination through institutionalized training.

An approach for built-up area extraction using different indices and deep neural network (DNN) model

Mapping urbanization and built-up areas from remotely sensed data poses a formidable challenge, particularly when the spectral reflectance of built-up regions intersects with other land types. To address this, numerous spectral indices have been developed. This paper utilizes multiple indices: Normalized Difference Built-up Index (NDBI), Built-up Area Extraction Index (BAEI), Normalized Built-up Area Index (NBAI), New Built-up Index (NBI), Modified Built-up Index (MBI), Band Ratio for Built-up Area (BRBA), and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) to delineate built-up regions. An intersection approach between BAEI, NBAI, and NDVI refines the methodology, resulting in a final built-up map with 92.5 % accuracy and a 0.848 Kappa coefficient. Subsequently, a Deep Neural Network (DNN) model trained on this map achieves over 95 % accuracy in predicting built-up areas from Landsat 5 imagery, and the resultant built-up map achieved an overall accuracy of 92 % and a Kappa coefficient of 0.85. The proposed methodology demonstrates efficiency for time-series analysis and addresses misclassification in built-up areas. Moreover, the optimization of the DNN model proves effective when meticulous training and validation processes incorporate more precise sample datasets.