Working with Vulnerable Populations

This book explores vulnerability in many forms and among diverse understudied vulnerable populations worldwide from different perspectives, particularly from non-western contexts. It examines characteristics and profiles of vulnerable populations, intervention strategies, and recommendations for public policy actions in developing and emerging countries. 

As the world becomes increasingly connected and localities become more diverse, researchers and practitioners working to ameliorate human suffering cannot rely on one-size-fits-all solutions, especially when it comes to the most vulnerable members of society. The book argues the need for interdisciplinary research and action, and it challenges popular discourse on vulnerable groups and intervention strategies in Western societies and developed countries. In particular, it includes a Latin American perspective seldom considered in research about vulnerability worldwide. 

With interdisciplinary contributors from four continents, working in diverse fields such as social psychology, pedagogy, community psychology, medicine, sociology, clinical psychology, anthropology, and social work, this edited collection brings together theoretical and applied research evidence on three vulnerable population categories: physical vulnerability, psychological vulnerability, and social vulnerability. The book not only presents exhaustive solutions to any of the problems discussed therein, but it also offers examples of the considerations that should be afforded when working with groups who have unique vulnerabilities. Among the topics covered in the chapters:

• Poor Doctor-Patient Communication: How Social Vulnerability Turns into Physical Vulnerability
• Art Therapy: Focus to Decrease Vulnerability Condition and Increase Sense of Community
• Pedagogical Guidelines for Vulnerability in Postmodernity
• Working with Vulnerable Populations: Final Reflections and Implications    

Working with Vulnerable Populations: A Multicultural Perspective presents case studies, original research, and literature reviews that would engage students and professionals interested in social work, psychology, community organizing, public health, allied health professions, and other helping professions. Readers will gain insight into how work being conducted in various localities speaks to the challenges they may face in their own work or research. By exploring the unique issues facing vulnerable populations around the globe, we can apply those same considerations in our own communities.

Susana Castaños-Cervantes, PhD, as the coordinator of Social Service at the School of Psychology of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Universidad Panamericana, oversees the implementation of social service programs. In the role of coordinator of Psychology of the Mexican Panamerican Welfare Society, Dr. Castaños-Cervantes is responsible for coordinating and supervising the psychological services provided by the society. She is a cognitive-behavioral therapist, play therapist, and art therapist, specializing in mental health prevention and social and emotional learning programs for vulnerable groups. She is a member of the National System of Researchers of the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia of Mexico, Level I, and the Red de Estudios de Vulnerabilidad Social. Dr. Castaños-Cervantes holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in Health and Social Psychology from the Faculty of Psychology of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico and a Postdoctoral Degree in Intervention Programs for Vulnerable Groups from the Psychology Doctoral Research Program of the Psychology Department at Universidad Iberoamericana of Mexico City. She is a specialist in vulnerable populations, particularly children and adolescents placed in residential care. She has collaborated in designing Holistic Intervention Models for vulnerable children, youth, and adults, including older people. Her research includes designing Social and Emotional Intervention Models for vulnerable children, youth, and adults. Dr. Castaños-Cervantes has participated as an oral speaker at various international conferences worldwide, including the US, France, Germany, and Spain, and has published several research studies in scientific journals indexed in SCImago, Scopus, and JCR. She has taught in several undergraduate and graduate psychology and pedagogy programs. She has conducted more than 20 workshops for vulnerable groups, families of vulnerable groups, and employees working at institutions that serve vulnerable populations as their primary function.

Angélica Ojeda García, PhD is professor and researcher at the Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City. She has a degree in Psychology, and a Master's degree and a Ph.D. in Social Psychology. She is a Gestalt and Art Therapist. She has a Specialization in Brief Therapy and Psychological First Aid for populations in conditions of vulnerability. She was a member of the National System of Researchers in the National Council for Science and Technology from 2005 to 2020. She made two sabbatical collaborations: the first, from 2012-2013 at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California (within the Marital and Family Art Therapy Clinic), and the second, from 2018-2019 at the University of California Berkeley (in the Health Initiative of the Americas [HIA] at the School of Public Health). Her line of research focuses on the work of emotional health in groups with vulnerable conditions, in order to improve their adaptation process, active coping styles, family unity and sense of community, through use of Transdiagnostic Model and Art Therapy techniques. She has published four books and diverse national and international articles about these lines of work.

Cristina L. Reitz-Krueger, PhD earned her Masters and Doctorate in Community and Developmental Psychology from the University of Virginia. She is currently an associate professor and the Director of Undergraduate Research at Warren Wilson College in North Carolina, United States. Her research runs the gamut from teen dating violence among high-risk adolescents, to sexual health, risk, and assault among college students. She is particularly interested in the way adolescent development intersects with risk and the legal system, and which social environments serve as protective factors for those risky behaviors. She has published and presented her research in numerous psychology and interdisciplinary outlets, and also enjoys translating scientific research for general audiences. Additionally, her work with incarcerated women over the past six years has led to an enthusiasm for and interest in higher education in prison settings.