ÁùºÏ±¦µä

Title

Gender-based violence in Hispanic/Latine communities in ÁùºÏ±¦µä and evaluation of human trafficking service provision for Indigenous communities.

Mentor

Melody Huslage, Ph.D.

Department

Social Work

Biosketch

I am an assistant professor of social work at the University of ÁùºÏ±¦µä, Reno. My research broadly focuses on gender-based violence. Specifically, I am interested in understanding and addressing this issue in Hispanic/Latine and immigrant populations. I enjoy both quantitative and qualitative research, especially community-engaged research. I consider it a privilege to work with students in a research capacity and hope to encourage or engender a love for research and a respect for how it can help address the social justice issues we see today.

Project overview

ÁùºÏ±¦µä has the second highest rate of domestic violence in the country, the third highest rate when it comes to human trafficking, and the fifth highest rate of rape. The goal of this research project is to better understand gender-based violence in Hispanic/Latine populations in general, and in ÁùºÏ±¦µä specifically. The hope is that this research can lead to prevention and intervention efforts in our state to address this problem. Students who join this project will assist with annotated bibliographies of the current available research literature and the development of a survey to be deployed across the state.

ÁùºÏ±¦µä has the third highest rate of human trafficking in the U.S., and Indigenous survivors are disproportionately represented. I am partnering with the ÁùºÏ±¦µä Urban Indians Victim Services Program to improve their service provision to Indigenous survivors of human trafficking. Students who join this project will assist with annotated bibliographies of the current available research literature and the development of a program evaluation design to assess service provision and provide recommendations for improvement.

Pack Research Experience Program information and application