Parent-Child Sex Communication in AAPI Families and Coming of Age as LGBTQ (Dennis Flores, PhD, ACRN)

Discussions at home about sex are notoriously awkward experiences for both parents and adolescents. Research on how these conversations unfold within AAPI families is sparse and suggests a focused need for culturally focused investigations. Effective parent-child sex communication has been shown to enhance youth’s self-efficacy with using condoms, resisting pressure to have sex, initiating conversations about HIV/STIs prior to having sex, and accessing reproductive and sexual health services. Yet, little work has been done to incorporate parents in the sexual health education within AAPI homes, much less for parents with LGBTQ children. This workshop will review sex communication as it has been reported in the U.S. from the past 40 years, situate the state of the science as it pertains to AAPI families, and describe the preliminary work we have conducted with local parents and health experts to assist parents be better sexual health educators for LGBTQ adolescents. A bioecological and intersectional approach will be used throughout this session and will conclude with implications for practice and future research specific to the immigrant and U.S.-born AAPI community.

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De-colonizing the API body-mind in medicine: The Medical Industrial Complex (Noel B. Ramirez, MPH, MSW, LCSW, BCD)

The medical industrial complex employs behaviors and practices that are in-direct conflict of the ethics and values that helping professionals center their careers in.  Additionally, there is a history of colonialism and racism within the institution of medicine and healthcare.  As API folx, how do we fit into these histories?  Have our narratives been reduced, manipulated, or overlooked?  In this workshop, we will discuss, as a community, the behavioral health needs of API folks, deconstruct the model-minority narrative, discuss personal/professional ethics and how they conflict with the professional practices driven by the medical industrial complex, and create healing centered practices to keep folx grounded in values their whole identity.