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Program on Well-Being and Service Delivery to Marginalized Populations

Dr. Mimi Chapman, coordinator

Mimi Chapman, Ph.D.Through research and scholarship, faculty in the Program on Well-Being and Service Delivery to Marginalized Populations promote the well-being of vulnerable individuals, groups, and populations pushed to society’s periphery by discrimination, prejudice, bias, or systemic racism. Faculty’s reflective research practices consider their own attitudes, assumptions, privilege, and status while creating interventions based in rigorous science. The goal of the research is to develop evidence-based and empirically informed interventions to build the capacity of marginalized groups in ways that not only promote self-determination and community but also create mechanisms to promote equity and inclusion. Sample research projects focus on individuals struggling to find housing because of mental illness and adapting treatments for depression/anxiety that directly address the marginalized identity.

Additionally, faculty projects are examining the attitudes of high-intensity professionals who work with marginalized groups (e.g., new immigrants or refugees) to explore how those attitudes impact marginalized persons’ access to and engagement with systems such as health care, education, or law enforcement. Faculty in this program use a range of methods and include collaborations across the UNC-CH campus, ranging from the Ackland Art Museum, the Departments of Social Psychology and Art History, the Schools of Nursing, Public Health, Medicine, and Law, and many others.