³ÉÈËÍ·Ìõ

In early June, Drs. Eva Moya and Sylvia Chavez-Baray, professors of Social Work, were invited to present at the Engineering Information Institute’s 5^th International Conference on Positive Psychology and Well-Being, held in Chengdu, China. Drs. Moya and Chavez-Baray joined colleagues from Ohio and San Diego, as well as China, Japan, Nepal, Russia and Poland, to discuss current research in positive psychology, and implications of the research on policy and programming. The conference was one of eight tracks, which also included cognitive neuroscience, psychology and health; and healthy and active aging, among others.  

Dr. Moya’s and Dr. Chavez-Baray’s lecture, which focused on gender, violence and empowerment, was the result of over eight years of work that began in 2010 with an exploratory study on sexual and reproductive health needs which led to intimate partner violence and homelessness. The team’s work yielded a series of studies ultimately revealing that immigrant and migrant women living in intimate partner relationships and experiencing homelessness flourish when they are actively engaged in empowerment interventions and connected with services to meet their most immediate needs. Drs. Moya and Chavez-Baray, along with four women experiencing homelessness whose stories were featured in the conference presentation, are now co-authors of a chapter in a Gender and Feminism book to be published this fall as part of the Marcela La Garde y de los Rios Cátedra initiative. Drs. Moya and Chavez-Baray also plan to submit a manuscript based on the presentation for consideration by a peer-reviewed journal at the end of August.

In the attached photo, Dr. Moya is in the second row, far left and Dr. Chavez-Baray is in the second row, third from the left.