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College of Education and P-16 Integration Division of Academic Affairs

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Research Spotlight: Dr. Clarissa Salinas - Related Links

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Research Spotlight: Dr. Clarissa Salinas

Q & A with Dr. Clarissa Salinas, Assistant Professor in the Department of Counseling




What are your research interests and research achievements?

My research focuses on how play therapy can be used to help children cope with mental illness and the struggles of daily life. I also like to research effective teaching strategies of play therapy to implement with my students. This work has led me further toward research on the topic of teaching and learning in higher education and the cultural influences at Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). To date, I have published 3 peer reviewed journal articles and 2 book chapters on topics related to play therapy and school counseling.

How does your work align with UTRGV’s and CEP’s strategic plans?

The mission of The College of Education and P-16 Integration partly includes to ‘develop highly qualified, multi-culturally responsive and sustaining, innovative scholars, learning leaders, and education professionals who challenge the status quo and serve as change agents who make a difference by promoting social justice, embracing diversity in its broadest definition, inspiring thought leadership, and pursuing lifelong learning.’ I believe that my research supports this mission as it aims to prepare future counselors and current counselors to be multiculturally competent and creative in the work that they do with members of the community.

What are your current projects?

  • Project Title: Exploring the Impact of Cultural Adaptations to a Mental Health Intervention with Hispanic Caregivers
    Project Team: Javier Cavazos (PI), Eunice Lerma (Co-PI), Ming-Tsan Lu (Co-PI), and Clarissa Salinas (Co-PI)
    Sponsor: Rio Grande Valley Alzheimer´s Disease Resource Center for Minority Aging Research (RGV AD-RCMAR)
    Purpose: (1) To assess the impact of a culturally adapted intervention on Hispanic caregivers’ positive emotions, resilience, and stress. (2) discover factors within the intervention that influence Hispanic caregivers’ positive emotions, resilience, and stress.
  • Project Title: Latinx Students’ Perceptions of Online Teaching and Learning
    Project Team: Javier Cavazos (PI), Ming-Tsan Lu (Co-PI), and Clarissa Salinas (Co-PI)
    Sponsor: Hispanic Serving College of Education Special Interest Research Group Initiative
    Purpose: To explore HSI graduate students’ perceptions of online teaching, learning, and support during a pandemic.

Further, I serve as the Principal Investigator for a project entitled “The Impact of COVID-19 for Grieving Children” in which my research team (Dr. Javier Cavazos and Cindy Waddle) and I are interested in understanding whether COVID-19 has an impact on children’s grief experiences. We hope to gather and analyze data by the end of Spring 2021 to better understand the mental health needs of grieving children during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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