Dr. Adrian Archuleta
Associate Professor
Intercultural interaction leading to cultural change has important implications for stress exposure and mental health that can be mitigated by a person's access to social and cultural capital.
Currently, Dr. Adrian Archuleta is an Associate Professor and coordinator of the Mental Health Specialization in the MSSW program. Substantively, Dr. Archuleta’s research focuses on the social and psychological determinants of acculturation and acculturative stress leading to well-being among immigrants, refugees, and later generational ethnocultural groups. More specifically, Dr. Archuleta’s work explores the contribution of cultural change and social and psychological well-being (e.g., social connectedness and social capital) on the stress and psychological distress experienced by Latinos and Latinas across various social con- texts. Dr. Archuleta’s training and methodological interest involve psychometrics and instrument development as well as traditional and electronic survey administration.
Dr. Archuleta has served as Co-PI and provided cultural competency expertise on studies funded by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration. His role on these grants has focused on helping research teams engage cultural groups traditionally underrepresented in research, and adapting evidence-based interventions for implementation with culturally diverse groups. These grants have focused on providing and evaluating services to survivors of torture, testing various evidence-based trauma interventions with youth (i.e., foster care, military families, and refugees), and developing culturally and contextually specific domestic violence interventions for Latinas. Building on his interest in wellbeing and mental health, Dr. Archuleta is currently a CO-PI on the Older Adults in Kentucky Prisons Study (OAK) which is a state-wide study seeking to understand incarcerated older adult’s experiences with health, quality of life, and justice-related experiences.