Mieko Yoshihama
Professor of Social Work
Professor Yoshihama's research interests are violence against women, immigrants, mental health, and community organizing. Combining research and social action at local, state, national, and international levels over the last 25 years, Dr. Yoshihama focuses on the prevention of gender-based violence and promotion of the safety and wellbeing of marginalized populations and communities. Dr. Yoshihama’s research in both the U.S. and Japan is diverse methodologically, spanning from participatory action research to surveys with complex sampling design, from epidemiologic investigation to intervention/prevention research, including a nationwide survey in Japan, a study of Japanese American women in Los Angeles, and Life History Calendar studies of battered women in Michigan, Tokyo, and San Francisco. In Michigan, she directs participatory action research projects aimed at organizing and mobilizing local community members to promote collective action to prevent domestic violence. One recent project involves developing, implementing, and evaluating a broad communications campaign in a local Indian community. In addition to serving on the steering committee of the Asian & Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Violence, Dr. Yoshihama serves on advisory committees of various organizations dedicated to ending domestic violence.
Research Interests/Focus
Violence against women, community organizing and participatory action research in immigrant and marginalized communities, theatre-based prevention, mental health.
Contact Information
| Phone | Room | Address | |
|---|---|---|---|
| miekoy@umich.edu |
Education
| Year | Degree | School | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | PhD | Social Welfare | University of California, Los Angeles |
| 1986 | MSW | Social Welfare | University of California, Los Angeles |
| 1984 | BA | Literature and Linguistics | Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan |
Gonzalez Benson, O., Yoshihama, M., Ellis, J., Pimentel Walker, A., Usui, M. & Chang, S. (in press). Refugee education and hope: Participatory Action Research with Congolese refugee youth. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology.
Gonzalez Benson, O.& Yoshihama, M. (2019). Post-resettlement refugee collectives in the United States: Processes of emergence and development. Sharing Society Project (Ed.), Sharing Society International Conference 2019 Proceedings. Bilbao, Basque Country, (Spain): Sharing Society Project-The Impact of Collaborative Collective Actions in the Transformation of Contemporary Societies, University of the Basque Country.
Yoshihama, M. (2016). Domestic violence in Japan. In E. Buzawa (Ed.), Global responses to domestic violence. New York: Springer.
Muramoto, K., Kamiyama, M., Yoshihama, M., Dan, S., & Hisata, M. (2015). Higashinihon daishinsai gono community empowerment [Community empowerment after the East Japan Great Earthquake]. Community Shinrigaku Knkyu. Japanese Journal of Community Psychology, 19(1), 1-3.
Yoshihama, M. (2015). Community empowerment after the East Japan great earthquake. Japanese Journal of Community Psychology, 9(1), 1-36.
Yoshihama, M., & Tsunoda, Y. (2014). Violence against women. JAWW NGO Report for Beijing 20+. In Japan Women's Watch (Ed.) Tokyo, Japan: Japan Women's Watch, 16-21.
Yunomae, T., Tsuge, A., & Yoshihama, M. (2014). Violence against women and children after the Great East Japan Disasters. Japanese Journal of International Society for Gender Studies, 12, 21-39.
Ghanbarpour, S., Yoshihama, M., & Dabby, F. C. (2014). Evidence-based practice: Knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and behaviors of domestic violence programs serving Asian and Pacific Islanders. Asian and Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Violence. San Francisco, CA.
Yoshihama, M. (2014). Group work with women affected by disasters. Casebook Based on the Counseling Program for Women in the Aftermath of the Great East Japan Disasters. Tokyo, Japan: Japanese Government Cabinet Office Gender Equity Bureau.
Yoshihama, M., Tsuge, A., & Yunomae, T., Ikeda, K., & Masai, R. (2013). Violence against women and children after the Great East Japan Disasters: results from a case-finding survey. Japan Women's Watch 1-24. Tokyo: Japan Women's Watch.
Yoshihama, M. (2013). Communications campaign to prevent intimate partner violence among Metro Detroit Indians [Report]. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Yoshihama, M., Tsuge, A., & Yunomae, T. with Ikeda K. & Masai, R. (2013). A report of the study of violence against women and children in/after the Great East Japan Disasters. Report to the Women's Network for East Japan Disaster. Tokyo, Japan: Women's Network for East Japan Disaster.
Yoshihama, M. (2009). Application of the Life History Calendar approach to understand women's experiences of intimate partner violence over the lifecourse. In R. F. Belli, F. Stafford, & D. Alwin (Eds.), Calendar and Time Diary Methods in Life Course Research. Sage Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Yoshihama, M. (2009). One unit of the past: Action research project on domestic violence in Japan. In J. Sudbury & M. Okazawa-Rey (Eds.), The Challenge of Activist Scholarship: Antiracist Feminism and Social Change. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers.
Yoshihama, M. (2009). Literature on intimate partner violence in immigrant and refugee communities: review and recommendations. In Family Violence Prevention Fund (Ed.), Intimate Partner Violence in Immigrant and Refugee Communities: Challenges, Promising Practices and Recommendations 34-64. Princeton, NJ: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Yoshihama, M. (2009). Toward the eradication of domestic violence: analysis of U.S. movements and challenges. In Women's Space Yui (Ed.), Reflections on the Process of Creating Domestic Violence Prevention Act (15-22). Tokyo: Women's Space Yui.