Research Interests
Professor Piedra’s research interests explores the social consequences of an increasingly diverse society by examining how the language and culture of immigrants affect their access to and use of social and health services. Specifically, her analyses have focused on three interrelated topics, as they apply to Latino immigrants: (1) the mental health service barriers created by linguistic and cultural incongruence, (2) the increased need for bilingual and interpretational services in communities with rapidly growing immigrant populations, and (3) the adaption of interventions to these new service contexts through university and community partnerships. Her recent work builds on this conceptual foundation by adapting a cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT) to meet the linguistic and cultural needs of depressed immigrant mothers living in communities with new Hispanic populations. Subsequently, she developed Vida Alegre [Happy/Contented Life], a 10-week group CBT to address maternal depression and that trains bilingual BSW and graduate students to implement the model. Dr. Piedra plans to test this intervention in other new growth communities in Illinois and throughout the U.S.
Education
BA, Psychology, Syracus University, 1992
MSW, Loyola University, 1997
PhD, Social Work, University of Chicago, 2006
Additional Campus Affiliations
Professor, School of Social Work
Professor, Latina/Latino Studies
Professor, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Professor, Center for the Study of Global Gender Equity
Recent Publications
Iveniuk, J., Piedra, L. M., Kotwal, A., Wilder, J., & Hawkley, L. (2025). How Race, Gender, and Cohort Shape Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Americans. Journal of Applied Gerontology, Article 07334648251360449. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/07334648251360449
Iveniuk, J., Zhong, S., Wilder, J., Marshall, G. L., Boyle, P., Hanis-Martin, J., Hawkley, L., Piedra, L. M., Riley, A. R., & Lee, H. (2025). Race/Ethnicity and the Measurement of Cognition in the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project: Recommendations for Robustness. Journals of Gerontology - Series B Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 80, S55-S65. Article gbae043. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbae043
Piedra, L. M., Iveniuk, J., Howe, M. J. K., Pudelek, K., & Marquez, D. X. (2025). Addressing Cognitive Assessment Disparities among Hispanic Adults: Adapting the MoCA-SA for Improved Accuracy and Accessibility among Spanish Speakers. Journals of Gerontology - Series B Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 80, S41-S54. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbae036
Piedra, L. M. (2025). In this issue… ethics, lived experience, and practice innovations in social work. qualitative social work, Article 14733250251379858. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/14733250251379858
Piedra, L. M. (2025). In this issue… Qualitative insights advancing inclusion and understanding. qualitative social work, 24(1), 7-9. https://doi.org/10.1177/14733250241305439