Following the 2020 coronavirus outbreak, there has been a call for research and academic literature on the effects of COVID-19-related racial discrimination; however, actual research examining the phenomenon with treatment implications had remained scarce.  

CSU assistant professor Stacey Diane Aranez Litam of the Counseling, Educational Leadership, and Adult Learning department is among the first to publish these findings in Counseling Outcome Research and Evaluation, a national peer-reviewed journal. 

In the manuscript she published in collaboration with a colleague, Litam documents how public and societal fears as a result of COVID-19 may contribute to unique health disparities and race-based trauma, specifically among Asian Americans and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities in the United States. 

Litam has also recently published two other clinical manuscripts in national journals outlining best practices to support the AAPI community with racial trauma following pandemic related-discrimination and a new feminist bioecological approach to support international students with COVID-19 related stress.  

Two more manuscripts are pending publication, as Litam continues to delve into these topics.