(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A newly released study is shedding some light on the emotional challenges facing high school-aged Black and Latina girls in Chicago, and what can be done to help them.
The University of Chicago Education Lab study looked at Black and Latina girls in a school-based program called Working on Womanhood or WOW.
Monica Bhatt is the senior research director.
“We found staggeringly high rates of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, probable PTSD, or moderate trauma-related distress,” she said.
But researchers also found significant reductions in all those areas for girls participating in the WOW program. It was created by Black and Latina women for Black and Latina girls.
“The curriculum teaches kids all kinds of coping strategies. It's a trauma-informed program that really focuses on slowing down your thinking and thinking about your relationships and healthy habits,” Bhatt said.
She hopes the study's findings will lead to the WOW program being added to more schools in Chicago and across the country.
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