Talking about health and health care: experiences and perspectives of Latina women in a farmworking community

Self-medication practices in two California Mexican communities

Although social scientists have taken up the study of medication use in both developing and developed nations, the medication practices of immigrants remain largely unstudied. In this study, qualitative research was employed in order to describe and compare self-medication practices in two California Mexican immigrant groups: families living along the border near Tijuana, Mexico, and migrant farm worker families residing in illegal encampments and substandard housing in San Diego's North County. Medication and health seeking practices were found to vary according to the specific political-economic, sociocultural, and geographic contexts in which different subpopulations of California Mexicans live. The California-Mexico border area was examined as an important context for considering self-medication behaviors, since it permits border-crossing into Tijuana for the purpose of buying Mexican pharmaceuticals at low cost without a prescription. The popularity of injections among California Mexicans and the cross-border purchasing of injectable antibiotics and vitamins are discussed as issues of particular relevance for immigrants living along the border.

The dynamic process of focus groups with migrant farmworkers: the Oregon experience

Focus groups with culturally diverse populations, and Latino farmworkers in particular, have been used as an effective research method. However, the specifics of planning and implementing focus groups with diverse populations have not been elaborated in the literature. Focus groups were used as part of The Reducing Pesticide Exposure in Minority Families Project to successfully elicit migrant farmworkers' views on pesticide exposure and preferences for educational method. Although attention was paid to cultural and lifestyle considerations in the planning and implementation of our focus groups, recruitment, environmental context, convener, focus group questions, and within-population differences were identified as areas that required ongoing assessment and operational change. Vigilance to the dynamics of the process resulted in more effective focus groups.

Implications for breast and cervical cancer control for Latinas in the rural South: a review of the literature

The Latino population has more than tripled in six southern US states. Little research exists describing the Latino population in the rural South and the unique cancer control needs of this group. This article reviews existing literature on Latinas with a focus on rural southern settlement processes and applicable breast and cervical cancer control research. Recommendations for effective cancer control programs include developing special outreach efforts conducted with monolingual Latinas, incorporating important cultural components and values related to family, spirituality, and community, and designing programs that incorporate low-literacy materials and messages or that do not require literacy to participate. Understanding the social, cultural, and economic issues that Latinas face is an important first step in designing culturally relevant breast and cervical cancer control.

Development in the family

In this chapter we review theoretical conceptual and empirical advances in family research and the implications for children's development. Three interdependent family subsystems are considered: the parent-child subsystem, the marital subsystem, and the sibling subsystem. Recent work on the family as a unit of analysis is reviewed as well. Several determinants of family socialization strategies are noted, including child and parental characteristics and resources and social capital available to families. Ethnicity is considered by reviewing recent advances in our understanding of African American, Asian American, and Hispanic families. Several new directions in family research are highlighted. These include research on the linkage between families and work, gay and lesbian parenting, the new reproductive technologies, and the effect of parental incarcerations on families. Future trends in family research are noted, including the role of genetics, the biological correlates of family processes, the role of intervention and prevention designs in family research, and the importance of process work on ethnicity-oriented family research.

Depressive symptoms in farm women: effects of health status and farming lifestyle characteristics, behaviors, and beliefs

A multitude of responsibilities, environmental and social influences, and stressors place farm women at high risk for depressive symptoms. This cross sectional survey design study examines demographic, health status, and farm lifestyle characteristics, behaviors and beliefs as risk factors contributing to depressive symptoms among farm women in southeast Louisiana. The study was conducted in a stratified, random sample of 657 women 18 years and older. Factors predictive of depressive symptoms in adjusted logistic regression included those who experience poor health, perceive hazards associated with farming, experience recent farm-related injuries and engage in farming over longer periods of time. These findings help target interventions toward women at risk for depressive symptoms.