Mexican-American Migrant Farmworkers Research Articles

Harvesting hope and solidarity: education and organizing with migrant farmworker families

ABSTRACT This study examines the emerging process of participation and activism of Mexican and Mexican American migrant farmworkers in the schooling of their children through their narratives and oral histories, contextualized in selected schools and rural communities of Southern California. Equitable and participatory collaborations between migrant parents and their children’s school personnel hold the potential to benefit school achievement among these students, a population whose school performance has historically lagged substantially behind their peers. This study addresses the following questions: What are the dispositions, interactions, events and contexts that support the participation, advocacy, and activism of migrant farm worker parents in the schooling of their children? and, what are the values, reflections and challenges that contextualize the migrant parents’ process of awareness, solidarity, and commitment among them?]

Effectiveness of a Community Health Worker-Delivered Intervention to Increase Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Among Medically Underserved Hispanics

Background: Underutilization of preventive breast and cervical cancer screenings contributes to later stage breast cancer diagnoses and lower survival rates, as well as higher cervical cancer incidence and mortality among Hispanics compared with non-Hispanic whites. To increase screening among medically underserved Hispanic women in urban settings, we adapted an evidence-based community health worker (CHW)-delivered screening education and referral intervention ( Cultivando la Salud) developed and evaluated among rural Mexican American migrant farmworkers. CHWs delivered the adapted intervention for Hispanics residing in Houston, Texas. The adaptation focused on intervention and implementation strategies, resulting in modifications, such as group education rather than one-on-one education and an expanded cancer prevention coaching and navigation intervention to remove barriers and facilitate access to care. Aim: We examined the effect of the adapted intervention on increasing Pap and mammography screenings. Methods: To assess effectiveness, we conducted a randomized controlled trial among nonadherent women based on American Cancer Society screening guidelines. CHWs recruited women in community settings using structured eligibility forms, and bilingual data collectors confirmed eligibility, consented women, and conducted telephone-based baseline and 6-month follow-up surveys. We conducted both intent-to-treat and per-protocol analyses using logistic regression to evaluate intervention effect on mammogram and Pap completion. Covariates significant in univariate analyses ( P < 0.20) were included in the final models, and time to follow-up was adjusted in per protocol analyses. Results: We enrolled 1,025 women and randomized women to intervention and control (delayed intervention) groups. Among women followed-up, 39.9% received a mammogram in the intervention group compared with 20.3% in the control group ( P = 0.001) and 55.8% received a Pap screening in the intervention group compared with 27.4% in the control group ( P = 0.001). Women in the breast cancer screening intervention group had 2.02 increased odds of receiving a mammogram compared with women in the control group, based on the adjusted intent-to-treat analysis (adjusted OR=2.02, 95% CI: 1.42-2.87) and 2.17 time greater screening odds in the adjusted per protocol analysis (adjusted OR=2.17, 95% CI: 1.48-3.18). Women in the Pap screening intervention group had 1.84 increased odds of completing a Pap screening based on the adjusted intent-to-treat analysis (adjusted OR=1.85, 95% CI: 1.22-2.80) and 3.09 increased odds based on the adjusted per protocol analysis (adjusted OR=3.09, 95% CI: 1.88-5.08). Conclusion: This RCT intervention trial provides evidence that the adapted intervention effectively increased breast and cervical cancer screenings among underserved Hispanic women. Future intervention and implementation research to further strengthen the intervention effect is needed.

Intercultural Communication and the Central States Region

This reflection essay describes the Central States Region as an area rich in intercultural communication. González describes Mexican American migrant farmworker organizing as an intercultural activity since the union activists attempted to influence both Mexican heritage and European heritage audiences. González also describes the many interculturalists working in the Midwest who influenced his early research.

Hay que Sufrir: The meaning of suffering among former Mexican American migrant farmworkers

This interpretive essay examines the meaning of suffering among former Mexican American migrant farmworkers in Michigan. Sufrimiento/suffering is presented as a sociological concept that has material, spiritual and collective dimensions, and aligns with the concept of social suffering. The concept of suffering mediates the experiences of farmworkers by providing meaning to the harsh realities of their lives. Suffering is understood by participants in one of several ways: (i) as necessary for personal growth and learning, (ii) as a pathway to God, (iii) as a source of resiliency and (iv) as necessary sacrifice for the future of their children. Suffering points to multidimensional aspects of the lives of former migrants and serves as a sign used by them to interpret and re-interpret hardships endured and to justify their actions through the anguish and resilience embedded in social suffering.

What was it like?: teaching history and culture through young adult literature

This practical book is a great resource for teachers who want to engage their students with young adult literature. The author presents in-depth, instructional units centered on historical conflicts and texts that will help students to better understand other cultures and time periods. An array of active learning strategies place students close to the featured novel or memoir while meeting standards and addressing a broad range of critical thinking skills. Historical themes center on: the Depression; Mexican American migrant farm workers; children during the Holocaust; the internment of the Japanese during WWII; the Japanese occupation of Korea; the U.S. Civil Rights Movement; the experience of U.S. soldiers and children affected by the Vietnam War. This book features: depictions of active learning in the English classroom, including many examples of student work with accompanying photos, web pages, and more; a variety of adaptable assignments designed to promote empathy and deepen students' awareness of the world around them; and, young adult literature that has proven to be of interest to students and relevant to their lives.

Evaluation of Mexican American migrant farmworker work practices and organochlorine pesticide metabolites

Evaluation of Mexican American migrant farmworker work practices and organochlorine pesticide metabolites

Evaluation of Mexican American migrant farmworker work practices and organochlorine pesticide metabolites.

Epidemiologic studies often must rely upon questionnaire data to assess past exposures. The ability of questionnaires to rank migrant farmworkers according to past pesticide exposure is not known. We conducted a pilot feasibility study to measure a panel of 21 organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and correlate levels with reported occupational exposures in 26 Mexican-American migrant farmworkers in Baytown, Texas. The Migrant Farmworker Questionnaire developed by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) was administered and each participant donated a blood sample. Three OCPs [mean (ppb) levels: mirex 1.8, DDT 1.0, and trans-nonachlor 0.7] were detected despite the fact that these chemicals have been banned in the US for many years, and the detected levels were far higher than the standard provided by the referent laboratory. Work clothes, protective attire, and self-reported pesticide exposures were significant predictors of OCP exposure. Similarly, personal hygiene, length of employment, and number of duties also predicted OCP exposure. The results of this study indicate that data obtained from standardized questionnaires may be reasonable indicators of occupational exposure when biomarker data are not available.

Parental factors correlated with developmental outcome in the migrant head start child

This study examined parental correlates of developmental outcomes among Mexican American migrant farmworker children. Sixty children, their parents, and their current teacher were interviewed. Parents were interviewed to assess psychological state (mastery, self-esteem, depression), family stress, social support, parenting behavior, and the children's developmental outcomes (behavioral problems, a general cognitive index, and peer acceptance). Teachers' reports were secured regarding child behavioral problems and peer acceptance. Regression analysis revealed that maternal parenting style accounted for a significant amount of the variance in child behavior problems reported by the mothers, while maternal social support helped to explain the variance in peer acceptance reported by the children. The more rejecting the maternal parenting style, the more child behavior problems were reported by the mother. Children of mothers who experienced social support reported more peer acceptance. Father parenting style and social support also helped to predict a significant amount of the variance in mother report of child behavior problems and teacher rating of child behavior problems. Unexpectedly, the more social support reported by the father, the more rejecting the parenting style, the more child behavior problems were reported by the mother, but fewer were the child behavior problems reported by the teacher.

Maternal Acceptance/Rejection of Mexican Migrant Mothers

This study examined correlates of maternal acceptance of preschool children in a sample of Mexican-American migrant farmworker mothers, including problems in life conditions (education, employment, relatives, friends, partner/spouse, children, health, housing, and finances) and social support (task, emotional, source, satisfaction, accessibility). One hundred Mexican-American mothers of preschoolers who participated in the Texas Migrant Council's Headstart Program were interviewed with regard to demographic information, social support, and problems in life conditions. The results supported the hypothesis that total social support accounts for more variation in maternal acceptance/rejection than problems in life conditions alone. Social support accounted for 75% of the variance in maternal acceptance/rejection of preschool children, and accessibility to support predicted the largest proportion of the variance. The results suggest that it is important to identify Mexican-American migrant farmworker mothers isolated from social support, since such isolation, in combination with problems in life conditions, places their children at higher risk for maternal rejection.

Correlates of Maternal Depression Among Mexican‐American Migrant Farmworker Mothers

This study examined correlates of maternal depression among Mexican-American migrant farmworker mothers. One hundred Mexican-American migrant farmworker mothers of preschoolers who participated in the Texas Migrant Council's Headstart program were interviewed. The results suggested that this sample of mothers was at risk for depression. Those mothers who had child care support available and whose problems were taken seriously when shared were less likely to become depressed than mothers who did not have such support.

The health-seeking process of Mexican-American migrant farmworkers.

The health-seeking process of Mexican-American migrant farmworkers.

Grade Level Attainment Among Migrant Farm Workers in South Texas

An investigation into the extent and causes of dropping out of school among Mexican-American migrant farm workers in south Texas was conducted. The correlations between the criterion of highest grade level attained and academic performance, attendance, liking of various aspects of school, attitudes about the importance of school, participation in school activities, family and peer pressures, family problems, migration patterns, and demographic factors were examined. Data from school records and responses to a questionnaire were obtained from a sample of 120 migrant students in three small school districts in the Coastal Bend region of Texas. Analysis of the information revealed that 76% of the sample failed to complete high school. While a number of variables were found to be significantly correlated with staying in school, a multiple regression analysis suggested that only five factors had a direct relationship. Students who were involved in school groups, who attended extracurricular events, who had low absenteeism, whose migratory trips were of short duration, and who did not feel poorer than other students were likely to stay in school longer than other migrant students. These five variables had a multiple correlation of R = .69 with grade level attainment. It was suggested that intervention strategies might focus on increasing the involvement of the migrant student in school activities, perhaps through paying them for participation.