Exploring a rural Latino community’s perception of the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

Objectives

The purpose of our study was to understand the perception of the Latino community in a rural state regarding COVID-19. Over one third of national COVID-19 cases are among Latinos, likely due to an increased prevalence of comorbid risk factors and social determinants of health that make following precautions difficult.

Design

Respondents were recruited using snowball sampling as part of a previous effort to establish an academic-community partnership with Latinos in the area. In April 2020, we conducted 14 semi-structured interviews in Spanish with participants over the phone. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed into Spanish, and translated to English. We employed the framework approach in a thematic analysis using NVivo 12.

Results

Common themes were a wariness of news appearing on social media, generalized worry, and the use of natural medicines to maintain health. Respondents followed recommended guidelines to protect their own health, though expressed concern that members of their community were not.

Conclusions

We offer insights into the perception of Latinos of the COVID-19 pandemic in a rural state. Our findings may influence communication techniques of local health departments and offer a way to understand how this often-overlooked community deals with the pandemic.

KEYWORDS:

• Immigrant
• minority
• pandemic
• qualitative

Acknowledgments

This study was funded by a seed grant from the Office of Outreach and Engagement at Montana State University. Research reported in this publication was also supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number P20GM103474. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. The study procedures were approved by the Institutional Review Board at the University, and verbal informed consent was collected prior to data collection.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Montana State University: [Outreach and Engagement Grant]; National Institute of General Medical Sciences: [grant number P20GM103474].