Influences of immigration stress and occupational exploitation on Latina seasonal workers’ substance use networks: a qualitative study

Abstract

US female Latina seasonal farm workers (LSW) are a medically underserved community experiencing severe health disparities. We explored the relationship between alcohol and prescription medication, and LSW social networks using a qualitative approach. In 2015, this study used convenience sampling to recruit 28 LSWs in South Florida for three focus group discussions in Spanish. Focus groups were translated to English for analysis, which employed a general inductive approach. Themes included prescription medication distribution within networks, spirituality/religion practice with friends and family, and alcohol use with friends. Substance abuse prevention and treatment interventions should account for the unique needs of LSW.

Keywords:

• Latino seasonal workers
• qualitative research
• substance misuse
• social network
• immigration stress

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge women who participated in this study, our community partners, and mentors.

Declaration of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, Mariano Kanamori. The data are not publicly available due to restrictions (e.g. their containing information that could compromise the privacy of research participants).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported in part by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (awards #K99DA041494 PI: Kanamori, R00DA041494 PI: Kanamori), National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (awards #P20MD002288 PI: de la Rosa, U54MD002266 PI: de la Rosa), the National Institute on Mental Health (award #P30MH116867 Sub-award PI: Kanamori), and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (award 350 #P30AI050409 Sub-award PI: Kanamori). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the National Institute of Mental Health, or the National Institutes of Health.