Occupational Stressors and Access to COVID-19 Resources among Commuting and Residential Hispanic/Latino Farmworkers in a US-Mexico Border Region

Hispanic/Latino and migrant workers experience high degrees of occupational stress, constitute most of California’s agricultural workforce, and were among the most impacted populations by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, relatively little is known about the occupational stress experienced by farmworkers who commute daily between the US and Mexico. Occupational stress is considered an imbalance between the demands at work and the capabilities to respond in the context of the workforce. The goal of this study is to determine the type and severity of stressors in daytime and resident farmworkers and how COVID-19 vaccination status contributes to these stressors. Interviews containing the Migrant Farmworker Stress Inventory (MSWSI) were administered to a sample of 199 Hispanic/Latino farmworkers in Imperial County, a multi-billion-dollar agriculture sector in the US. Principal factor analysis differentiated latent factors in the MFSWI. Simple linear regression models and correlations identified associations between MFWSI scores and sample characteristics. The MFWSI reduced to five stressor domains: Health and Well-Being Vulnerabilities, Inadequate Standards of Living/Unknown Conditions of Living, Working Conditions, Working Environment, and Language Barriers. Approximately 40 percent of the respondents reported significant stress levels, with foreign-born (p = 0.014) and older respondents (p = 0.0415) being more likely to experience elevated stress regardless of their nighttime residence. We found that Spanish-language COVID-19 outreach might have been particularly effective for workers who reported high stress from English-language communication (p = 0.001). Moreover, our findings point to the importance of worker and human rights to mitigate the high-stress foreign-born workers who live in Mexico and the US experience.

Handgrip and sex-specific cardiometabolic risk factors in Hispanic/Latino migrant farmworkers

Studies have suggested that handgrip strength might be a marker for cardiometabolic risk (CMR), but it has not been studied in Hispanic/Latino farmworker population. This study aimed to characterize absolute and relative handgrip strength in Hispanic/Latino farmworkers, and investigate the sex-specific association between handgrip strength and CMR factors. CMR factors and seated isometric absolute (the sum of both hands) and relative (absolute handgrip strength divided by body mass index) handgrip strengths were collected in 173 Hispanic/Latino farmworkers (mean age 35.1 ± 0.7 years; 49% female). The absolute and the relative handgrip strengths were 89.2 ± 1.8 kg, 3.3 ± 0.1 kg among males, and 56.5 ± 1.9 kg, 1.9 ± 0.1 kg among females, respectively. Age was correlated with absolute (r = − 0.17, p = 0.03) and relative handgrip strengths (r = − 0.28, p < 0.01). In males, absolute handgrip was related to triglycerides (r = − 0.25, p < 0.05), whereas relative handgrip was related to waist circumference (r = − 0.32, p < 0.01), waist/hip circumference ratio (r = − 0.36, p < 0.01), high-density lipoprotein (r = 0.24, p < 0.05), and triglycerides (r = − 0.35, p < 0.01). In females, absolute handgrip was related to fasting plasma glucose (r = − 0.28, p = 0.03), whereas relative handgrip was related to waist circumference (r = − 0.38, p < 0.01) and fasting plasma glucose (r = − 0.22, p < 0.05). Males had lower absolute handgrip strength when their triglycerides levels were at risk (p = 0.021), and lower relative handgrip strength when their plasma glucose (p = 0.034) and triglycerides (p = 0.002) levels were at risk. Females had lower relative handgrip strength when their plasma glucose (p = 0.001) and blood pressure (p = 0.004) were at risk. This study suggests that handgrip strength may be associated with sex-specific CMR factors in a Hispanic/Latino farmworker population.

Improving Detection of Depression Symptoms in Latino Farmworkers: Latino Farmworker Affective Scale

Latino farmworkers (LFWs) experience depression at a significant higher rate than non-Latino Whites; yet, research regarding depression-screening instruments in Spanish is scarce. The first author created a depression screener using terms used by LFWs to describe symptoms of depression. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the Latino Farmworker Affective Scale (LFAS-15) in accurately detecting symptoms of depression in this population as compared with the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI-18), and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CESD-10) using the DSM structured clinical interview (SCID) as the reference standard. Study results indicated that the LFAS-15, as well as the PHQ-9, and the BSI-18 performed. The data also indicated that the LFAS-15 has good internal consistency, measures primarily one construct (depression), demonstrated convergent validity with the SCID, and has good combined sensitivity and specificity. Recommendations for clinical practice, policy, and research are offered.

African American and Latino Workers in the Age of Industrial Agriculture

Extensive chemical and pesticide exposure in the post–World War II period highlights African American and Latino farmworkers’ shared encounters with coercive labor structures, state hostility, economic marginality, racial discrimination, and bleak working conditions. Drawing heavily on oral histories and traditional archival sources, this case study of Florida farm labor draws directly on workers’ lived experiences and sheds light on the modern labor and environmental history of southern farm work. Examining this deep history of exploitation and negligence illuminates the challenges facing the South’s new working class.

Latino Farmworkers and Under-Detection of Depression: A Review of the Literature

The history of Latino farmworkers in the United States is long and complex. Economic forces and often-contradictory immigration policies have given rise to patterns of undocumented immigration from Mexico and Central America by individuals and families looking for work. This review uses a Critical Multiculturalism lens to explore the incidence of depression in Latino farmworkers; the link between depression symptoms and the experience of migration, acculturation, poverty, and agricultural work; and the role of culture, structural issues, primary care providers’ inadequate training in mental health issues, and work conditions in the under-detection of depression in this population. Recommendations for clinicians and researchers are offered to improve detection of depression in Latino farmworkers.