Browsing by Subject "Migrant"
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Item Open Access Influence of social support on childhood vaccine uptake in a migrant community in Roatan, Honduras(2019-04-01) Watkins, KathrynAccording to the World Health Organization, greater social support from family, friends, and community members is correlated with better health outcomes. In the migrant community of La Colonia on the island of Roatán, Honduras, most residents are lower-income, young families who emigrate from the mainland seeking better job and educational opportunities. In the process of migration, families typically lose social support networks and structures they previously had access to. In a study in 2016, our team found that in comparison to the rest of Roatan, children living in La Colonia had lower vaccination coverage. In the current study, we sought to examine the role of social support on childhood vaccine uptake in La Colonia. In summer 2018, we completed fifty surveys of mothers with young children living in La Colonia. The survey included standardized social support questions to evaluate linkages between self-reported social connectedness and vaccine uptake. In addition, two focus groups with mothers of young children living in La Colonia were conducted to understand the ways that mothers leverage social support networks and CHW interactions to access and provide healthcare. Vaccination uptake among young children in La Colonia was above 97% for all but one vaccine; however, we found that some mothers reported difficulty accessing vaccines related to a lack of social support. We did not find any statistically significant relationship between vaccine uptake and social support from our survey social support scale, likely due to high vaccine uptake and small sample size of children with accessible vaccine cards at the time of the survey (n=35). We also found that mothers view churches as an acceptable social apparatus for dissemination of health knowledge and community-based childhood interventions. These results suggest that building social support in migrant communities is important for uptake of preventive behaviors, particularly vaccines, although more research is needed to determine if a statistically significant relationship exists between social support and vaccine uptake. Churches could be leveraged as venues to offer interventions aimed at increasing vaccine uptake and community knowledge about benefits of vaccinations.Item Open Access Intergenerational influences and Migration: Ruality and Adolescent Fertility in Lujan, Argentina(2013) Justman, Cydney ElizabethThis cross sectional study explores migration, intergenerational influences and social isolation as determinants of early pregnancy in Lujan's rural communities, which are home to generations of migrants from neighboring nations and northern provinces. Results suggest that, even when controlling for socioeconomics, migrant families and individuals experience higher levels of social isolation than their native-born neighbors; that migrant females are more likely to have a pregnancy before the age of 17; and that although first-generation born females (daughter of at least one migrant parent) have a lower average of age at first pregnancy, first-generation born females show a stronger trend of delaying first pregnancy than native-born and migrant females, diverging from the fertility norms of their parents' place of origin, and adopting the fertility norms of Lujan.
Addressing both migrant health and adolescent health can be challenging in low-resource settings. However, as the results of this study show, addressing the determinants of social isolation, which is significantly associated with high levels of adolescent fertility and adverse health outcomes, may be as simple as extending opportunities to engage in extracurricular activities, and strengthening social networks.
A small cohort of 119 women and girls were surveyed, and a total of 26 different places of origin were represented, including many of Argentina's Northern provinces and neighboring countries. This cross-sectional study was guided by the two following hypotheses:
1) First-generation born daughters and migrants have higher odds of having an early first pregnancy than their native-born counterparts.
2) First-generation born daughters will show a higher degree of divergence in age at first pregnancy from their mothers than native-born and migrant daughters, exhibiting successful fertility assimilation.
Hypothesis one, tested using multivariate logistic regression models, was partially supported by the results. Through mechanisms unique to migration, such as the distinct implications that rurality and social isolation have on migrant communities, migrants have higher odds of having an early first pregnancy than their native-born counterparts. Results for first-generation born (daughters of at least one migrant), although not statistically significant, do suggest that they as well have higher odds of having an early first pregnancy than their native-born counterparts.
Hypothesis two, tested using modified difference in differences models, was supported by the results of this study. Overall, first-generation born show a higher degree of divergence in age at first pregnancy from their mothers than native-born and migrants. First generation are having their first pregnancies at an average of 1.18 years later than their mothers, where native born and migrants overall divergence is negatively directed, and insignificant. The analyses show that intergenerational divergence in age at first pregnancy is responsive to period conditions as well as migration and/or assimilation processes. Overall, across the time periods (age cohorts), and migration categories, divergence suggests a slow but positive direction, where girls are starting to delay their first pregnancies. Again, this trend has the strongest degree in first generation born, suggesting successful fertility assimilation. The versatility of the data collected in this study allows for exploration of inter-generational influences and migration as both separate and inter-related mechanisms by which reproductive health outcomes are affected.
1) First-generation born daughters and migrants have higher odds of having an early first pregnancy.
2) First-generation born daughters will show more deviation in age at first pregnancy from their mothers than native-born daughters.
Through logistic regression analyses, both hypotheses were tested. Hypothesis one was supported by the results. Through mechanisms unique to migration, such as a unique experience of rurality and social isolation, migrants and daughters of migrants have increased odds of having an early first pregnancy. Hypothesis two was not supported by the results of this study, and show that native-born females have a strong and negative deviation in age at first pregnancy from their mothers, migrants have a strong positive deviation in age at first pregnancy from their mothers, and first-generation born have no significant deviation.
While not initially intended, this study allows for exploration of inter-generational influences and migration both separate and inter-related mechanisms by which reproductive health determinants are affected.
Item Open Access The Lobby That Cried Wolf(2010-12-10) Amgott, JonathanThis thesis examines the effects of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA) on the American agricultural industry. This industry prospered throughout the 20th century regardless of favorable immigration reform. IIRIRA contained a particularly strong combination of border security and workplace provisions which posed the most serious policy threat yet to the industry‘s immigrant labor supply. However, the history of American immigration policy suggests that the legislation would not be sufficiently implemented to achieve its intended effects. Interrupted time series analysis of farm worker employment data demonstrates a sharp increase in wage and hours per week growth after the implementation of IIRIRA. Mexican migrant data corroborates the hypothesized IIRIRA influence by demonstrating a shift out of agricultural occupations and away from traditional state destinations. Additional specifications do not support alternative explanations based on changes in minimum wage or welfare legislation. Thus, all evidence strongly suggests that IIRIRA is the first piece of American immigration legislation with adverse consequences for the U.S. agricultural industry.