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Limited research has examined the health implications for youth working in United States tobacco production. Agricultural labor is hazardous, yet youth are legally permitted to be hired as farmworkers. Many youth farmworkers are members of the vulnerable Latino farmworker community. In North Carolina, youth work in many agricultural crops including tobacco. A sample of 152 Latino youth farmworkers ages 12–20 years (M = 16.7, SD = 2.0) across 19 North Carolina counties completed a cross-sectional survey and provided saliva samples in 2019. Surveys detailed personal and work characteristics. Saliva samples were analyzed for salivary cotinine and reported in geometric means (ng/ml). Bivariate associations were used to delineate the relationship between personal and work characteristics with salivary cotinine levels. Cotinine levels ranged from 0.05 to 313.5 ng/ml. Older age and working in tobacco were significantly associated with higher salivary cotinine levels. For every one year increase in age, there was a 31% increase in mean salivary cotinine levels (b = 1.31; 95% CI = [1.15–1.50]; p <.0001). Youth tobacco workers' (n = 15) salivary cotinine levels were 890% higher than those not working in tobacco (n = 137) (13.26, 95% CI = [5.95–29.56] ng/ml compared to 1.34, 95% CI = [1.03–1.75] ng/ml (p <.0001)). Latino youth tobacco workers are exposed to nicotine through their work. This exposure presents serious risk of Green Tobacco Sickness (acute nicotine poisoning) and other health concerns given the growing evidence for risk of epigenetic changes negatively affecting long-term cognitive function. Policy is urgently needed to protect this vulnerable population of adolescent workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To solicit information/suggestions from prostate cancer survivors to improve survivorship experiences specific to work/workability. The study employed a qualitative/phenomenological approach. Black/African-American and white prostate cancer survivors who: (1) had prostatectomy or radiation therapy 6–36 months prior, (2) were working for pay within 30 days before having treatment, and (3) expected to be working for pay 6 months later (n = 45) were eligible for this study. Survivors were engaged in 60-to-90-minute structured interviews. Content analysis was used to ascertain prominent themes. Participants had the following recommendations for survivors: ask about research on treatment options and side effects; speak with other survivors about cancer diagnosis; and inform family/friends and employers about needed accommodations. Considerations for family/friends emphasized the significance of instrumental (e.g. help finding information) and emotional support (e.g. encouragement). Employer/co-worker considerations most often related to work-related accommodations/support and avoiding stigmatization of the survivor. Considerations for healthcare providers commonly included the provision of unbiased, plain-language communication about treatment options and side effects. No major differences existed by race. Needs of employed PrCA survivors, regardless of their race or treatment type, are commonly related to their desire for informational, instrumental, and/or emotional support from family/friends, employers/co-workers, and healthcare providers. The requested supports are most often related to the side effects of prostate cancer treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Providing health program information to vulnerable communities, such as Latino farmworkers, is difficult. This analysis describes the manner in which farmworkers receive information about the Affordable Care Act, comparing farmworkers with other Latinos. Methods: Interviews were conducted with 100 Latino farmworkers and 100 urban Latino North Carolina residents in 2015. Results: Most farmworkers had received health information from a community organization. Trusted sources for health information were health care providers and community organizations. Sources that would influence decisions to enroll were Latino nurses and doctors, religious leaders, and family members. Traditional media, including oral presentation and printed material at the doctor’s office, were preferred by the majority of farmworkers and non-farmworkers. Farmworkers used traditional electronic media: radio, television, and telephone. More non-farmworkers used current electronic media: e-mail and Internet. Conclusions: Latino farmworkers and non-farmworkers prefer traditional media in the context of a health care setting. They are willing to try contemporary electronic media for this information. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Farmworkers in the United States experience high rates of injury and illness but have limited access to conventional health care. Farmworkers are often from countries that have active traditional healers, so understanding the use of traditional healers among farmworkers is important. This pilot study (1) describes the use of traditional healers among farmworkers and (2) compares the use of traditional healers by farmworkers with other Latino immigrants. Interviews were conducted in 2015 with 100 Mexican farmworkers (80 men, 20 women) and 100 Mexican immigrant non-farmworkers (50 men, 50 women) in North Carolina. Most farmworkers (78%) had H-2A visas. More farmworkers (64%) than non-farmworkers (41%) had ever used traditional healers. Among farmworkers, 21% (vs. 11% of non-farmworkers) had used curanderos, 54% (vs. 32%) sobadores, 43% (vs. 21%) hueseros, 11% (vs. 13%) yerberos, and 4% (vs. 6%) espiritualistas. More farmworkers had used a traditional healer in the past year (16% vs. 8%), but fewer had used this healer in the United States (4% vs. 8%). Among all participants, males (58.5%) more than females (41.4%) (P =.0214), and returning to Mexico annually (64.1%) more than who do not (45.1%) (P =.0086) had ever used any traditional healer. This pilot study indicates the need for further research that documents the use of traditional healers by Latino farmworkers with diverse visa statuses, from countries in addition to Mexico, and in other regions in the United States. This research should also delineate the specific illnesses and injuries for which Latino farmworkers use traditional healers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immigrant rights have become increasingly contentious and partisan issues in the United States, and especially within the U.S. healthcare system. It is particularly essential to pay attention to Latinx immigrants—the largest immigrant and uninsured population in the United States. Latinx immigrants face many structural and legal challenges that may impact their biomedical healthcare access and treatment, creating a state of liminality or in-betweenness, especially when managing a chronic illness such as diabetes, hypertension, or arthritis. Using qualitative methods at a free healthcare clinic in Central Texas, the study reveals how the chronic illness narrative becomes inextricable from the immigrant narrative for this particular group, and how a unique 'dual-liminality' emerges from living with both an immigrant status and chronic condition. This study also introduces how Gloria Anzaldúa's theory of nepantla can be used to push existing understandings of migrant liminality in medical anthropology by reframing the experiences of U.S. Latinx immigrants with chronic illness as ones of opportunity. Nepantla functions as a novel theoretical lens to better understand how Latinx immigrants may regain agency in their chronic illness management and promote social change by helping others in similar situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study systematically reviewed literature examining the influence of the rural built environment on Latinos' health outcomes and behaviour in the United States. A secondary aim of the study was to identify strategies developed to address challenges in the rural built environment affecting Latinos' health. Design: This study followed the reporting guidelines set forth by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement. Articles included in the final analysis clearly linked Latino health outcomes to characteristics of the rural built environment. Results: Of the nearly 2,500 articles identified in the initial search, the final review included approximately 146 full-text sources. The majority of the articles focused on aspects of Latinos' physical (n = 68), behavioural (n = 43), and mental health (n = 23). Conclusions: Rural Latino neighbourhoods in the United States possess limited access to health care, internet, transportation, and recreation infrastructure, which negatively impacts health outcomes and behaviours. Strategies developed to mitigate these issues include but are not limited to: the use of telecommunications to distribute health information; the use of community health workers and mobile clinics to increase awareness and availability of select health services; the use of worksite trainings and adaptations to the workplace; and the promotion of safety net programmes, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Programme for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). This review supports the need for a more robust research agenda documenting the health experiences of rural Latinos of various nationalities, age groups, and genders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We draw on gender theory and neo-institutional theory to examine the impact of workplace characteristics and family demands on negative job-to-home and home-to-job spillover. Our multivariate analyses of the 1997 National Study of the Changing Workforce data indicate that family-supportive workplace cultures reduce negative spillover in both directions, whereas the availability of company policies, such as dependent care benefits and flextime, do not. Our results also show that family demands increase spillover more for women than for men. Our findings suggest that the atmosphere of the workplace is more important than the availability of company policies in reducing negative spillover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was intended to help employees meet short-term family demands, such as caring for children and elderly parents, without losing their jobs. However, recent evidence suggests that few women and even fewer men employees avail themselves of family leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act. This paper examines the organizational, worker status, and salience, need factors associated with knowledge of family leave benefits. We study employees covered by the FMLA using the 1996 panel of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to ascertain what work and family factors influence knowledge of leave benefits Overall, 91 percent of employed FMLA-eligible women report they have access to unpaid family leave, compared to 72 percent of men. Logistic regression analyses demonstrate that work situations more than family situations affect knowledge of family leave benefits and that gender shapes the impact of some work and family factors on awareness. Furthermore, work and family situations do not explain away the considerable gender difference in knowledge of family leave. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]