An examination of nervios among Mexican seasonal farm workers

Abstract

The purpose of this exploratory descriptive study was to examine a process model of the nervios experience of 30 Mexican seasonal farm workers. Focused interviews were conducted in Spanish to determine the workers' perspectives on their experiences of nervios while residing in rural, southwest Ontario. Data for analysis originated from variables created to represent key themes that had emerged from open coding of the interviews. Simultaneous entry, multiple regression analyses revealed that provocation, control salience, and cognitive sensory motor distress directly explained 67.2% of the variation in worker expressions of negative affectivity. The combination fear, feeling trapped, and giving in mediated the relationship of provocation, control salience and cognitive sensory motor distress to expressions of negative affectivity (R(2) = 88.1%). Control salience and its dampening effect on other elements of the nervios experience, however, appeared to be key to whether subjects experienced negative reactions to being provoked or distressed. This evidence points to nervios being a powerful, holistic idiom of distress with at least six variables contributing to its affective negativity. This information is important to our understanding of how nervios unfolds and for accurate specification of a nervios model for clinical practice and research. It also sets the stage for improved therapeutic alliances with nervios sufferers, and social action to reduce factors that provoke nervios.

Migrant Agricultural Workers and Their Socio‐Economic, Occupational and Health Conditions – A Literature Review

“…Characteristics of the studies regarding the impact of working hours on migrant healthcigarettes, to migrant farmworkers, which brings about a way of controlling and managing workers in situations of demanding and risky work (100). Similar patterns have been found in Canada and the United Kingdom (104,108). Mexican male seasonal farm workers in Ontario manifest cultural expressions of 'nervios' that are influenced, in part, by international capital--driven agribusiness over which they have little control (104).…”

“…Similar patterns have been found in Canada and the United Kingdom (104,108). Mexican male seasonal farm workers in Ontario manifest cultural expressions of 'nervios' that are influenced, in part, by international capital--driven agribusiness over which they have little control (104). Expressions of 'nervios' are variously described as idioms of distress, embodied metaphors of distress, even acts of resistance to unacceptable working and/or living conditions (102).…”

Working to eat: Vulnerability, food insecurity, and obesity among migrant and seasonal farmworker families

“…The expression of ''nerves'' among migrant farmworkers as an embodiment of distress over conditions of economic need and powerlessness was associated with migrant farm work in Canada [Mysyk et al, 2008;England et al, 2007]. Farmworkers work in environments where they have little control, are pressured by piece-work wages and the demands of completing farm work within constraints of timing due to weather and market and are required to work long hours without adequate breaks, all of which create high stress levels [Hiott et al, 2008].…”

Susto: Etiology of Mental Disorders in Mothers and Children in Mexico

“…You put it on the crown of the head and the joints. You do this three times, take a bath, and the day after you apply the cure; it's three cures and three baths [61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69].…”