Identifying and Addressing Genetic Counseling Challenges among Indigenous People of Oaxaca—One Center's Experience with Two Immigrant Farmworker Families in the Central Valley of California

Abstract

An important aspect of genetic counseling is the recognition of and adaptation to the socio-cultural uniqueness of the different populations that a genetics clinic serves. The Central Valley of California is home to a large population from Mexico, with a significant proportion of indigenous ancestry originating from the state of Oaxaca. We report on our experience with two families of this community—one extended family with an early lethal inborn error of metabolism and the other with a chronic disfiguring form of ichthyosis. We identified multiple important factors that needed to be considered, including the matching of language dialects, adaptation to different social interaction conventions, acknowledgement of traditional medicine beliefs, and effective transmission of genetic terms and concepts, all of which should be incorporated into the interactions with these families when aiming to provide comprehensive genetic counseling.

Advancing the Health of Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers in the United States: Identifying Gaps in the Existing Literature, 2021

“…As shown in Table 4, this literature is not equally developed across selected topic areas and remains sparse overall, representing just 8.2% of the farmworker health literature. (Gadon et al, 2001), California (Record, 1959), Connecticut (Townsend, 2020), North Carolina (Ciesielski et al, 1991), New York (Black; Chi, 1986), New York (Watson et al, 1985), Texas (Coles, 1965) Bracero and H2A Visa 17 North Carolina-H2A (Arcury et al, 2014;Arcury et al, 2015;Arcury et al, 2016;Grzywacz et al, 2007;Kraemer Diaz et al, 2016;Mirabelli et al, 2010;Quandt, Summers, et al, 2013;Robinson et al, 2011;Sandberg et al, 2016;Tribble et al, 2016;Vallejos et al, 2011;Whalley et al, 2009), United States-Bracero (Barrientos, 2015;McElroy & Gavett, 1965;Zárate, 2018) (Jacobson et al, 1987), Florida (Bolduc, 2018), North Carolina (Ciesielski et al, 1993), New York (Black and Haitian (Watson et al, 1985)) Indigenous 11 California (Mixteco/Zapoteco Maxwell, Young, Moe et al, 2018;Maxwell, Young, Rabelo Vega, et al, 2015), Mixteco (Young et al, 2019), from Oaxaca (Shen et al, 2018), Oregon-indigenous (Donlan & Lee, 2010;Farquhar et al, 2009; Regarding the use of technology to address farmworker health, we identified 11 records. Just two records addressed telehealth delivery for farmworkers (Norton et al, 1997;Price et al, 2013), and one addressed use of geographical information systems to infor...…”

“…As shown in Table 4, this literature is not equally developed across selected topic areas and remains sparse overall, representing just 8.2% of the farmworker health literature. (Gadon et al, 2001), California (Record, 1959), Connecticut (Townsend, 2020), North Carolina (Ciesielski et al, 1991), New York (Black; Chi, 1986), New York (Watson et al, 1985), Texas (Coles, 1965 (Jacobson et al, 1987), Florida (Bolduc, 2018), North Carolina (Ciesielski et al, 1993), New York (Black and Haitian (Watson et al, 1985)) Indigenous 11 California (Mixteco/Zapoteco Maxwell, Young, Moe et al, 2018;Maxwell, Young, Rabelo Vega, et al, 2015), Mixteco (Young et al, 2019), from Oaxaca (Shen et al, 2018), Oregon-indigenous (Donlan & Lee, 2010;Farquhar et al, 2009;McCauley et al, 2013;Murphy et al, 2015) Puerto Rican 2 Massachusetts (Ortiz, 1980), New Jersey (Quinones et al, 1976) Yemeni 1 California (Basch et al, 1975)…”

Indigenous Communities From Oaxaca, Mexico. Health Problems, Opportunities And Challenges In Public Health With Special Attention In Mental Health

“…A study on the genetic counseling needs of Indigenous People of Oaxaca in the Central Valley of California (17) reinforced the value of community involvement. This study reported on two Oaxacan families, "one extended family with an early lethal inborn error of metabolism and the other with a chronic disfiguring form of ichthyosis" (17) . This study emphasized the importance of recognizing the Rev.…”

Preparing genetic counselors to serve Native American communities

“…Indeed, perceived inability to establish relationships with tribal clinics and/or Native American health care providers was endorsed by our respondents to be a substantially more impactful factor in limiting culturally focused GC education than were lack of resources, lack of time, or a desire to prioritize issues relating to a different group. This provides a potential area of focus for future efforts, indicating the importance of looking to available mentors, existing leaders, and cultural brokers (Shen et al, 2018) in opening channels to address disparities and promote health equity.…”