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

Abstract

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.

“We left the crop there lying in the field”: Agricultural worker experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic in a rural US-Mexico border region

“…This is supported by Gonzalez et al (2021) , who found that 59% of adults in California immigrant families were very or somewhat worried about exposure to COVID-19 at their place of employment, compared to 45% of adults in non-immigrant families. The study results support findings from our quantitative study of agricultural workers in Imperial Valley ( Keeney et al 2022a , 2022b ), which found that foreign-born workers, regardless of citizenship status or current country of residence, experienced higher levels of stress. Although interviewees did discuss a wide variety of available resources and programs aimed to assist them during the pandemic, they did not mention the ‘Housing for the Harvest’ program as an option to help protect their families by quarantining away from them.…”

“…The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the already existing burdens and stressors of agricultural workers ( Keeney et al, 2022a ; COVID-19 Farmworker Study, 2020 ; Kerwin and Warren 2020 ; Reid et al, 2020 ; Haley et al, 2020 ). To improve the quality of lives of these critical workers, much work is still needed.…”

“…A study by Filosa et al (2022) which studied COVID-19 cases, deaths, and vaccinations in dyads of cities along the US/Mexico border found that border counties exhibited higher rates of COVID-19 mortality but also vaccination when compared to non-border counties in the United States. Previous work of ours in Imperial County, California, has shown that 40% of the daytime and resident agricultural workforce reported high-stress levels that pose significant mental health risks, as measured by the Migrant Farm Worker Stress Inventory ( Keeney et al, 2022a ).…”

Work-Life Stress during the Coronavirus Pandemic among Latina Farmworkers in a Rural California Region

“…Furthermore, death by suicide among foreign-born workers almost doubled from 2017 to 2018, in a non-pandemic year [2]. Increased mental health challenges and COVID-19 related stress associated with the loss of family members, reduction of income and work, and lack of personal protective equipment have been found among Hispanic/Latino, foreign-born farmworkers [3][4][5]. Studies have indicated that most people who die by suicide have a mental or emotional disorder, and depression and anxiety are associated with suicide attempts [6,7].…”

Pre- and during COVID-19 access to rural mental health care among agriculture communities in the Rocky Mountain Region.

“…Rural CBOs must begin developing partnerships to collaborate and coordinate information dissemination, education, and outreach efforts related to mental health and wellness toward farming populations. Trusted community collaborations have been found to play a pivotal role in registering Hispanic/Latino farmworkers for the COVID-19 vaccine (Keeney et al, 2022). Establishing and maintaining these collaborations could effectively disseminate vital public health information to a vulnerable and underserved population, often with high medical mistrust.…”