The Border Community and Immigration Stress Scale: A Preliminary Examination of a Community Responsive Measure in Two Southwest Samples

Abstract

Background Understanding contemporary socio-cultural stressors may assist educational, clinical and policy-level health promotion efforts. This study presents descriptive findings on a new measure, the Border Community & Immigration Stress Scale (BCISS). Methods The data were from two community surveys as part of community based participatory projects conducted in the Southwestern US border region. This scale includes stressful experiences reflected in extant measures, with new items reflecting heightened local migration pressures and health care barriers. Results Stressors representing each main domain, including novel ones, were reported with frequency and at high intensity in the predominantly Mexican-descent samples. Total stress was also significantly associated with mental and physical health indicators. Discussion The study suggests particularly high health burdens tied to the experience of stressors in the US border region. Further, many of the stressors are also likely relevant for other communities within developed nations also experiencing high levels of migration.

Patient Preferences of a Low-Income Hispanic Population for Mental Health Services in Primary Care

“…The participation rate was almost 100 % with only five individuals refusing to take the survey. Although extremely high, this participation rate is in line with other surveys using CHWs in this population (Carvajal et al 2013). Table 1 summarizes our analysis of hold-out tasks.…”

A Comparison of Methods for Capturing Patient Preferences for Delivery of Mental Health Services to Low-Income Hispanics Engaged in Primary Care

“…The participation rate was extremely high (over 99%) with only five individuals refusing to take the survey; consistent with other studies using CHWs in this population. [48] Respondent characteristics are shown in Table 1. As can be seen this is a mostly immigrant (24.8% US-born), Hispanic (98.3%) and Spanish language-preferring (95.4%) population.…”

Development of the Stress of Immigration Survey

“…7,32,54 Latina immigrants who are experiencing high levels of stress and depressive symptoms may present in primary care settings with a variety of problems and complaints that are not always articulated in ways that are clear to clinical providers, e.g., somatization of distress. 55,56 …”

“…We used four sources to develop the conceptual framework and the draft survey for the SOIS: the literature related to stress among US Latino immigrants, relevant components of existing immigration stress measures, 30-32 our prior research with Latina transnational mothers, i.e., women who migrate leaving their children back in their home countries and mother from afar, 33 and our clinical experience with low-income Latinos, in particular with Mexican women. 34 …”

“…Three were designed to assess specific stressors or demands related to being an immigrant, including: the Demands of Immigration Scale (DOIS) , 30 the Barcelona Immigration Stress (BIS) Scale, 31 and the Border Community Immigration Stress (BCIS) Scale. 32 However, these measures were designed to assess immigration stress experienced by individuals in contexts that differ from those associated with the pre and post migration experience of lower income Mexicans who immigrate to the U.S. For example, the DOIS focuses on European and former Soviet Union immigrants living in the U.S. who had legal refugee status and relatively high levels of education. The BIS was designed to assess stress among Latino immigrants living in Spain and the Canary Islands where Spanish is the official language.…”