Dataset Information

Immigrant health access in Texas: policy, rhetoric, and fear in the Trump era.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Since the 2016 presidential election, reports have suggested that President Trump's rhetoric and his administration's proposed policies could be exacerbating barriers to accessing health care for undocumented as well as lawfully present immigrants and their families in the United States. However, very little empirical work has analyzed this possibility or detailed how these reports and rhetoric have altered the health seeking behavior of mixed immigration status families.

Methods

Using a series of focus groups throughout Texas in both English and Spanish, this qualitative study analyzes changes to health access for immigrants. We consulted Community Health Workers to better understand the barriers encountered by their otherwise hard-to-reach undocumented clients and their families as they interface with the health system, revealing key insights about the changing nature of barriers to access under the Trump administration.

Results

We identify four key themes about the changing nature of immigrant health access in the United States: growing fear of interacting with health and social services; that social networks are paradoxically limiting health access in the current political climate; that the administration's rhetoric and proposed policies are impeding health seeking behavior; and that children are encountering new barriers to social program participation.

Conclusions

The Trump administration, its proposed immigration policies, and his rhetoric are posing new and significant barriers to health access for immigrants and their families.

SUBMITTER: Callaghan T

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6549327 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Immigrant health access in Texas: policy, rhetoric, and fear in the Trump era.

Callaghan Timothy T Washburn David J DJ Nimmons Katharine K Duchicela Delia D Gurram Anoop A Burdine James J

BMC health services research 20190605 1

<h4>Background</h4>Since the 2016 presidential election, reports have suggested that President Trump's rhetoric and his administration's proposed policies could be exacerbating barriers to accessing health care for undocumented as well as lawfully present immigrants and their families in the United States. However, very little empirical work has analyzed this possibility or detailed how these reports and rhetoric have altered the health seeking behavior of mixed immigration status families.<h4>M ...[more]

PMID: 31164114

Similar Datasets

Project description:OBJECTIVE:To assess whether recent anti-immigration rhetoric is significantly associated with inadequate prenatal care. METHODS:This was a population-based cohort study (2011-2017). In their native language, patients were consented and queried regarding country of origin and time in the United States. Additional variables were collected or abstracted from the medical record, including documentation and timing of prenatal visits. Based on relevance and prevalence during the study period, publicly available Google search trends were mined for the terms "Make America Great Again," "Mexico Wall," and "Deportation" by geographic region. The time of first deviation from the mode Google search popularity value for each term was ascertained (mode inflection date). Perinatal data was averaged over 15 days moving windows, and the Adequacy of Prenatal Care Utilization Index was used to categorically define inadequate prenatal care by validated standards. RESULTS:Twenty-four thousand nine hundred thirty-three deliveries occurred during the study period. A mode inflection date was extrapolated from Google trend analytics and used to define the period before change in trends use pre (before rhetoric) and post (after rhetoric). Coincident to the rhetoric change, there was a significant increase in days until the first prenatal visit, fewer prenatal visits, and a decreased trend of mean hemoglobin nadir among U.S. non-native Hispanic women (P<.001). Immigrant status was an independent predictor of inadequate prenatal care as defined by the Adequacy of Prenatal Care Utilization Index standard, with increased adjusted odds among Hispanic women (adjusted odds ratio 1.581, 95% CI 1.407-1.777 [1.4-1.8]) coincident with anti-immigration rhetoric. CONCLUSION:Our findings are of likely significant public health importance and suggest that recent anti-immigrant rhetoric is associated with adequate, timely, and regular access to prenatal care among nearly 25,000 deliveries in Houston, Texas.

Dataset Information

Immigrant health access in Texas: policy, rhetoric, and fear in the Trump era.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Immigrant health access in Texas: policy, rhetoric, and fear in the Trump era.

Similar Datasets

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