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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Khiya Marshall, MPH¹, Ximena Urrutia, DrPH¹, Francisco Soto, MD, PhD, MPH², Elizabeth Treviņo, DrPH, MPH², and Claudia Coggin, PhD¹. (1) Social and Behavioral Sciences, UNTHSC School of Public Health, 3500 Camp Bowie Blvd., Fort Worth, TX 76107, 817-735-0325, xurrutia@hsc.unt.edu, (2) Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of North Texas School of Public Health, 3500 Camp Bowie, ME1-514, Fort Worth, TX 20742

Some Latinos living in the U.S. present sociodemographic characteristics that make them particularly vulnerable to social and health problems. Financial, educational, cultural, and language characteristics of foreign-born Latinos impact their health status and health care. Immigrant Latino women represent about one fifth of the total Latino population, however data on their health and access to care is limited. This study examined sociodemographic, migration, health status, and access to health care characteristics of immigrant Mexican women in Tarrant County, Texas. Forty one percent were undocumented. Mean age was 35.7 and 30.3 years for documented and undocumented women respectively. Overall, 80.3% did not speak English; however more documented women (31.4%) spoke English compared to those undocumented (4.5%), 16.5% of documented and 12.7% of undocumented women had completed 12 years of education. Nearly all of the undocumented (91.1%) lacked any form of health insurance compared to 58.3% of the documented, which were 7.4 times more likely to have health insurance (x2 =24.921, p<0.001). Overall, 8.2% perceived their health status as excellent, with no differences found between the two groups. Almost twice as many documented women reported having a regular source of care, 56.6% and 32.9% respectively (x2 = 10.510, p =0.001). These results highlight the need for providing health services for Latino immigrant women; especially the undocumented as they are not eligible for most federal and state programs. Health care for immigrants could be provided through affordable health insurance programs and decreased restrictions for participating in federal and state programs.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant will be able to

• Describe the demographic characteristics of immigrant Mexican women in Tarrant County, Texas.
• Identify access to care barriers that prevent immigrant Mexican women from accessing the health care system.
• Compare the health care barriers faced by documented and undocumented immigrant Mexican women.

Keywords: Immigrant Women, Barriers to Care

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation