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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Cecilia Rosales, MD, MS¹, Jill De Zapien¹, Scott Carvajal, PhD, MPH², Raquel Rubio-Goldsmith, JD, MA³, Daniel Martinez, MS³, Samantha Sabo, MPH¹, and Melissa McCormick, MA³. (1) Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona, 1435 N Fremont, Tucson, AZ 85721, 520-626-8971, crosales@u.arizona.edu, (2) Assistant Professor of Mexican American Studies and Public Health, University of Arizona, Cesar E Chavez Building, Room 207, Tucson, AZ 85721, (3) Mexican American Studies and Research Center, University of Arizona, Cesar E Chavez Building, Room 207, Tucson, AZ 85721

The study delineates the nature and frequency of human and civil rights violations in a community sample and quantitatively examines their relations with participants' mental and physical health status. The community sample (over 80% Latino; 30% below the poverty line) is near the US-Mexico border where mistreatment is highly prevalent regardless of individuals' legal status, and includes a randomized sample of 500 adult residents surveyed at their home. The study uses existing typologies of mistreatment and health, though such typologies have not been integrated in such a way in any other previous investigations. In this presentation we will document the frequency and types of human rights violations of Southern Tucson residents and to compare their health responses (mental and physical health indicators, including diabetes, substance use, and service utilization and availability) to regional, national and bi-national (US and Mexico) data. We also will examine the inter-relationships between human rights violations, health indicators, and socio-demographics (e.g., resident status, socio-economic status, gender, skin color, and current orthogonal markers of acculturation and ethnic identity).

The study is funded in part by the newly established Center for Health Equality at the University of Arizona, funded through the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD). CHE employs a grassroots strategy that matches the needs of the community with the strengths of the local institution.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe a rational where enhanced border enforcement could lead to high stress, and in turn, to other negative mental and physical health outcomes in a border community.
• Identify empirical relationships between community-level health disparities and mistreatment from authorities

Keywords: Community Health, Human Rights

Related Web page: www.publichealth.arizona.edu/CHE/index.aspx

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation