226129 A tale of two cities: The challenges of addressing the mental health needs of detained immigrants in rural and urban America

Monday, November 8, 2010 : 11:00 AM - 11:15 AM

Molly M. Scott, MPP , Labor, human services, and population, The Urban Institute, Washington, DC
  
Immigration enforcement activities severely impact undocumented workers across the country on an every day basis. However, little research has focused on the challenges of meeting their resulting mental health needs within widely varying community contexts. We present the results from our longitudinal qualitative study of the mental health, treatment seeking and receipt, and support networks of immigrants detained in 2008 worksite raids. The study contrasts the experiences from a small rural community (Postville, Iowa) with those from a large urban area (Van Nuys, California). Our findings provide rare insight into the unique challenges that different community contexts present in terms of addressing the mental health needs of detained immigrants. We also identify the approaches with the best potential to mitigate stress and discuss how interventions should be targeted to reach immigrants with the highest levels of mental health risk and/or the lowest propensity to seek help.

Learning Areas:
Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs

Learning Objectives:
1. Identify the most successful approaches to mitigating mental health distress in Van Nuys and Postville. 2. Identify which sub-groups of workers may need targeted intervention. 3. Describe barriers to mental health care in both sites. 4. Contrast positive and negative experiences of workers with professional mental health professionals. 5. Articulate how the lessons learned from Postville and Van Nuys should inform efforts to respond to on-going immigration enforcement.

Keywords: Immigrants, Mental Health Services

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the primary author of a journal article in development on this topic and co-authored a full report on the impact of immigration enforcement activities on children and families released by the Urban Institute in February 2010.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3104.0: Policy Options and Systems Strategies for Decreasing Health Access Disparities for Immigrants to US