Although the Haitian population in the United States continues to grow, there is a lack of instruments in Haitian Creole to assess risk factors associated with poor mental health such as migration-related stress. This study described the translation of the Demands of Immigration Scale (DIS) and evaluated psychometric properties, meaning equivalence, and understandability of the Haitian Creole/English DIS. I applied the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy translation procedures and recruited 76 first-generation Haitian immigrants to pilot test the DIS.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImportance: The number of active health care professionals has not kept pace with the increasing number of minoritized individuals in the US. The Summer Health Professions Education Program (SHPEP) was developed to alleviate this underrepresentation in the health workforce.
Objective: To evaluate students' changes in perceived barriers and motivators for entering and succeeding in professional school after SHPEP participation.
J Am Assoc Nurse Pract
June 2024
Background: Haitian Americans have been disproportionately exposed to risk factors known to play a significant role in the development of mental illness. Yet despite the documented effectiveness of mental health treatment, a high proportion of Haitian Americans with mental health disorders have not received care.
Local Problem: Internalized stigma of mental illness (ISMI) was reported as one of the primary reasons Haitian Americans do not seek help for mental illnesses, resulting in poor long-term outcomes for individuals and families in this community.
J Racial Ethn Health Disparities
November 2023
Background: There has been a concerning surge in maternal mortality among Hispanic women in recent years. Compromised mental health is present in nearly half of all maternal deaths, and risk factors include poor social support and depression.
Objective: Among Hispanic women who were born in the USA versus those not born in the USA, we sought to describe and compare social determinants of health and maternal psychological outcomes.
In the present scoping review, we explore whether existing evidence supports the premise that social determinants of health (SDoH) affect immigrant health outcomes through their effects on the microbiome. We adapt the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities' research framework to propose a conceptual model that considers the intersection of SDoH, the microbiome, and health outcomes in immigrants. We use this conceptual model as a lens through which to explore recent research about SDoH, biological factors associated with changes to immigrants' microbiomes, and long-term health outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRelocating and starting a new life in a foreign country may entail a constellation of new stressors for Haitian immigrants; thus, research that enhances our understanding of how this vulnerable population contextualizes migration-related stress is necessary. The objectives of this study were to: (a) identify what factors are associated with migration-related stress, and (b) describe which and why specific migration-related stressors were most significant from the perspective of those suffering from high migration-related stress post migration via the stress proliferation lens of the stress process model. In this mixed-methods, sequential, explanatory pilot study, first-generation Haitian immigrants ( = 76) were recruited to operationalize migration-related stress, using the Demands of Immigration Scale (DIS).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Objectives: Alzheimer's disease and related dementia (ADRD) is a major cause of death in the United States. While effective interventions have been developed to deliver palliative care to nursing home residents with ADRD, little work has identified effective interventions to reach assisted living (AL) residents with dementia.
Research Design And Methods: One hundred and eighteen AL residents with dementia from 10 different ALs in Florida participated.
Background: In late January, a worldwide crisis known as COVID-19 was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the WHO. Within only a few weeks, the outbreak took on pandemic proportions, affecting over 100 countries. It was a significant issue to prevent and control COVID-19 on both national and global scales due to the dramatic increase in confirmed cases worldwide.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHealth Soc Care Community
September 2020
Our global communities are becoming increasingly more diverse and interwoven; thus, research that enhances our understanding of the multidimensional relationship between depression and migration among distinct ethnic groups is imperative. This study examined the relationship between migration-related stress and depression and the extent to which that relationship is modified by other factors, through the lens of the stress process model. This cross-sectional pilot study used purposive sampling methods to recruit 76 first-generation Haitian immigrants living in South and West Florida from February 2018-May 2018.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe prevalence of obesity and obesity-related illnesses is higher among Hispanics (Latinos) than other racial and ethnic groups, and rates increase exponentially with the number of years living in the United States. Mounting evidence suggests that the origins of many chronic illnesses among disadvantaged minority groups may lie with cumulative exposure to chronic psychological and physiological stressors through the biobehavioral process of allostatic load (AL). Among immigrant Latinos, acculturation stress may contribute to an increase in AL and thus may be an independent risk factor for the development of obesity and obesogenic illnesses.
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