Effects of Health Care Access on Maternal and Migrant Seasonal Farm Worker Women : Infant health of California.
Author: Torre, Adela de la
Date Published: 198?
Major problems of rural health care have been accessibility to quality medical care and occupational related illnesses. In California there have been problems due to the special nature of the agricultural labor force. Over the last decade, the migrant seasonal labor force has changed from one dominated by single Mexican origin males to one that also includes women. Many of these men and women have been migrating with their families and this has resulted in a unique set of health problems. Familial migration requires that we do not limit our analysis to occupational related illnesses but that we also examine the health of the entire family. This demands that we evaluate the health of women as mothers as well as seasonal migrant workers. Many of these women are of child bearing age and will give birth to children in the United States. We are concerned with the health problems related to this phenomena. The health decisions of these women are linked to their income, their legal status, their cultural ties and the accessibility of medical care. The positive relationship between access to adequate medical care and maternal and infant health, has been well established in the literature. In this paper, we will specifically address these links for the Mexican migrant seasonal labor force population. By examining the number of miscarriages and infant deaths and linking them to the health decisions of these women, we will test the hypothesis that increases in adequate medical care will have a positive impact on infant mortality rates of this population. In order to test this hypothesis, data from a sample of 148 seasonal migrant women farmworkers will be utilized to develop appropriate tests. In Section I, we will describe the survey sample and discuss relevant socioeconomic characteristics of the population. In Section II, we will analyze and evaluate our survey results and in Section III we will summarize our conclusions and discuss policy implications.
Date Published: 198?
Major problems of rural health care have been accessibility to quality medical care and occupational related illnesses. In California there have been problems due to the special nature of the agricultural labor force. Over the last decade, the migrant seasonal labor force has changed from one dominated by single Mexican origin males to one that also includes women. Many of these men and women have been migrating with their families and this has resulted in a unique set of health problems. Familial migration requires that we do not limit our analysis to occupational related illnesses but that we also examine the health of the entire family. This demands that we evaluate the health of women as mothers as well as seasonal migrant workers. Many of these women are of child bearing age and will give birth to children in the United States. We are concerned with the health problems related to this phenomena. The health decisions of these women are linked to their income, their legal status, their cultural ties and the accessibility of medical care. The positive relationship between access to adequate medical care and maternal and infant health, has been well established in the literature. In this paper, we will specifically address these links for the Mexican migrant seasonal labor force population. By examining the number of miscarriages and infant deaths and linking them to the health decisions of these women, we will test the hypothesis that increases in adequate medical care will have a positive impact on infant mortality rates of this population. In order to test this hypothesis, data from a sample of 148 seasonal migrant women farmworkers will be utilized to develop appropriate tests. In Section I, we will describe the survey sample and discuss relevant socioeconomic characteristics of the population. In Section II, we will analyze and evaluate our survey results and in Section III we will summarize our conclusions and discuss policy implications.
