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Oppression and Resilience Minority Health

Social Drivers of Mental Health and Family Well-Being Among Latinx Families

(PS8-67) Social Drivers of Mental Health and Family Well-being Among Latinx Families

Saturday, November 16, 2024
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM EST
Location: Franklin Hall, Level 4, Marriott Downtown
Abstract Text: Structural racism and discrimination shape adverse social drivers of health. The unique cluster of adverse, inequitable social conditions affecting Latinx individuals results in extreme stress on families. This stress can decrease family functioning and result in mental health symptoms for children, adolescents, and adults in the family system. Given the vast heterogeneity in terms of race, country of origin, socioeconomic status, immigration documentation status, circumstances of exit, migration journeys, and receiving context within the Latinx immigrant population, our study aimed to describe relationships between social drivers of health and Latinx immigrant family functioning. Therefore, this qualitative study characterized and examined social drivers of mental health and family functioning among Latinx immigrant families and described how immigrant families navigated these complex systems. Qualitative data was derived from human-centered design listening sessions with Latinx community partners (N = 12) as part of a larger parent study seeking to adapt the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy family intervention, Coping Together (CT), leveraging community-engaged methods. A hybrid approach to applied thematic analysis (inductive coding and deductive coding) was used to generate themes. Our findings revealed a complex interplay of adverse social conditions rooted in systemic oppression, which gave rise to acculturative stress at structural-, community-, and interpersonal-levels. Examples of these, respectively, include racism, sexism, and classism; underemployment, challenges obtaining documentaion, barriers to essential healthcare; and intergenerational language gaps between family members, to name a few. This acculturative stress, in turn, directly impacted individual experiences (e.g., mental health symptoms and marginalization) and influenced the family system (e.g., causing conflict, reduced communication, and disrupted parenting). Given the degree to which community partners discussed social drivers in relationship to family functioning, the CT adaptation integrated a form of resource referral to support families in navigating these complex systems. Ultimately, our findings hold important considerations for psychosocial interventions that address familial well-being among Latinx immigrant families.