Beyond Access: Healthcare/Social Services Challenges and Cultural Resilience in Latinx Oral Histories from Lawrence, MA
Presenter: Nylla Henriquez
Faculty Sponsor: Daniel F. López-Cevallos
School: UMass Amherst
Research Area: Education & Educational Research
Session: Poster Session 6, 4:15 PM - 5:00 PM, 163, C29
ABSTRACT
Latinx communities in the United States experience persistent health disparities, including language barriers, lack of health insurance coverage, and systemic mistrust. In Lawrence, Massachusetts, a majority Latinx city, these disparities have been shaped by immigration history, socioeconomic conditions, and cultural & sociopolitical context. This project examines how barriers to health and social services co-exist along different forms of Latinx cultural resilience. This study applies two conceptual frameworks (Arts & Culture in Public Health and Yosso’s Community Cultural Wealth) to analyze how storytelling, cultural identity, and community practices actively function as protective factors in the face of structural health and social services disparities. The Somos Latinos archive included 37 oral histories. After an initial review, five were selected based on relevance to health, access to care, migration-related stress, family dynamics, and cultural identity. A thematic analysis approach was used to identify recurring patterns across interviews. Preliminary findings depict themes of migration-related hardship but also reliance on community programs, and the importance of having bilingual support services. Several of the interviews describe using specific social services programs, such as parenting and education support initiatives. Community organizations and churches seemed to have a significant role in supporting Latinx immigrants to navigate challenges. In conclusion, this study demonstrates how oral histories and cultural storytelling can serve as valuable qualitative data in public health research, and underscores the importance of integrating arts and community cultural wealth into health equity work.RELATED ABSTRACTS
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