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35th AM (2025) - Poster Session
“You Want to Leave, But” How Structural Barriers, ...
“You Want to Leave, But” How Structural Barriers, Substance Use, and Confinement Fueled Domestic Violence During..
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This qualitative study investigates how the COVID-19 pandemic intensified domestic violence (DV), mental health challenges, and care access barriers among immigrant agricultural communities in the Eastern Coachella Valley (ECV), a predominantly Latinx and Indigenous farming region of Southern California. The region experienced COVID-19 infection rates up to five times higher than surrounding areas, exacerbating existing structural vulnerabilities such as unstable employment, restrictive immigration policies, and inadequate healthcare investment.<br /><br />Using a Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) approach, researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with 12 uninsured, Spanish-speaking immigrant women—primarily agricultural workers—to explore their experiences of alcohol use, confinement, DV, mental distress, and obstacles to accessing care during the pandemic. Analysis via a socioecological framework revealed that alcohol-related domestic violence was a prominent theme, with participants reporting alcohol-triggered aggression often witnessed by children. Survivors frequently remained with abusive partners due to financial dependence, fear of retaliation, immigration status, and lack of alternative housing, underscoring systemic service gaps.<br /><br />Mental health care access was hindered by geographic distance, high costs, lack of insurance, provider shortages, stigma, fear of disclosure, and language barriers. While some women benefited from free counseling, cultural taboos and privacy concerns led others to avoid care. These intersecting structural, community, and household factors heightened vulnerability while also highlighting resilience.<br /><br />Limitations include the small, geographically specific sample and potential biases from self-reporting and translation. Future research directions include longitudinal studies on DV and mental health post-pandemic, intervention trials of bilingual services in community settings, evaluation of immigrant-protective policies, and quantitative assessments of alcohol use and DV prevalence in the region.<br /><br />Findings emphasize the urgent need for culturally responsive, affordable mental health services and targeted interventions addressing alcohol-related domestic violence within immigrant agricultural populations, especially under structural constraints amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Keywords
COVID-19 pandemic
domestic violence
mental health challenges
immigrant agricultural communities
Eastern Coachella Valley
Community-Based Participatory Research
alcohol-related violence
healthcare access barriers
Latinx and Indigenous populations
structural vulnerabilities
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