Employing a community based participatory research approach to bear witness: psycho-social impact of the 2010 earthquake on Haitians in Somerville, MA.

We employed a community-based participatory research approach to assess mental health among the Haitian community in the Somerville, MA area. The development of the survey coincided with the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, and so several questions related to the natural disaster were included in the analysis to increase understanding of the impact locally. We surveyed a convenience sample of 64 Haitians recruited with the assistance of the Somerville Haitian Coalition. The survey assessed demographic data, reasons for migrating to the area, response to the 2010 earthquake, and mental health. Mental health measures included the short versions of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and the Perceived Stress Scale. Participants reported high rates of stress and depression post-earthquake. On the CES-D, men reported higher average depression and stress scores than women (13.8 vs. 11 and 20.6 vs. 17.6). Our results suggest that social and family support resources may be beneficial to Haitians in our sample.

Occupational health and safety experiences among self-identified immigrant workers living or working in Somerville, MA by ethnicity, years in the US, and English proficiency.

In this community based research initiative, we employed a survey instrument predominately developed and administered by Teen Educators to assess occupational health risks for Haitian, Salvadoran, and Brazilian immigrants (n = 405) in Somerville, MA, USA. We demonstrate that a combined analysis of ethnicity, years in the US, and English proficiency better characterized the occupational experience of immigrant workers than considering these variables individually. While years in the US (negatively) and English proficiency (positively) explained the occurrence of health risks, the country of origin identified the most vulnerable populations in the community. Brazilians, Salvadorans, and other Hispanic, all of whom who have been in the US varying length of time, with varying proficiency in English language had twice the odds of reporting injuries due to work compared to other immigrants. Although this observation was not significant it indicates that years in the US and English proficiency alone do not predict health risks among this population. We recommend the initiation of larger studies employing c community based participatory research methods to confirm these differences and to further explore work and health issues of immigrant populations. This study is one of the small number of research efforts to utilize a contemporaneous assessment of occupational health problems in three distinct immigrant populations at the community level within a specific Environmental Justice context and social milieu.

Transferring knowledge about human subjects protections and the role of institutional review boards in a community-based participatory research project.

Among the first tasks in a collaboration between Tufts University and community organizations in Somerville, MA, was designing an interview instrument to assess occupational health needs among immigrant workers. Human subjects protections was a critical issue, but community partners were not well informed about the need for such protections or the role of the institutional review board (IRB). During research meetings, members of the team from Tufts trained community collaborators to work with research participants and organized a presentation by a key university IRB administrator. We present findings from the process evaluation of this project and suggest ways to (1) assess community partners' understanding about working with research volunteers, (2) train collaborators, and (3) involve IRBs.