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SER Hispano Longitudinal Study

Completed
Conditions
Acculturation
Health
Stress
Interventions
Other: Observational
Registration Number
NCT03527654
Lead Sponsor
Duke University
Brief Summary

Hispanic immigrants to the U.S. are more likely to experience negative health outcomes the longer they live in the U.S. For example, over time Hispanic immigrants engage in riskier behaviors such as substance abuse, violence, and risky sex, and experience more depressive symptoms. The stress associated with the acculturation process, acculturation stress, and resilience at the individual, family, community, and societal levels appear to play important roles in influencing risks. However, little is known about the causal mechanisms linking acculturation stress, resilience, and health outcomes among Hispanic immigrants. Further, little is known about what precise types of stressors (e.g., occupational stress vs. discrimination) and resilience factors (e.g., individual coping vs. family support) have the most important influence on health trajectories of Hispanic immigrants. The proposed longitudinal study (N = 385) will investigate the effects of acculturation stress and resilience on co-occurring substance abuse, intimate partner violence, HIV risk, and depression (i.e., syndemic conditions) and biological stress among young adult Hispanic immigrants in the U.S. More specifically, the proposed project aims to: 1) test theoretical links between the cumulative impact of acculturation stress and resilience on syndemic conditions and biological stress among recent young adult Hispanic immigrants over a two-year period, and 2) identify the specific types of acculturation stressors and resilience factors at the individual, family, community, and societal levels that are most important in predicting syndemic conditions and biological stress among this population over time. Young adult low-income Hispanic immigrant men and women within the first 10 years of immigration will be followed for two years. Biopsychosocial data will be collected from participants at baseline, and then 6 months (FU1), 12 months (FU2), 18 months (FU3), and 24 months later (FU4). Culturally specific measures of acculturation stress and resilience will be used to assess for individual, family, community, and societal risk and protective factors for syndemic conditions. Blood and urine samples will be obtained from participants to measure systemic inflammation (IL 6, IL8, and IL 18) and oxidative stress (F2 isoprostanes), previously validated biomarkers for psychological stress. Various descriptive, univariate and multivariate statistics, including latent growth curve modeling, will be used to address aims 1-2. The findings from this study have the potential to identify risk and protective factors for the decay in heath among Hispanic immigrants. A precise and culturally informed understanding of these phenomena is foundational for designing interventions that can ultimately promote the health and wellbeing of Hispanic immigrants, the largest immigrant group in the U.S. This study also has the potential to lay the theoretical foundation for biopsychosocial health disparities research in other populations.

Detailed Description

Not available

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
390
Inclusion Criteria
  1. identifying as Hispanic or Latino,
  2. between 18 and 44 years of age,
  3. immigrating to the U.S., and
  4. residing in the the U.S. for at least 1 year.

Exclusion criteria will include:

  1. acute illness (e.g., cold, flu).

Participants do not need to be able to read, as the questions and responses will be read to the participants.

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Exclusion Criteria

Not provided

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Study & Design

Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Study Design
Not specified
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Hispanic ImmigrantsObservational-
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Change in syndemic conditions, as measured by the AUDIT, DAST, Revised Conflict Tactics Scale, the Partner table and STI History, the PHQ-9, and the GAD-7.Baseline, 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, 24 months

The AUDIT (Babor et. al., 2001) measure has 10 items that assess frequency of drinking and alcohol use disorder symptoms. The DAST (Skinner, 1982) measure, has 10 items that measure drug abuse symptoms. The Revised Conflict Tactics Scale (Strauss \& Douglas, 2004) has 24 items that assess conflict between partners and intimate partner violence. The Partner Table \& STI History (Gonzalez-Guarda et. al., 2011) has 25 items that assess current sexual practices and risk for sexually transmitted infections including HIV. The PHQ-9 (Kroenke et al., 2002) has 9 items that assess severity depression. The GAD-7 (Spitzer et. al., 2006) contains 7 items that assess anxiety for the individual.

Change in biological stress markersBaseline, 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, 24 months

The Inflammatory Cytokines lab test, measures systemic inflammation in body fluid samples (blood and Urine) specifically cytokines IL6, IL8 and IL18. The F2 Isoprostanes measures oxidative stress markers in body fluid samples (blood and Urine) within cells.

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Duke School of Nursing

🇺🇸

Durham, North Carolina, United States

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