Problem: Low-wage/skill Hispanic immigrant workers (e.g., lodging/foodservice) live and work in environments, shaped by structural policies that generate disproportionate pathogenicity over time. Within these contexts, workers experience excess allostatic load (AL) accumulation (cumulative wear/tear on the body's systems that result from repeated adaptation to diverse stressors), which is associated with syndemic states (e.g., overweight/obesity, hyperlipidemia, cardiometabolic disease). [Syndemics denote the presence of mutually/adversely reinforcing disease states exacerbated by inequities associated with sociopolitical/economic milieux.] Existing research, grounded in linear conceptualizations and statistical modeling, has generated informative but limited insights into Hispanic immigrant worker health disparities. These approaches yielding low-leverage interventions that produce inconsequential results have been a critical barrier to the understanding and subsequent reduction of these disparities. Our solution: To use a novel approach that draws on syndemics, systems science, and dynamic simulation modeling methodologies to effectively capture the underlying, dynamically-complex etiology of Hispanic immigrant worker health disparities, with potential to lead to impactful structural policy interventions. The overall aim of this proposal is to understand how multifaceted and interacting government/corporate structural policies influence excess AL accumulation for Hispanic Immigrant Lodging/Foodservice workers (HILF) and their associated syndemic risks, and to identify preventive policy interventions that can reduce syndemic risks over time.
Specific aims are to: (1) Uncover the complex drivers of AL accumulation and associated syndemic risks for HILF workers over time and (2) Ascertain high-leverage intervention points and structural policies that can effectively reduce the AL-associated syndemic risk trajectories of HILF workers. This line of work will make significant contributions to immigrant worker health disparities research because of the concurrent: (a) conceptualization of immigrant worker health as a dynamically complex system and (b) employment of system dynamics methodological and analytical frameworks that can maximize intervention efforts by identifying needed policy changes to aid in designing impactful interventions. This project matches the goals of the R15 AREA mechanism. As UCF has not been a major recipient of NIH funding, the award would: (1) strengthen UCF's health research environment and increase its health funding; (2) enhance opportunities for interdisciplinary faculty collaborations; (3) and expose under/graduate students in hospitality management and engineering to interdisciplinary research on immigrant worker health disparities and stimulate interest in pursuing higher education degrees or careers in the behavioral/social health sciences. !
Low-wage/skill/status Hispanic immigrant service-sector workers live and work in environments that are shaped by structural factors and that generate disproportionate disease risk. This proposal aims to use innovative systems science methods to understand how and which factors influence Hispanic immigrant lodging/foodservice workers disease risk over time, how past responses have impacted this risk, and which interventions can best reduce disease risk and ultimately reduce health disparities. The successful completion of the study has potential to contribute to the field and shed new light on immigrant health disparities and maximize intervention efforts by identifying critical structural factors needed for sustainable prevention.
