Thank you so much for your interest in my research! And a special thank you to the people that have participated. This page was generated as a way to maintain communication with community members and ensure a level of transparency throughout the research process. My goal here is to provide regular updates on the status of the research, including public seminars where all community members are invited and encouraged to attend.
English Consent Form for Cuban Immigration and Health Study
Español Consentimiento Para Investigación para el Estudio de Inmigración y Salud de los Cubanos
English Consent Form for Community Research Updates.
Español Consentimiento Para Investigación para las Actualizaciones de la Investigación Comunitaria
On February 15 and 16, 2024, I attended the 14th Conference on Cuban and Cuban-American Studies hosted by the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University. I gave a 20-minute presentation on the first chapter of my dissertation, working with data from the National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS). Below is the abstract (summary) of my talk, along with the slides I used during my presentation.
Abstract: Latiné groups within the United States have traditionally been treated as a monolithic group, with, for example, many health-related sociocultural studies extending results to all Latiné populations even when only evaluating individuals from a single country of origin. Even when considering those from the same country of origin, Latiné people differ markedly in our genetic ancestry, socioeconomics, and lived experiences in ways that are presently underappreciated. Previous research has drawn connections between differential lived experiences and health outcomes. If Latiné people differ in their social experiences, are these differences then associated with differential health outcomes? And if so, how can we contextualize these health outcomes to better mitigate them in the future? The purpose of this study is to test whether immigration history and sociocultural variation are associated with differences in health outcomes within Cuban refugees living in the United States. We used information from individuals of Cuban descent (n=466) within the National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS), a nationally representative participant investigation of health outcomes and mental health resource usage among Latiné and Asian American populations within the United States. This project collected demographic, sociocultural, family history, medical, and other information from ~4,500 individuals to help advance our understanding of the determinants of health outcomes in these minority populations in the United States. We found that Cubans who migrated to the United States in the years around the Mariel Boatlift of 1980 had significantly higher instances of disability than Early Cuban Exiles (those that migrated around the time of the Communist Revolution; 1953-1964; 2.4-fold higher instance; ANCOVA; accounting for age, sex, and region; p=0.020), individuals who migrated during the Special Period of the 1990s (2.5-fold higher instance; p=0.0030), and those who migrated during the Freedom Flights of the mid 1960s and 1970s (2-fold higher instance; p=0.045). Additionally, across various health measures, we found that the most significant predictor of the presence of a disability was an individual’s membership in the Mariel Boatlift wave (logistic regression; accounting for age, sex, and region; p=0.018; odds ratio=2.31). We also tested whether there was a significant difference in the amount of discrimination faced across individuals of different migration waves and we found no statistical difference in means across Medical Discrimination (ANCOVA; accounting for age, sex, and region; p=0.12) and Everyday Discrimination (p=0.84). However, through an ongoing ethnographic study in Miami, Florida of individuals of Cuban descent, participants in this study have described a higher prevalence of racism, homophobia, and xenophobia during the 1980s both in Cuba and in the United States relative to other periods. This potentially indicates that the measures of discrimination for NLAAS may not adequately capture the nuance of different types of discrimination that could be adversely affecting these refugees. Together, these results demonstrate that it is imperative to consider and capture the broader social context within which health manifests, and that striking health differences are present even within a population from a single country of origin based on differential lived experiences in immigrating to the United States.
On September 30, 2023, I hosted the 2nd Community Research Update for the Cuban Immigration and Health Study (CIHS). The intention behind this event was to share some results from the research project and provide an opportunity for community members to give their input and insight into analyzing and contextualizing these data.
This event was planned in collaboration with the Florida Public Archaeology Network (FPAN) for their Honrando Nuestra Historia: Celebrating Latine Heritage Through Archaeology event series as part of Latine Heritage Month (September 15-October 15). As per their website, FPAN’ mission is to “promote and facilitate the stewardship, public appreciation, and value of Florida’s archaeological heritage through regional centers, partnerships, and community engagement.” They tabled at the event and brought along great activities to engage both children and adults in their ongoing archaeological work in the state of Florida!
Below, are the slides used for the event, which contain the preliminary results of the CIHS as well as data generated by attendees during the event (last two slides).
On June 24, 2023, I presented at the 2023 Graduate Women in Science National Conference during their Diverse Experiences in STEM talk series. Here, I shared my community and research work with both members of GWIS and Penn State affiliated students and faculty. Below is the title and abstract (summary) of the presentation as well as the slides.
Title: Cafecito, Cultura, y Comunidad: Building a community-based research project in the heart of Miami
Abstract: Community has always been the center of how I operate and move about my life. As a child of Cuban refugees, a first-generation college student, and first in my family within higher education, building and being in community was a means of survival, a way to ensure I could succeed in spaces that were not built for someone with my background and experiences. I have taken these community-building skills and expanded upon them throughout my academic career. For my dissertation work, I am working with my own community of Cubans and Cuban-Americans in Miami, Florida in exploring the richness of our ancestries and experiences to understand how these differences may shape aspects of our overall health. In this talk, I will discuss the process I have used to build community as a way to challenge conventional data collection methods and how the act of building community has shaped my research trajectory throughout my journey in academia. Additionally, I will discuss my approach to sharing my work with my community throughout each step of the research process to provide transparency, honesty, and care to those that participated. Finally, I will discuss how building community, regardless of the space you’re in, can be a way in which we challenge the individualistic mindset academia often operates under.
On June 4, 2023, I hosted the first Community Research Update in Miami, Florida at Dear Eleanor! This event was an opportunity to share with the wider community more details about the research project, how the project is going so far, and to engage in an art-based activity centered on connecting with your roots and ancestors. The event was free and open to the public! Below are the slides I used to present during the research update portion. I have also included the video recap produced for the event. Feel free to browse through the slides and watch the video!
The video below was created for the 2022 Penn State Graduate Research Exhibition. In it, I describe the background of my research project, my methods for collecting these data, and what I hope to use the data for once the project is complete. I will be updating my progress on this page as I go along, therefore, there may be a time where this video is out of date. However, you’re welcome to watch this video as a precursor for understanding the study!
The recruitment flyer below includes relevant information for the Cuban Immigration and Health Study (CIHS). Recruitment for the study is now closed. Thank you to everyone that participated!
