KU researchers determining health care access barriers facing migrant farmworkers across country

KU News Headlines

LAWRENCE — Millions of migrant and seasonal farmworkers are critical to getting food from farms to our tables, yet they often struggle to meet their own basic needs. They face health risks, barriers to care and poor health outcomes. Because they make vital labor contributions, it is important for both economic and humanitarian reasons to understand the health care obstacles and challenges that farmworkers face.

Researchers at the University of Kansas are partnering with the Migrant Farmworkers Assistance Fund and others in multiple states to shape a research agenda that can guide researchers, funders, providers and policymakers. The agenda will be developed by hearing directly from migrant and seasonal farmworkers about what their health goals and challenges are and learning more from those who work with them.

KU researchers received funding from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute Engagement Awards program to better understand an underserved and under-researched population that works in nearly every U.S. state. The funding will enable researchers to interact directly with workers in different Midwestern states, conducting engagement sessions and surveys in Spanish and English so that the workers' voices and perspectives guide the researchers toward the most pressing concerns.

“We’ll discover the kind of future research needed to understand the barriers to health care that migrant and seasonal farmworkers face, as well as which health care outcomes are important to them,” said Cheryl Holmes, research associate in the School of Social Welfare and KU project lead. “We also want to know what might lead them to reach out for care.”

The research team will focus on crop- and orchard-based migrant and seasonal farmworkers in the Midwest. They hope to build a knowledge base for future research about barriers to health care, including:

Lack of understanding of the medical system
Lack of insurance
Health care costs
Lack of time off to see health professionals.
Researchers also ...

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