Miles over mind: Transnational death and its association with psychological distress among undocumented Mexican immigrants

Grief and Bereavement in the Latino/a Community: A Literature Synthesis and Directions for Future Research

Introduction

Bereavement and grief are social phenomena influenced by a multitude of cultural factors. Prior studies of bereavement adjustment have primarily focused on bereaved survivors who identify racially as white; knowledge of the experience of grief and bereavement among racial/ethnic and other minority groups, particularly among Latino/a groups, in the United States is limited.

Objective

The purpose of this review is to synthesize the literature documenting the bereavement experiences of the Latino/a community, evaluate the strength of the current evidence, and provide recommendations to guide future research.

Method

A narrative review of research on grief and bereavement in the Latino/a community published between 1990 and 2021. Two authors used a thematic, deductive approach to categorize emergent prevalent themes from the literature and used The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) and The Oxford Center for Evidence-Based Medicine-Evidence Quality Rating Scale (OCEBM) approaches to evaluate the strength of the qualitative and quantitative reports reviewed.

Results

Searches revealed 26 reports that were categorized into six themes: cultural values, mourning rituals, immigration, spirituality, disparities related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the effects of COVID-19 on Latino/a communities. Our evaluation concludes that the evidence in this area is weak, with limited methodologically rigorous research examining the influence of culture on bereavement among Latino/a groups.

Conclusion

Research is needed to identify Latino/a groups' mental health, cultural, social, and family needs and how fulfillment of mourning rituals and other cultural factors may promote or impede bereavement adjustment. Investigation into factors that may protect bereaved survivors against adverse mental health outcomes is also needed. A better understanding of Latino/a grief and bereavement is a step toward the development of culturally competent interventions designed to promote the mental health and psychosocial adjustment of Latino/a mourners.

Familias Divididas [divided families]: Transnational family separation and undocumented Latinx immigrant health

Undocumented Latinx immigrants (ULIs) comprise a large segment of the U.S. population, yet they remain at high risk for diminished health outcomes due to increased exposure to adverse experiences and context. Transnational family separation and the distress that accompanies it is an example of a common adverse experience that is chronic and that impacts the lives of many ULIs. However, despite how chronic and central transnationalism is to the lives of ULIs, little is known about its relation to the health outcomes of ULIs. To that end, this study examined the relation between distress due to transnational family separation and the physical and mental health of ULIs. To do so, the study utilized respondent-driven sampling and path analysis methodologies to cross-sectionally examine how distress from transnational separation was related to the physical and mental health of ULIs (n = 229). Results revealed that as distress from transnational family separation increased so too did participant's depressive (β = .25, p < .001), anxiety (β = .18, p = .006), and physical symptoms (β = .24, p < .0001). Distress from transnational family separation was also more strongly related to physical and depressive symptoms than to anxiety symptoms. Considering these results, important systemic changes to our approach to healthcare delivery and access among ULIs communities are needed to promote the well-being of this at-risk population. Recommendations for doing so are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).