Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection

My Honors thesis examines how promotoras, otherwise known as community health workers, can be beneficial to a community and any challenges that might be faced when implementing this program. My honors thesis will provide the history of promotoras, context on various health issues Latinx face historically and with the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, and finally address the findings of my interviews and shadowing of promotoras.

The Latinx community faces several barriers that keep them from seeking mental health treatment. One of those barriers is the stigma experienced in the community. The purpose of this project is to create a culturally tailored animation to address the stigma associated with mental health in the Latinx community. The first part of the project, written about in this paper, focuses on gathering data from the community about their beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors regarding mental health, as well as the stigma they have witnessed and experienced. Information was gathered through a series of group and one-on-one interviews with Generation Z men and women that identified as Latinx. The preliminary results revealed that all participants agreed with the statement that mental health is stigmatized in their community and offered several reasons as to why this is the case. The majority of them also agreed that education is the best way to reduce the stigma, which is what we hope to achieve through an animation that will be created using the information provided by the community and the literature.

This thesis looks at how Latinx communities in Wyoming, despite recognizing the impossibility of overcoming the traditional conservative autocracy, still utilize their identity as a political response to unify Latinx communities throughout the state. The project draws from oral histories conducted with Latinx/Chicanx community members in Wyoming, including professors, legislators, and everyday citizens.

In late 2019, COVID-19, a new disease caused by a novel (or new) coronavirus began to take over the lives of many people. This study centers on how members of the Latinx community have been affected by COVID-19. Both quantitative and qualitative data were utilized to analyze the perceived risk of infection, preventative behaviors, and acceptability of the COVID-19 vaccine for individuals that identify as Latinx. Analysis of the survey and interview analysis found the majority of participants expressed abiding by recommended measures and becoming hypervigilant about their activities, and their desire to get vaccinated against COVID-19 when they are eligible. Individuals who did not express the desire to be vaccinated mentioned worries including side effects, costs, safety, and efficacy of the vaccine. Results from this research could aid in the creation of public health initiatives in order to increase the uptake of the vaccine tailored for the Latinx community.

This is a study that demonstrates my growing understanding of the factors that influence Latinx engineering students’ sense of belonging in engineering. I conducted a literature review to help me gain perspectives from prior research on this topic. I wanted to investigate Latinx engineering students’ sense of belonging at Arizona State University. This interest was fueled by my own perspectives as an undergraduate first-generation Latina student. I was inspired by the Social Identity Development Theory described in “Becoming La Ingenieria” by Sarah L Rodriguez (2019). I found that science performance, science competence, and science identity recognition were important factors in engineering for Latinx students to thrive and succeed in their chosen major--engineering. Through the literature review, I found that Latinx engineering students need family support, faculty and staff to look up to, and ways to create authentic connections with near peers and professions. Student organization involvement such as in the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers student chapter can help Latinx students grow their intersectional identities related to their identification as Latinx and as an engineer which then helped strengthen their sense of belonging in engineering. <br/><br/>I conducted a survey of Latinx engineering students at Arizona State University to better understand their perceptions on issues related to their sense of belonging and underlying factors of competence, recognition, and performance in engineering. However, due to the low participation, possibly due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, I could not conduct statistical analyses that could lead inferences to the broad population of Latinx engineering students at ASU. <br/><br/>It is important to continue to create structures within university engineering programs and professional engineering societies to offer formal near-peer and professional mentorship of Latinx students. The integration of families from recruitment to graduation of Latinx engineering students may help build a more supportive structure for students to succeed. Research on the ways in which university faculty, staff, and near-peers can better support Latinx students will be essential to build classroom environments that help all students build a sense of belonging in engineering.