COVID-19 and the Latinx Community: “Promotoras represent a community in pain”.

Authors: Marquez, Christina Kazmierski, Kelly Carballo, Jaqueline Arcos Garcia, Jackie Avalos, Vanessa Russo, Lyric N. Arreola, Jose Rodriguez, Alyssa Hernandez Perez, Allen A. Leal, Francisca Torres, Gina Montiel, Gloria Guerra, Nancy Borelli, Jessica L

This study sought to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Latinx communities and the promotoras that serve them, with a focus on examining how the stress and inequities that developed might be mitigated. Promotoras were recruited from a local health agency in Santa Ana, California, and completed semi-structured interviews about their experiences during the pandemic. Results from subsequent qualitative analyses demonstrated that the pandemic substantially affected the daily lives of community members due to economic challenges, limited access to reliable pandemic-related information, and psychological and social stress. Promotoras also experienced adverse effects as a result of changes to the nature of their work and psychological and social stress. Moving forward, promotoras suggest these impacts may be mitigated by providing for the economic and material needs of the community while better promoting self-care and psychosocial healing within the CHW workforce. These findings emphasize the need to lend greater support to promotoras to enable them to be more successful in serving their communities and sustaining their own health.