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Description
Background: Environmental racism heavily impacts the exposure to air pollution, disproportionately placing low-income and children of marginalized groups at greater risk of developing severe asthma symptoms, and increased school absences and emergency room visits. In the Eastern Coachella Valley, the incidence rate of childhood asthma from communities surrounding the Salton Sea is estimated to be at 20%, more than double the state’s rate. The lack of urgency among local, regional, and state agencies to mitigate the harmful effects of the Salton Sea directly impacting P’urhépecha individuals, Indigenous Mexicans from Michoácan, is concerning. P’urhépecha are included under Latine/Hispanic demographic profiles, so the severity of childhood asthma and parents’ responses to respiratory illness within this community are not adequately understood. Purpose: Through P’urhépecha parents’ testimonios this research builds evidence of environmental injustices occurring north of the Salton Sea that results in disproportionate health consequences to children. P’urhépecha parents’ healthcare decision-making for childhood asthma including healing modalities, and facilitators or barriers of asthma management and treatment are documented. Methods: Semi-structured interviews and focus groups with P’urhépecha community members were conducted by the community investigator in Spanish and/or P’urhépecha. Data analysis included coding the Spanish transcripts in vivo followed by an open descriptive process to identify categories and more nuanced codes through axial coding. Thematic analysis was used to group the codes into subthemes by identifying the underlying patterns. Results: The sixteen testimonios highlight how the domination exerted systematically onto them plays out through the violent landscape (due to environmental racism) and from everyday forms of violence (low quality housing, inadequate public transportation, economic hardship, citizenship status, access to quality healthcare, and healthcare costs). Conclusion: Through structural violence, their narratives reveal that their positionality in society determines their access and quality to healthcare which then influences their healthcare decision-making. Future research must include the community’s input and direction. Most importantly, P’urhépecha individuals call for researchers to disseminate and share the results, to not ignore their testimonios, and amplify their stories.
