Longitudinal Determinants of Thriving and Well-Being in Venezuelan Crisis Migrants

NIH RePORTER · NIH · R01 · $134,501 · view on reporter.nih.gov ↗

Abstract

Project Summary The United Nations estimates that more than 8 million Venezuelans have fled their home country since 2015. At present, Venezuelans are among the fastest-growing immigrant groups in the United States (U.S), filing two times the number of US. asylum applications annually as citizens from any other country. Remarkably, almost no systematic research—excluding our formative work—has examined the wellbeing of Venezuelans in diaspora. Although prior research has advanced our understanding of this population and its challenges, the role of intrinsic and extrinsic strengths among Venezuelan crisis migrants during resettlement and over time, as well as how such factors relate to mental health, thriving, and flourishing across countries remains unknown. To address this critical research gap, the present diversity supplement is aimed to: Aim 1, use qualitative research to examine underlying mechanisms of thriving and flourishing among adult Venezuelan crisis migrant in the U.S. and Colombia. Aim 2, employ prospective surveys to understand how intrinsic and extrinsic strengths promote thriving and flourishing, flourishing, and how they relate to stressors and behavioral health during and after resettlement. Aim 3, engage with key stakeholders to disseminate our mixed-methods findings in an effort to promote thriving and flourishing among Venezuelan crisis migrants. The comparison with Venezuelans in Colombia is essential for identifying aspects of life in the US that may uniquely contribute to both risk and well-being among crisis migrants, and for informing context-specific and cross-national solutions to a hemispheric crisis. Grounded in cultural stress theory, a strengths perspective, and positive epidemiology, we will examine the interplay between strengths and both pre-migration risk factors and post-migration cultural stressors and how they influence behavioral health outcomes. In addition to quantitative and qualitative analysis, this study will use a convergent mixed-methods design to compare qualitative and quantitative data. We will collect quantitative and qualitative data simultaneously (in parallel), and conduct the data analyses separately. We will compare the quantitative and qualitative results to produce an integrated analysis and identify whether there was convergence or divergence between the results. Given the ongoing large number of Venezuelans migrating, this work is particularly relevant and timely.

Key facts

NIH application ID
11095080
Project number
3R01MD015920-03S1
Recipient
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
Principal Investigator
Mildred M Maldonado-Molina
Activity code
R01
Funding institute
NIH
Fiscal year
2024
Award amount
$134,501
Award type
3
Project period
2022-06-07 → 2025-02-28