How local immigrant policies affect rural Latino mental health and access to care
Official title: The Impact of Multiple Levels of Immigrant Policy on Rural Latino Mental Health and Health Care Access
Funded at University of California, Merced · NIH-11289350 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project looks at how county immigrant policies, community attitudes, and personal encounters with institutions affect mental health and the ability to get health care for rural Latino adults.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of California, Merced NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Merced, United States) |
| Project start | July 21, 2023 |
| Project end | January 31, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $528,911 |
| NIH project number | 5R01MD018058-04 |
| Project ID | NIH-11289350 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal participants are Latino adults living in the rural counties the study targets, including both foreign-born and U.S.-born Latinos.
✕Less likely to help
People who do not live in the rural counties studied (for example, urban residents or those outside the recruitment area) are unlikely to benefit directly from participating in this project.
What this research studies
You would be part of a snapshot-style (cross-sectional) project that combines county-level data on local immigrant policies and social climate with surveys of rural Latino adults about their mental health, health care access, and experiences with institutions. The team will collect information about exclusionary or inclusive county policies, measure community attitudes, and ask about personal encounters with enforcement or service providers. Analysts will link these layers to see how policy context, community climate, and individual encounters jointly relate to symptoms and barriers to care. This work uses surveys and existing data rather than testing a medical treatment.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the findings could point to policy and community changes that improve mental health and make it easier for rural Latinos to get care.
How similar studies have gone: Some prior research links social determinants and immigration enforcement to health, but this multilevel focus on county policy, social climate, and personal encounters among rural Latinos is relatively novel.
Where this research is happening
-
University of California, Merced
Merced, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Young, Maria-Elena de Trinidad — University of California, Merced
- Study coordinator: Young, Maria-Elena de Trinidad
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.