We present research finding son problem drinking among transnational Mexican migrants employed in the mushroom industry of southeastern Pennsylvania. Our research explored the relationship between situational factors-living arrangements, social isolation, and peer pressure to drink-and problem drinking. Individual characteristics of the migrants, such as age, education level, migration history, and work experience in the mushroom industry are also considered. The premise of our study is that the migrants' judicial status in the country-as foreign solo men and, at times, undocumented or illegal migrants-places them at a high risk to binge drink. The men mainly live without their families in relatively isolated, grower-provided housing or overcrowded apartment units for months, if not years, away from traditional community and kin deterrents to heavy drinking. We employed the ethnographic method in two complementary field studies: a community ethnography, designed to identify the community context of problem drinking, and a series of case studies of migrant drinkers, designed to identify the relationships between situational factors and problem drinking. Focus groups were used to explore and verify the findings being generated in the two studies. Our findings reveal that there is an alcohol abuse problem among the migrants as a consequence of situational and other factors, such as festive occasions, bad news from home, and a long workweek. Their binge drinking does not always result in negative behavior because the migrants follow drinking norms, and violators of these norms are dealt with accordingly. Nonetheless, binge drinking does place them at a high risk for negative behavior, which results in problems in their housing units and in local communities.

Transnational Mexican migrants are the largest farm labor force in the United States. Problem drinking among their ranks is drawing increased public attention and concern in their new U.S. communities, but there is scant research that specifically addresses alcohol use among this population of migrants. The research on Mexican American migrants, other migrants, Mexicans, and farmworkers in general is reviewed to identify etiological factors and data collection methods for future research on drinking among transnational Mexican migrants. This research reveals that situational factors (i.e., social isolation and peer influence) are highly associated with problem drinking among these migrants. It also demonstrates that binational ethnographic field methods are needed to study this "hidden" migrant population. Policies and programs that support the migration offamilies and offset social isolation appear to be a means for addressing the problem drinking.

This article reports barriers to transfer from the community college to bachelor's degree—granting institutions encountered by Hispanic students in the Dallas County Community College District. These Hispanic students were enrolled in a cultural studies course preparing them to transfer. Ethnographic methods—principally participant observation of the students and their families, interviews, and case studies—were used to analyze the barriers, three of which were not reported in the literature.

Background Anexos are community-based recovery houses that were created in Mexico to serve people struggling with addiction to alcohol and other drugs. Brought to the U.S. by Mexican migrants, anexos provide residential care to primarily male Latino migrants and immigrants who are unable or unwilling to access formal treatment. While some Mexican anexos have come under fire for coercion, confrontational treatment methods, and corporal punishment, little is known about treatment practices in U.S. anexos. Methods We conducted a two-year ethnographic study of three anexos in urban Northern California. The study included over 150 hours of participant observation and semi-structured interviews with 42 residents, 3 directors, 2 assistant directors, and 3 former directors (N = 50). Qualitative data were analyzed thematically using ATLAS.ti software. Results The anexos in our study differed in important ways from Mexican anexos described in the scientific literature. First, we found no evidence of corporal punishment or coercive internment. Second, the anexos were open, allowing residents to leave the premises for work and other approved activities. Third, the anexos were self-supported through residents’ financial contributions. Fourth, collective decision-making processes observed in the California anexos more closely resembled sober living houses than their authoritarian counterparts in Mexico. Conclusion Anexos may operate differently in the U.S. versus Mexico due to variations in sociopolitical context. This exploratory study suggests that anexos are addressing unmet need for addiction treatment in U.S. Latino immigrant and migrant communities. As a community-created, self-sustained, culturally appropriate recovery resource, anexos provide important insights into Latino migrants’ and immigrants’ experiences with substance abuse, help-seeking trajectories, and treatment needs.

BackgroundHealth personnel face challenges in diagnosing vector-borne and other diseases of poverty in urban settings. There is a need to know what rapid diagnostic technologies are available, have been properly assessed, and are being implemented to improve control of these diseases in the urban context. This paper characterizes evidence on the field validation and implementation in urban areas of rapid diagnostics for vector-borne diseases and other diseases of poverty.Main bodyA scoping review was conducted. Peer-reviewed and grey literature were searched using terms describing the targeted infectious diseases, diagnostics evaluations, rapid tests, and urban setting. The review was limited to studies published between 2000 and 2016 in English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were refined post hoc to identify relevant literature regardless of study design and geography.A total of 179 documents of the 7806 initially screened were included in the analysis. Malaria (n = 100) and tuberculosis (n = 47) accounted for the majority of studies that reported diagnostics performance, impact, and implementation outcomes. Fewer studies, assessing mainly performance, were identified for visceral leishmaniasis (n = 9), filariasis and leptospirosis (each n = 5), enteric fever and schistosomiasis (each n = 3), dengue and leprosy (each n = 2), and Chagas disease, human African trypanosomiasis, and cholera (each n = 1). Reported sensitivity of rapid tests was variable depending on several factors. Overall, specificities were high (> 80%), except for schistosomiasis and cholera. Impact and implementation outcomes, mainly acceptability and cost, followed by adoption, feasibility, and sustainability of rapid tests are being evaluated in the field. Challenges to implementing rapid tests range from cultural to technical and administrative issues.ConclusionsRapid diagnostic tests for vector-borne and other diseases of poverty are being used in the urban context with demonstrated impact on case detection. However, most evidence comes from malaria rapid diagnostics, with variable results. While rapid tests for tuberculosis and visceral leishmaniasis require further implementation studies, more evidence on performance of current tests or development of new alternatives is needed for dengue, Chagas disease, filariasis, leptospirosis, enteric fever, human African trypanosomiasis, schistosomiasis and cholera.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s40249-018-0474-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.