Revealing the Power of Peer Support in the Lives of Women Immigrants from Mexico.

Abstract

To address high rates of social isolation and depression among female Mexican immigrants, we are testing Tertulias (Spanish, conversational gatherings), an innovative peer support group intervention. Our anthropologically inspired theoretical architecture integrates gendered emplacement theory, women's funds of knowledge, and cultural and contextual situatedness. We used a community-driven, community-engaged research (CD-CEnR) design, involving 59 female Mexican immigrants who participated in weekly group meetings by Zoom. Data were gathered from survey and social network analysis (SNA), hair samples for cortisol testing at baseline and 12-months, and qualitative data from meeting notes, interviews, evaluation discussions, participant creative projects, and "Ripple Effects Mapping (REM)." As we describe, the Tertulias group meetings created a generative social environment that valued and incorporated participants' experience-based knowledge and enhanced social relationships, providing mechanisms for reducing social isolation and depression among participants.