Barriers and Strategies in Accessing Social Services Among Latinx Older Adults in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties
Laurent Reyes, Professor
Social Welfare
Applications for Spring 2024 are closed for this project.
As the nation ages it will also become more ethnoracially diverse. Primarily, the share of older Hispanics is projected to double, from 16 percent to 28 percent in the next 30 years. However, Latinx adults reach later life with more functional limitations and fewer resources to face long-term care than any other group of America’s older adult population. These challenges are compounded by restricted opportunities to tap into the safety net. Some immigrants are undocumented and thus barred from benefits. Others do not have a work history in the United States; or if they have it, it is not long enough to qualify for services.
How then do older Latinx older adults manage? We know very little about how Latinx older adults navigate social services.This project investigates how older Latinx adults navigate social services in Oakland and Richmond California.
In the current phase of this project, we will be conducting literature reviews of previous academic papers focused on this topic and population. In addition, we will be conducting qualitative data analysis of interviews conducted with organizations and Latinz older adults. These interviews focus on participants’ and organizations' experiences of accessing/providing services, the challenges they face, and the strategies they use to meet their needs/provide needed services.
Role: Students will be trained in how to conduct a review of academic literature and others will be trained in qualitative data analysis using Dedoose (a qualitative software).
Tasks will include:
-Reading academic articles about service access among older adults
-Writing summaries of articles
-Writing a report summarizing the information they learned overall
-Data management
-Data preparation
-Data coding
Students will become familiar with older adult services, accessibility needs among Latinx older adults, and gain valuable skills in synthesizing data/information. If there is interest to continue there will be future opportunities for the student to participate in other aspects of the research process such as further data analysis, academic writing, and presentation of results.
Qualifications: Spanish language native fluency for data analysis only. Good organizational skills and attention to details. Students with little to no research experience are encouraged to apply. Good time management skills. This project is perfect for students who want to gain experience in learning about community research projects and research with Latinx elders.
Day-to-day supervisor for this project: Leyi Zhou, Ph.D. candidate
Hours: 9-11 hrs
Off-Campus Research Site: This work is remote and all meetings will be held over zoom.
Social Sciences