Community Resident Perceptions of and Experiences with Precarious Work at the Neighborhood Level: The Greater Lawndale Healthy Work Project

Jeni Hebert-Beirne, Jennifer K. Felner, Teresa Berumen, Sylvia Gonzalez, Melissa Mosley Chrusfield, Preethi Pratap and Lorraine M. Conroy
Additional contact information
Jeni Hebert-Beirne: Division of Community Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612, USA
Jennifer K. Felner: School of Public Health, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182, USA
Teresa Berumen: Center for Health and Social Care Integration, Rush University System for Health, Chicago, IL 60612, USA
Sylvia Gonzalez: Greater Lawndale Healthy Work Project, School of Public Health, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612, USA
Melissa Mosley Chrusfield: Lawndale Christian Health Center, Chicago, IL 60623, USA
Preethi Pratap: Division of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612, USA
Lorraine M. Conroy: Division of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612, USA

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 21, 1-18

Abstract: Work is a key social determinant of health. Community health and well-being may be impacted in neighborhoods with high proportions of people engaged in precarious work situations compounded by health inequities produced by other social determinants associated with their residential geography. However, little is known about how community residents experience work at the neighborhood level nor how work impacts health at the community-level, particularly in communities with a high proportion of residents engaged in precarious work. We sought to understand, through participatory research strategies, how work is experienced at the community level and to identify community interventions to establish a culture of healthy work. As part of a mixed-methods community health assessment, community researchers conducted focus groups with residents in two high social and economic hardship neighborhoods on Chicago’s southwest side. Community and academic researchers engaged in participatory data analysis and developed and implemented member-checking modules to engage residents in the data interpretation process. Twelve focus group discussions (77 community resident participants) were completed. Three major themes emerged: systematic marginalization from the pathways to healthy work situations; contextual and structural hostility to sustain healthy work; and violations in the rights, agency, and autonomy of resident workers. Findings were triangulated with findings from the concept-mapping research component of the project to inform the development of a community health survey focused on work characteristics and experiences. Listening to residents in communities with a high proportion of residents engaging in precarious work allows for the identification of nuanced community-informed intervention points to begin to build a culture of healthy work.

Keywords: precarious work; qualitative research; community health; community-based participatory research; occupational health; social determinants of health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/21/11101/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/21/11101/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:21:p:11101-:d:662211

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().