Perceived Clinician Autonomy Support Before and After the COVID-19 Pandemic Onset in a Pregnancy Cohort.

In the first two decades of the 21st century, there was a large increase in the mobile population in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region (from 24.6 to 42.9 million international migrants) []. This mobility has been accompanied by an increase in the proportion of women and children, who migrate for various reasons, including organized crime violence, political repression, or economic problems []. One of the countries with the highest flow of migrants is Mexico, which, due to its northern border with the United States (US), is one of the main transit countries for people on the move in the Americas. For a large part of the mobile population, precarious living conditions in their country of origin persist and even worsen throughout the migration journey, with added vulnerabilities such as lack of regular migration status, lack of knowledge of protection services in transit countries, racist or xenophobic discrimination, lack of stable income, and unhealthy living conditions []. Children are particularly vulnerable due to their early stage of development, which exacerbates the impact of these living conditions on their well-being. However, despite the high levels of vulnerability and growing demographic relevance of children on the move in Mexico, there are still very few studies on the health status and living conditions of this population. This analysis sheds light on the relationship between the sociodemographic/socioeconomic characteristics of migrant minors in their place of origin and during their journey, and the evolution of their health-related quality of life throughout the migratory journey. This is a cross-sectional observational study. Data collection was carried out in 12 different shelters in Piedras Negras, Saltillo, and Monterrey, Mexico. Surveys were conducted with 118 adult migrant primary caregivers in transit to the US about the minors in their care, selected using non-probability sampling for convenience. The study used United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)’s definition of primary caregivers, understood as the adults responsible for performing the main caregiving duties for the child in daily life []. Among the study participants, most primary caregivers were the minor’s parents (more than 96%), with a minority of cases involving a grandmother or an uncle. Surveys were conducted with all caregivers of minors identified during visits to participating shelters until information was obtained on 200 minors, which is consistent with the sample size used in the International Organization for Migration Displacement Tracking Matrix (IOM DTM) surveys in Mexico and in similar studies of migrant populations in transit that employ non-probability sampling methods []. Speaking Spanish was not a requirement for participation in the study; however, it was the primary language in all cases except for one Guatemalan caregiver, for whom the primary language was Ixil. Despite this, this participant considered herself a native Spanish speaker and had no difficulty communicating with the research team in Spanish. None of the caregivers identified declined to participate in the survey, and the participants received no compensation for taking part in the study. Data collection was conducted between July and September 2024. For the present analysis, only data on minors aged between one and 17 years ( = 192) were used.