Box 1.

FOCUS GROUP GUIDE QUESTIONS

Stress	1. In your own words what is stress? 2. How does stress affect people? Does stress play a role  in a person’s health? How? 3. Many people experience stress in different ways. How  do women in the community experience stress? 4. What makes people feel stressed? (Stressors) 5. What do people do to cope/deal with stress? What  are some of the positive things? What are some of the  negative things?
Income/Poverty	1. How does income, or lack of income, create stress? 2. Do women in this community worry about not  having enough money to meet their and/or their  family’s basic needs? 3. Do women ever have to prioritize what they spend  money on? How do they do this? Does this cause  stress? 4. When women don’t have enough money for paying  bills, are there any ways they can get support? 5. Do women have any way to improve their income? If  so, how?
Food insecurity	1. Do women in this community worry about not  having enough food to feed themselves and their  families? 2. Do women have the resources to purchase enough  healthy food? 3. Does not having enough resources to purchase food  cause stress? If so, how does this causes stress
Education	1. Do women in this community ever worry about the  school system? If so, what are their concerns? 2. Do you think that children in the school system  will get the same opportunities as students in other  towns? Please explain
Health Care Access and Treatment	1. Do most people in this community have health  insurance coverage? 2. Do women in this community ever worry about being  able to pay to go see the doctor or for medicine that  they or their families need? 3. Are people in this community ever discriminated  against in the medical system? If so, how?
Physical environment/ Safety	Do people in the community worry about their  physical safety? If so, how do women and children  adjust their lives because they worried about safety?  Does this cause stress?
Working conditions	1. Are there enough jobs in this community that pay  enough to live? 2. What are the working conditions like for the people  in this community? How these conditions contribute  to stress? 3. Do people in the community experience  discrimination at work? If so, based on what? 4. Are workers watched/targeted more closely at work  because of race? How does this discrimination affect  people?
Perceived discrimination/ Racism	1. Do you know of examples where people in this  community have been given treated with less dignity  and respect because of their race? Please explain. 2. Do you feel that you were ever unfairly judged  because of your race? If so, how?