About

Scott C. Carvajal, PhD, MPH, is the Chair of the Department of Health Promotion Sciences and the Director of the Arizona Prevention Research Center at the University of Arizona. He is a multi-discipline trained applied social and quantitative psychologist with expertise in health promotion theory, Latino/cultural behavioral research methods, intervention design, and evaluation methods. His principal research has focused on understanding a range of health behaviors that convey risk or protection, such as substance abuse, sexual risk taking, healthy food choice, and physical activity, as well as mental health outcomes including bicultural stressors, depressive symptoms, and coping strategies. His work emphasizes testing social ecological models within minority populations. Dr. Carvajal has contributed significantly to health disparities research, having served as the Director of Substance Abuse Core for a Center for Health Equality focusing on eliminating health disparities in Arizona Latinos and American Indians. As the Director and Principal Investigator of the CDC-funded University of Arizona Prevention Research Center, he oversees multiple community-based participatory research programs aimed at promoting physical activity, healthy eating, and health screening among underserved border populations. His collaborative work includes being a lead quantitative data analyst and behavioral science methodologist on several federally-funded health promotion interventions for multi-ethnic or minority populations. His research contributions include developing theoretical models for behavioral change, testing psychosocial measures, and evaluating program impact on psychosocial mediators and outcomes. Dr. Carvajal is committed to an interdisciplinary approach to addressing health problems and actively participates in groups such as the Community Influences on Health Behaviors NIH Study Section and the Cancer Prevention and Control Division at the Arizona Cancer Center.

Research topics

• Social Science
• Medicine
• Sociology
• Psychology
• Social psychology
• Pedagogy
• Medical education
• Political Science
• Applied psychology
• Nursing
• Psychiatry
• Internal medicine
• Family medicine
• Clinical psychology
• Public relations
• Developmental psychology
• Medical emergency
• Environmental health

Selected publications

• Community health worker intervention to reduce worker exposure to volatile organic compounds in small business auto and beauty shops in a marginalized community: A cluster randomized controlled trial

  PLoS ONE · 2026-04-27

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: Occupational diseases affect many workers in the United States, with Latinos disproportionately affected. Small businesses face barriers to implementing workplace health protections that community health workers (CHWs) may help overcome. The objective of this study was to determine whether a CHW-led industrial hygiene intervention could reduce volatile organic compound (VOC) exposure in small auto repair and beauty shops that primarily employ marginalized workers. METHODS: In this two-arm, parallel, cluster randomized trial, small business (≤25 employees) auto repair and beauty shops in Tucson, AZ were randomized to immediate or delayed intervention, stratified by sector. CHWs assessed shops and provided knowledge of controls and $300 for new ones. Total VOCs (TVOCs) were measured using photoionization detectors placed on or near participants. The primary outcome was the change in TVOCs at the shop level after the intervention, assessed across three timepoints with four workshift measurements per assessment. Mixed-effects models accounted for clustering by shop. RESULTS: We enrolled 38 auto repair shops and 46 beauty shops (73% Latino workers) and analyzed 846 workshift measurements at 236 shop assessments. Adjusted models showed a non-statistically significant intervention effect: auto shops experienced on average an estimated 28% TVOC increase (95% CI: -46% to 203%); beauty shops experienced on average an estimated 27% reduction (95% CI: -55% to 19%). Beauty shops had TVOC concentrations about 10 times higher than auto shops, and 87% of their assessments had ventilation rates below the recommended minimum. CONCLUSIONS: Although not statistically significant, the CHW-led intervention may meaningfully reduce VOC exposure in beauty shops. High TVOC concentrations and inadequate ventilation in beauty shops highlight the need for targeted interventions and policy changes to improve the air quality in these underserved small businesses. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This trial was registered with clinicaltrials.gov (NCT03455530) on March 6, 2018.

  PublisherDOI

• “Don’t leave it all to science”: How Mexicans living along the US-Mexico border view health and care seeking

  Wellbeing Space and Society · 2025-08-05 · 2 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  • Binational mobility impacts health concepts and practices among border dwelling Mexicans • Mexicans’ embedded health concepts elevate the importance of localized ecologic and social context • Border dwelling Mexicans take an active role in managing their own health; doctors are an important resource in their toolkit • Binational mobility increases Mexicans’ options for accessing medical care and enacting self-care regimens The geographic and cultural distribution of the health beliefs that inform how people interpret disease etiologies, engage in the clinical arena, utilize traditional remedies, and respond to health promotion programming is an important and understudied topic. The impacts of place-based factors on health concepts may be especially critical among geographically displaced populations, who tend to face a similar and concerning host of barriers to medical care access and societal stressors. In this community-based participatory research study, we use qualitative interviews (n=30) among a sample of binationally mobile Mexicans living near the US-Mexico border in southern Arizona to explore how border residence shapes Mexicans’ health and healing world views and care-seeking practices. Findings centered around 1) participants’ binational mobility which reinforced their connections with Mexican healing practices and medical services and provided an escape valve in the face of US-based barriers to care; 2) their integrated mind-body-soul health concepts that grounded them in their ecological and social surroundings; 3) their commitment to taking a primary role in their own healing including localized health challenges and their views on the role of doctors, and 4) barriers to health management tied to labor conditions, border crossing stressors, and perceived ill effects of biomedical care. In conclusion, proximity to the border and binational mobility are shown here to reinforce Mexicans’ cultural health concepts and facilitate their ability to maintain a more active role in their own care-seeking practices and to circumvent some critical US-based barriers to medical services.

  PublisherDOI

• The Association between Neighborhood Context, Allostatic Load, and Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatosis Liver Disease in Mexican-origin Farmworkers along the Southern Arizona US/Mexico Border

  Research Square · 2025-05-13

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Arizona prevention research center vaccine confidence network: A Mobile health unit intervention and survey results of barriers and facilitators to COVID-19 vaccination

  Vaccine · 2025-07-01

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic revealed health disparities and disproportionate adverse health outcomes among Arizona's Hispanic population. Structural barriers and social determinants of health that Hispanics face are important determinants of vaccine access and uptake. The Arizona Vaccine Confidence Network (AzVCN) leveraged the expertise of the Arizona Prevention Research Center (AzPRC) and the resources of the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health (MEZCOPH) Mobile Health Unit (MHU) to identify, implement and evaluate a MHU intervention to increase uptake of COVID-19 testing and vaccinations. METHODS: The AzVCN focused efforts on structural barriers facing Hispanic, rural, un/underinsured and farmworker communities in the four Arizona border counties. The AzVCN implemented a MHU intervention to reduce vaccination hesitancy and increase COVID-19 vaccination uptake among Hispanic rural, un/underinsured and farmworker populations in Southern Arizona from November 2021 through September 2022. A survey was conducted to assess barriers, facilitators, experiences, and beliefs of COVID-19 vaccination. RESULTS: Hispanics were diagnosed with COVID-19 at a higher percentage (41.9 %) compared to non-Hispanics (20.3 %). Additionally, Hispanics had received a COVID-19 vaccination approximately 10 % higher than non-Hispanics (93.3 % vs 84.8 %). Hispanics also had higher percentages compared to non-Hispanics of personally knowing someone who became seriously ill or died as a result of COVID-19 (63.4 % vs 49.2 %), work or school requiring a COVID-19 vaccination (47.5 % vs 32.2 %), thinking that most people at work or school would get a COVID-19 vaccine if mandated (68.7 % vs 52.5 %), and knowing that the COVID-19 vaccine lessens symptoms of COVID-19 would help in deciding to receive the COVID-19 vaccine (66.2 % vs 57.6 %). CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on the Hispanic community. Addressing structural barriers of COVID-19 vaccination had a major impact on vaccination experiences, knowledge, beliefs, and uptake among Hispanics in Southern Arizona. By leveraging the MHU to address COVID-19 vaccination structural barriers and misinformation, the AzVCN has made an impact in the COVID-19 vaccine efforts in Arizona.

  PublisherDOI

• Evaluating Indigenous Identity and Stress as Potential Barriers to Accessing On-Campus Healthcare for Indigenous Students at a Large Southwestern University

  International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · 2025-09-10

  articleOpen access

  INTRODUCTION: This study examined the relationship between Indigenous identity, perceived stress, and healthcare utilization for Indigenous students on-campus. METHODS: Potential participants included undergraduate and graduate Indigenous students from Tribal Nations within the United States. Participants were recruited through community partnerships and in person communication. This survey included the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), the Multiethnic Identity Measure (MEIM), and university Campus Health Service Health and Wellness Survey. RESULTS: 153 Indigenous students from United States-based Tribal Nations participated in this survey. While there appears to be a relationship between Indigenous identity, perceived stress, and Campus Health utilization, the results were not significant for the second tertile (OR: 1.1 (0.4, 2.7)) or third tertile (1.4 (0.5, 3.3)). Students who reported "Yes" or "Unsure" to questions on if their insurance needed them to go outside of the university were far less likely to use Campus Health (Yes OR: 0.2 (0.08-0.5)); (Unsure OR: 0.09 (0.03-0.3)) and CAPS (Yes OR: 0.2 (0.09-0.6)); (Unsure OR: 0.2 (0.04-0.4)). DISCUSSION: This study saw a complex relationship between Indigenous identity, perceived stress, and campus health utilization; however, the findings are not statistically significant. There are distinctions in on campus health care usage when adjusting for undergraduate or graduate student status and health insurance literacy. CONCLUSION: The research findings offer many promising avenues for future work around Indigenous identity, affordability of healthcare, and importance of health literacy.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Psychometric properties of the “ <i>Inventario de Resiliencia</i> ” in an adult Mexican Origin population living in the southwest United States

  Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community · 2025-12-26

  articleSenior author

  = 282). Resilience was measured at time points over one year, alongside assessments of self-rated health, social connectedness, psychological distress, and perceived ecological stress. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed at each time point to confirm the latent structure of resilience. To assess whether participants responded similarly to the IRES over time, a confirmatory factor analytic model was used to test for the invariance of factor covariance, mean, and residual variance structures across the time points. Cronbach's Alpha, Pearson product-moment and Kendall's Tau correlations were used to assess construct validity, and reliability. Findings demonstrated that IRES has excellent internal consistency, the structure of the original scale fit well with the data, and the IRES exhibited strong invariance across time. Test-retest reliability and construct validity were established by convergent and discriminant validity. This study establishes and supports the use of the IRES as a reliable and valid tool for measuring resilience in U.S. Latino/a populations. These findings underscore the importance of culturally tailored instruments in research and suggest that a more nuanced understanding of resilience can be leveraged to inform interventions and policies aimed at reducing health disparities in minority populations.

  PublisherDOI

• Characterizing full-shift worker exposures to VOCs in small-sized auto repair shops in the Tucson, Arizona, USA metropolitan area

  Scientific Reports · 2025-07-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Auto repair shops employ 1% of the US labor force. These workers are constantly exposed to volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which have known and often irreversible health effects, yet exposure studies are sparse. Our goal was to assess what exposure factors were related to total personal and shop-level specific VOC exposures for entire shifts in marginalized, predominantly Spanish-speaking workers in auto repair shops. Full-shift, real-time worker exposure factors like activities and ventilation conditions were recorded, along with personal total VOCs and shop-level specific VOC samples. The relationship of total VOCs with activity and ventilation, along with shift and shop, was analyzed using linear mixed effects modeling. Specific VOC concentrations were combined into hazard scores for potential health risks based on EPA inhalation reference or reference dose. Personal exposures were characterized by episodic peaks, with the highest peaks during spraying brake cleaner and painting activities in 22/35 shifts. Shift within shop and shop accounted for about half the variation in total VOC exposures to workers (35% and 15%, respectively), while activity and ventilation explained almost none. Acetone and toluene were detected in all samples. While worker exposure patterns were characterized by infrequent but very high peak exposures to total VOCs related to aerosolization activities, activities were only slightly predictive of VOC exposure overall. Instead, shift within shop and shop explained just half the variability. While additional study on exposure factors is needed, this should be done with a focus on interventions tailored to worker and shop.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The association between neighborhood context, allostatic load, and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatosis liver disease in Mexican-origin farmworkers along the Southern Arizona US/Mexico border

  SSM - Population Health · 2025-09-11

  articleOpen access

  Mexican-origin farmworkers experience disproportionately high rates of chronic diseases which increase their risk for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatosis liver disease (MASLD). While it has been found that neighborhood-level factors influence health as much as individual-level characteristics, including allostatic load (ALoad), these factors have been less examined in MASLD research. This study examined the association between perceived neighborhood environment, ALoad, and MASLD. It also examined whether ALoad is a mediator between perceived neighborhood context and MASLD. Multivariable binary logistic and linear regressions were fitted to analyze data from a community-based sample of 151 Mexican-origin farmworkers residing in the Southern Arizona border region. Self-reported data on six dimensions of neighborhood context was collected. Allostatic load was calculated as an index of physiological dysregulation. Hepatic steatosis and fibrosis were assessed by liver stiffness measurements (LSM) and controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) through FibroScan®. MASLD were identified as having a CAP score of ≥288 dB/m. The mean age was 49.7 ±14.1 years, mean BMI 31.9 ±6.5 kg/m2, and 9.9% had type 2 diabetes. The mean CAP score was, M =265.8 ±61.0 with 41.1% of the sample exhibiting MASLD status. Perceived neighborhood violence was not associated with MASLD status; however, it was negatively associated with ALoad, ( p =0.003). ALoad was a negative mediator between perceived violence and MASLD status ( p =0.004). The results of this study inform the development of culturally relevant strategies to reduce Mexican-origin farmworkers’ risk for MASLD that are highly responsive to the structural and systemic forces that shape their lived experience. • Examined associations between neighborhood context, allostatic load, and MASLD • Forty-one percent of farmworkers in the sample exhibited MASLD status • Perceived neighborhood violence was not associated with MASLD status • Perceived neighborhood violence was negatively associated with allostatic load • Allostatic load was a negative mediator between perceived violence and MASLD status

  PublisherDOI

• A Community-Based Participatory Approach in Applying the Sociocultural Resilience Model in U.S–Mexico Border Communities

  Progress in community health partnerships · 2024-03-01 · 1 citations

  articleSenior author

  BACKGROUND: Behavioral models play a key role in identifying pathways to better health and provide a foundation for health promotion interventions. However, behavioral models based in epidemiological research may be limited in relevance and utility in practice. OBJECTIVES: We describe a participatory approach within a community-based participatory research partnership for integrating epidemiological and community perspectives into the application of the sociocultural resilience model (SRM). The SRM posits that cultural processes have a symbiotic relationship with health-promoting social processes, which contribute to the health advantages among Mexicanorigin and other Latinx populations. METHODS: Community action board members engaged with academic partners to interpret and apply the SRM to a community-clinical linkages intervention implemented in the context of three U.S.-Mexico border communities. In a two-day workshop, partners engaged in a series of iterative discussions to reach common definitions and measures for SRM constructs. RESULTS: Partners described daily cultural processes as the food they eat, how they communicate, and a collectivist approach to getting things done. For intervention activities, the partners opted for intergenerational storytelling, sharing of food, and artistic forms of expression. Partners included measures of cultural nuances such as border identity and the complexities that often arise from navigating bicultural norms. CONCLUSIONS: Collaborative approaches within community-based participatory research partnerships can facilitate the adaptation and measurement of conceptual health behavior models in community practice.

  PublisherDOI

• “Close to My Community”: A Qualitative Study of Community Health Worker-Supported Teleaudiology Hearing Aid Services

  Ear and Hearing · 2024-05-30 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access

  OBJECTIVES: Given well-documented disparities in rural and minority communities, alternative service delivery models that help improve access to hearing care are needed. This article reports on a study of older Latino adults with hearing loss who received hearing aid services with Community Health Workers (CHWs) providing support via teleaudiology. The present study used qualitative data to explore perceptions of this novel service delivery model. DESIGN: Participants completed semistructured interviews related to their experiences in the intervention approximately 17 weeks after the hearing aid fitting appointment. Two coders independently coded the data, using an iterative deductive and inductive thematic analysis approach. Inter-rater reliability was good (κ = 0.80). RESULTS: Of the 28 participants, 19 were interviewed (CHW group: n = 9, 8 females; non-CHW group: n = 10, 9 females). Both groups of participants reported experiencing barriers in access to care and reported positive experiences with teleaudiology and with hearing aids as part of the trial. CHW group participants reported interactions with patient-site facilitators that were indicative of patient-centeredness. CONCLUSIONS: Results demonstrate the feasibility and potential effectiveness of trained CHWs as patient-site facilitators in teleaudiology-delivered hearing aid services for adults.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• CANYON RANCH CENTER FOR PREVENTION AND HEALTH PROMOTION

  NIH · $4.9M · 2009–2014

• Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research Centers

  NIH · $5.7M · 2014–2019

• NIH Grant R03HD053590

  NIH · $149k · 2011

• NIH Grant R03DA014371

  NIH · $152k · 2004

Frequent coauthors

• Maia Ingram

  University of Arizona

  57 shared

• Jill Guernsey de Zapien

  26 shared

• Samantha Sabo

  Northern Arizona University

  22 shared

• Cecilia Rosales

  17 shared

• Kerstin M. Reinschmidt

  University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center

  17 shared

• Ada M. Wilkinson‐Lee

  University of Arizona

  16 shared

• Anne Gompel

  Women's Hospital

  15 shared

• Melanie L. Bell

  University of Arizona

  14 shared

Labs

• Healthy Aging LabPI

Awards & honors

• Director of the Arizona Prevention Research Center
• Director of Substance Abuse Core for an NCMHD/NIH-funded Cen…
• Lead quantitative data analyst and behavioral science method…