Health Perceptions of Low-Income, Immigrant Spanish-Speaking Latinas in the United States

Abstract

The health outcomes and health practices of immigrant Latinas tend to decrease with acculturation to U.S. culture. The purpose of this pilot study was to investigate health perceptions of first-and secondgeneration, low-income, Spanish-speaking women from Mexico and Central America to learn their views of health and also to identify any differences between subcultures. This investigation was the first phase of a larger study to understand the relationship of physical activity to health, as Latinas define it. Seven focus groups were conducted in Spanish with women, ages 25 to 64, by country of origin. Fifteen themes emerged, with more similarity than differences between the two countries. With the burgeoning and diverse Hispanic population in the United States and high rates of inactivity of Hispanic women that increase with age and double to triple the incidence of obesity and type 2 diabetes in Hispanics, a cultural understanding of concepts and methods that promote health is essential.La salud y las prácticas de salud correspondientes a mujeres inmigrantes Latinas se tienden a disminuir con su aculturación a la cultura estadounidense. El propósito de este estudio piloto era investigar las percepciones que inmigrantes mexicanas y centroamericanas, de primera y segunda generación de bajo nivel económico, tienen sobre su salud y para identificar diferencias entre las subculturas. Esta investigación es la primera fase de un estudio más comprensivo para comprender la relación entre la salud y la actividad física, según la definición de las Latinas. Siete grupos muestra fueron dirigidos en español con mujeres según país de origen entre 25 y 64 años. Resultaron quince temas con más semejanza entre mujeres de México y Centro América que disparidades. Es fundamental tener un conocimiento cultural de los conceptos y métodos que promueven la salud dado que hay una población hispana creciente en los Estados Unidos con altos índices de inactividad entre hispanas que envejecen además por la doble y triple ocurrencia de obesidad y diabetes tipo 2 entre hispanos.

Physical Activity among Adults with Low Socioeconomic Status Living in Industrialized Countries: A Meta-Ethnographic Approach to Understanding Socioecological Complexities

“…Participation in PA is influenced by accessibility to resources that support PA. People desire to travel to parks, public sports centres, or local private health clubs to pursue PA but lack access to reliable transportation such as private cars, [54,56,57,60,69]. In addition, the availability of peers in close proximity and the location influences walking and other forms of PA for transport [63].…”

Flavor Learning In Utero and Its Implications for Future Obesity and Diabetes

“…Cultural preferences may be a significant factor in fruit and vegetable consumption. In a qualitative study that addressed the health perceptions of first-and second-generation Latina women immigrants, healthy nutritional practices tended to decrease with acculturation to United States culture [28]. One participant remarked, "Nutrition [is different] because here there is not enough; there are vegetables, but we do not like them or we do not know how to prepare them" [28].…”

“…In a qualitative study that addressed the health perceptions of first-and second-generation Latina women immigrants, healthy nutritional practices tended to decrease with acculturation to United States culture [28]. One participant remarked, "Nutrition [is different] because here there is not enough; there are vegetables, but we do not like them or we do not know how to prepare them" [28]. Similarly, in their study of Latina immigrants, Fuentes-Afflick and Hessol [29] found that as duration of US residence increased, the prevalence of obesity increased as well.…”

Social Ecology of Adherence to Hypertension Treatment in Latino Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers

“…To ensure the educational materials will be successfully employed and to increase the treatment compliance for the hypertensive Latino/Latina MSFWs, HCPs need to be knowledgeable about the patients' barriers to better adherence as well as their unique Additional opportunities for improving BP control exist in the social relationships shared among the Latino MSFW. Personalismo, respecting and honoring dignity, is an important first step when communicating with the Latino population (Hartweg & Isabelli-García, 2007). When developing individuals' medication regimen, HCPs can seek to engage family members as a mechanism to augment adherence to HTN treatment.…”