Deidra Larissa Henson
Professor Zinno
HIM 102
February 6, 2022
Traditions, Upbringing, and Beliefs that impact Latino Health Care in the United States
I. There are multiple traditions and beliefs, as well as their upbringing, that affect how
Latinos use and interact with the Health Care system.
A. Traditions that affect healthcare for Latinos are diet and exercise, language, and
familism.
B. Upbringing that affects healthcare includes one's socioeconomic factors,
family/gender roles, taboos, and stigmas.
C. Beliefs that affect healthcare options are religion (fatalism) and folk healing.
II. Traditions are deep rooted customs that are passed down from generation to
generation. These customs have become a way of life and ordinary habits that affect our
health decisions.
A. Latino Diet include many healthy foods like vegetables, grains, and beans, it's
how its prepared that cause it to affect their health. Latin cooking methods
include deep frying or refrying.
1.
Diabetes, heart disease, and obesity being some of the most
common chronic health conditions for Latinos. (Diabetes is twice as
common in Latino Americans then in White Americans)
B. Language is always a barrier when related to health care. For an individual where
English is a second language, understanding terminology used by a physician is
not only hard to understand but also intimidating.
1.
Language/Cultural barriers between patient/provider (Provider
not really understanding patient background)
C. The family unit is close knit, and all decisions are normally family focused, where
all members have a say before any important medical decision can be made.
III. Upbringing that affects Health care is one’s socioeconomic factors, gender/family roles
and taboos and stigmas.
A. Lack of preventive care and health insurance is related to one's economic status
in society.
1.
Wealthier families would have access to healthcare and therefore
not as scared of it where poverty level families would not have access to
help and would be weary of spending their hard-earned money.
B. Gender/Family roles are important and play a role in all aspects of the family
unit. The man is the provider/protector and usually the decision-makers, held in
profound respect at an authoritative figure. Women are seen more as the
dedicated mother and wife who oversees t the daily home’s coming and going,
as well as the rearing of children.
1.
Sex, age, social and economic status determines authority and
respect. More Authority means a bigger say in what decisions are made
for a person (The eldest son would have a greater say in decision if father
was on a ventilator and the time came to either continue or pull plug)
C. Taboos and stigmas are engrained in children at an early age
1.
The primary one being that intimate and personal information is
to be kept between one's partner and self.
2.
Mental Illness is a sign of weakness
3.
Abortion and birth control are looked down upon due to religious
beliefs.
IV. Beliefs that affect healthcare options are religion and folk healing.
A. Most Latinos are Catholic and believe that through faith, prayers, and the
church, all illnesses can be healed. And if one is sick, there is a spiritual
explanation (it was God’s will) and way to heal is through the church (baptisms,
last rites).
B. Folk Healings are a non-convention care option where a healer used herbal
remedies to treat patients. There is cultural distrust in non-natural medicine.
V. There are many deep-rooted aspects of Latino Culture that pave the way to poor
medical understanding and utilization. Education of both the cultural aspects for the
provider and generic medical understanding for the patient would help ease Latino
families into seeing professionals for health concerns.
CITATIONS:
Johnson, M. J., & Farquharson, H. R. (2019, December). Hispanic culture and healthcare in the
United States: One Person's perspective. Retrieved February 6, 2022, from
https://www.pulsus.com/scholarly-articles/hispanic-culture-and-healthcare-in-theunited-states-one-persons-perspective.pdf
Latino Culture & Health. Arizona State University. (n.d.). Retrieved February 6, 2022, from
https://www.public.asu.edu/~cbaldwi1/swborderlands/lch.htm
Machado, A. (2014, May 7). Why many latinos dread going to the doctor. The Atlantic.
Retrieved February 6, 2022, from
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/05/why-many-latinos-dread-going-tothe-doctor/361547/
Rivera, D. G. M. (2016). COA. Retrieved February 6, 2022, from
https://www.coa.org/2016/presentations/qme/7HispanicPatient101kkk.pdf
US Department of Health and Human Services. (2021, October 12). Office of Minority Health.
Hispanic/Latino - The Office of Minority Health. Retrieved February 6, 2022, from
https://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/omh/browse.aspx?lvl=3&lvlid=64#:~:text=Some%20other
%20health%20conditions%20and,are%20disparities%20among%20Hispanic%20subgroup
s.
Velasco-Mondragon, E., Jimenez, A., Palladino-Davis, A. G., Davis, D., & Escamilla-Cejudo, J. A.
(2016, December 7). Hispanic Health in the USA: A scoping review of the literature - public
health reviews. BioMed Central. Retrieved February 6, 2022, from
https://publichealthreviews.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40985-016-0043-2