Health Beliefs and Attitudes of Latino Immigrants: Rethinking Acculturation as a Constant

    Authors

    M. E. Villar; M. Concha;R. Zamith

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    J. Immigr. Minor. Health

    Keywords

    Health beliefs; Health messages; Latino culture; Acculturation; Social; judgment theory; SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY; HISPANICS; CULTURE; CONTEXT; Public, Environmental & Occupational Health

    Abstract

    Health disparities among Latinos have been associated with acculturation, but there is a lack of consensus about how acculturation variables translate into health beliefs that can be used to target attitude and behavior change interventions. Transcripts from three qualitative studies including 64 Latino immigrant adults were analyzed through inductive reasoning to assess relationships between more or less acculturated attitudes, and demographic variables. In the three topic areas of gender roles, sex education, and seeking professional help, attitudes ranged from conservative (less acculturated) to liberal (more acculturated), but did not seem associated with age, education or years in the United States. When dealing with specific health topics, it is not possible to infer specific attitudes, strength of attitudes or level of acculturation of intervention recipients. To develop sound, culturally competent interventions, it is necessary to assess the targets' beliefs and attitudes and tailor messages in specific contexts.

    Journal Title

    Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health

    Volume

    14

    Issue/Number

    5

    Publication Date

    1-1-2012

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    885

    Last Page

    889

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000308656200020

    ISSN

    1557-1912

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