In a paper of 1,000-1,250 words, compare and contrast the health status of your selected minority group to the national average. Include the following:
Select an ethnic minority group that is represented in the United States (American Indian/Alaskan Native, Asian American, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander). Using health information available from Healthy People, the CDC, and other relevant government websites, analyze the health status for this group.
In a paper of 1,000-1,250 words, compare and contrast the health status of your selected minority group to the national average. Include the following:
- Describe the ethnic minority group selected. Describe the current health status of this group. How do race and ethnicity influence health for this group?
- What are the health disparities that exist for this group? What are the nutritional challenges for this group?
- Discuss the barriers to health for this group resulting from culture, socioeconomics, education, and sociopolitical factors.
- What health promotion activities are often practiced by this group?
- Describe at least one approach using the three levels of health promotion prevention (primary, secondary, and tertiary) that is likely to be the most effective in a care plan given the unique needs of the minority group you have selected. Provide an explanation of why it might be the most effective choice.
- What cultural beliefs or practices must be considered when creating a care plan? What cultural theory or model would be best to support culturally competent health promotion for this population? Why?
Cite at least three peer-reviewed or scholarly sources to complete this assignment. Sources should be published within the last 5 years and appropriate for the assignment criteria and public health content.
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Expert Answer and Explanation
Analysis of the Health Status of Hispanics
Race is medically relevant considering that it is among the factors which determine one’s risk of developing certain medical conditions including diabetes. Race intertwines with one’s social status considering that poverty rates are disproportionately high in minority communities compared to those from the dominant racial groups. However, the gap in access to medical care occurs across various contexts including the place one lives, their age and their sex.
Hispanics are some of the groups disadvantaged by the social issues, and this implies that they disproportionately suffer from health issues compared to the white Americans. The disparity in health, for this population, manifests across divergent dimensions including education. This group, however, practices a number of health promotion activities focused on improving their physiological and psychological wellbeing (Hudnut-Beumler, Po’e & Barkin, 2016). For this group, cultural beliefs provide the dimension under which this group can make health care decisions. Thus, it is imperative to assess this group in terms of the disparity to access to care, and health promotion activities.
Description of the Minority Group
The United States (U.S.) is inherently diverse, and the size of the Hispanic population in the country stands at approximately 18% of the total U.S.’s population. Within this group, members can identify as Cubans, Mexicans, or even Puerto Ricans. For this group, Mexicans rank highest in terms of the population, and this could be because of the close proximity of the country to Mexico. In the U.S., some states have higher concentration of the Hispanic minorities than others.
California and Texas are some of these states, and Arizona, is also on the list of these states. According to the statistical estimates, 72% of individuals in this group use other languages, instead of English, for the purpose of communication while at home (Velasco-Mondragon et al., 2016). However, majority can fluently communicate in English, while a small percentage, around 29% face difficulty speaking fluently using this language. 31% of this minority population is yet to attain the age where they can be considered adults.
Health Disparities for the Group
This population grapples with the burden of health incidences and various factors hamper this group’s capacity to access health care. This health burden is directly linked to the social issues which this group has to deal with, and poverty as well as the lack of the decent jobs are the economic factors that the group struggles with. Issues with documentation have recently played out in making it difficult for this group to access health services, and the crackdown on those without official documents has had a negative impact on their decisions to seek for medical attention.
The health burden on this population reflects in the high rates of teenage pregnancies as well as the high number of the obese children from this group. Heart conditions as well as cancer rank as the major factors which contribute to the deaths for individuals from this group (Angel, 2015). High rates of disease incidences including diabetes affects this group at disproportionate rates.
Barriers to Health for the Group
A wide spectrum of factors play out as impediments to access to the health services for this group. The lack of documentation is major factor that is discouraging some individuals within this group from benefiting from the existing health programs which the states and the federal governments fund. One in four Hispanics have no official papers, and this exempts them from benefiting from the existing government-funded health programs. Because of this lack of documentation, some resort to working for less than the minimum wage, and the amount they earn may not sustain their personal and medical needs.
Besides, language is becoming an impediment for some individuals in this group considering that some face difficulties when they speak in English. With immigrants of Hispanic descent entering the country, this problem with language barrier continues to persist. Given that some of the Hispanics live and work in remote areas of the Southwestern states, access to care may be difficult particularly in in rural areas where health facilities are in limited supply (Angel, 2015).
Health Promotion Activities the Group Practices
Despite the myriad health issues which Latinos have to deal with, this group engages in some health promotion activities. The emphasis on the use of the physical exercise as well as nutrition as the frameworks for managing adverse disease incidences has shaped health practices among members of the Latino communities.
Currently, a certain segment of this group use nutrition and exercise as the standards for maintaining good health. However, only the Hispanics with education practice healthy lifestyle habits, and the level of one’s exposure can affect how they view these health activities (Martínez & Rhodes, 2019). Breastfeeding is another activity which this group practices as part of the process of promoting health.
Primary Health Promotion for the Minority Group
Considering the social and health needs of this population, health education can be effective in dealing with the medical issues which this group faces. It is imperative that the education focus on helping the group learn about how they can practice healthy lifestyles. Primary disease. The primary care for this group would involve the assessment of the risks by taking measurements of the body mass weight and other assessments.
The secondary care with this intervention would involve recommending nutrition and for the members of the Hispanic community who would like to live healthy lifestyles (Grey & Hall-Clark, 2015). At tertiary level, an intervention that involves performing surgical operation is used.
Cultural Beliefs and Practices to Consider in Developing a Care Program
The Hispanics have a strong sense of identity, and their cultural beliefs can affect the health decisions they make. For this group, the family serves an important role in the propagation of the values and beliefs, and senior members of the family can make decisions on behalf of the other members.
Accordingly, caregivers need to involve the senior members of the family in creating a health promotion plan. This also applies where a family member only speaks in a Hispanic language, and they need interpretation (Huff, Kline, & Peterson, 2014). In this case, a family member can do the interpretation on behalf of the patient.
Conclusion
In overview, the Latino is disadvantaged by the health issues, and this is because this group lack access to social support opportunities. This group consists of sub-ethnic groups including the Mexicans, and the gap to access to the health services for this population is inherently a factor linked to poverty. Poor health among the Hispanics reflect in the soaring rates of the obesity incidences as well as cases of lifestyle medical conditions. However, some Latinos understand the connection existing between exercise as well as nutrition on health.
For providers, involving family members in decision-making can be important in building caregiver-patient relationships where a Hispanic requires medical intervention.
References
Angel, R.J. (2015). Latinos in an Aging World: Social, Psychological and Economic Perspectives. New York: Routledge.
Grey, H., & Hall-Clark, B. N. (2015). Cultural considerations in Latino American mental health. Oxford : Oxford University Press.
Hudnut-Beumler, J., Po’e, E., & Barkin, S. (2016). The Use of Social Media for Health Promotion in Hispanic Populations: A Scoping Systematic Review. JMIR public health and surveillance, 2(2), e32. doi:10.2196/publichealth.5579.
Huff, R. M., Kline, M. V., & Peterson, D. V. (2014). Health Promotion in Multicultural Populations: A Handbook for Practitioners and Students. Thousand Oaks : SAGE Publications, Inc.
Martínez, A. D., & Rhodes, S. D. (2019). New and emerging issues in Latinx health. Cham: Springer.
Velasco-Mondragon, E., Jimenez, A., Palladino-Davis, A. G., Davis, D., & Escamilla-Cejudo, J. A. (2016). Hispanic health in the USA: a scoping review of the literature. Public health reviews, 37, 31. doi:10.1186/s40985-016-0043-2.
