Posted: December 16th, 2022

Health Promotion in Minority Populations Essay GCU

Health Promotion in Minority Populations Essay GCU

Health Promotion in Minority Populations

Describe the ethnic minority group selected. Describe the current health status of this group. How do race and ethnicity influence health for this group?

Ethnicity has been described as a situation where a group of people originating from a specific area share a common culture, language, religion among other key characteristics of a population. The term ethnic minority describes a specific portion of a population in a given country having a different culture, religion, race and color among other characteristics. Ethnic minority maybe identified through various ways and practices including their mode of dressing, hairstyle, language, economic values and beliefs among other features (O’Neal et al., 2017) Health Promotion in Minority Populations Essay GCU. Most of these characteristics if not all act as risk factors to various diseases and health programs/policies. The Latinos are among the highest minority group in the United States. The Latino population is heterogeneous in nature, implying that it is composed of any person belonging to either Mexican, Cuban, Dominican, South/Central American, Puerto Rican or any other group of Spanish origin (Craig & Richeson, 2018). The life expectancy of the Latinos is significantly higher compared to other ethnic minorities, having recorded a life expectancy of 82.2 years in the year 2018 alone. Despite the high life expectancy, the mortality and morbidly rates are still higher in this population. Among the diseases impacting the high mortality and morbidity include; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, HIV/AIDs, diabetes, asthma, cancer, stroke, liver diseases and cardiovascular diseases (O’Neal et al., 2017). Their specific diet and lifestyle also contributes to their high rates of obesity, unintentional injuries and suicides compared to non-Latinos.

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What are the health disparities that exist for this group? What are the nutritional challenges for this group?

There are numerous nutritional challenges and health disparities experienced by the latino population. Despite recording low death rates associated with cancer and heart diseases compared to the non-Latinos, the death rate attributed to diabetes and liver disease is fifty percent higher of the total population mortalities. With regards to obesity, research has shown that about 25% of children between the ages of 6 to 11years live with obesity as compared to 13.5% non-Latinos of the same age group living with obesity (O’Neal et al., 2017) Health Promotion in Minority Populations Essay GCU.

The fact that the latino is a heterogeneous population indicates that their diet originates from diverse origin. The diet is however rich in vegetables, fruits and fiber. The dietary habit patterns of the entire US have however influenced the diet of the minority. According to the recent research, the Latinos have started consuming processed foods and refined drinks and beverages. In comparison to other minority groups, the Latinos are the highest consumers of sugar-sweetened beverages.

Discuss the barriers to health for this group resulting from culture, socioeconomics, education, and sociopolitical factors.

The social and economic factors are the major barriers attributed to the health of the Latino population. Inadequate coverage of health insurance is the first barrier. As of the 2018 health coverage report, the Latinos recorded the highest number of uninsured individuals. Eighteen percent of the total population of the Latinos had not gained health coverage compared to a 5.4% of the non-Latinos who had not gained health coverage in the same year. Low income is the second barrier. As compared to all the other population groups of the US, The Latinos are the second lowest income earners (Zavala et al., 2021). The median household income as of the year 2018 was about 51,450$ for the Latinos compared to the non-Latinos who recorded 70,462$ of the same. Further research also indicated that about 17.6% of the Latinos lived below poverty line.

Low level of education is the third health barrier influencing this population. According to the recent research, the latino/Hispanic population has the highest number of high-school non-graduates, of about 35% among the ethnic groups. The population also records the lowest number of people who have acquired a bachelor’s degree (14.5%) among all the ethnic groups (Zamudio et al., 2017). Health Promotion in Minority Populations Essay GCU The population also records a significant number of people who are not well conversant with English as a language. Further, the population has been found to have the highest number of individuals who are not literate in matters related to health.

What health promotion activities are often practiced by this group?

In the recent days, the official healthcare facilities and institutions are the ones who play a role in health promotion among the Hispanic/Latinos. The US as a country has further developed programs that target the vulnerable populations such as the Latinos. There are also different initiatives that have been setup in different parts of the US with an aim of solving some specific health problems associated with the Latinos. For example, the Juntos por la Salud (JPLS) is an initiative that was developed with an aim of promoting health while preventing diseases among metropolitan cities (O’Neal & Beckman, 2017). The initiative showed its effectiveness after treating about 86830people between the years 2016 to 2018 through its mobile health units. The L.A. Sprouts, is another example that majorly addressed Obesity among the Hispanic youths in Los Angeles.

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.

The choice of Health promotion approach for Latino/Hispanic population should only be made based on their health problems. Primary promotion should encompass thorough educational programs on smoking and alcoholism, nutrition, HIV/AIDs prevention measures and mental health issues. Health Promotion in Minority Populations Essay GCU Through these programs, the rate of problems of suicide, cardiovascular, diabetes, obesity, liver and pulmonary diseases would consequently reduce. These programs would also help to improve the general health literacy levels and dietary habits of the latino population.

At the secondary level, providing information on the essentials of preventive screening would be vital. This would be achieved through community health workers in the various centers of community health. The work of these community health workers would be linking people while educating them at low cost services if not for free (Zavala et al., 2021). Providing these measures would help in early screening of cancer, early pregnancy complication detection, as well as helping to provide a timely treatment to all the patients.

The tertiary level involves the authorities working with individuals affected by chr9nic diseases. It is an approach that can be achieved through developing diabetes management programs, cardiac rehabilitation programs and other support groups for obese people, smokers and alcoholics (Craig & Richeson, 2018). Through these programs, many people will be able to self-manage their health problems in the latino population.

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?

The cultural beliefs of the Latino/Hispanic population are important aspects of consideration when creating a care plan. There are five different types of traits that affect the attitude to health in the latino population. These traits include familism, machismo, personalismo, fatalism and folk illness Health Promotion in Minority Populations Essay GCU. These are the critical factors that should be considered when offering healthcare and prevention programs to the Latino/Hispanic population. The situations where the males are associated with household decisions concerning health issues and diet are created by the familism and machismo (Craig & Richeson, 2018). Patients are prevented from seeking healthcare attention from healthcare professions by the belief that supernatural powers are the causes of diseases and that these diseases can only be cured by traditional healers (Zavala et al., 2021). Furthermore, the Latinos can be reluctant towards seeking healthcare attention due to fatalism that makes them think that there exists no personal control over life. The culture of personalismo which is embraced by healthcare providers needs to further be embraced by the healthcare providers.

References

Craig, M. A., & Richeson, J. A. (2018). Hispanic population growth engenders conservative shift

among non-Hispanic racial minorities. Social Psychological and Personality

            Science, 9(4), 383-392. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550617712029

O’Neal, E. N., & Beckman, L. O. (2017). Intersections of race, ethnicity, and gender: Reframing

knowledge surrounding barriers to social services among Latina intimate partner violence

victims. Violence against women, 23(5), 643-665 Health Promotion in Minority Populations Essay GCU.

https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801216646223

Zamudio, C. D., Sanchez, G., Altschuler, A., & Grant, R. W. (2017). Influence of language and

culture in the primary care of Spanish-speaking Latino adults with poorly controlled

diabetes: a qualitative study. Ethnicity & disease, 27(4), 379.

https://doi:10.18865/ed.27.4.379

Zavala, V. A., Bracci, P. M., Carethers, J. M., Carvajal-Carmona, L., Coggins, N. B., Cruz-

Correa, M. R., … & Fejerman, L. (2021). Cancer health disparities in racial/ethnic

minorities in the United States. British journal of cancer, 124(2), 315-332.

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-020-01038-6 Health Promotion in Minority Populations Essay GCU