Although a large portion of the American population is benefiting from healthcare advances, the Latinos are still languishing in poor health care. They generally experience high rates of diabetic problems, poor high blood pressure control programs, lack the proper infrastructure for HIV/AIDS control, and experience low child and adult immunization. The problems are attributed to cultural practices that form the foundation of the Latino populace (Medina, 2012). Therefore, the cultural practices have a huge impact on healthcare education and participation in prevention programs by the Latinos.
Firstly, communication poses a great barrier in sensitizing the community in healthcare education. The Latinos mainly converse via Spanish though children mix it with English (Medina, 2012). The dialect entails a lot of respect. Normally, the Latinos don’t appreciate over-familiarity in the initial stages of interaction. Thus, it becomes a challenge to pass information to the population and encourage them to engage in prevention programs. Additionally, the Latinos are assertive towards healthcare interactions. Moreover, the Latinos don’t maintain eye contact with healthcare providers hence becomes problematic for correct diagnosis and advice on correct prevention programs to indulge in. Lastly, instead of the use of reading and writing as a formal way of communication, Latinos’ mainly communicate through verbal and nonverbal forms of communication. Thus, it becomes a challenge to educate the populace via posters, brochure and other forms of writings.
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Also, Latinos prefer the use of knowledge acquired from folk healers, herbalists, and massage therapists among other traditional healers ( Martinez, 2009) . Thus, it becomes a great challenge for formal care providers to change the mindset of the Latino population on the proper ways to prevent the common diseases affecting the population. The Latinos believe that the local healer’s word to be true thus when a formal caregiver tries to change the perspective they are met with hostility and mistrust.
Lastly, the family has a great impact on healthcare education and participation of the Latinos in the prevention of healthcare problems. The population has relinquished all the powers to the oldest male in the family to make a decision when it comes to issues of health (Medina, 2012). Thus, efforts by care providers to educate the rest of the family members may be futile since they will always depend on the decision made by the family leader.
Overall, cultural believes in healthcare promotion also has an impact on the healthcare education and participation of the Latino population in the prevention of diseases affecting the population. Communication barriers believe in traditional healers and the dependency of the family on a decision about health made by the oldest male in the family, are some of the issues dragging health care advancement among the Latinos.
References
Martinez, L. N. (2009). South Texas Mexican American use of traditional folk and mainstream alternative therapies. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences , 31 (1), 128-143.
Medina, C. (2012). Belief and Traditions that impact the Latino Healthcare. Retrieved from https://www.medschool.lsuhsc.edu/physiology/docs/Belief%20and%20Traditions%20that%20impact%20the%20Latino%20Healthcare.pdf
Poma, P. A. (1983). Hispanic Cultural Influences on Medical Practice. Journal of the National Medical Association , 75 (10), 941–946.
