Cultural beliefs, lack of health media outlets, key barriers to Latino health

By Hope Gillette, Saludify

The Pew Hispanic Research Center and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) joined forces recently to examine the health care disparities affecting Hispanics in the United States.

The collaborative effort gathered the most recent data regarding Latinos access to health care, quality of health care and chronic disease awareness, to see why Hispanics continue to disproportionately suffer from issues such as high rates of cancer, obesity and diabetes.

“When it comes to Latinos, what may appear to be the well-known effects of socio-economic inequality on health care may also be conditioned by unique social, cultural and economic circumstances confronting both Hispanic immigrants and Hispanics born in the United States,” explained researchers.

Key points revealed in the report included:

Lack of quality health information for Hispanics

The data strongly indicated quality media outreach could be an essential tool for reducing health care disparities among Hispanics in the United States. According to researchers, lack of culturally relevant health media outlets puts this population at risk.

“This lack of information translates into a false perception within the community that they don’t need health care. In fact, according to the report, most Hispanics without a primary care provider say they don’t have one because they don’t perceive themselves as someone who has to worry about getting seriously ill,” explains Forbes’ Glenn Llopis.

With as many as 79 percent of U.S. Hispanics searching for medical information through print and online media outlets, experts feel this is a previously over-looked way to providing Latinos with relevant health care information.

“Hispanics will trust non-medical resources that are culturally relevant and that speak their language; even more, those that create a two-way conversation and engage the community to be part of the solution,” said Dr. Kimlin Tam Ashing-Giwa, professor and director of City of Hope’s Center of Community Alliance for Research and Education, quoted by Forbes.

Ashing-Giwa added, “Health care system clinicians and researchers that take a one-sided approach create barriers to community entry and make it difficult for Hispanics to believe that they have their best interests at heart.”

Fast and easy ways to utilize media outlets to reduce health care disparities, as suggested by the National Alliance for Hispanic Health, include:

• Adapting and distributing current printed materials for the Hispanic community.
• Developing both Spanish and English language websites and social media presence with health topics geared for Hispanics.
• Adapting and distributing critical consumer health updates more quickly to the Hispanic community, such as food and drug recalls and other warnings.
• Developing a media plan that includes wire services serving Spanish language media and local community newspapers.

“In order for the importance of such health care initiatives as preventative medicine, regular check-ups and timely treatment to resonate, the information from health care providers must specifically connect with the individual and their cultural identity,” concluded Llopis.

Regular health care visits

“Because professional health care is not necessarily something Hispanics were raised with in their mother countries or even in their homes here in the U.S., they may not seek it out or see the value in it, making outreach to the community all the more important – especially as lack of medical research, prevention methods and treatment options specific to them directly affects their health and well-being,” said Llopis.

In fact, the report found that:

• More than one-fourth of Hispanic adults in the United States lack a usual health care provider.
• Approximately one-fourth of Hispanic adults said they received no health care information from medical personnel within the past 12 months.
• More than 8 in 10 Hispanics report receiving health care information from a source other than an in-person medical professional, such as from a television show or radio segment.
• Foreign-born Hispanics were less likely to have a regular medical care provider.
• 42 percent of Hispanics are uninsured.
• Hispanics have a lower incidence of chronic health issues over all compared to non-Hispanic whites, but have higher rates of obesity and diabetes.
• 79 percent of Hispanics act on the health care information they receive through media sources.
• Hispanics seem generally please in the quality of health care they receive. Seventy-eight percent rate care as good or excellent.
• 1 in 4 Hispanics felt health care quality within the last 12 months was poor.
• Of those who felt quality of care was poor, most attributed it to financial limitations, though ethnicity and language barriers were also cited.
• 3 percent of Hispanics have trouble navigating the U.S. health system.
• Only 73 percent of Hispanics with diabetes score well on a general knowledge questionnaire about the disease.

Over all, when it comes to why Hispanics rarely went to the doctor, the data indicated it was not because of health care costs or availability; most Hispanics in the survey indicated they did not find it necessary to have a regular health care provider because they felt they rarely got sick or the chances of getting sick were low.

Hispanics and chronic disease

Hispanics report looking to media for health care advice rather than primary care physicians. (Shutterstock)

Although Hispanics seem to live longer than other ethnicities, they are disproportionately affected by many chronic conditions — most of them preventable.

• 7.6 percent of Hispanic adults suffer from heart disease.
• 20.4 percent of Hispanic adults suffer from hypertension.
• 8.2 percent of Hispanics adults have asthma.
• 2.7 percent of Hispanic adults have chronic bronchitis.
• 3.6 percent of Hispanics adults have had or do have cancer.
• 10.5 percent of Hispanics adults have diabetes.
• 39.6 percent of Hispanics adults are overweight.
• 27.4 percent of Hispanics adults are obese.

The research also found:

• 1 in 12 Hispanics residing in the U.S. have received medical care or treatment in Latin America, and 1 in 6 knows a family member or a friend who has done so.
• 6 percent of Hispanics receive care from a folk healer rather than from a medical professional.
• Mexican Americans and Central Americans were less likely to seek care from medical professionals.
• The majority of Hispanics who scored low on general knowledge diabetes tests did have health insurance and regular medical providers.

After evaluating the data, researchers concluded that not having a regular health care provider was a significant contributor as to why health disparities exist among Hispanics in the United States.

Not only were Hispanics who did not have regular health care providers less likely to be knowledgeable about relevant disease, they were less likely to have positive medical experiences.

This article was first published in Saludify.

Hope Gillette is an award winning author and novelist. She has been active in the veterinary industry for over 10 years, and her experience extends from exotic animal care to equine sports massage.