Health Promotion among Diverse Populations.
Introduction.
Hispanic Americans form the largest ethnic minority population in the United States. The leading causes of death in this population include heart conditions as well as cancer accounting for approximately 2 for every 5 deaths. According to center for disease control and prevention, Hispanics have lower death rate than the whited from the ten most common causes of death in America. Health risks also vary by subgroups among the Hispanics and also depend on whether one was born in America or outside country. Concerning insurance, the Hispanics are three times likely to be uninsured compared to the whites. The Hispanics in the United States are about 15 years younger than the whites. Despite the fact that, the mortality rate among the Hispanics decreasing from the chronic illnesses and the life expectancy is similar to those of the whites, they form a cohort with worst morbidity rate and being incapacitated in the old age (Fredriksen-Goldsen, 2014).
The health promotion among the Hispanics has been driven by the move on the use of technology in making the population aware of services and be able to access care that is culturally and linguistically sensitive. The Hispanic population has embraced the use of mobile health to enhance communication between the patient and the healthcare providers. This had enabled them to manage chronic conditions such as obesity, diabetes and other cardiovascular conditions which significantly affects this group of people.
Similarly, the Hispanics have low English proficiency, and this affects their understanding of health issues as well as impairing their communication with the health care providers (Andrulis & Brach, 2007). This breaks the relationship between the patient and the caregiver hence the understanding of health issues are underrated and defined poorly. This amounts to the low probability of insuring their health compared to the whites.
The Hispanics face various racial disparities which lead to significant health determinants. There exists conflict, personal costs of filial caregiving as well as cultural marginalization that cubs them from the access to appropriate care (Betancourt, 2016). Since this group also communicate in Spanish, they have low English proficiency that makes them not able to explain their health status to a healthcare provider that can capture their needs while considering their cultural stands and their linguistically centered needs. The language barrier is a critical issue leading to poor care provided to the Hispanics especially where there are no translators. At the same time, the Hispanics are at risk of a medication error that canaries from cultural differences.
Furthermore, using the entire United States population and the mortality rates from medical conditions, the patterns of health and mortality can be associated to social marginalization, maladaptation to the environment in the United States following immigration as well as social inequalities.
For the Hispanic population, primary prevention fits the management of the situation at hand. Primary prevention is concerned with the prevention of the onset of the disease aiming at preventing its onset. The interventions that are encompassed in the primary prevention are applied before the existence of any disease or injury. They may be directed at protection against effects of disease agent or change of behavior or diet.in the process, the population is kept off the risk factor, and health promotion is achieved.
Primary prevention can target individuals’ or community. In this case, both will apply in trying to work on the disparities among the Hispanic populations. With the Hispanic forming the largest group with limited health literacy at two-thirds of their population, there is need to enhance health education that will eventually lead to better understanding of the health situation to influence their health behavior(Andrulis & Brach, 2007).
The health education can take the form of ensuring that the healthcare providers are well trained to be cultural and linguistically competent that will enable them to impart knowledge to the Hispanic population(Alpi & Bibel, 2004). With the healthcare providers being whites, they need to understand the Hispanics to prevent medical errors that can arise from the medical differences. The health communication materials can also be written in the Spanish language rather than pure English to enhance understanding that has been impaired by the language barrier. The healthcare team can also support the Hispanic group to embrace the self-management. This comes with empowerment regarding knowledge on the care that they need.
It is also essential to essential to embrace the advances in the telecommunications technology in this population. This allows for them to be leveraged from the inequalities that are related to the delivery of the healthcare system to overcome the socioeconomic, linguistic and cultural barriers (Mashima, 2012). This is so because the Hispanic population can be reached by reaching them via the mobile gadgets in their language while being inconsiderate if their culture as opposed to meeting clinicians that are of different cultures leading to barriers.
Conclusion.
Hispanics form a special minority group on the basis that they form the largest population hence exposed to various health disparities such as social discrimination, language barrier and cultural differences impairing care provision. With the health needs, it is essential to meet the need to overcome the occurrence of the disease by conducting health educations well as embracing the use of technology to meet the cultural and the linguistic needs.
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