Variation in Asthma Beliefs and Practices Among Mainland Puerto Ricans, Mexican-Americans, Mexicans, and Guatemalans

This study reports on community surveys of 160 representative Latino adults in Hartford, CT; Edinburg, TX; Guadalajara, Mexico; and in rural Guatemala. A 142-item questionnaire covered asthma beliefs and practices (e.g., causes, symptoms, and treatments). The cultural consensus model was used to ana...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of asthma 2002-01, Vol.39 (2), p.119-134
Main Authors: Pachter, Lee M., Weller, Susan C., Baer, Roberta D., Garcia de Alba Garcia, Javier E., Trotter, Robert T., Glazer, Mark, Klein, Robert
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Asthma
Asthma - etiology
Asthma - physiopathology
Asthma - therapy
Biological and medical sciences
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma
Female
Guatemala
Health beliefs
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Health practices
Hispanic Americans - psychology
Hispanic/Latino
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Mexican Americans - psychology
Mexico
Pneumology
Puerto Rico
Surveys and Questionnaires
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Summary:This study reports on community surveys of 160 representative Latino adults in Hartford, CT; Edinburg, TX; Guadalajara, Mexico; and in rural Guatemala. A 142-item questionnaire covered asthma beliefs and practices (e.g., causes, symptoms, and treatments). The cultural consensus model was used to analyze the agreement among respondents within each sample and to describe beliefs. Beliefs were then compared across the four samples. Analysis of the questionnaire data shows that there was overall consistency or consensus regarding beliefs and practices among individuals at each site (intraculturally) and to a lesser extent across respondents of all four different Latino cultural groups (i.e., interculturally). This pattern of response is indicative of a shared belief system among the four groups with regard to asthma. Within this shared belief system though, there is systematic variation between groups in causes, symptoms, and treatments for asthma. The most widely recognized and shared beliefs concerned causes of asthma. Notable differences were present between samples in terms of differences in beliefs about symptoms and treatments. The biomedical model is shown to be a part of the explanatory model at all sites; in addition to the biomedical model, ethnocultural beliefs such as the humoral ("hot cold") aspects and the importance of balance are also evident. The Connecticut Puerto Ricans had a greater degree of shared beliefs about asthma than did the other three samples (p
ISSN:0277-0903
1532-4303
DOI:10.1081/JAS-120002193