Individuals from racial and ethnic minority groups may speak English “less well” or “not at all” and are thus classified as Limited English Proficient (LEP). Because of their limited ability to communicate their health information, ethnic minorities are vulnerable to significant health disparities. As a result, healthcare providers must be culturally competent to care for such individuals. Paloma’s case, a 26-year-old Spanish-speaking female patient who presented to the clinic for the second time in two days with abdominal pain, demonstrates the cultural influence on health. An in-depth discussion of the socioeconomic, spiritual, lifestyle, and other cultural factors influencing the patient’s health is provided below.
An individual’s socioeconomic status influences their ability to access and use healthcare services. Poverty, health insurance, education, and employment are all important socioeconomic factors influencing Hispanic health. One in every four Hispanics in the United States lives below the poverty line (CDC, 2020). Furthermore, approximately one-third of Hispanic immigrants who have been in the United States for more than ten years had a college degree in 2018 (Noe-Bustamante, 2020). As a result, only a few people, including Paloma, have the financial means to access healthcare services.
Spiritual beliefs also influence an individual’s health status. The majority of Hispanics are Christian Catholics who seek comfort and relief from life’s stresses through prayer (Johnson & Farquharson, 2019). They believe in praying to God or having faith as a coping strategy when they are sick. This, along with seeking medical attention, may help Paloma heal. In terms of lifestyle, both Hispanic men and women report a lower prevalence of regular physical activity (41.9%, 40.5%) than their non-Hispanic counterparts (52.3, 49.6), making them vulnerable to a variety of chronic illnesses (Bantham et al., 2021).
Furthermore, in 2020, 8.0% of Hispanic adults in the United States smoked cigarettes (CDC, 2022), and it is estimated that 9.5% will have alcohol dependence at some point in their lives (National Institute of Health, 2021); these are risk behaviors that increase the individual’s risk of developing chronic illnesses. As a result, for Paloma to maintain a healthy lifestyle, she should be advised on healthy lifestyle changes. Language is a potent cultural determinant of health as well. Language influences both how a patient communicates and how a clinician perceives health information (Dains et al., 2015; Melton et al., 2014). Being an LEP, she is accompanied by her younger bilingual daughter; however, this proxy reporting of symptoms may not depict the true illness of the patient and may explain why she visits the hospital twice in two days for the same illness.
The patient has been to the clinic two days in a row with similar complaints. She is accompanied by her younger bilingual daughter, who may not fully comprehend all of the details of her illness. One might wonder why the patient is not with an older person, such as her husband or older children, who appear to have a better perception of health. This patient may have marital problems or some form of discord, which a clinician should be aware of to design appropriate, helpful interventions. She was also discharged on Omeprazole but was told she could get it over the counter.
Could the patient afford the medication? This could explain why she is seeking care on the second day with worsening symptoms. Poverty rates among Hispanics in the United Stat
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