Insights on the Pain Experience in Mexican Americans

Abstract

The overall goal of this chapter is to provide insights into the pain experience of Mexican Americans. Health professionals in the United States often characterize various ethnocultural groups according to their reactions to pain and their ability to tolerate pain. Understanding includes recognizing the impact of acculturation and assimilation on the Mexican-American pain experience, becoming familiar with the evolution of traditional Mexican-American beliefs about the pain experience (including the influence of religion on the pain response), being familiar with cultural pain coping patterns, realizing how the traditional roles of the Mexican-American family affect the pain experience, and being aware of the use of traditional treatments for pain.