non-Latino Participants Research Articles

Impact of Limited English Proficiency on Medication-Related Problems and Emergency Room Visits Among Community-Dwelling Older People.

Background Older people have higher risk of experiencing medication-related problems (MRPs), leading to increased morbidity, health care use, and mortality. Few studies have examined the pathway between limited English proficiency (LEP) among older people and health service use through MRPs. Objective This study aimed to explore the association of LEP among Latino older people with MRPs and their relationship to emergency room (ER) visits. Methods Researchers used secondary enrollment data from a community medication program for older people (N = 180). Researchers conducted linear regression to examine the relationship between ethnicity/English proficiency and MRPs, and logistic regression to explore the association between MRPs and ER visits. Generalized structural equation modeling (GSEM) with bootstrapping was used to test the indirect effect between LEP Latino through MRPs to ER visits. Results The sample included 70% non-Latino participants, 12% English-speaking Latinos, and 18% LEP Latinos. Analysis LEP Latinos were associated with having 3.4 more MRPs than non-Latino participants, after controlling for covariates. Additionally, each additional MRP was associated with a 10% increased probability of having an ER visit. The GSEM results illustrated there was a significant indirect effect between LEP through MRPs to ER visits (β = 0.27, 95% CI 0.07-0.61). Conclusion Though LEP was not directly related to increased ER visits, it may have inhibited the ability of Latinos to read and understand medication instructions, contributing to their elevated risk of experiencing MRPs, thus indirectly increasing potential risks of having ER visits.

Designing Environmental Messages to Discourage Red Meat Consumption: An Online Experiment.

Reducing red meat consumption in high-consuming countries is critical for mitigating climate change and preventing chronic disease. This study tested the effectiveness of messages conveying the worsening or reduction of environmental harms at discouraging red meat consumption. 1078 U.S. adults viewed seven messages in an online survey highlighting the reduction or worsening of environmental harms associated with eating red meat (between-subjects factor) and rated the messages on how much they discouraged them from wanting to buy beef. Each message highlighted a different environmental harm: deforestation, climate change, water shortages, biodiversity loss, carbon footprint, greenhouse gas emissions, or environment (within-subjects factor). No statistically significant difference was found between the reduction and worsening of environmental harms conditions for most topics, though the worsening of harms frame slightly outperformed the reduction of harms frame for the ‘environment’ topic. ‘Environment’ was also the message topic that elicited the strongest response from participants overall. Latino participants, those with more than a high school degree, and those who consume beef once a week or less rated messages as more effective than non-Latino participants, those who completed high school or less, and those who consumed beef more than once a week. Future research should explore the effect of messages on behavioral outcomes.

Culture as a Pathway to Maximizing the Stress-Buffering Role of Social Support

We theorized that sociocultural contexts characterized by a form of interdependence that emphasizes mutual obligations, emotional positivity, and readily accessible social support from family may maximize the benefits of social support. This form of interdependence characterizes Latino culture and is captured by the cultural value familism. Eighty-six Latino and non-Latino participants completed measures of familism and perceived social support before taking part in a standardized laboratory stress task that elicits cortisol reactivity. Cortisol reactivity is an indicator of bodily response to stress that is linked to vulnerability to the adverse effects that stress can have on future health. As predicted, results revealed a moderated mediation pattern. Conditional process analysis showed that familism was indirectly linked to cortisol reactivity through perceived social support, and this mediation effect was moderated by sociocultural context; stress buffering effects were only observed in the Latino sample. These novel findings highlight the role of culture and, specifically, familism in Latinos, for maximizing the benefits that social support can have for stress physiology implicated in long-term health outcomes.

The performance of the IES-R for Latinos and non-Latinos: Assessing measurement invariance.

Violent acts on university campuses are becoming more frequent. Enrollment rates of Latinos at universities is increasing. Research has indicated that youths are more susceptible to trauma, particularly Latinos. Thus, it is imperative to evaluate the validity of commonly used posttraumatic stress measures among Latino college students. The Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) is one of the most commonly used metrics of posttraumatic stress disorder symptomatology. However, it is largely unknown if the IES-R is measuring the same construct across different sub-samples (e.g. Latino versus non-Latino). The current study aimed to assess measurement invariance for the IES-R between Latino and non-Latino participants. A total of 545 participants completed the IES-R. One- and three-factor scoring solutions were compared using confirmatory factor analyses. Measurement invariance was then evaluated by estimating several multiple-group confirmatory factor analytic models. Four models with an increasing degree of invariance across groups were compared. A significant χ2 difference test was used to indicate a significant change in model fit between nested models within the measurement invariance testing process. The three-factor scoring solution could not be used for the measurement invariance process because the subscale correlations were too high for estimation (rs 0.92–1.00). Therefore, the one-factor model was used for the invariance testing process. Invariance was met for each level of invariance: configural, metric, scalar, and strict. All measurement invariance testing results indicated that the one-factor solution for the IES-R was equivalent for the Latino and non-Latino participants.

Responding to health and social needs of aging Latinos in new-growth communities: a qualitative study

BackgroundThe development of new-growth communities of Latino immigrants in southern states has challenged the traditional health and social service infrastructure. An interprofessional team of service providers, Latino leaders, and university faculty partnered to establish linkages with the Latino community and providers serving aging adults and to explore the health and social needs of aging Latinos residing in a rural region.MethodsA qualitative descriptive study was conducted through a community-university partnership, the Aging Latino Research Team (ALRT). Data were generated from nine focus groups and 15 key informant interviews with Latino and non-Latino community members and service providers in rural, eastern North Carolina (ENC).ResultsThematic analysis was used to identify common patterns and form recommendations for future research and programs. Themes common to Latino participants were: “We are put off to one side”; “If I can't work, I can't survive”; and “Without documents, you are no one.” Themes common to non-Latino participants were: “Older Latinos are not well served”; “Older Latinos are invisible”; “Older Latinos are undocumented and afraid”; and “Older Latinos are wandering the highway”.ConclusionA major finding of this research was the extent to which discrepancies in perceptions between Latino participants and non-Latino participants exist. These discrepancies revealed ethnic stereotyping and cultural insensitivity as major barriers in access to care.

Baseline Characteristics and Latino Versus Non-Latino Contrasts Among Bronx A1C Study Participants

We describe baseline demographic and psychosocial characteristics of low-income, diverse diabetes adults enrolled in a telephonic intervention trial. Environment for the study was New York City (NYC) A1C Registry program. Baseline data were analyzed from 941 participants randomized to either telephonic/print or print-only intervention to improve glycemic control. Summary statistics for key variables were calculated; we highlight baseline contrasts between Latino and non-Latino participants. There were high proportions of Latino (67.7%) and non-Latino Black (28.0%) participants from South Bronx. Mean age was 56.3 years, almost 70.0% were foreign born, and 55.8% preferred Spanish language. Mean A1C was 9.2% and mean body mass index (BMI) 32.1 kg/m(2). There were significant contrasts between Latino and non-Latino participants for behavioral and psychosocial variables. This telephonic intervention study succeeded in randomizing a large number of low-income, diverse participants with poor diabetes control who are under-represented in studies. Latino versus non-Latino differences at baseline were striking.