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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Fannie Fonseca-Becker, DrPH¹, Maria Perez-Patron, MHS², Marcela Aguilar, MHS³, Beatrice Munoz, PhD⁴, Patricia Poppe³, Evelyn Rosario⁵, Michael O'Leary, MPH⁴, and Sheila West, PhD⁴. (1) Director, J&J Community HealthCare Scholars Program, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, 111 Market Place, Suite 310, Baltimore, MD 21202, 410-659-6300, ffonseca@jhsph.edu, (2) Department of Population and Family Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N Wolfe Stree, Baltimore, MD 21205, (3) Center for Communication Programs, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 111 Market Place, Suite 310, Baltimore, MD 21202, (4) Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 600 N. Wolfe St, Rm 129, Baltimore, MD 21205, (5) Community Outreach, Hispanic Apostolate, 430 S Broadway, Baltimore, MD 21231

Background: The Latino population is one of the fastest growing and most heterogeneous minority groups in the country. Health disparities are a growing concern regarding Latinos, not only because of their lower socio-economic status, but also because of language and legal barriers. Efforts to close the access to care gap have often concentrated on addressing single barriers through health literacy efforts. We are proposing a new paradigm to help understand the set of factors that facilitate and predict an individual's achievement and sustainability of desired health outcomes taking into consideration the Latino population's heterogeneity.

Methods: Data on 322 foreign born Hispanics residing in East Baltimore were collected from a representative sample of the East Baltimore community via a household survey in 2005. The survey and qualitative research were collected as part of a program to improve access to diabetic eye care among the Latino population by the Johns Hopkins University and the Hispanic Apostolate with funding support from NEIH.

Results: Preliminary results indicate that the majority of the respondents are recent Mexican immigrants, followed by Central Americans, and a minority group of South American immigrants. We will use model building and regression analysis to test the predictors of health competence for each one of these three groups.

Conclusions: We expect that by studying the three different groups of immigrants separately we will be able to identify the predictors of health competence in the East Baltimore Latino population in order to inform decision makers at the policy and service delivery levels.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to

• Identify two key reasons for addressing heterogeneity in health programs targeting the Latino population.
• Describe the importance of understanding predictors of Latino health competence for addressing barriers to access to care.
• List three indicators of health competence for the East Baltimore Latinos.

Keywords: Barriers to Care, Latinos

Related Web page: wwww.jhuccp.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation