Social factors affecting Latino's management of hypertension: Focus group findings from rural communities in the US-Mexico border region

While a growing body of research examines individual factors affecting the prevalence and management of hypertension among Latinos, less is known about socio-contextual factors. We conducted seven focus groups to assess perceived risks and protective factors associated with managing hypertension among Latino adults and their family members living in two rural/frontier counties in the U.S.-Mexico border region. This analysis is part of a larger study “Corazon por la Vida” which involved multiple data collection strategies to evaluate the effectiveness of a primary care and a promotora de salud intervention to manage hypertension. Of the 49 focus group participants, 61% were female and 22% were male, 39% were Spanish-only speakers. Participants' ages ranged between 56 and 65 years and 56% reported annual incomes below $30,000. We used the social-ecological framework to analyze individual and contextual focus group data across four levels: 1) intrapersonal (attitudes, knowledge); 2) interpersonal (social/familial networks, patient-provider interaction); 3) organizational/community (health system barriers, lack of transportation, unemployment due to mining industries); and 4) environmental/policy (food deserts, Medicaid/Medicare cutbacks). We will highlight focus group findings, including salient factors that buffer or facilitate risk across the ecological spectrum. Our findings are relevant to other public health practitioners, researchers and policy makers seeking to move beyond individual interventions aimed at improving adherence to treatment modalities to more upstream systems and policy interventions focused on the socio-determinants of cardio-vascular conditions among diverse Latino communities.