141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

292462
Measuring cultural variables and implication for health behavioral frameworks

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Adrian Juarez, PHN, PhD , College of Nursing, Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ
The theory of planned behavior is a reliable framework used in predicting several health behaviors. However, the success of this framework is limited when applied to diverse population groups. One highly diverse population group is the Hispanic population. Hispanic population diversity varies according to numerous cultural-identifying variables such as race, socio-economic status, immigration and other self-identifiers. The identification of Hispanic cultural variables may assist in locating how and why health behavioral decision differences occur within the Hispanic population. Findings from a secondary-data analysis identify culturally associated variables and present how they can be measured, controlled and applied to the theory of planned behavior. Data used in this secondary analysis were collected in the past five years during HIV testing of a large sample of New York City area Hispanics at a community-based AIDS advocacy organization, the Latino Commission on AIDS. By developing consistency to varying Hispanic ethnicity cultural variables and discussing them through a social determinant lens provides possible strategies for improving HIV testing opportunities in Hispanic population groups and corrects several known limitations to the theory of planned behavior.

Learning Areas:
Assessment of individual and community needs for health education
Diversity and culture
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Public health or related nursing
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Explain the ethnic diversity within the Hispanic population group and the impact on health behavioral decision making. Evaluate the effectiveness of cultural variable identification in correcting limitations to the Theory of Planned Behavior.

Keywords: Cultural Competency, Community-Based Partnership

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I was the principal investigator in this completed dissertation project and am the individual authorized by the Latino Commission on AIDS to use their data.
Any relevant financial relationships? Yes

Name of Organization Clinical/Research Area Type of relationship
Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceuticals Stock Ownership

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.