Cultural Empowerment of Latina Immigrant - Essay Example

"Cultural Empowerment of Latina Immigrant" is a good example of a paper on the health system. PEN-3 models aids in the development of health education programs owing to the three facets it contains that aim at stressing on beliefs, values, and practices in a given culture (Garcés et al., 2006). It is with this consideration that the model is used in the assessment of health factors in African Americans and Latinos. PEN-3 takes into consideration social and cultural factors in the assessment of health conditions and in the development of health education programs. PEN-3   has three principles including cultural empowerment, relationships, and cultural identity. This study aims at investigating the cultural empowerment factors of the Latino group using the PEN-3 model through an analysis of the three PEN-3 principles.

PEN-3   Model: Cultural Empowerment

            Culture plays a monumental role in an individual’s health and is, therefore, the most important facet of the PEN-3 model. The development of a realistic health education program in terms of sensitivity and culture requires a thorough understanding of the cultural practices and beliefs of the Latino group (Bandura, January 2012). The dimensions of cultural empowerment are positive, negative, and existential for the empowerment of the development of healthy behaviors among the Latinos.

The positive cultural empowerment dimension 

The positive cultural empowerment dimension is the positive influences for access to quality healthful behavior with a view of the culture of the Latinos. The positive cultural factors include the understanding of the need to maintain spiritual, physical, and mental health through eating and drinking well, exercise, preventive checkups, refrain from taking alcohol, drugs, and smoking, decreasing worries, talking to others, praying, going to church, and talking to God (Juliet, 2013). This is well nurtured through help from a family, strong alliance among themselves, and motivation to keep families healthy. Health education for the Latino should, therefore, emphasize the need for eating foods high in fiber, use of greens, and other vegetables, as demonstrated in Latino traditions to ensure better health behavior.    

 

Existential dimension of the cultural dimension

This is practices by a certain cultural grouping, for example, the Latino that does not have any consequences on healthcare behavior. Some of the existential behaviors in Latino culture that have no consequence on quality healthcare behavior include not consuming certain foods after sunset, common behavior of eating cooked rather than raw vegetables, and having a belief that certain meals should not be eaten at certain meal times. These behaviors o not have an impact on the health behavior practices of the Latino despite having a cultural basis and are valued by the members of the Latino community as guidelines for better health.    

The Negative dimension of cultural empowerment

These are the negative behaviors and practices that the Latino’s engage in that translate in harmful health behavior and impede healthy conduct (Yick & Oomen-Early, 2009). Understanding these behaviors within a cultural context will allow health educationists to formulate a better manner of communicating the health effects of these behaviors to the Latino. The negative influence of culture on healthcare in Latinos includes a lack of engaging in behaviors for maintaining mental, physical, and spiritual health, and by tradition, they continue doing what the Latino tradition states procrastination and lack of time. The other cultural practice that negatively affects healthcare behavior is the cultural guidelines that make the Latinos use alternative medicine before seeking professional help when the problem persists. Other negative behaviors among the Latino include eating meat in every meal, drinking whole milk, and not skinning chicken. Read More