healthy people 2020 - Society for Public Health Education

✯ Conference Abstracts ✯
friday | november 5
capital are a salient area of public policy for public health practitioners.
This paper contributes to the understanding of how to broaden the scope
of work with immigrant communities by using an international comparison
to determine the potential positive impact of social capital on
public health outcomes. The study integrates a social capital framework
along with an acculturation framework and a policy analysis framework
to identify policies that facilitate the integration process of immigrants
and therefore their social capital and health status. This study builds
upon the literature on integration and social capital and develops a
different avenue of investigation. Few studies in the existing literature
look at the interwoven relationship that may exist between the different
levels of integration and the environment created by policies, communities
and institutions. This study proposes to look at the relation between
immigrant integration and policies in a cohort of 30 immigrant families
in Pennsylvania and Galicia, Spain (two areas with similar immigration
patterns). Each family experience will be developed into a case study and
the analyzed by exploring policies in each case and by identifying broad
similarities and differences between cases. The analysis identifies the key
factors in each case that facilitated or hindered the integration of the immigrant
family across the socio-ecological model. This makes this study
an even more unique undertaking because few studies have looked at
acculturation and immigration policies from an international perspective,
and using a case study approach. The paper hypothesizes that in a
country such as Spain with a strong social safety net program immigrant
families have a stronger social capital and higher level of self-reported
health status than their counterparts in the United States. The initial
results indicate that immigrants in Spain report a much stronger sense
of belonging to a community, are much more likely to belong to groups,
and to feel connected than immigrants in Pennsylvania. The recommendations
seem to indicate that public health interventions need to
work beyond the health education discipline and look to influence public
policies specifically those aimed at immigration
Challenges Faced by Immigrant Pregnant Women to Get
Quality Maternal Health Care.
Kamrun Mustafa, PhD, Southern Illinois University Carbondale;
Mark Kittleson, PhD, FAAHB, Southern Illinois University Carbondale
This paper presents an account of the experience of Bangladeshi women
who have immigrated to the US and have become mothers for the first
time within a year from the date of interview. The purpose of the study
was to explore their pregnancy related experiences following their immigration
into a totally different culture. Ten immigrant women from
the three boroughs of New York City were interviewed for the purpose.
Findings of the interviews were then subjected to a qualitative analysis
based on the theoretical framework of PEN-3 model developed by Collins
Ahihirenbuwa in 1995. The findings highlight the untold stories of
these immigrant women, who came to the US with a big dream in mind,
as they encountered multifarious challenges of resettlement, language,
cultural and other barriers to quality healthcare access, physical, mental
and emotional problems and faced unequal and discriminatory treatment
from their healthcare providers. The study also focused on the
intrapersonal, interpersonal and societal life of these women and their
efforts to survive and cope with the realities on the ground. This presentation
will help health educators better assess the needs of the marginalized
segments of population, initiate culturally appropriate programs,
and develop curriculum for health care professionals, who are working
with immigrants and other ethnic populations, which in turn will contribute
to reduce maternal and infant mortality and morbidity.
Relationships Between Risky Health Behaviors and Behavioral
Motivational Systems in Hispanic Populations.
Marieke Jackson, BA, Health Sciences/NMSU; Rebecca Palacios, PhD,
Health Sciences/NMSU
introduction: The Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS) and Behavioral
Activation System (BAS) subscales (Carver and White, 1994) have
been used to predict a variety of human behaviors. Previous studies
have shown that the BAS subscales are most strongly related to risky
behaviors (Voight et al, 2009; Franken and Muris, 2005). For example,
Voight et al (2009) found a strong association between BAS tendencies
and unhealthy sexual, alcohol, drug, safety, and tobacco behaviors. The
relationship between motivational tendencies and risk behaviors has
not been examined in the Hispanic subpopulation. The present study
examined substance use, sexual habits, stress levels, physical activity and
body composition in relation to motivational tendencies among young
Mexican American college students. It was hypothesized that similar
to the general population; BAS subscales would predict engagement in
risky behavior among Hispanic college students.
methods: Participants were 355 Hispanic college students attending the
University of Texas at El Paso. Students completed measures of substance
use (alcohol, marijuana), crimes committed, sexual sensation seeking and
victimization, stress, physical activity, height, weight, and motivational tendencies
prior to their participation in an alcohol risk-reduction program.
results: A standard multiple regression was performed between
individual risk behaviors as the dependent variable and BIS/BAS scales
as the independent variables. Illegal risk behaviors including underage
drinking, marijuana use, and self-reported crime were all predicted by
sensation seeking tendencies (all p values < .01). BMI and physical activity
were predicted by punishment (p values < .05 for physical activity)
and reward sensitivity (all p values < .05). Risky sexual behaviors and
sexual victimization were predicted by drive, sensation seeking, and
punishment tendencies (all p values < .01). Finally, punishment sensitivity
predicted stress ratings (p value