CANCER RISK REDUCTION IN MEXICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN - THE ROLE OF ACCULTURATION, EDUCATION, AND HEALTH RISK-FACTORS

This article describes a two-factor schema for the development of culturally appropriate cancer risk reduction interventions for Mexican American women. Regarding this approach, risk factors for two major cancer areas are reviewed: cigarette smoking and obesity/diet. We first describe a schema that facilitates the planning of strategies associated with preferred health interventions and preventive approaches for cancer risk reduction with Mexican American and other Latino/Hispanic persons. This schema examines Acculturation and Education as key factors that should be considered in developing health education messages and interventions that are culturally and educationally appropriate to the identified subpopulations of Hispanics in terms of language and informational content of the message and in terms of psychological factors related to health behavior change. Empirical data from a community sample is presented for the purpose of illustrating the validity of this schema. Then we review studies that examine the effect of acculturation on the distribution of the risk factors, based on studies in the current literature. Here we note the target group of women with the highest risk, based on the available information on Acculturation and other sociodemographic factors. Additionally, an illustration is presented where information and the concepts offered by the two-factor schema facilitate the analysis of (a) health education message needs and (b) needed behavior change, thus pointing to (c) more appropriate health promotion strategies for targeted Hispanic/Latino individuals or groups. The information described in this article aims to help program planners, researchers, and health educators in the design of more effective programs of health intervention for Mexican American and other Hispanic/Latino women.