Si Dios Quiere: Cultural beliefs of the Mexican-American impacting secondary prevention

Abstract

Secondary prevention activities are used to decrease the incidence of complications to an already present disease process, through ongoing monitoring, patient education and early treatment This research was a descriptive ethnography that studied the Mexican-American's perspective (N = 6) on the use of early secondary intervention of health care services. The theoretical framework used was Leininger's (1991) conceptual model of Cultural Care and Diversity. The dimensions used in the Sunrise Model were religious and philosophical, kinship and social factors, and cultural values and lifeways, A semi structured interview guide was used for the interviews. The taxonomies that were identified were: (a) illness related beliefs; (b) health related behaviors; (c) health promoting support or nonsupport; and (d) cultural values and lifeways related to health promotion/prevention. There were three cultural themes that emerged from the data: (a) Support comes from multiple sources in the Mexican-American family and is very important in their lives when dealing with illness; (b) a strong faith in God's Will help the Mexican-American family deal with whatever results/consequences come from the illness; and (c) in the Mexican-American in particularly, knowledge about a disease does not necessarily cause a change in behaviors; a change only occurs when symptoms create consequences that negatively affect a personal sense of well being. Nursing implications from this study include understanding the importance of support for the Mexican-American individual and the strong faith in God's will which could explain the delay in seeking treatment. The title Si Dios Quiere (if God wills) signifies the strong belief of the Mexican-American in their way of dealing with their lives.