Health in Spanish-Speaking Populations

A Concept Analysis of Health in Spanish-Speaking Populations

Concept

Perceived health in Spanish-speaking populations has been studied using the English language. There needs to be studies on the perceived health of the Spanish-speaking population in their words. The use of Spanish-speaking data collectors is needed to get Spanish-speaking communities own perspectives on their health needs and to examine the concept of health in Spanish-speaking populations. The aim of this paper is to examine the concept of health in Spanish-speaking people.

Purpose of Analysis

The US Spanish-speaking population represents a particular vulnerable subset of US Hispanics that have lower-income, less education, poor perceived health status and poor access to the health care System (Debar & Gizlice, 2008).

Supportive roles for member of Hispanic health professionals include promoting nursing as a career, serving as role models and mentors, and assisting with identification of financial support. Health care professional organizations should work closely with other groups to maximize their efforts (Cason et al., 2008).

Concept Identification

Perceived is defined in the Merriam-Webster online dictionary (2011) as a transitive verb meaning (1) to attain awareness or understanding of: to regard as being such, and (2) to become aware of through the senses (Merriam-Webster Online, 2011). Additional research is needed on perceived health in Spanish-speaking populations using the words of the Spanish-speaking population. As the Spanish-speaking community grows, there is a need to address language barriers in health care. This needs to be addressed by the health care community.

Health is defined in the Merriam-Webster online dictionary (201...

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Conclusion. The face to face data collection facilitates development of the Spanish version of the PHCS and the PHSS for future use. The concerns in this Spanish-speaking sample about trust and fear in use of health services and access to health services is off concern for nursing and health care. Translation services in Health Services need to be readily available. There needs to be further exploration of being misunderstood and the consequences of being misunderstood, or not being able to access health care in the Spanish-speaking populations. Spanish-speaking populations have difficulty in finding jobs in the United States as well as completing every day task’s, going to the grocery store, banking, and even talking to their children’s teachers. This paper could advance the science of nursing by improving patient care in minority populations.