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Year Awarded: 2009
Project Leaders:
Linda Hunt, Anthropology; Connie Currier, International Programming College of Nursing; Olga Hernandez-Patino, Lansing Latino Health Alliance
Project Description:
Health care in the U.S. is in crisis, with soaring costs and alarming numbers of uninsured people. Latinos are especially hard hit by these trends, currently with about 34% uninsured. The Latino population in the U.S. is increasing steadily, most notably with an estimated 11.5 million Mexicans currently residing in the U.S. Despite the well-known size of this population, and its significant health care needs, little is known about Mexican immigrants' strategies for addressing health and health related problems. Knowledge of the experiences of Latinos in the Midwest is especially sparse. The proposed study will employ qualitative research techniques of open-ended interviewing and participant observation, to explore the health experiences and health management strategies of a group of immigrant Mexican families in the Greater Lansing area. This data will provide the basis for a larger study, exploring in detail, the health needs and health care strategies of this underserved population. Ultimately we hope to produce knowledge that will inform health policy, and improve health care access for Latinos in the Midwest. Our specific aims are to: 1) Conduct open-ended interviews with 20 recent Mexican immigrants living in the Lansing area regarding their health seeking behavior, 2) Perform analysis of the interview texts to identify their major health issues, barriers to health care and strategies for accessing health care, and 3) Prepare reports for publication in professional journals and for dissemination to the Lansing health care community to improve understanding of the pressing unmet health care needs of this population.
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