Characteristics of Male Attendees of Health Education Interventions for Latinos

Abstract

Latino subgroups in the US often shoulder a greater burden of some common diseases, including cancer. The cultural norm of patriarchy in health-related decision-making has been found to be common among Latinos, and thus male members may be important in the adoption of health practices amongst family members. Demographic information was collected from 488 male attendees (20% of the total sample) as part of a larger randomized trial focused on promoting breast and cervical cancer screening among Latinas in which attendance was open to the entire community. The majority of male attendees were over the age of 40 (62%) and originally from Mexico (39%) or Puerto Rico (25%). Approximately half of attendees reported having no health coverage and living less than 5 years in the United States. Male attendees demonstrated significant increases in knowledge relevant to their group attendance. There were few significant differences between the characteristics of male attendees at a female focused cancer program (intervention) versus more general diabetes program (control). The current study describes characteristics of a group that may be influential in guiding health behaviors and decisions. This information extends our understanding of community participation in health interventions and will assist in the development of effective interventions in the Latino community.

Health promotion among Latino adults: Conceptual frameworks, relevant pathways, and future directions.

“…Despite successful outcomes, promotora programs are not without limitations. Most promotoras within these studies are female and few interventions specifically focus upon Latino men (Philip, Shelton, Erwin, & Jandorf, 2012; Rhodes et al, 2007; Wagoner, Downs, Alonzo, Daniel-Ulloa, & Rhodes, 2015), and largely focus upon Mexican Americans within the Southwest. Uniform differences in the design of promotora -based interventions also exist, due to their geographical locations.…”

A feminist information engagement framework for gynecological cancer patients

“…Positioning HPV as an infection from which women alone need protection abrogates the co-responsibility that men have for the safety of their sexual partners, including the possibility of CC for their female partners (Thompson, 2010, p. 123). HPV education and social information that focus exclusively on women tend to make women believe that they bear the responsibility for the sexual health of both partners (Bynum, 2011;Philip et al, 2012). Externally generated information on the connections between HPV and CC assume much the same relationship to gender roles as does unplanned pregnancy (Cook, 2013).…”

The problem of heteronormativity in family-based health promotion: centring gender transformation in Ontario, Canada

“…We found 205 studies that examined gender inequities and/or adopted a GTA; significantly, all but eight of these studies were located outside of high-income countries like Canada and the USA, and one was in Australia. Of these eight studies, three focused on gendered health impacts within US Black communities (Watkins et al, 2020 ; Gross et al, 2018 ; Evans et al, 2005 ); two centred US Latino communities, one being a sexual health intervention for male bisexual Latino sex workers (Muñoz-Laboy et al, 2014 ) and the other intervening on Latino “cultural norm[s] of patriarchy in health-related decision-making” (Philip et al, 2012 ); two focused on reducing health risks for trans and gender nonconforming people (Jackman et al, 2018 ; Roberts et al, 2012 ); and one focused on masculinity in chronically ill men with erectile dysfunction (Occhipinti et al, 2019 ). The last article was a systematic review of maternal health intervention studies that—out of 33,888 articles screened—identified 13 studies relating to “male involvement” (Comrie-Thomson et al, 2015 , p. 177).…”