Masters Thesis

Hypertension and Malnutrition among Latinos living in Rural Communities: After immigrating to the United States

The purpose of this study was to assess hypertension and malnutrition among Latinos living in rural areas in Half Moon Bay, CA. This study examined the relationship between hypertension, cultural beliefs, and stress factors. Additionally, this study examined the relationship between malnutrition, access to food, and socioeconomic status. During this study, it was found out that immigrant Latinos living in rural areas, often face many difficulties due to factors such as cultural beliefs, stress factors, access to healthy foods, and socioeconomic status. This study aimed to gather sufficient data through a survey containing contextual information. The findings of this study were used to create more awareness and a better understanding of our local communities. Data were obtained from a health assessment survey distributed to N=80 participants. All participants were patients of the Coastside RotaCare Clinic, females, and males between the ages of 18-65 years old. There was no significant difference observed in the relationship between hypertension and access to healthy foods, stress, and socioeconomic status. However, there was a significant difference was observed between hypertension and cultural beliefs of using home remedies. In this study, there was no significant difference between malnutrition and access to healthy foods, and socioeconomic status. Also, there was no significant between hypertension and stress. Thus there was a significant difference between hypertension and cultural beliefs. The findings indicate that there may be other determent factors that contribute to hypertension and malnutrition among Latinos living in rural communities. This study recommends further research utilizing other factors that investigate different measurements other than demographics and basic historical data.

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