Introduction
Cultural empowerment is a valuable resource in developing a successful and effective health promotion and education program. In the case of the Hispanic community prone to obesity, the use of cultural empowerment tools might help identify and incorporate positive elements in the culture. Moreover, the program developers’ awareness of the adverse issues in the cultural beliefs and perceptions might help in reinforcing alternative models of behavior that would maximize health benefits. This paper addresses such elements of the PEN-3 model within the dimension of cultural empowerment as positive, existential, and negative to detect these elements in the Hispanic culture for an effective weight-loss program.
PEN-3 Model within the Cultural Empowerment Dimension
Positive
In the culture of the Hispanic community, one of the most important reinforcers of positive health practices is family relationships. Indeed, according to Lindberg et al. (2013), extended family ties serve as a supporting element in the capability of Hispanic individuals to overcome challenges. Thus, since family gatherings are particularly valued by the Hispanic community, a culturally sensitive weight-loss program might incorporate family activities with physical exercises to encourage fitness goals’ achievement. Moreover, consistency and responsibility in completing tasks and duties are the predominant features of the Hispanic population (Perez & Fleury, 2018). In addition, Hispanic individuals are claimed to be optimistic and resilient (Sanchez-Johnsen et al., 2017). These enablers might serve as an empowerment element to persist in adhering to healthy habits.
Existential
The representatives of the Hispanic community are commonly particularly religious and spiritual, which implies a significant role of faith in their lives. Such beliefs might be related to health when people prey to ask for healing, although they have neither negative nor positive effects on obesity. They do not motivate negative health practices and might be involved in the weight-loss program to facilitate cultural awareness of the moderators and help relate the overall program to the needs of the served population.
Negative
Several cultural particularities of the Hispanic population might be considered as ones having a negative impact on maintaining healthy practices. In particular, research shows that “Latino men and women engage in less leisure time physical activity than non-Hispanic Whites” (Sanchez-Johnsen et al., 2017, p. 827). Thus, such a perspective might be a challenge in engaging obese individuals in regular exercise. Furthermore, “precise food measurement is not entirely congruent with traditional Mexican culture, where food preparation rarely involves the use of standard measurements” (Lindberg et al., 2013, p. 2).
Thus, insufficient attention to precise measurement might complicate the dieting efforts implementation due to the lack of a habit of measuring food on a regular basis. Since weight loss is a long-term process, the ability to follow the guidelines precisely should be prioritized. Thus, the suggested health practices within the framework of the health promotion program for obese Hispanic individuals should integrate these particularities to maximize benefits for the served community’s health.
Conclusion
Conclusively, in the cultural context of any individual or group, there are particularly positive and negative reinforcers that impact health. In this regard, the Hispanic population is characterized by close family ties, persistence in actions, and a positive worldview, which have a good reinforcing impact on weight-loss interventions’ success. The religiosity and spirituality of the target community might be characterized as an existential factor without any distinctive role in obesity. However, the diminished role of physical activity in leisure time and the neglect of using standard measurements in cooking should be addressed as negative elements hindering weight-loss efforts.
References
Lindberg, N. M., Stevens, V. J., & Halperin, R. O. (2013). Weight-loss interventions for Hispanic populations: The role of culture. Journal of Obesity, 2013, 1-7.
Perez, A., & Fleury, J. (2018). Using a cultural framework to assess motivation for physical activity among older Hispanic women. Family & Community Health, 41(1), 10-17.
Sanchez-Johnsen, L., Craven, M., Nava, M., Alonso, A., Dykema-Engblade, A., Rademaker, A., & Xie, H. (2017). Cultural variables underlying obesity in Latino men: Design, rationale and participant characteristics from the Latino men’s health initiative. Journal of Community Health, 42(4), 826-838.