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Comparison of Florida Hispanic and non-Hispanic Caucasian women in their health beliefs related to breast cancer and health locus of control.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES
To compare Florida Hispanic and non-Hispanic Caucasian women in their health beliefs about breast cancer and health locus of control (LOC).


DESIGN
Exploratory, comparative.


SETTING
A variety of healthcare settings in an urban area in Florida.


SAMPLE
Hispanic (n = 113) and non-Hispanic (n = 197) Caucasian women who could read and understand either English or Spanish.


METHODS
The Health Screening Questionnaire, which assesses health beliefs and health LOC, was administered in either Spanish or English, and the results were analyzed.


MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES
Attitudes about health in general, perceptions about susceptibility to cancer, beliefs about benefits of early diagnosis, and perceptions about the seriousness of cancer; LOC.


FINDINGS
Florida Hispanic women are better educated than the Mexican American Hispanic women described in the literature. Hispanic and non-Hispanic women were significantly different in their health beliefs and LOC. With age and education controlled statistically, these differences remained. Hispanic women who preferred to speak/read English were more like the non-Hispanic women in their responses than were the women who preferred Spanish.


CONCLUSIONS
Cultural differences exist between Hispanic and non-Hispanic women; however, differences also exist between groups of Hispanic women in Florida versus Hispanics in the southwestern United States.


IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE
Outreach programs for cancer screening should be culturally relevant and may need to be different for subgroups of Hispanics in the United States.