Scholarly research has been written on the forces behind the barriers preventing Hispanic women from reaching the top of the public school ladder. These barriers are to be recognized and addressed. This study focuses not on the barriers which hinder forward and upward career movement, but instead examines how many Hispanic American women have not allowed these barriers to prevent them from achieving their goals of attaining the principalship. This study seeks to determine how Hispanic women principals came to grips with the challenges and barriers to promotion, and to success as K‒12 school leaders. This qualitative research study consisted of 12 Hispanic female school principals from the Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan area. The three districts selected were Fort Worth Independent School District, Arlington Independent School District, and Grand Prairie Independent School District. Three principals were from Grand Prairie Independent School District, two principals were from Arlington Independent School District, and seven principals were from the Fort Worth Independent School District. All of the 12 Hispanic school principals were interviewed. From the responses to each of the questions, themes became evident. The themes expressed what individual principals had done and the strategies they used to overcome the varied barriers which they confronted. The responses to the interview questions and the themes were very insightful and displayed the women's tenacity, courage, perseverance, and determination to succeed in their aspirations to become Hispanic female principals and leaders in their school districts.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Marjorie R. Hancock / Linda P. Thurston / The purpose of this qualitative collective case study was to examine the sociocultural and gender role expectation factors that contributed to the success of 10 Latina/Hispanic female high school graduates now attending a large university in the Midwest. Additionally, the study investigated the characteristics of resilience and persistence that helped these women continue their pursuit of higher education in spite of the challenges they faced. The participants in this study were identified as recent immigrants from Mexico or Mexican-Americans born in the United States of Mexican immigrant parents. All of these respondents graduated from a midwestern K-12 public school system and are now attending a large Midwestern university. This study used a qualitative paradigm and open-ended, in-depth interviews for data collection. The 17 question interview focused on the areas of sociocultural backgrounds, resilience/persistence factors, and gender role expectations. Demographic data about the participants’ life histories and educational experiences were collected during the 90-minute interviews. Findings in the study indicated that Latinas are faced with many conflicts. They have specific gender role expectations placed on them and are limited by cultural rules and norms. Along with these conflicts they learn to build resilience/persistence attributes to help them succeed in their academic careers. The seven factors that contributed to the lived experiences and factors of resilience/persistence of Latina/Hispanic female academic success included: 1) lived discrimination; 2) the need to obtain an education that would lead to a better life; 3) active involvement in extracurricular activities in school; 4) strict and protective parents; 5) positive role models from family and other Latinas; 6) traumatic life experiences; 7) and strong familial/parental support. Additionally, the study also revealed six more contributing factors to the sociocultural and gender role expectations and pressures that impact the success of Latina/Hispanic female students in a K-12 public school system. Those factors included traditional Hispanic households, living in two worlds, traditional gender role expectations, independence from family, transference of parental gender role expectations, and the behavioral expectations for Latinas. The study offers recommendations for future studies and implications for practice advising and encouraging Hispanic females to pursue their academic goals.

Effective doctor-patient communication is critical to improving health outcomes. Good communication improves emotional health, symptom resolution, functional and physiologic status, and pain control. Conversely, ineffective communication leads to misdiagnosis, inappropriate treatment poor adherence, misuse of health services, and high patient stress. In the U.S., Hispanics are the fastest growing minority. Despite the high burden of illness among this population, Hispanics are less likely than other minorities to regularly see a health professional. This is explained in part because Hispanics navigate a health system designed for the majority, experience a mismatch between cultural values and health beliefs, and have limited English proficiency. These communication challenges contribute to health disparities among the Hispanic population living in the U.S. Despite the importance of doctor-patient communication, few communication interventions that focus on improving patient skills have been tested in this population. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate whether a patient communication intervention tailored for female Hispanic patients could be practically implemented in a practice setting. The first aim focused on adapting existing communication skills training tools for a Hispanic population. The second aim assessed the feasibility of implementing the training tool in a federally qualified health center in a US-Mexico border community. The third aim explored the extent to which trained patients were able to integrate the information provided. Results indicate that it is feasible to implement communication training when delivered by clinical staff. Patient follow-up revealed that patients valued training on how to communicate with their doctor the most. Moreover, it is feasible to sustain the intervention when it is aligned with the priorities of the clinical site. Patient communication training in medically underserved rural areas could improve barriers to improved health outcomes in communities with a high prevalence of Hispanic patients. Future funding is needed to further test, dissemination of communication training programs.