The purpose of this study ­is to identify social workers’ perspectives on the barriers and motivating factors impacting Latino men in seeking mental health services, and to seek ways to overcome the barriers. Research has established that Latino men suffer from mental health problems at a similar rate compared to other populations, yet they underutilize mental health services. Given the rapid growth of the Latino population that continues to need mental health services, the findings of this study may influence the social work field to develop programs and interventions that are geared towards encouraging Latino men to seek services. They may also assist in preparing clinicians entering the field. This qualitative study used individual interviews as a tool to find themes from social workers’ point of views on the subject. The results from interviews were transcribed to written document. Major themes identified include barriers, motivating factors, and recommendations for change.

This study explored the relationship between perceived racism and stress symptoms in a sample of Latina/o women and men. One hundred and fifty-one female and male Latina/o college students participated in this study. Resting blood pressure, weight, and height measurements were taken after which participants completed 6 questionnaires measuring experience of perceived racism, coping strategies, neuroticism, negative affectivity, symptoms of distress, and perceived stress. Questionnaires employed included the Perceived Racism Scale for Latinos (PRSL), the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS), the Neuroticism subscale of the NEO PI-R, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), the Hopkins Symptoms Checklist-21 (HSCL-21), and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). It was hypothesized that neuroticism, negative affectivity, and emotion-focused coping would be positively correlated with self-reports of perceived racism while avoidance coping would be negatively correlated with perceived racism. Perceived racism was hypothesized to predict increased blood pressure, symptoms of distress, and perceived stress. Other predictors included in these regression models included, task-focused, emotion-focused, and avoidant coping strategies, neuroticism, negative affectivity, Body Mass Index, age, and gender. Emotion-focused coping, task-focused coping, and BMI were positively correlated with increased self-reports of perceived racism. Hypotheses that perceived racism would significantly predict increased blood pressure, symptoms of distress, and perceived stress were not supported. Notably, perceived racism significantly predicted frequency of visits to a physician over the past two months after controlling for variance associated with neuroticism, negative affectivity, coping strategies, BMI, age, and gender. Avoidant coping negatively predicted both systolic and diastolic blood pressure, while neuroticism negatively predicted diastolic blood pressure. Argument is presented to suggest that items measuring social support rather than maladaptive avoidant coping are responsible for the significant prediction of blood pressure from avoidance coping. BMI also predicted higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Male gender was predictive of higher systolic blood pressure while age predicted higher diastolic blood pressure. Neuroticism and negative affectivity were predictive of symptoms of distress. Perceived stress was predicted by emotion-focused coping, neuroticism, negative affectivity, and BMI. Potential explanations for these results are offered as well as implications and suggestions for future research. / text

Prostate cancer is the most commonly occurring cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death for men in the United States. Because early prostate cancer is frequently without symptoms and data on how to prevent prostate cancer is lacking, early detection has the greatest potential for decreasing mortality. Studies have shown Hispanics/Latinos to be less likely than whites or African-Americans to utilize prostate cancer screening exams. The purpose of this descriptive study was to design a social marketing plan which could be used as a model to promote Hispanic/Latino participation at prostate cancer screenings. Information obtained through medical and marketing literature review, the author's experiences serving on the promotion committee of a community-sponsored prostate cancer screening project, and interviews with 51 Hispanic/Latino prostate cancer screening participants is described and incorporated into a guide with recommendations for future program planners.

abstract: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2017) note that gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (collectively referred to as MSM) face more barriers to accessing health care compared to other men. Such barriers include, lack of cultural- and sexual identity-appropriate medical and support services, concerns about confidentiality, and fear of discussing sexual practices or orientation in a medical setting. In comparison to other MSM populations, Latino MSM (LMSM) report having the least amount of access to health care (McKirnan et al., 2012). The purpose of the present study is to elucidate how individual- (i.e., age, education level, and income level), community- (i.e., social support and neighborhood collective efficacy), and sociocultural-level factors (i.e., immigration status, heterosexual self-presentation, sexual identity commitment, sexual identity exploration, and ethnic identity affirmation and belonging) may relate with perceived access to healthcare. It is hypothesized that ethnic identity affirmation and belonging will moderate relations between the aforementioned predictors and perceived access to health care based on increasing evidence that ethnic identity, or one’s sense of affirmation and belonging to one’s ethnic group, may be a health protective factor. Among a sample of 469 LMSM, this study found that there were several predictors across all three levels (i.e., individual, community, and sociocultural) of perceived access to healthcare. Additionally, data supported evidence that ethnic identity affirmation and belonging (Phinney, 2003) acts as a moderator of other predictors of perceived access to healthcare in this sample. These findings can inform outreach interventions of researchers and healthcare providers about psychosocial and cultural barriers and facilitators of access to healthcare. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Counseling Psychology 2020