For Latinos living in the continental United States, migration is an experience that is at once familiar, as a historical phenomenon that shapes our lives, and ephemeral, as a series of momentous events in the lives of individuals, families, and communities that are rarely memorialized. Latino migration has contributed to a redesigned ethnic landscape in the northeastern U.S. although this migration is far less discussed as a contested site of Latino migration than that into the western United States. The two largest groups of Latinos in the Northeast, Dominican and Puerto Rican migrants and their descendants, have recorded the narratives of their migrations in cultural texts through autobiography, folklore, prose, and poetry. The texts I discuss, by Pura Belpré, Pedro Henríquez Ureña, Antonia Pantoja, Junot Diaz and Angie Cruz are a part of North American literary history as well as Latino literary history. The core question guiding this research is: how do migration narratives reveal new perspectives, speak back, or contradict our existing understanding of Dominican and Puerto Rican migrations? A secondary question is in what ways do these texts contribute to a collective memory for Latino communities and thereby add to our understanding of ethnic identity? I argue these texts reveal the heterogeneity of the migrants' identities and their migration experiences. Four of the five authors identify with an Afro-Latino diasporic identity and contribute to our memory of Afro-Latino culture. The texts express the differential experience that women and men migrants have in their lives premigration in their home countries, as well as their lives post-migration. A close reading of migration narratives yields evidence of the migrants' agency, contradicting notions of passive Latina women and passive migrants who unquestioningly accept oppressive cultural practices. Tracing the moments of the migrants' agency in the texts balances structural arguments that suggest that migration was almost inevitable since the migrants came from very poor countries. These migration texts reveal erasures, correct stereotypes, and amend existing knowledge with subjugated knowledges that come from the migrants' first person perspective. The new perspectives contribute to a usable past for Latino communities.

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Diabetes has alarming prevalence rates not only in the U.S., but also worldwide. Ethnicity plays a large role with Hispanic-Americans having one of the highest prevalence rates. Diabetes is a complicated disease that requires significant lifestyle modifications. The health belief model (HBM) has been investigated as a theory to explain behavior change. However, little research has been done to determine its utility to Mexican-Americans. In the current study, participants were Mexican-American adults (N = 66) with type II diabetes who were recruited from family medicine clinics. Self-report questionnaires included the General Acculturation Index (GAI) and the Multidimensional Diabetes Questionnaire (MDQ). Participants had the option to complete them in either Spanish or English. Laboratory values were collected from medical charts. A MANCOVA indicated that two variables were significant, perceived severity (PS) and misguided support behaviors (MSB), p < .05. With respect to the HBM, PS was identified as a component of an individual's perception, acculturation was a modifying factor, and MSB was a component of the likelihood to change factors. These three affected glycemic control. Odds ratios determined that individuals with better glycemic control had less perceived severity and less misguided supportive behavior. Individuals with the least acculturation were more likely to have best glycemic control. Significant results were found for each of the three main columns of the model suggesting that the HBM has utility for the Hispanic-American population with type II diabetes. Results suggest that health care personnel should be aware of the ramifications of patients' perceived severity of their illness as well as the amount the "nagging" type support they receive from friends and family on glycemic control. This awareness can lead to the development of interventions aimed at improving glycemic control and the quality of life in Mexican-Americans with diabetes. Specifically, programs focused on incorporating the family may lead to improved psychosocial and educational outcomes since familial relationships are crucial in this population.

Racial microaggressions are a type of perceived discrimination entailing a brief pejorative message by a perpetrator, whether verbal or nonverbal, intentional or unintentional, about a target person that operates below the level of conscious awareness. Research supports a relationship between perceived discrimination and worse mental and physical health outcomes, with the literature centered mainly on non-Hispanic blacks. Less research exists on how perceived discrimination, specifically racial microaggressions, affects the mental and physical health of Hispanic/Latinos. This study examined how exposure to racial microaggressions, using an experimental design whereby a confederate delivers two types of racial microaggressions, influences affect and cardiovascular reactivity (CVR) among Hispanic/Latinos and non-Hispanic whites. Results revealed that the experience of racial microaggressions did not evoke larger and longer lasting emotional and physiological arousal among Hispanic/Latinos and non-Hispanic Whites. Future directions are discussed.

Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 47-03, page: 1618. Adviser: Victor M. Cardenas. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 328-332).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1993.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1993.

The scope of this project is an examination of medical compliance for the Hispanic patient with End State Renal Disease.

This project focused on immigrants' perceptions of social services and social workers. The study employed the post positivist paradigm. The project was conducted with legal and illegal immigrants who received services at Bilingual Family Counseling Service in the city of Ontario, CA. The study found that the immigrants' perceptions about social service agencies and social workers were multi-determined by at least three elements: knowledge, experiences, and attitudes. The dynamic interaction between experiences and attitudes shaped the immigrants' perceptions. Most of the respondents had a positive attitude toward social workers and social services agencies.