This study examines the similarities and differences between males and females from the Hispanic and Non-Hispanic White population in the Central Florida labor force regarding recruitment strategies and techniques of the Baby Boomers, Generation X and the Millennial population. The purpose of this study is to identify those Human Resources recruitment practices that are most effective in retaining: (1) males and females from the Hispanic population, and (2) whether or not theses recruitment tactics affect the generation groups differently. The proposed issues will be assessed by collecting information from organizations, current employees, and job applicants. This study will use three research methods in addressing the stated purpose and objectives: literature review, focus groups, and questionnaire surveys. The literature review will explore present recruitment techniques, social and cultural similarities and differences between Hispanics and Non-Hispanic White, and generational differences. The main goal of the focus groups is to identify relevant recruitment issues as stated by Central Florida organizations, current employees, and job applicants. From the literature review and results of the focus groups two surveys will be develop to determine: (1) present recruitment practices used by Central Florida organizations; and (2) preferred recruitment practices among Hispanics and Non-Hispanic Whites. The results of this study will identify whether certain recruitment practices perceived as being most appealing and desirable vary among Hispanics and Non-Hispanic Whites. Based on the findings, the study will provide recommendations for designing effective recruitment strategies for Hispanic and Non-Hispanic White males and females while accounting for possible generational differences.

Master of Arts / Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work / Laszlo Kulcsar / Undocumented immigrants are an exploited and disenfranchised faction of society that garner counterfactual attitudes by the public. This study aims to dispel myths held among the public by contesting fiction with facts. First, I argue that media sources and misinformation have culpability in inciting the publics' misguided perceptions about undocumented immigrants. For example, the images propelled to viewers reproduce moral panics, stratification, subjugation, social injustice and the fallacious notion that Mexican‟s are representative of all Hispanic unauthorized immigrants. This thesis then examines the public opinion responses of participants from the CBS and New York Times monthly survey poll of May 2007, compared to academic and government sources on health care, terrorism, and economics. The analysis concludes that participants‟ responses reveal misconceptions on the usage of health care by undocumented immigrants; the threat of terrorism as a means to deny Hispanics citizenship; the economic impact of cost to benefit analysis of the undocumented; and that Mexicans are not representative of all undocumented immigrant groups.

Previous studies suggest that the reasons that Hispanics do not use support groups might include utilizing the family as an informal support group structure, the use of spiritual support, language barriers, the lack of access to a computer and the Internet, the lack of face-to-face interactions in Internet groups, and the lack of cultural competence. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the attitudes of Hispanics toward Internet cancer support groups (ICSGs) and reasons for the lack of participation in ICSGs. In this feminist qualitative study, 30 Hispanic individuals who were receiving cancer care were contacted for telephone interviews. The participants were interviewed to obtain their responses to questions related to current use and interest in using ICSGs. The researcher used qualitative thematic analysis to analyze the data. Four major themes arose. They were the need for a strong social network, attitudes about information access, concrete barriers to obtaining support, and the need for respect and empowerment. The major theme of “a strong social network” includes five sub-themes: (a) differences in online and face-to-face communication; (b) loneliness, isolation; (c) existence or lack of familial support; (d) spiritual support; and (e) informal support. Participants had mixed attitudes about information access. Positive attitudes were more common and included wanting to learn about their disease and learn how to obtain information and support via computer. Some participants did not want to obtain information, and some had negative attitudes about learning to use the computer. Many participants did not own a computer and had transportation problems that limited their access to a computer. The theme involving the need for respect and empowerment addressed the empowering use of Spanish in support of Hispanic cancer patients and empowerment via the group leader, who was Hispanic. The findings suggest a need to develop culturally competent ICSGs for Hispanics. One goal would be to augment instead of replace support. For example, an ICSG could have a spiritual basis, or there might be several ICSGs—one each for patients, families, and supporters such as friends from church. ICSGs also could target people without these supports. The existing knowledge should be used to provide direction for future research and for the development of cancer support groups that could meet the unique needs of Hispanic cancer patients. / text

The size of the Mexican-origin population in the United States means that its health patterns have important implications for the country’s overall population health. Understanding how this population is woven into the country’s complex social patterning of health is critical to understanding current social disparities in health. Drawing on a health disparities perspective and nationally representative datasets, this dissertation addresses key gaps in the social demographic literature on the health of the Mexican-origin population through three empirical chapters that examine how multiple measures of cardiovascular health are distributed across diverse social status and temporal configurations. I first examine how the obesity epidemic has unfolded across multiple temporal (age, period, and cohort) and social dimensions (gender, nativity, and race) for the Mexican-origin population. I find that period rather than cohort forces have shaped the rise in obesity among the Mexican-origin population. Furthermore, the pronounced group differences in obesity prevalence have remained stable across periods and cohorts, with the exception of a growing nativity gap among Mexican-origin women, among whom obesity has increased faster for U.S.-born individuals compared with foreign-born individuals. I next address the intersection of two additional temporal and social determinants of health: duration of residence in the United States and educational attainment. Building on research documenting a weak relationship between education and health for Mexican immigrants, I assess whether duration of U.S. residence strengthens this association. The patterns vary by outcome, but generally indicate that negative education gradients in health are more pronounced for long-term Mexican immigrants than for recent Mexican immigrants and that the education gradients of long-term Mexican immigrants resemble those of U.S.-born Whites. I then engage the literature linking acculturation to poor health among Mexican immigrants. Acculturation models of immigrant health have come under critique for ignoring the structural determinants of health. I engage in this debate by using segmented assimilation theory—which emphasizes the role of structural factors—to examine whether education conditions the association between acculturation and health. I find support for the idea that the detrimental influence of acculturation on cardiovascular health is concentrated among Mexican immigrant adults with low levels of education. / text

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the effect of a parent involvement education program on the academic achievement, school behavior, and educational motivation of Hispanic students enrolled in a bilingual education program. Fifty bilingual fourth-grade students and their parents were compared to 50 bilingual fourth-grade students and their parents who were subjected to a parent education program. The groups were randomly assigned from a stratified random sample. Students in each group were given the Student Attitude Measure prior to treatment and immediately following the parent involvement training. Parents in each group were given the Parent Opinion Inventory prior to and immediately following the parent involvement training. Students were also compared utilizing a norm-referenced achievement test. Discipline referrals were compared between the experimental group and the control group.

Unintended pregnancy (UP) is increasing among Latinos in the United States. Unintended pregnancy contributes to many negative consequences for infants, mothers and families. Concurrently, various factors affect Latino couples’ sexual relationship power, communication and decision making about family planning, including sexual relationship power, relationship commitment, dyadic adjustment, individual background, and cultural characteristics. Previous research has not focused on understanding the factors that affect Latino couples’ sexual relationship power, communication and sexual decision making from each partner’s perspective. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between sexual relationship power, communication, and sexual decision making from each partner’s perspective in relationship to family planning. In a cross-sectional design, recruited were a convenience sample of 40 Latino couples whose female partners in their second/third trimester from prenatal care clinics. Almost half of the participants were Mexican (males: 48%; females: 43%). The mean ages were 28 years (males, SD:5.67) and 26.5 years old (females, SD 4.81). Sample characteristics and partner responses were compared and contrasted. Machismo, perceived relationship commitment, relationship satisfaction and perceived decision making significantly contributed to the variance in sexual relationship power among women (F(8,26) = 6.776, p < 0.001). Increasing sexual relationship power through Latina empowerment and mutual decision making has the potential to build sustainable relationships. Relationship commitment, relationship satisfactions as well as cultural values (machismo and marianismo) were also the significant predictors for most of the study key variables. Decision making conversations among couples should optimally begin before the initiation of sexual activity and continue throughout the couples’ active sexual relationship. Couples communication facilitates making known each other’s will and thoughts and helps to promote healthy reproductive and sexual lives. Findings will contribute to developing targeted interventions to decrease UP while increasing quality of life for Latino families.

Submitted by JOSIANE SANTOS DE OLIVEIRA (josianeso) on 2018-11-30T12:55:12Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Marcelo Augusto Maciel da Silva_.pdf: 1672347 bytes, checksum: 986db745d9eae541bd350af8e1542664 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-11-30T12:55:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marcelo Augusto Maciel da Silva_.pdf: 1672347 bytes, checksum: 986db745d9eae541bd350af8e1542664 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-07-03 / CNPQ – Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / Este trabalho aborda o tema do cativeiro a partir dos casos de aprisionamento de indígenas e hispano-criollos ocorridos nos territórios ao sul de Buenos Aires ao longo do século XVIII. Ainda que a tomada de cativos entre as parcialidades aborígenes pudesse existir antes mesmo da chegada dos espanhóis, foram estes últimos os que mais fizeram prisioneiros. Assim, inserindo estas capturas no contexto do avanço colonial, procuramos examinar os motivos e os argumentos utilizados pelos espanhóis para justificar tais prisões, bem como investigamos os destinos aos quais as populações autóctones eram encaminhadas. Junto a isso, tentamos nos aproximar de uma perspectiva que explique o papel do rapto e do cativeiro para as sociedades nativas que aqui estudamos. Em relação ao que era praticado pelos índios, propomos isolar o rapto do cativeiro, e abordamos cada questão a partir de suas próprias especificidades. Para os hispânicos, a apreensão de prisioneiros indígenas tinha objetivos oficiais voltados à conversão, segurança e aquisição de novas terras; entre os indígenas, o rapto complementaria práticas econômicas familiares. Enquanto para os primeiros o cativeiro em si vinha a ser uma consequência decorrente dos ataques realizados contra os nativos, para estes, o cativeiro era a própria finalidade da apreensão. / This study addresses the captivity theme, based on the Indians and hispanic-criollo imprisonment cases, that occurred throughout the 18th century, in the South of Buenos Aires. Despite the fact that the imprisonment of captives could exist between the Indians parties even before the Spaniards' arrival, were the latter that held more prisoners. Therefore, inserting those captures in the context of colonial advance, we look to explore the reasons and arguments used by the Spaniards to justify such captures, as well as investigate the destinations where the indigenous population were routed. In addition, we try to approach from a perspective that explain the abduction and captivity role for the native societies studied here. Regarding to what was practiced by the Indians, we propose to segregate the abduction from captivity, and approach each issue from their own particularities. For the hispanic, the capture of indigenous prisioners had official objectives, directed to the conversion, safety and acquisition of new land. Among the natives, the capture would complement family economic practices. The captivity itself would come to be an outcome, resulting from the attacks conducted against the natives for the first, but for these, the captivity was the own purpose of imprisonment.

Research on health prevention behaviors of Mexican immigrant mothers regarding immunizations has been limited. As of 2014, Hispanics or Latinos comprised 9.6% of the population of the state of Oklahoma and were the largest minority group within Oklahoma. This minority population has continued to grow at a rapid rate in Oklahoma. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of immunizations held by Mexican immigrants who are mothers residing in Oklahoma. The aim of this study was to identify their perceived risk of contracting a vaccine-preventable disease if not immunized and knowledge of immunizations as a health prevention behavior. The health belief model and the sociocultural theory provided the theoretical underpinnings for this qualitative study. Semistructured interviews were conducted with a purposeful sample of 12 immigrants living in a rural area of Oklahoma. Data were triangulated and analyzed to identify themes and patterns. Findings indicated participants perceived susceptibility of contracting a vaccine-preventable disease if not immunized, with the severity of the disease having the potential to cause death. Identified barriers in immunization uptake were language barrier, lack of immunization information in Spanish, and fear of deportation. Recommendations include public health outreach providing culturally, linguistic appropriate immunization information to immigrants within communities. Findings provide health psychologists and other health care professionals the ability to formulate interventions targeting immunizations in female Mexican immigrants. These interventions could promote positive social change by decreasing immigrants' and their children's risk of morbidity and mortality related to lack of immunization uptake.

The purpose of the study is to provide an understanding of the emotional and cultural needs Latinos experience when grieving the loss of a loved one. Current research shows that the Latino community is less likely to seek mental health treatment including end of life and bereavement services. This study uses a qualitative approach examining participant’s experiences during the bereaved phase focusing on emotional needs. The study reveals that Latinos experience emotional distress during bereavement and grief. It also identifies a scarcity of programs designed to meet the needs of the bereaved of Latino communities in the Inland Empire where this study takes place. The study explores different barriers that prevent Latinos from accessing and utilizing bereavement services among Latino communities, social work professionals, and organizations focusing on emotional and mental health. The study reveals that Latinos have a need for culturally sensitive programs to help them process feelings of grief and loss; language, values, and traditions are identified as main cultural characteristics including family and religion. The study identifies support groups, counseling, home visits, and phone calls as the top bereavement services needed in Latino communities as well as professionals who can understand their cultural needs.

Obesity has become a global epidemic. Healthcare cost continues to increase due to co-morbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, and coronary artery disease associated with obesity. The purpose of this project was to examine whether teaching nutritious food choices to obese African American and Hispanic females in healthy cooking demonstrations would have an effect on their dietary behavior. The holistic self-care model was used to develop healthy strategies for weight loss. The model guided the development of nutritional support, exercise, and spiritual strategies for weight reduction. African American and Hispanic females between the ages of 25 to 64 were solicited from a local faith-based organization. Criteria for inclusion were a BMI greater or equal to 30, completion of a pre- and post- 24-hour dietary journal, and a pre- and post- Mediterranean diet assessment survey. Women had to participate in 3 out of 4 cooking demonstration classes. Ten participants met the full criteria for inclusion in the data. The results of the participants' responses were totaled and a percentage value was determined for each question. Comparison of the percentages between the 2 surveys showed no change in the participants' dietary habits, except in the area of red meat consumption, which decreased by 40%. The participants' mean BMI pre-survey was 37.92 and 37.80 post-survey. Lifestyle modifications such as dietary changes have the potential to decrease the obesity rate. The positive impact of the cooking demonstrations on African American and Hispanic families includes a potential decrease in comorbidities associated with obesity. A healthy future for these population groups will depend on the health of their children, and social change can occur if children adopt the healthy lifestyle behaviors of the adults in their household.