LATINOS\HISPANICS AND
DISABILITY:
An Annotated Resource Bibliography
Prepared by Jose O. Arrom, Research
Coordinator
Under a grant from the
National Institute of Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDDR)
to the
UIC Center on Emergent Disabilities-
Institute on Disabilities and Human Development
Edition: September 1997
Midwest Latino Health Research, Training, and Policy Center
Jane Addams College of Social Work
University of Illinois at Chicago
1640 W. Roosevelt Rd.
Suite 636 M/C 625
Chicago, IL 60608
312-413-1952
josarrom@uic.edu
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There is very little known or published about
disabilities and their trends among Latino (or Hispanic) populations in the
Definitions of Disability
Disability has many varying definitions. Cultural groups define disability differently.
The concept of disability has changed over time in response to advocacy by the
disabled, changing resource availability (economic development), concepts of
work and human productivity, perspectives on the disabled as deviants or
minorities, and social policy. For example, just within the
Some definitions are work-related or educationally-related and tend to be
global, focusing on a time-measure of inability to work or go to school. Others
are concerned with functional limitations or a person’s capacity and\or
independence to perform activities of daily living (ADL's
and IADL's). Some investigators view disability as a
consequence of certain chronic conditions and aging - which have predisposing
risk factors and which may or may not have an endpoint in death (mortality).
Others are concerned with their risk factors in term of how the disabilities
and their defining conditions or events may be prevented. Other recent
indicators of disability relate to the use of assistive (and communication)
technology, physical access and employment, the use of social and health
services and special education, and the receipt of social entitlements or
benefits (i.e., SSI). Very recently, disability has been approached from more
multidimensional "quality of life" (QOL) measures of health status.
These different definitions result in different estimates of disability, and
the need to have included various measures in the 1994-1995 National Health
Interview Survey (NHIS).
Organization
This bibliography is divided into ten major sections:
There is an overlap between the different sections. It was extremely
difficult to decide how to classify many items or which classifications to use.
There are dozens of disabling conditions, yet the literature and the
availability of data on Latinos and their specific disabilities is scarce. For
example, the literature on Latinos and diabetes mellitus is rapidly growing. In
the
Methodology
We compiled this bibliography from a wide variety of sources, including the
literature from aging, public health - chronic conditions, education, and
rehabilitation. To do so, we searched MEDLINE, PsychLIT,
CBIB, ERIC, CINAHL, CDC-WONDER, WSSI, and other electronic databases. In
addition, we searched servers related to National Institute on Disability and
Rehabilitation Research (http://dsc.ucsf.edu/indextxt.html) on the Internet.
Documents available from the Internet are marked @. Some databases have
limited time depth; others have some overlap. Key terms used were primarily
"Hispanic or Latino", "disability", "handicap",
"impairment", "functional limitation" and
"rehabilitation", "injury or trauma". In addition, items
have been included from our previous searches and bibliographies on the
aging\elderly, chronic conditions, pregnancy outcomes, and research
methodology. Most of the articles and items included have not been evaluated
for quality, that is, how they include, identify, collect, disaggregate, and
analyze data, particularly for Latino and other ethnic subgroups.
1. Latino Children and Disability
BIRTH DEFECTS
Canfield, MA. Annexes, JF. Brender,
JD. Cooper, SP. Greenberg, F. Hispanic Origin and Neural Tube
Defects in
Canfield, MA. Annexes, JF. Brender,
JD. Cooper, SP. & Greenberg, F. Hispanic Origin and
Neural Tube Defects in
Harris, JA. Shaw, GM. Neural Tube Defects - Why Are Rates High among
Populations of Mexican Descent. Environmental Health
Perspectives. 1995, 103(6),
163-164. [KW: Anencephaly. Birth-defects. Folate. Spina bifida.
Vitamins-prevalence.] (No abstract.)
Harris, J. Kallen, B. Robert, E. The Epidemiology of Anotia and Microtia. Journal of Medical
Genetics. 1996, 33(10), 809-813. We studied a large data set from
three registries of congenital malformations (central-east
Shaw, GM. Jensvold, NG. Wasserman, CR. Lammer, EJ. Epidemiologic Characteristics of Phenotypically Distinct Neural Tube Defects among 0.7
Million
Stierman, L. Birth Defects in Eleven California
Counties: 1990-1992.
SENSORY\COMMUNICATION IMPAIRMENTS
Bennett, AT. Gateways to powerlessness:
Incorporating Hispanic deaf children and families into formal schooling. Disability, Handicap & Society. 1988, 3(2),
119-151. Describes a 2-yr ethnographic field study of the
formal intake process (assessment, programming, placement, and evaluation)
involving 8 deaf Hispanic children (aged 3-6 yrs) in a private school for the
deaf. Practices of noninvolvement of Hispanic parents in educational
decision making are discussed, as well as the construction of particular
ideological and social relations between participants in the intake process.
The progress of one family through the intake is analyzed in detail to
demonstrate the social and cultural complexities of these relationships. (PsycINFO)
Christensen, KM. Conceptual sign language acquisition by
Spanish-speaking parents of hearing-impaired children. American Annals of the Deaf. 1986, 131(4), 285-287. Describes a trilingual (Spanish, English, and Sign Language)
approach to conceptual Sign Language acquisition for monolingual Spanish-
speaking parents of deaf children. Members of 58 families who were
Spanish speakers participated in a 2-year televised trilingual class.
Competence in conceptual Sign Language communication was achieved by Ss who
viewed the program regularly. Positive attitudinal changes among Ss involved
feelings about communication with their deaf child and about the school setting
in general. (PsycINFO)
Correa, VI. Working with Hispanic parents of visually
impaired children: Cultural implications. Journal of Visual
Impairment & Blindness, 1987, 81(6), 260-264. Discusses
2 types of problems faced by teachers working with visually impaired Hispanic
children and their families: difficulties associated with accepting the
impairment and cultural and linguistic differences. A frame-work is
provided for understanding the cultural differences in the Hispanic population
so that teachers can be more sensitive to the needs of these families. (PsycINFO)
Ferullo, RJ. Objectivity in the assessment of
preschool hearing impaired bilingual- Hispanic children. Journal
of School Health. 1983, 53(2), 131-135. Public Law 94-142, the
Education for All Handicapped Children Act, mandates the development of an
individualized education plan for school-aged children with special needs. The
development of such a plan requires a team meeting of various specialists who
have conducted assessments of the children being "cored." Often such meetings
become an arena for the enunciation of favored philosophical and methodological
positions that tend to obstruct the development of scientifically based goals
and objectives. The author stresses the importance of avoiding one's favored
philosophy in the evaluation and assessment of preschool hearing-impaired
Hispanic bilingual children. A case illustration is presented to demonstrate
the need for objectivity in the team-evaluation process. Some guidelines for
use in working with Hispanic families are offered. (PsycINFO)
Lee, DJ. Gomez Marin, O. Lee, HM. Prevalence of Childhood Hearing Loss - The
Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and the National Health and
Nutrition Examination Survey II. American Journal of
Epidemiology. 1996, 144(5), 442-449. Comparative analysis of the
epidemiology of childhood hearing loss was undertaken among African-American,
Hispanic- American, and non-Hispanic white children. Audiometric data on
children aged 6-19 years were obtained from 688 African Americans, 330 Cuban
Americans, 2,602 Mexican Americans, 1,025 Puerto Ricans, and 3,243 non-Hispanic
whites who participated in either the National Health and Nutrition Examination
Survey II, 1976-1980, or the Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1982-1984,
Hearing loss was defined as a pure-tone decibel hearing threshold level
(averaged over 500, 1,000, and 2,000 Hz) greater than 15 in the ear with the
best response. The prevalence (per 1,000) of bilateral hearing loss was 17.0
for African-American, 68.3 for Cuban-American, 27.6 for Mexican-American, 57.7
for Puerto Rican, and 15.5 for non-Hispanic white children. Differences in
prevalence by ethnicity/race diminished when a more stringent definition of
hearing loss (i.e., moderate or greater than 30 dB hearing threshold level) was
used. There were no adolescent African-American males aged 16-19 years who had
a hearing loss, After adjustment for age, the odds of hearing loss was
significantly greater in males than in females only in non-Hispanic whites
(odds ratio = 2.2; 95% confidence interval 1.6-3.3). On the basis of 1993
census population estimates in the
PARENTAL ADAPTATION TO DISABILITY
Espinosa, Maria E. Attitude of Hispanic and Anglo parents toward children
with epilepsy in relation to selected variables of knowledge, demography, and
epilepsy experience in six elementary schools in
Gary, SD. Perceived levels of stress of Black, White and Hispanic mothers of
infants with disabilities. Dissertation Abstracts
International. 1992, 52(7-A), 2499.
Hanline, MF. Daley, SE. Family
coping strategies and strengths in Hispanic, African-American, and Caucasian
families of young children. Topics in Early
Childhood Special Education. 1992, 12(3), 351-366. Examined the
relationship between maternal perceptions of family coping strategies and
family strengths in 59 Hispanic, 66 African-American, and 81 Caucasian families
of young children (aged <3 yrs) with and without disabilities. The use of
internal family coping strategies tended to be more predictive of family
strengths than was the use of social supports outside the family within all 3
ethnic groups. Analysis revealed no differences in family coping strategies and
family strengths between Hispanic families of children with and without
disabilities, one difference related to social support among the 2 types of
African-American families, and multiple differences among the 2 types of
Caucasian families. (PsycINFO) [Care
giving, Parents.]
Lequerica, M. Stress in immigrant families with
handicapped children: A child advocacy approach. American
Journal of Orthopsychiatry. 1993, 63(4), 545-552. Discusses
factors affecting the adjustment of Latinos who have immigrated to the
Mardiros, M. Conception of childhood disability
among Mexican- American parents. Medical Anthropologist, 1989, 12(1), 55-68.
[No abstract.]
Mary, NL. Reactions of Black, Hispanic, and White mothers
to having a child with handicaps. Mental
Retardation. 1990, 28(1), 1-5. Interviewed 20 Black, 20 Hispanic,
and 20 White mothers of disabled children (DCs) aged
<6 yrs to explore their feelings and reactions toward DCs.
Trends revealed that Hispanic Ss reported an attitude of self-sacrifice toward DCs and greater spousal denial of disabilities more often
than Black or White Ss. Stages of reaction from strong negative feelings to later
periods of adjustment were most often reported by Hispanic and White Ss, and by
75% of Ss with DCs with Down's syndrome. Although
severity of retardation was not predictive of parental reporting of stages, Ss
who received diagnoses within 1 mo of the DCs' births
were more likely to report subsequent adjustment stages. (PsycINFO)
Mary, NL. A cross-cultural study of mothers of young
developmentally disabled children. Dissertation
Abstracts International. 1986, 47(4-A), 1486.
Shapiro, J. Tittle, K. Maternal adaptation to
child disability in a Hispanic population. Family
Relations. 1990, 39(Apr.), 179-85.
SERVICE DELIVERY
Brookins, GK. Culture,
Ethnicity, and Bicultural Competence - Implications for Children with Chronic
Illness and Disability. Pediatrics.
1993, 91(5), 1056-1062. [No abstract.]
Eyman, RK. Boroskin, A. Hostetter, S. Use of alternative living plans for
developmentally disabled children by minority parents. Mental
Retardation. 1977, 15(1), 21-23. Investigated the
current use of alternative living plans for developmentally disabled children
by various groups of clients eligible for services. The sample consisted
of 8,009 Ss, most of whom were mentally retarded, receiving developmental
disabilities services in
Geber, G. Race and Ethnicity - Issues for
Adolescents with Chronic Illnesses And Disabilities -
An Annotated Bibliography. Pediatrics. 1993,
91(5), 1071-1081. (No abstract)
Kasper, MJ. Robbins, L. Root, L. Peterson, MG. Allegrante,
JP. A musculoskeletal outreach screening, treatment, and education program for
urban minority children. Arthritis Care Research,
1993, 6(3), 126-33. Purpose: A hospital-based outreach program was
initiated to screen minority children in medically underserved areas of
Rueda, RS.
2. Learning and Language Disabilities
& Mental Retardation
This is one of the largest sections. There is a large amount of literature
in this area specifically relating to Latinos. We have tried to include the
literature on assessment/ identification/diagnosis, etiology, and epidemiology
as well as the those relating to service delivery.
There are major concerns about the misdiagnosis of learning disorders for
Latino and minority populations. Some area related to the fact English is the
second language of these children. Others to possible
cultural bias of testing tools. On the other hand, there may be underdiagnosis because the evaluators may assume the
problem may be related to language learning. However, these conditions may be
increasing since more Latino children are surviving beyond infancy, are
increasingly at risk of being exposed to environmental hazards (lead,
pollutants, agricultural sprays), and receive less primary care.
Ambert, AN. Identifying language disorders in
Spanish-speakers. Journal of
Argulewicz, EN. Effects of ethnic
membership, socioeconomic status, and home language on LD, EMR, and EH
placements. Learning Disability Quarterly.
1983, 6(2), 195-200. Proportions of special education placements for Anglos,
Blacks, and Hispanics were compiled for a large elementary school district in
the Southwest. The data pool consisted of all students (N=9,950) in each of the
3 ethnic groups enrolled in kindergarten through 6th grade. Types of placements
were also examined for each group within the context of SES (low or mid-high)
and home language (Spanish or English). Results show significant Ethnicity *
SES interaction effects, with mid-high Spanish-speaking Hispanics being placed
at the highest rate and mid-high Blacks being placed least frequently. Data
also revealed that the learning-disability category was by far the most
frequently assigned placement. Factors that may have influenced the results and
implications for placement decision making are discussed. (PsycINFO)
[Service Delivery; Placement.]
Arrigo, HR. Language learning disabilities among
Hispanic students: A statistical search for discriminants.
Dissertation Abstracts International. 1990, 50(11-B), 5342.
Barona,
A. Santos de Barona, M. Faykus,
SP. The simultaneous effects of sociocultural
variables and WISC--R factors on MR, LD, and non placement of ethnic minorities
in special education. Education & Training in Mental
Retardation. 1993, 28(1), 66-74. 300 students referred for
consideration of special education placement and found to be either learning
disabled, mentally retarded (MR), or not eligible (NE) were examined to
determine the differential contribution of sociocultural
variables on special education eligibility decisions when examined in the
context of Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children--Revised (WISC--R) factors.
Mean ages were 117.76, 128.66, and 118.56 mo for the learning-disabled, NE, and
MR groups, respectively. Analyses were conducted using WISC--R factors (Verbal
Comprehension, Perceptual Organization, Freedom from
Distractibility) and sociocultural variables (e.g.,
SES, ethnicity, family size, and father absence). Ethnicity made differential
significant contributions to the prediction of the MR and NE groups when
adjusted for WISC--R factors. SES accounted for a significant amount of the
variance in MR eligibility with the exception of when Verbal Comprehension was
adjusted for independently. (PsycINFO)
Barona, A. Faykus, SP.
Differential effects of sociocultural variables on
special education eligibility categories. Psychology
in the Schools. 1992, 29(4), 313-320. Examined the
influence of sociocultural factors (ethnicity, SES,
father absence, and family size) on special education eligibility (SEDE) for 3
ethnic groups: White, Black, or Mexican-American. A multiple regression
procedure was used to analyze the data on 300 students (aged 8-13.5 yrs)
referred as mentally retarded or learning disabled. Only SES and ethnicity made
a significant contribution to the prediction of SEDE for all 3 groups. Results
suggest that legislative mandates to control for sociocultural
factors in the determination of SEDE have been only partially successful. (PsycINFO)
Bauermeister, JJ. Vargas, I. Colberg,
C. Gonzalez, LE., et al. Development of the Inventario de Comportamiento Escolar (IDCE) for Puerto Rican children. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences. 1987, 9(1),
49-67. Developed the Inventario de Comportamiento Escolar, a teacher
rating inventory for the assessment of Puerto Rican children with attention
deficit disorder, learning disabilities, or academic underachievement.
Factor analysis of classroom behavior ratings of 961 Puerto Rican students
(kindergarten to 6th grade) yielded 5 scales as did factor analysis of school
performance ratings. (PsycINFO)
Bebout, L. Arthur, B. Cross-cultural attitudes
toward speech disorders. Journal of Speech & Hearing
Research. 1992, 35(1), 45-52.
Used a questionnaire to look at attitudes toward 4 disorders (cleft palate,
stuttering, hearing impairment, and misarticulations)
among 166 university students (aged 17-48 yrs) representing English-speaking
North American culture and other cultures (e.g., Chinese, Southeast Asian,
Hispanic). Results show significant group differences on items involving Ss'
beliefs about the emotional health of persons with speech disorders and about
the potential ability of speech-disordered persons to improve their speech.
Also: "On cultural sensitivity in assessing cross-cultural
attitudes": Reply. Journal of Speech & Hearing
Research. 1994, 37(2) 343. Replies
to criticisms by A. Martinez et al of L. Bebout and
B. Arthur's study on cross-cultural attitudes toward speech disorders.
The questionnaire was not intended to assess into the attitudes of non-North
American cultures, while the 'deficit' focus was on cultural misunderstanding
or naivete that might impede treatment. (PsycINFO)
Beltran, D. Rafael, D. A comparative investigation of two adaptive behavior
scales (CABS-SV and ABS-SE Part One): Across three educational program
classifications (regular, learning disabled, and mildly retarded) using a
sample of Hispanic children. Dissertation Abstracts
International. 1984, 45(3-A), 820.
Benson, BA. Behavior disorders and mental retardation: Associations with
age, sex, and level of functioning in an outpatient clinic sample. Applied Research in Mental Retardation. 1985, 6(1)
79-85. Expanded an earlier survey by
Brosnan, FL. Overrepresentation of
low-socioeconomic minority students in special education programs in
Cardoza,
D. Rueda, R. Educational and occupational outcomes of
Hispanic learning-disabled high school students. Journal of Special
Education, 1986, 20(1), 111-126. Examined educational characteristics of 6
subgroups (N=2,656) in the High School and Beyond (National Opinion Research
Center, 1980) data set. These included senior learning disabled Hispanic
students, senior learning disabled Anglo students, and a randomly selected
Anglo senior nonhandicapped subsample.
In addition, 3 parallel sophomore groups were included. The groups were
compared in terms of their course-taking behavior, educational aspirations, and
educational/occupational outcomes. Results indicate significant differences
between the handicapped and nonhandicapped groups.
However, in general, differences between the Anglo and Hispanic handicapped
groups were not significant. (PsycINFO)
Collier, C. Hoover, JJ. Sociocultural considerations when referring minority children for learning
disabilities. Learning Disabilities Focus, 1987, 3(1), 39-45. Discusses sociocultural considerations in
dealing with culturally and linguistically different children referred for
specific learning disabilities (LDs). In some instances behaviors that
educators may believe to indicate LDs may be typical and normal for a specific
cultural/linguistic background or a by-product of the acculturative process,
including second-language acquisition. When a minority child is referred for
suspected LDs, the child's native culture and language, as well as stage of
acculturation, must be considered. Such considerations may help educators
reduce unnecessary referrals and bias in decisions about special education
placement. (PsycINFO) [Assessment.]
Coppock, BA. A comparison of suspension rates of
secondary handicapped students by race, gender, handicap
and school level. Dissertation Abstracts International.
1984, 45(2-A) 488-489. [ID: race & sex & handicap & school level,
suspension rates, mainstreamed mildly handicapped vs
emotionally disturbed vs mentally retarded vs learning disabled junior vs
senior high school students.]
Correa, VI. Tulbert, B. Collaboration between school personnel in special education
and Hispanic families. Journal of Educational &
Psychological Consultation.
1993, 4(3), 253-265. Discusses the building of collaborative
relationships between school personnel in special education and Hispanic
families, focusing on issues paramount in understanding the values and beliefs
of the Hispanic family. A 4-step collaboration action plan is proposed
that includes (1) promoting a positive attitude toward school personnel, (2)
assisting school personnel by providing training, (3) gathering information on
the family, and (4) developing a culturally sensitive program based on need.
School personnel who take the time to understand the unique values and beliefs
of the Hispanic culture will more adequately provide culturally sensitive
services to Hispanic families and their children with disabilities. (PsycINFO)
Collier, C. Hoover, JJ. Sociocultural considerations when referring minority children for learning
disabilities. Learning Disabilities Focus.
1987, 3(1), 39-45. Discusses sociocultural
considerations in dealing with culturally and linguistically different children
referred for specific learning disabilities (LDs). In some instances
behaviors that educators may believe to indicate LDs may be typical and normal
for a specific cultural/linguistic background or a by-product of the
acculturative process, including second-language acquisition. When a minority
child is referred for suspected LDs, the child's native culture and language,
as well as stage of acculturation, must be considered. Such considerations may
help educators reduce unnecessary referrals and bias in decisions about special
education placement. (PsycINFO) [Assessment, Bias.]
Echevarria, J. Interactive Reading Instruction - A
Comparison of Proximal and Distal Effects of Instructional Conversations. Exceptional Children. 1995, 61(6), 536-552. This
study examined the effects of an interactive approach, instructional
conversations (IC), on the language and concept development of Hispanic
students with learning disabilities. This study compared traditional
instruction (basal approach) with instructional conversations. Results of
proximal measures indicated higher levels of discourse and greater
participation with IC than with a basal approach. The distal indexes yielded
uneven results: evidence of greater understanding of the concept following IC
but no differences in literal comprehension or post-lesson narrative results.
The overall results suggest that IC may provide linguistically rich learning
opportunities for culturally diverse students with learning disabilities. [Instructional Methods, Communication.]
Elliott, SN. Argulewicz, EN. The influence of
student ethnicity on teachers' behavior ratings of normal and learning disabled
children. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences. 1983, 5(3), 337-345. Behavioral
rating scores on the Devereux Elementary School Behavior Rating Scale (DESBRS)
for 64 learning disabled (LD) or non-LD Anglo and Mexican-American second-6th
graders were analyzed to explore the influence of ethnicity and diagnostic
label on behavior ratings by Anglo teachers and the relationship between the
behavior ratings of a sample of Mexican-American children and the normative
sample of the DESBRS. Significant multivariate F 's
were observed for the main effects of ethnicity and diagnostic label. Univariate analyses of ethnicity revealed that
Mexican-American and Anglo Ss were rated as being significantly different on 3
factors: Comprehension, Creative initiative, and Closeness to the Teacher. The
LD and non-LD Ss differed significantly on such DESBRS factors as Classroom
Disturbance, Inattentive-Withdrawn, and Slow Worker. (PsycINFO)
Fourqurean, JM. A K-ABC and
WISC--R comparison for Latino learning-disabled children of limited English
proficiency. Journal of School Psychology.
1987, 25(1), 15-21. Examined the performance of 42 Mexican-American
learning-disabled children (aged 6-12.5 yrs) of limited English proficiency on
the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) and the Wechsler
Intelligence Scale for Children--Revised (WISC--R), using correlational
procedures and direct comparisons. Results show that (1) the WISC-R Full Scale
IQ was significantly lower than the K-ABC Mental Processing Composite; (2) the
Full Scale IQ and the Mental Processing Composite standard scores correlated
.63; and (3) all subscales of the WISC-R and the K-ABC correlated significantly
except the K-ABC Sequential scale, which failed to correlate significantly with
any WISC-R scales. Ss had particular difficulty with the WISC-R Verbal scale
and the K-ABC Achievement scale (means = 68.14 and 67.67, respectively). It is
concluded that claims of construct validity for the K-ABC are upheld. Subjects difficulty with sequential processing is discussed.
(PsycINFO)
Garcia, SB. Yates, JR. Policy issues associated with serving bilingual
exceptional children. Journal of
Garcia, SB. Effects of student characteristics, school programs and organization
on decision making for the placement of Hispanic students in classes for the
learning disabled. Dissertation Abstracts International.
1985, 46(4-A), 855.
Goldstein, BSC. Critical pedagogy in a bilingual special
education classroom. Journal of Learning
Disabilities. 1995, 28(8), 463-475. Describes a program in which the
author attempted to apply critical pedagogical principles, including language
acquisition theory, holistic and constructivist learning, and bicultural
development, in a first- and second grade bilingual day class. Participants
were 11 Latino children with limited English proficiency and learning
disabilities. The program illustrates the dialogical process between and among
students and teacher and the students' subsequent recognition of their own
abilities to name their world, engage with and critique existing knowledge, and
create new forms of knowledge that will enable them to actively change their
world. Recommendations for translating critical pedagogy to classroom practice
are given. Children's awareness of economic and social barriers that education
cannot bridge are discussed. (PsycINFO)
[Instructional Methods.]
Goody, MH. A comparative study of cross-cultural patterns of intellectual
abilities on WISC and WISC-R among Anglo, Chinese, and Hispanic educationally
handicapped boys with reading disabilities. Dissertation
Abstracts International. 1981, 42(1-A), 141.
[ID: intellectual abilities as measured by WISC & WISC-R, 7.5-12.9 yr old
monolingual Anglo vs bilingual Hispanic vs Chinese males with reading disabilities.]
Gottlieb, J. Gottlieb, BW. Trongone, S. Parent and teacher referrals for a psychoeducational
evaluation. Journal of Special Education, 1991, 25(2), 155-167. Studied the school records of 439 first-8th graders who had been
referred for special education evaluation: 5% were Asian, 21.2% were White,
38.3% were Black, and 40.5% were Hispanic. 328 Ss were referred by
teachers and 111 by parents. Both parents and teachers referred Ss primarily
for academic reasons, but parents did so more often. Parents referred higher
functioning Ss than teachers referred. White parents were more likely than
minority parents to refer Ss, whereas teachers referred more minority Ss. Seven
Ss were eventually classified as neurologically impaired and emotionally
handicapped and 72 as emotionally handicapped. 141 were classified as learning
disabled and placed in self-contained classes, 154 were classified as learning
disabled and placed in resource rooms, and 65 were ineligible for special
education services. There were too few purely behavioral reasons for referral.
(PsycINFO)
Gregory, JF. Shanahan, T. Walberg, HJ. Learning disabled 10th graders in
mainstreamed settings: A descriptive analysis. RASE: Remedial and Special
Education. 1985, 6(4), 25-33. Of the 30,030 10th graders for whom survey
data from the national High School and Beyond study
(J. Coleman et al, 1982; E. Page and T. Keith, 1981; S. Peng
et al, 1981 and 1982) were complete, 810 identified themselves as having
specific learning disabilities. Various comparisons between these learning
disabled (LD) Ss and their non-LD (NLD) peers were made. The LD group was
older, had a disproportionately high representation of Blacks and Hispanics and
an underrepresentation of Whites, and reported more
secondary handicapping conditions than did the NLD cohort. In all areas of
academic achievement tested, the LD Ss showed significant deficits. The LD Ss
also had lower indices of motivation, adjustment, locus
of control, independence, self-perception of attractiveness and popularity, and
scholastic orientation of close friends. They also evidenced more legal and
school-related problems. However, the 2 groups acknowledged spending equal
amounts of time in extracurricular activities. (PsycINFO)
Harry, B. These Families, Those Families - The Impact of Researcher
Identities on the Research Act. Exceptional Children.
1996, 62(4), 292-300. This article discusses the various, sometimes competing,
self-identities of the qualitative researcher and the impact of these
identities on decision making in the research process. The author proposes that
while culture provides the backdrop to identity, various aspects of the microcultures to which a researcher belongs may result in
varying ''personas'' that influence decision making about the research process.
The author illustrates these points with examples from her ethnographic
research with African- American/Latino, low- to middle-income families of
children with disabilities. [Methodology.]
Harry, B. An ethnographic study of cross-cultural
communication with Puerto Rican-American families in the special education
system. American Educational Research Journal.
1992, 29(3), 471-494. Addresses the challenge of parent-professional
(PP) interaction in a cross-cultural context with 12 Spanish-speaking, Puerto
Rican-American families whose children were classified as learning disabled or
mildly mentally retarded. Parents' views and experiences were sought
through ethnographic interviewing, review of students' documents, and
participant observation of PP conferences and community events. The data
revealed that inadequate provision of information on the meaning of events and
the school district's reliance on formalized, written communi-cation
led to mistrust and withdrawal on the part of parents. Deference to authority
disguised parents' real opinions. Changes implemented in the school district
were beginning to have a beneficial effect on PP relationships and to result in
exemplary parent conferences. (PsycINFO)
Harry, B. Making sense of disability: low-income, Puerto Rican parents'
theories of the problem. Exceptional Children, 1992, 59(1), 27-40. This
article reports findings from an ethnographic study of the views of 12 low-income
Puerto Rican parents whose children were classified as learning disabled or
mildly mentally retarded. Different cultural meanings of disability and
normalcy led parents to reject the notion of disability and focus on the impact
of family identity, language confusion, and detrimental educational practices
on children's school performance. Parents' views were in line with current
arguments against labeling and English-only instruction. (Parental
Perceptions.]
Heller, T. Markwardt, R. Rowitz,
L. Farber, B. Adaptation of Hispanic families to a member with mental
retardation. American Journal on Mental Retardation.
1994, 99(3), 289-300. Examined the adaptation of 51 Hispanic
and 195 non-Hispanic White families to having a family member with mental
retardation (MR). Primary caregivers completed surveys and interviews
about the characteristics of the family and the member with MR, their religious
values, support resources, and caregiver burden. Hispanic Ss had younger
children with MR and a lower socioeconomic level than did non-Hispanic Ss. More
Hispanic than non-Hispanic Ss reported that having a family member with MR
increased their religiosity, and more Hispanic Ss
believed that taking care of a family member with MR was a religious duty.
Hispanic Ss viewed caring for a family member with MR as less of a burden than
non-Hispanic Ss did. (PsycINFO)
Inglis, J. Lawson, JS. The cross-cultural validity
of the Learning Disability Index: A reanalysis of Mishra's
data. Journal of Clinical Psychology. 1985, 41(5), 680-5.
This study investigated the nature of a learning disability index (LDI) for the
objective assessment of verbal-nonverbal patterns of intellectual deficit on
the WISC-R. The Factor II score coefficients derived from an unrotated principal components analysis of the WISC-R
normative data, in combination with the individual's (or group's)
average scaled scores, are used for this purpose. The mean LDI of various
groups of learning disabled children, including Mishra's
(1984a; 1984b) Mexican-American and Papago groups,
are shown to be reliably different from the mean LDI of the normative
population and thus demonstrate its cross-cultural validity.
Langdon, HW. English Language Learning by Immigrant
Spanish Speakers - A
Leckart, B. A revised
dissimulation scale applicable to the MMPI-2. American
Journal of Forensic Psychology. 1994, 12(3), 5-15. Investigated the
score comparability of the 29 remaining items of the original 40 on the
Dissimulation Scale--Revised (Ds--R) included in the MMPI-2 (DSR-MMPI-2) to the
entire 40 item Ds--R. 120 disability claimants who completed the MMPI were
divided into 6 equal gender/ethnic groups: African- American, Hispanic, and
Caucasian and males and females. Pearson product moment correlations were
performed between the full Ds--R and the 29 items on the DSR-MMPI-2. Results
reveal a small correlation of +.914 among the 6 groups indicating little
difference between the 2 scores. (PsycINFO)
Maltzman, CM. Cross-cultural patterns of response
to the WISC/WISC-R and Bender Gestalt Test by Chinese-American,
Hispanic-American, and Occidental-American educationally handicapped boys. Dissertation Abstracts International. 1981, 42(2-A), 658. [ID: ethnicity, scores on WISC/WISC-R
& Bender Gestalt Test, Chinese American vs
Hispanic vs Occidental American 7.5-12 yr olds 1.5
yrs below grade level in reading, implications for remedial reading
strategies.]
Merino, BJ. Language development in normal and
language handicapped Spanish- speaking children. Hispanic
Journal of Behavioral Sciences. 1983, 5(4), 379-400. Examined the
language development of 22 5-8 yr old language-handicapped children who spoke
Spanish as a first language and who were classified as being of limited
English-speaking ability by comparing their language skills to those of a group
of controls matched for age, ethnicity, SES, first language, exposure to school
English, and language use patterns. The focus was on the differences and
similarities found in the Ss' first language, Spanish. A battery of
instruments, including measures of syntax, articulation, vocabulary, and
competence in pragmatics, was administered to 50 monolingual Spanish speakers
aged 3-8 yrs to establish baseline data. The language-delayed Ss were then
administered the same instruments and procedures and comparisons were made to
the control group. Handicapped Ss performed significantly worse than controls
in the production of syntactic features, but not in comprehension. Handicapped
Ss also exhibited a significantly higher number of articulation errors. It is
concluded that such procedures are necessary to ensure the adequate provision
of therapy for the bilingual handicapped child. (PsycINFO)
Meyers, CE. Borthwick, SA. Eyman,
RK. Place of residence by age, ethnicity, and level of retardation of the
mentally retarded/developmentally disabled population of
Miramontes, OB. Oral reading miscues of Hispanic
students: Implications for assessment of learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities. 1987, 20(10),
627-632. Assessed 20 Hispanic successful readers and 20 Hispanic students (all
4th-6th graders) identified as having learning disabilities in reading in
English and Spanish using the Reading Miscue Inventory. Oral reading miscues
were analyzed to determine similarities and differences between the groups in
their first and second reading languages. Data were analyzed for graphic similarity,
sound similarity, grammatical function, comprehension, and grammatical
relationships. Significant differences were found to exist in all these
categories when analyzed in the students' first reading language and in the
last 3 categories when analyzed for English reading. The data for students
classified as learning disabled suggest the need for more extensive
consideration of primary language reading in the determination of a learning
disability. (PsycINFO)
Morrison, GM. Laughlin, J. Smith, D. Ollansky,
E., et al. Preferences for sources of social support of Hispanic male
adolescents with mild learning handicaps. Education
& Training in Mental Retardation. 1992, 27(2), 132-144. Examined the preferences for social support of Hispanic male
adolescents with and without mild learning handicaps for various kinds of life
stressors. These junior high school students (22 with and 11 without
mild learning handicaps) responded to questions concerning whom they would talk
to about a variety of everyday stressors. Ss with mild learning handicaps in
resource room and special day class settings had higher rates of choosing the
category of "nobody" and lower rates of choosing siblings than their nonhandicapped peers. Differences existed between resource
room and special day class students in their preferences for parents, peers,
and teachers. Situational variations in these overall patterns are described. (PsycINFO)
Ochoa, AM. Pacheco, R. O'Mark,
DR. Addressing the learning disability needs of
limited-English proficient students: Beyond language and race issues. Learning Disability Quarterly. 1988, 11(3), 257-264. Argues that students with exceptional learning needs should not be
denied access to special education programs because of their language or race.
However, such factors should not be ignored either. The issue of
disproportionate representation of limited-English proficient (LEP) Hispanic
students in classes for the learning disabled is discussed, based on 1981
statistics from
Ochoa, SH. Palmer, DJ. A sociometric
analysis of between-group differences and within-group status variability of
Hispanic learning disabled and nonhandicapped pupils
in academic and play contexts. Learning Disability
Quarterly. 1991, 14(3), 208-218. Assessed the sociometric status of mainstreamed Hispanic learning
disabled (LD) and nonhandicapped pupils. 733
4th- and 5th-graders from a small metropolitan school district in the Southwest
participated. Sociometric data were collected from 35
classrooms across 10 schools. Hispanic LD Ss received lower sociometric
peer ratings than their nonhandicapped peers.
However, a peer rating/nomination classification procedure resulted in
considerable variability in sociometric status for
both LD and nonhandicapped Ss. Although 30% of the LD
Ss were in the rejected status group, almost 50% of the LD Ss attained average sociometric status. Sociometric
context (i.e., academic and play) also influenced membership in status groups.
(PsycINFO)
Olivarez, A. Palmer, DJ. Guillemard, L. Predictive bias with referred and nonreferred
Black, Hispanic, and White pupils. Learning
Disability Quarterly. 1992,
15(3), 175-186. Predictive bias between IQ and achievement was examined using
data obtained from ethnically diverse referred and nonreferred
samples in an extension of a study by D. J. Palmer et al. Achievement and
intelligence measures included the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for
Children--Revised (WISC--R), Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children,
Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery, and the Woodcock Language
Proficiency Battery. The sample consisted of 94 second-, 74 third-, and 68
4th-grade students (58 White, 57 Black, and 121 Hispanic) from a large urban
district. Results revealed evidence of predictive bias in several sets of
intelligence-achievement measures. The achievement performance of Black and
Hispanic Ss was overpredicted. For the most part,
intercept bias was more evident than slope bias (differential validity). (PsycINFO)
Ortiz, AA. Wilkinson, CY. Adapting IEPs
for limited English proficient students. Academic
Therapy. 1989, 24(5), 555-568. Examined the content of
individualized education plans (IEPs) developed for
203 learning disabled and mentally handicapped Hispanic second-5th graders with
limited English proficiency (LP) to determine how Ss' LP influenced the
selection of IEP goals and objectives. Results suggest that Ss' degree of
bilingualism and LP exerted little influence on the IEP committee's selection
of instructional goals and objectives. Native language instruction and
instruction in English as a second language were infrequently incorporated into
special education services. (PsycINFO)
Ortiz, AA. Garcia, SB. Serving Hispanic Students with
Learning Disabilities - Recommended Policies and Practices. Urban Education. 1995, 29(4), 471-481. Educators
continue to have difficulty distinguishing learning disabilities from second
language differences among Hispanic students. This article identifies major
issues in the identification, assessment, and placement of Hispanic students in
programs for students with learning disabilities, with a focus on limited
English proficient Hispanic students. The authors recommend policies and
practices which can help safeguard these students against inappropriate special
education placement.
Ortiz, AA. Maldonado-Colon, E. Recognizing learning disabilities in
bilingual children: How to lessen inappropriate referrals of language minority
students to special education. Journal of
Palmer, DJ. Olivarez, A. Willson, Victor, L.
Fordyce, T. Ethnicity and language dominance: Influence on the prediction of
achievement based on intelligence test scores in nonreferred
and referred samples. Learning Disability Quarterly.
1989, 12(4), 261-274. Examined the influence of ethnicity on the prediction of
achievement on intelligence tests in 236 referred and nonreferred
Black, Hispanic, and Anglo second, third, and 4th grade pupils who were assessed
with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children--Revised (WISC--R) and
Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) cognitive and achievement
scales. Approximately 38% of the Hispanic Ss were identified as limited-English
proficient (LEP). Analysis of various procedures revealed differences in
cognitive and achievement performance due to pupils' ethnicity, referral
status, and LEP status. For both WISC-R and K-ABC IQ measures, a number of
regressions on the K-ABC Total and Arithmetic achievement measures evidenced
bias across ethnic groups for both referred and nonreferred
Ss. Bias due to language dominance also was found for WISC-R and K-ABC
composite scales. Implications of predictive bias are discussed for assessment
and placement of minority and LEP children in special education classes. (PsycINFO)
Palmer, DJ. Hughes, JN.
Payette, KA. Clarizio, HF. Discrepant team
decisions: The effects of race, gender, achievement, and IQ on LD eligibility. Psychology in the Schools. 1994, 31(1), 40-48. Examined the racial, gender, intellectual, achievement, and
grade-level status of 344 students (aged 5 yrs 6 mo to 18 yrs) who had been
referred for learning disability (LD) diagnosis to determine whether student
characteristics might influence the misclassification of Ss with respect to LD
status. In one-fourth of the cases, Ss were declared either eligible
without a severe discrepancy or ineligible with a severe discrepancy regardless
of method used (standard score vs regressed standard
score) or cutoff value employed (15-point vs 22-point
discrepancy). Being White, older, and of higher intelligence and achievement
were characteristics of those found ineligible despite a severe discrepancy.
Being female and less academically able were characteristics of those declared
eligible without a severe discrepancy. (PsycINFO)
Plata, M. Using Spanish-Speaking Interpreters in Special Education. Remedial and Special Education. 1993, 14(5), 19-24.
An increasing Hispanic population, with its diverse academic needs, presents a
challenge for public schools. The lack of available bilingual and other
appropriately trained personnel who can effectively interact with
Spanish-speaking students and parents magnifies this challenge, especially when
students are considered for special education placement. In such situations,
interpreters are needed to communicate with parents. This article proposes
criteria for selecting interpreters, discusses responsibilities of, and
potential problems in using, interpreters, and suggests elements of a
management system and training program for interpreters and those who rely on
their services. [Service Delivery. Cultural
Competence.]
Poppe, RL. A study of the WISC-R scores of
Hispanic and non-Hispanic gifted/learning disabled students. Dissertation
Abstracts International: Section A: The Humanities & Social Sciences. 1994, 54(7-A), 2537.
Ratleff, J Echevarria.
The effects of instructional conversations on the language and concept
development of learning handicapped students. Dissertation
Abstracts International. 1993, 54(3-A), 892.
ID: instructional conversations, language & concept development, bilingual
Hispanic learning disabled students.
Reschly, DJ. Identification and
Assessment of Students with Disabilities. The
Future of Children. 1996,
6(1), 40-53. Students with disabilities or suspected disabilities are evaluated
by schools to determine whether they are eligible for special education
services and, if eligible, to determine what services will be provided. In many
states, the results of this evaluation also affect how much funding assistance
the school will receive to meet the students' special needs. Special education
classification is not uniform across states or regions. Students with identical
characteristics can be diagnosed as disabled in one state but not in another
and may be reclassified when they move across state or school district lines.
Most disabilities with a clear medical basis are recognized by the child's
physician or parents soon after birth or during the preschool years. In
contrast, the majority of students with disabilities are initially referred for
evaluation by their classroom teacher (or parents) because of severe and
chronic achievement or behavioral problems. There is evidence that the
prevalence of some disabilities varies by age. The high-incidence disabilities
such as learning disabilities and speech-language disabilities occur primarily
at the mild level. The mild disabilities exist on broad continua in which there
are no clear demarcations between those who have and those who do not have the disability, and even "mild" disabilities may
constitute formidable barriers to academic progress and significantly limit
career opportunities. Problems with the current classification system include
stigma to the child, low reliability, poor correlation between categorization
and treatment, obsolete assumptions still in use in treatment, and
disproportionate representation of minority students. Both African-American and
Hispanic students are disproportionately represented in special education but
in opposite directions. The disproportionately high number of African Americans
in special education reflects the fact that more African-American students than
white students are diagnosed with mild mental retardation. Though poverty,
cultural bias, and inherent differences have been suggested as reasons for this
disproportionate representation, there are no compelling data that fully
explain the phenomenon. In most states, classification of a student as disabled
leads to increased funding from the state to the school district. This article
suggests a revised funding system that weights four factors (number of
deficits, degree of discrepancy, complexity of intervention, and intensity of
intervention) in a regression equation that would yield a total amount of
dollars available to support the special education of a particular student.
Ruiz NT. The social construction of ability and disability: I. Profile types
of Latino children identified as language learning disabled. Journal
of Learning Disabilities. 1995, 28(8), 476-490. During the course of
an ethnographic study of a bilingual special education classroom, three profile
types of students emerged, ranging from students with severe language learning
disabilities to students with normal abilities. The study points out the
inadequacy of a medical model view of student abilities and disabilities --a
view that underestimates the communicative and academic competence of bilingual
students. Concurrently, the results support a contextual performance view --a
view that acknowledges the role of instructional context in revealing the upper
or lower range of students' communicative and academic competence. The study
further suggests some contextual features of instruction that are associated
with students from all profile types showing their best in terms of language
and literacy skills. (MEDLINE)
Sacristan, Jaime R. Mental health in Spanish-speaking mentally retarded
people: The state of the art.
Shapiro, J. Simonsen, D. Educational Support Group
for Latino Families of Children with Down Syndrome. Mental Retardation. 1994, 32(6), 403-415. Experiences
and observations based on an ongoing parent education-support group for
Mexican-origin Latino parents of children with Down syndrome were described.
Culturally mediated concepts were discussed in terms of their relevance to
specific aspects of group functioning, including group structure, membership,
and leadership. Problems of particular concern to this population that might
adversely affect maintenance and growth of the group were also examined.
Finally, the potential value of such support groups for this
parent population were considered as were guidelines for enhancing the
group experience.
Sluzki, CE. The sounds of silence: Two cases of
elective mutism in bilingual families. Family Therapy Collections. 1983, 6, 68-77. Compares the case histories of 2 families, each presenting with
elective mutism in a 9-yr-old girl. One family
was Mexican- American, and the other was Salvadorian and living in the
Sontag, JC. Schacht, R. An Ethnic Comparison of
Parent Participation and Information Needs in Early Intervention. Exceptional Children. 1994, 60(5), 422-433. This
study investigated ethnic differences in (a) parent perceptions of their
information needs and their sources of information, and (b) the nature of
parent participation in early intervention and participation preferences.
Interviews were conducted with 536 families with infants and toddlers who had
developmental problems. Comparative analyses were conducted on white, Hispanic,
and American Indian groups. Results suggested the need to provide more and
better information to all parents and the importance of medical doctors as a
source of information, individualizing the type and source of information to
different ethnic groups, and identifying unique strategies to support the
participation of parents from different ethnic groups.
Stein, RC. Hispanic parents' perspectives and participation in their
children's special education program: Comparisons by program and race. Learning Disability Quarterly. 1983, l 6(4), 432-439.
Interviewed 62 Hispanic families with children receiving
special education (SE) services in kindergarten to Grade 12. Results,
which were compared to previous findings by E. W. Lynch and the present author,
suggest few differences between Hispanic parents of learning handicapped and
other program children in terms of attitudes, satisfaction, or participation in
the children's educational programs. However, Ss were significantly less
actively involved than White parents in their children's SE. Possible
cultural/ethnic reasons for this are discussed. (PsycINFO)
Valentin, S. Motivation in second language learning in Hispanic
learning-disabled students. Dissertation Abstracts
International. 1993, 54(6-A), 2049.
Vaughn, S. Hogan, A. Kouzekanani, K. Shapiro, S.
Peer acceptance, self-perceptions, and social skills of learning disabled
students prior to identification. Journal of Educational
Psychology. 1990, 82(1), 101-106. This study addressed how learning
disabled students prior to identification (LDPI), low-
achieving (LA), average-achieving (AA), and
high-achieving (HA) students compare on peer, teacher, and self assessments of
social status and social skills in the fall and spring of kindergarten. Two
hundred thirty-nine Black, Hispanic, and White students, 78% of a kindergarten population,
participated. Controlling for age, sex, and achievement levels, four groups
were identified:
Westby, CE. Rouse, GR. Culture in education and the instruction of language
learning-disabled students. Topics in Language Disorders. 1985, 5(4) 15-28. Describes the
organization of activities in an elementary classroom of eight 6-9 yr old
language- learning-disabled Hispanic children and demonstrates how the use of
ethnographic research methods can contribute to understanding the culture of
the school. An ethnographic paradigm developed by E.T. Hall is used to describe
the way in which cultures vary along a continuum in the degree to which their
communication messages are contextualized. In high-context (HC) cultures most
of the communicative information is either in the physical context or
internalized in the person while very little is contained in the verbally
transmitted part of the message. Low-context cultures, however, are highly
individualized with relatively little mutual involvement among people. Cultural
conflicts that arise in schools from the different values that HC and LC
cultures place on the role of their members (the group vs
the individual, language structure and function, and use of time) are
discussed. Activity characteristics and teacher-child interactions designed to
facilitate either HC or LC cultures within the learning program are presented.
The program allowed the Ss to acquire, then maintain and use, aspects of HC
culture in the LC environment of the school. It is suggested that such programs
should not be evaluated solely on quantitative data regarding the students'
performance on selected variables. (PsycINFO)
Wheeler, DS. Simultaneous-sequential processing in the
analysis of limited English proficient learning disabled students. Dissertation Abstracts International. 1993, 54(4-A), 1299.
Whitworth, RH. Comparison of Anglo and Mexican American male high school
students classified as learning disabilities. Hispanic
Journal of Behavioral Sciences. 1988, 10(2), 127-137. Two groups of
80 Mexican American and Anglo male high school students were administered the
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and the Wide Range Achievement Test.
Half of each group was classified as learning disabled (LD), and half attended
regular classes and were included as normal controls. Analyses revealed
significant ethnic differences for WAIS Verbal and Full-Scale IQS for both the
LD and normal Ss. No significant differences in either Performance IQ or
academic performance between Anglo and Mexican-American LD Ss were noted,
suggesting that differences are due to limited-English proficiency or sociocultural factors rather than true learning
disabilities. (PsycINFO)
Widaman, KF. MacMillan,
DL. Hemsley, RE. Little, TD. et al. Differences in adolescents' self-concept as a
function of academic level, ethnicity, and gender. Special Issue: Social
skills. American Journal on Mental Retardation.
1992, 96(4), 387-403. A self-concept inventory assessing 11 aspects of
self-concept was administered to 680 male and 454 female 8th graders stratified
with regard to academic level (regular class, educationally marginal, learning
handicapped), ethnicity (White, Black, and Hispanic), and gender. Regular class
students had significantly higher levels of self-concept on most scales than
did students who were educationally marginal or learning handicapped. The 190
Black students had significantly higher self-concept ratings than did the 803
White and the 341 Hispanic students on most scales. Gender did not moderate the
effects of academic level on self-concept scores. Whites who were educationally
marginal had the lowest level of academic and verbal self-concept. (PsycINFO)
Wright, P. Santa-Cruz, R. Ethnic composition of special education programs
in
Zavala, J. Mims, J. Identification of learning disabled
bilingual Hispanic students. Learning Disability
Quarterly. 1983, 6(4),
479-488. Compared 10 limited-English proficient (LEP) bilingual Hispanic
students in Grades 1-6 who had been identified as learning disabled (LD) with
10 age-, sex-, and SES-matched LEP bilingual students who were not identified
as LD (NLD) based on standardized measures of achievement and potential.
Behavioral surveys of both groups were conducted. The following tests predicted
learning disabilities: Prueba de Lectura
y Lenguaje Escrito, Test of
Nonverbal Intelligence, Test of Reading Comprehension, Prueba
de Desarrollo Inicial de Lenguaje, Test of Early Language Development, and the Perfil de Evaluacion del Comportamiento/Teacher Survey. Significant differences were
found between the LD and NLD groups in 75% of the measures administered.
Additional results indicate that the LD Ss scored poorly on the nonverbal IQ
test and the language achievement tests, suggesting that the LD Ss would have
been identified as LD based on the instruments used in the present study. (PsycINFO)
Zetlin, AG. Everyday stressors
in the lives of Anglo and Hispanic learning handicapped adolescents. Journal
of Youth & Adolescence, 1993, 22(3), 327-335. The sociocultural
context of the lives of 10 learning handicapped adolescents (aged 16-18 yrs)
was closely monitored over an entire school year using participant observation
techniques. Everyday stressors and coping strategies of 5 Hispanic and 5 Anglo
adolescents matched on age, sex, SES, class placement, and family intactness
were documented in lengthy field notes. In addition to concerns typical of all
adolescents (i.e., family, work, recreation, appearance), cross pressure from
cultural conflicts and the learning handicapped status were major sources of
stress for these adolescent subgroups. (PsycINFO)
3. Disability Among
Working Age Latinos
This section focuses on disability issues of working age Latinos. The
conditions emerging in the age group can be largely attributed to
behaviorally-related issues such as mental health, alcohol, tobacco, and other
drug abuse, injury related to violence, motor vehicle crashes, and work. In the
past 15 years, the most important emerging condition for this age group is AIDS
or HIV-related disease (AIDS). HIV disease is now the fourth leading cause of
death among all Latinos, and the leading cause of death among Latinos aged 25
to 44 years. As better strategies emerge for controlling HIV emerge, life
expectancy will increase. However, certain disabling conditions also are
emerging, including blindness and dementia, etc.
Angel, RJ. The costs of disability for Hispanic males.
Social Science Quarterly. 1984,
65(June), 426-43. [Physically handicapped:
Employment.]
Avolio, BJ. Waldman, DA. Variations in cognitive,
perceptual, and psychomotor abilities across the working life span: Examining
the effects of race, sex, experience, education, and occupational type. Psychology & Aging. 1994, 9(3), 430-442. Cognitive,
perceptual, and psychomotor abilities were examined across the working life
span for different racial groups, taking into consideration sex, job
experience, education, and occupational type. Data included scores on all
subtests of the General Aptitude Test Battery for White, Black, and Hispanic
employees. Age and sex generally accounted for a relatively small percentage of
the variance in ability test scores when experience, education, and
occupational type were controlled. Race accounted for a substantial amount of
variance in test performance, even after controlling for education, experience,
occupational type, and age. Findings are discussed in terms of the potential
for specific experiences and continuing education to affect the maintenance of
abilities at later points in the life span for all racial groups. (PsycINFO).
Centers for Disease Control. Firearm-related
deaths--
Fifield, J. Reisine, S.
Sheehan, TJ. McQuillan, J. Gender, Paid Work, and Symptoms of Emotional Distress in
Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients. Arthritis and
Rheumatism. 1996, 39(3), 427-435. Objective.
To evaluate the relative contribution of gender-related work conditions,
gender-related socialization practices, and disease characteristics to the
explanation of emotional distress in men and women with rheumatoid arthritis
(RA). Methods. Three hundred sixty-nine RA patients
who were employed outside the home were recruited from a national randomized
sample of rheumatology practices. Data on paid work and disease characteristics
were obtained by telephone interview. Emotional distress was measured by the
Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) scale. Hierarchical
ordinary least-squares regression was used to assess the relationship of sex,
class, work characteristics, and disease characteristics to both the CES-D
summary scale and the CES-D factor structure. Results.
Differences in emotional distress were explained best by functional ability and
pain and secondarily by the characteristics of paid work, with no independent
effect for sex. Distress increased with decreasing functional ability,
increasing pain, and exposure to such work characteristics as low autonomy, low
income, and high demands. No sex differences in any of the CES-D subscales
remained after controlling for disease and work variables. Conclusion.
Among employed RA patients with high levels of functional disability and
exposure to stressful work characteristics, men and women are at equal risk of
experiencing emotional distress.
Garcia, JGN. Dresser, KSM. Zerr,
AD. Respiratory Health of Hispanic Migrant Farm Workers in
Inancsi,
W. Guidotti TL. Occupation-related burns:
five-year experience of an urban burn center. Journal of Occupational
Medicine, 1987, 29(9): 730-3. Mortality from burns in the
Lee, DJ. Gomez Marin, O. Lee, HM. Sociodemographic
Correlates of Hearing Loss and Hearing Aid Use in Hispanic Adults. Epidemiology. 1996, 7(4), 443-446. We examined sociodemographic correlates of hearing loss and hearing aid
use in adult Hispanics using data from the Hispanic Health and Nutrition
Examination Survey. After adjustment for age and gender, odds ratios (ORs) of hearing impairment for nonmarried
vs married participants were 1.6 `95% confidence
interval (Cl) = 1.0-2.5_ for Mexican-Americans and
2.2 (95% Cl=1.2-4.2) for Puerto Ricans. ORs ranged from 1.6 to 3.2 for unemployed us employed, and
from 1.7 to 2.1 for uninsured us insured Hispanics. For Mexican-Americans, the
OR of hearing aid use for those living below us above the poverty line was 9.1
(95% CI = 1.1-100.0). These results are consistent with those reported for
other ethnic groups. [Hearing Impairment.]
Mobed, K. Gold, EB.
Satz, P. Morgenstern, H. Miller, EN., et al. Low Education as a Possible Risk Factor for
Cognitive Abnormalities in HIV-1 - Findings from the Multicenter
AIDS Cohort Study (MACS). Journal of Acquired Immune
Deficiency Syndromes. 1993, May, V6, N5, 503-511. The present study
reports new and unexpected results of cognitive abnormalities among human immuno-deficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) asymptomatic
subjects in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study. The
major purpose of our analyses is to estimate the separate and combined effects
of serostatus and education level on the prevalence
of cognitive abnormality. Cognitive "abnormality" was defined as
performance that deviated greater-than-or-equal-to 2 SDs
below the mean of the total seronegative group on at
least one of the five neuropsychological screening tests (Grooved Pegboard,
Verbal Fluency, Digit Span, Symbol Digit Modalities, Rey Auditory Verbal Learning). The predicted
prevalence of cognitive abnormality was 38% in seropositive
individuals with no more than 12 years of education, compared with <17% in
the other education-serostatus groups. This
interaction between education level and serostatus
remained after controlling for the possible confounding effects of age,
ethnicity, CD4 level, depression, prior drug history, and learning disability
using logistic regression. To account for these findings, we suggest that low
education might reflect an indirect index of lower reserve capacity (i.e., a
risk factor) that lowers the threshold for neuropsychological abnormalities in
cases of early HIV-1 infection. [Measurement, Cognitive
Disabilities.]
Seelman, KD. Physical
Rehabilitation and Violence - Initiatives of the National Institute on Disability
and Rehabilitation Research. Journal of Health Care
for the Poor and Underserved. 1995, 6(2), 217-232. The paper
presents an analysis of violence-related data from the National Spinal Cord
Injury Database within the context of violence-related projects of the U.S.
Department of Education's Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative
Services. The National Spinal Cord Injury Database is managed by the
Weinbaum, Z.
Young, ME. Alfred, WG. Rintala,
DH. Hart, KA. Fuhrer, MJ. Vocational
Status of Persons with Spinal Cord Injury Living in the Community. Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin, 1994, 37(3), 229-243.
A sample of 140 persons was drawn randomly from a community-based sampling
frame of 640 persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) to examine the vocational
status of persons with SCI living in the community. Individual differences in
vocational status and productivity were explored in terms of (a) demographic
variables such as sex and age and (b) variables associated with the concepts of
impairment and disability as defined by the World Health Organization. Data
were derived from questionnaires, a home interview, and a comprehensive
physical examination conducted at a rehabilitation hospital. Of the
participants, 27% were employed, with 35% in unpaid productive activities, and
38% unemployed. Sex, ethnicity, education, and disability were statistically
significant correlates of vocational status. (
MENTAL DISORDERS
Dassori,
AM. Neff, JA. Hoppe, SK. Ethnic and Gender Differences in the
Diagnostic Profiles of Substance Abusers. Hispanic Journal of
Behavioral Sciences, 1993, 15(3), 382-390. The aim of the study was to
evaluate ethnic and gender differences in the diagnostic profiles of patients
first admitted to the alcohol/drug rehabilitation unit of a state hospital. The
majority of the patients (66%) had more than one diagnosis. African- American
patients were significantly more likely to have a single diagnosis. However, in
terms of primary diagnosis, Mexican Americans were more likely to have an
alcohol-related disorder while African-Americans were more likely to have a
drug related disorder. Drug-related disorders also complicate the diagnostic
profile of African-American patients who had a primary diagnosis of an
alcohol-related disorder. Ethnic differences in type of drug abused were
observed African Americans were more likely to use stimulants/hallucinogens,
and Mexican Americans were more likely to use depressants. A drug-related
disorder was the most common diagnosis among females across all ethnic groups.
Findings point to the need of developing gender/ethnic-sensitive treatment
programs. Potential ethnic and gender biases in the diagnostic evaluation of
substance abuse patients are discussed.
Escobar, JI. Rubio-Stipec, M. Canino,
G. Karno, M. Somatic Symptom
Index (SSI): A new and abridged somatization
construct: Prevalence and epidemiological correlates in two large community
samples. Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease.
1989, 177(3), 140-146. An abridged somatization
construct (the SSI) derived from the Diagnostic Interview Schedule's somatization disorder items was tested on community epidemio-logical samples to examine its prevalence, risk
factors, and predictive value. Data from Puerto Rican, Mexican-American, and
non-Hispanic White household respondents (aged 18+ yrs) revealed that the
construct had a high prevalence and was related to low socioeconomic status
(SES), female gender, older chronological age, and Hispanic ethnic background.
The presence of this construct determined preferential use of medical services
and predicted high indices of disability. The SSI may have practical utility
for clinical and community studies of somatoform phenomena. (PsycINFO)
Escobar, JI. Golding, JM. Hough, RL. Karno, M., and
others. Somatization in the community:
relationship to disability and use of services. American
Journal of Public Health, 1987, 77(7), 837-40. We tested the hypotheses
that an abridged somatization construct that we had
developed would be associated with use of health services, preferential use of
medical over mental health services, and an index of disability. These
hypotheses were tested using structured interview data from 3,132 randomly
selected community respondents. We found that: respondents meeting criteria for
somatization reported a heavier use of health
services than non-somatizers; of those respondents
meeting criteria for a psychiatric diagnosis, somatizers
preferentially used medical over mental health services whereas non-somatizers reported the opposite trend; and somatizers were more likely than non-somatizers
to report recent sick leave or restricted activity.
Flynn, PM. Craddock, SG. Luckey, JW. Hubbard, RL. Dunteman, GH. Comorbidity of Antisocial Personality and Mood Disorders among Psychoactive
Substance-Dependent Treatment Clients. Journal of
Personality Disorders. 1996, 10(1), 56-67. Substance users have high
prevalence rates of disorders that encompass multiple comorbidities,
as well as varied substance use and dependence patterns. Prevalence rates of
DSM-III-R antisocial personality (ASP) and other comorbid
disorders were investigated among a large sample of substance-dependent
treatment clients participating in a national, multisite,
prospective study of substance users admitted to treatment. Subjects included
7402 substance-dependent clients with an approximate demo-graphic makeup of 66%
male, 47% African American, 12% Hispanic, and average age of 32.6 years.
Subjects were assessed with modules for substance dependence and for ASP,
depressive, and anxiety disorders from the Composite International Diagnostic
Interview and the Diagnostic Interview Schedule. Prevalence rates for
substance-dependent subjects were 39.3% ASP and 13.9% lifetime Axis I
disorders, and these rates differed according to drug-dependency patterns.
Logistic regression was used to assess differences among seven drug-dependency
groups while controlling for differences in age, gender, and race/ethnicity.
Interrelationships among ASP, other comorbid
disorders, and drug-dependency patterns were evident and indicative of the need
for multivariate models to better understand the consequences of these comorbid impairments.
Reich, J. Factors related to psychiatric disability.
Social Psychiatry, 1986, 21(1), 15-16. Analyzed information obtained from
the evaluation of 55 applicants for Supplemental Security Income psychiatric
disability in order to evaluate the relationship between psychiatric diagnosis
and disability. The Global Assessment Scale was used as an outcome variable.
Significant associations were found with psychiatric diagnosis, marital status,
and race. The lowest mean scores for diagnosis were organic brain syndrome and
schizophrenia; for marital status, never married; and for race, Hispanic. It
appears the Hispanic low scores were due to a lack of ability to speak English.
No significant associations were found with sex, age, or education. (PsycINFO)
Williams, JW. Kerber, CA. Mulrow, CD.
Velligan, DI. True, JE. Lefton, RS. Moore, TC. Flores, CV.
Validity of the Allen Cognitive Levels Assessment - A Tri-ethnic Comparison.
Psychiatry Research. 1995, 56(2), 101-109.
Schizophrenia is a mental illness which is characterized by severe cognitive
deficits and impairments in adaptive functioning. The Allen Cognitive Levels
(ACL) Assessment is a screening instrument designed to assess cognitive
functioning and to aid clinicians in making judgments about how a patient will
be able to perform basic activities of daily living. While the ACL has been
widely used, the validity of ACL scores for predicting concurrent adaptive
functioning has not been established empirically. The present study examined
ACL scores in 110 schizophrenic patients. Scores on the ACL were found to be
highly related to scores on the Functional Needs Assessment (r= 0.66), which
measures a patient's ability to perform basic activities of daily living.
Findings provided some of the first strong evidence that ACL scores reflect
adaptive functioning. Correlations between the ACL and the Functional Needs
Assessment were equally strong in non-Hispanic whites (n=31, r= 0.67),
Mexican-Americans (n=58,r=0.60), and African-
Americans (n=21, r = 0.46), Mean scores did not differ between patients from
different ethnic groups. In addition, there was no relationship between ACL
scores and level of acculturation within the Mexican-American group. Our data
strongly support the hypothesis that the ACL provides a valid and culturally
unbiased measure of cognitive functioning that can be helpful in determining
how a patient is likely to perform activities of daily living. [Measurement]
POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER
Fontana, A. Rosenheck, R. Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder among Vietnam Theater Veterans - A Causal Model of Etiology in a
Community Sample. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. 1994, 182(12), 677-684. Data from
the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study, conducted from 1986 td 1988,
were used to develop and cross-validate a model of the etiology of
posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among a community sample of 1198 male
Vietnam theater veterans. The initial model specified causal paths among ve sets of variables, ordered according to their historical
occurrence: a) premilitary risk factors and traumas,
b) war-related and non-war related traumas during the military, c) homecoming
reception, d) postmilitary traumas, and e) PTSD. The
initial model was refined and then cross-validated, leading to the specification
of a final model with highly satisfactory fit and parsimony. In terms of the
magnitude of their contribution to the development of PTSD, lack of support
from family and friends at the time of the homecoming and exposure to combat
were the two most influential contributors. Other contributing factors, in
order of importance, were Hispanic ethnicity, societal rejection at the time of
homecoming, childhood abuse, participation in abusive violence, and family
instability. Exposure to war-related and non-war- related traumas occurred
largely independently of each other, with war-related traumas contributing
substantially more than non-war related traumas to the development of PTSD.
Limitations to interpretation of the results are noted due to the retrospective
nature of the data and the inevitable omission of other etiological factors.
(PTSD)
Singer, MI. Anglin, TM.
Song, LY. Lunghofer, L. Adolescents Exposure to
Violence and Associated Symptoms of Psychological Trauma. Journal
of the American Medical Association. 1995, 273(6), 477-482.
Objective: To examine the extent to which adolescents are exposed to various
types of violence as either victims or witnesses, and the association of such
exposure with trauma symptoms; specifically, the hypotheses that exposure to
violence will have a positive and significant association with depression,
anger, anxiety, dissociation, posttraumatic stress, and total trauma symptoms.
Design and Setting: The study employed a survey design using an anonymous
self-report questionnaire administered to students (grades 9 through 12) in six
public high schools during the 1992-1993 school year.
Participants: Sixty-eight percent of the students attending the participating
schools during the survey participated in the study (N=3735). Ages ranged from
14 to 19 years; 52% were female; and 35% were African American, 33% white, and
23% Hispanic. Results: All hypotheses were supported. Multiple regression
analyses of the total sample revealed that violence exposure variables (and to
a lesser extent, demographic variables) explained a significant portion of
variance in all trauma symptom scores, including depression (R(2)=.31), anger
(R(2)=.30), anxiety (R(2)=.30), dissociation (R(2)=.23), posttraumatic stress
(R(2)=.31), and total trauma (R(2)=.37). Conclusions: A significant and
consistent association was demonstrated linking violence exposure to trauma
symptoms within a diverse sample of high school students. Our findings give
evidence of the need to identify and provide trauma-related services for
adolescents who have been exposed to violence.
4. Chronic Conditions and Aging
Angel, RJ. Age at migration, social connections, and
well-being among elderly Hispanics. Journal of
Aging and Health. 1992, 4(4), 480-99. This
study employs data from the 1988 National Survey of Hispanic Elderly People to
examine the impact of age at migration and social contacts on the self-assessed
health, functional disability, and life satisfaction of elderly Cuban
Americans, Mexican Americans, and Puerto Ricans in the
Angel, RJ. Angel, JL. Himes, CL. Minority group status, health transitions,
and community living arrangements among the elderly. Research
on Aging. 1992, 14(4), 496-521. Patterns of change in functional
capacity were examined among 138 Latinos, 55 non-Latino Black and 4,402 non-Latino
White persons over 70 yrs old, over a 4-yr period using the 1988 Longitudinal
Study of Aging (National Center for Health Statistics, 1990). Results reveal
that among all 3 groups, improvements in functional capacity often follow
declines, but that Blacks are more likely than non-Latino Whites to suffer
protracted declines in functional capacity, ultimately resulting in more
serious incapacity. A conceptual model was developed to identify factors
accounting for racial and ethnic group differences in health and functional
capacity as well as the propensity of Black and Latino elderly to rely on
informal sources of support in the community instead of formal long-term care. (PsycINFO).
Aranda, MP. Knight, BG. The Influence of Ethnicity and Culture on the Caregiver Stress and
Coping Process - A Sociocultural Review and Analysis.
Gerontologist. 1997, 37(3), 342-354. The
authors review the literature an ethnic minority caregivers and suggest that
ethnicity and culture play a significant role in the stress and coping process
for Latino caregivers. Caregivers of older Latinos face special challenges in
the caregiving for individuals at higher risk for
specific chronic diseases, who are disabled at earlier ages, and who have more
functional disabilities. Ethnicity and culture can also influence the appraisal
of stress events, the perception and use of family support, and coping
behaviors. Socioeconomic class and minority group status are discussed as
additional sources of variation in the caregiver stress and coping model.
Atkin, K. Age, Race and Ethnicity - A Comparative
Approach - Blakemore, K, Boneham, M. Disability
& Society, 1995, 10(3), 376-377. [Book Review.]
Bohnstedt, M. Fox, PJ. Kohatsu,
D. Correlates of mini-mental status examination scores among elderly demented
patients - the influence of race-ethnicity. Journal of
Clinical Epidemiology. 1994. 47(12): 1381-1387. Data on 1888
patients seen at Alzheimer's Disease Diagnostic and
Treatment Centers in
Chiodo, LK. Kanten, DN.
Commonwealth Fund, The. A
Survey of Elderly Hispanics.
Coulton, CJ. Milligan, S. Chow,
J. Haug, M. Ethnicity, self-care, and use of medical
care among the elderly with joint symptoms. Arthritis
Care and Research. 1990, 3(1), 19-28. Elderly individuals in
Cox, C. Monk, A. Minority caregivers of dementia victims: A comparison of
Black and Hispanic families. Journal of Applied
Gerontology. 1990, 9(3),
340-354. Examined experiences of 31 Black and 19 Hispanic
caregivers for dementia patients at home through 2 interviews 6 mo apart.
Caregivers' health status, mental well-being, attitudes toward caregiving, and use of informal and formal supports were
measured. Data were collected on the patient's degree of mental and physical
impairment. Blacks and Hispanics maintained strong feelings of filial support
for the aged and had actively involved informal support networks. For both groups,
increased use of formal services at 2nd interview was related to a decrease in
informal supports. Health of the caregivers was not affected, although
Hispanics showed evidence of depression. (PsycINFO)
Dickerson, AE. Fisher, AG. Culture-Relevant Functional
Performance Assessment of the Hispanic Elderly. Occupational
Therapy Journal of Research. 1995. 15(1), 50-68. Because the
Hispanic population is growing, there is a need for a reliable and valid
functional assessment that is not culturally biased for white North Americans
and that incorporates culture-relevant tasks for this large minority group. The
Assessment for Motor and Process Skills (AMPS) (Fisher, 1993) is a unique
evaluation tool that appears to meet that need. The AMPS consists of two scales
(motor and process) that are assumed to be universal taxonomies that are free
from cultural bias. This study was designed to investigate whether four
Hispanic culture-relevant tasks could be added to the AMPS as task choices and
whether the AMPS could be used as a sensitive cross-cultural assessment for
Hispanic elderly. Hispanic older adults performed two Hispanic culture-relevant
tasks and two culture-free tasks. Both goodness-of-fit among tasks and the
performance of Hispanic subjects compared with North American subjects who had
performed the same culture-free tasks were evaluated. The results indicated
that (a) the Hispanic subjects' response patterns were consistent with response
patterns of the North American subjects, and (b) the four Hispanic-culture-relevant
tasks showed the same psychometric characteristics as previously established
AMPS tasks. These findings support the potential to further develop the AMPS as
a sensitive cross-cultural assessment for the Hispanic elderly.(PsycINFO). [Measurement]
Emulrow, CD. Chiodo, LK.
Espino, DV. Parra, EO. Kriehbiel, R. Mortality Differences Between
Elderly Mexican Americans and Non-Hispanic Whites in
Ezzati, TM. Hoffman. K. Judkins,
DR. Massey, JT. Moore, TF. A Dual Frame Design for Sampling
Elderly Minorities and Persons with Disabilities. Statistics
in Medicine. 1995, 14(5-7), 571-583. Multiple data sources are
sometimes available as potential sampling frames for population surveys, and in
some situations the use of a multiple frame sample design is more advantageous
than using a single sampling frame. The use of multiple sampling frames,
however, has variance and bias implications, as well as sampling, data
collection, and logistical considerations, These
issues are addressed for a proposed dual frame sampling approach in the
National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). The results of an investigation of the
sampling efficiencies and operational issues in supplementing the NHIS area
frame sample with a sample of elderly African and Hispanic Americans and
persons with disabilities selected from Social Security Administration files
are presented. [Databases, Measurement]
Gurland, B. Wilder, D. Cross, P. Lantigua, R. Teresi, J. Barrett,
V. Stern, Y. Mayeux, R. Relative Rates of Dementia by
Multiple Case Definitions, over 2 Prevalence Periods, in 3 Sociocultural
Groups. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.
1995, 3(1), 6-20. The North Manhattan Aging Project registry, using both
Reporting and Survey Components, identifies dementia cases among Latino,
African-American, and non-Latino white sociocultural
groups (9,349 persons 65 years of age or older) in contiguous census tracts.
During a 2-year prevalence period of the reporting component, 1,592 persons
were reported to the Registry and screened with five widely used brief
cognitive measures; 844 were evaluated in a "clinical core," and 452
met research criteria for dementia, covering all subtypes, according to
DSM-III-R criteria. Thirteen different case definitions for dementia were
applied to the sociocultural groups at three levels
of educational achievement, examining for associations with rates of dementia
cases and controlling for age. The following findings were robust across case
definitions: sociocultural membership was not
associated, but lower education was associated, with increased rates of
recorded dementia; however, the patterns of the association with education
varied across sociocultural groups.
Jette,
AM. Crawford, SL. Tennstedt, SL. Toward
Understanding Ethnic Differences in Late-Life Disability. Research
on Aging. 1996, 18(3), 292-309. The authors hypothesized that ethnic
differences in late-life disability would be observed and that ethnic
differentials would be attributed to differences in physical capacity versus
measurement error or cultural response to disabling disease. This study employed
performance-based and self-report disability measures in a probability sample
of 156 older African American, White, and Puerto Rican adults living in
Lawrence, RH. Tennstedt, SL. Almy, SL. Subject-caregiver
response comparability on global health and functional status measures for
African American, Puerto Rican, and Caucasian elders and their primary
caregivers. Journal of Gerontology B, 1997,
52(2), S103-11. Ethnic differences in response compara-bility
and bias were evaluated for elderly African American, Puerto Rican, and
non-Hispanic Caucasian elderly subjects with some degree of disability and
their caregivers. Responses were compared for items assessing basic and
instrumental activities of daily living, memory problems, confusion, and global
health status. In general, for all ethnic groups, response comparability, based
on kappa, was only poor to fair, with the lowest agreement found for items
assessing memory problems and confusion. When disagreements occurred,
caregivers tended to overestimate impairment relative to the elderly subjects,
regardless of ethnicity. However, there were very few significant differences
between the response patterns of the caregivers of these different ethnic
groups. Thus, although three may be bias in the responses of caregivers
relative to elderly persons, in general further bias is not introduced by
ethnic differences in comparability of caregiver responses for elders with some
degree of disability. [Measurement, Bias.]
Linn, MW. Hunter, KI. Linn, BS. Self-assessed health,
impairment and disability in anglo, black and Cuban
elderly. Medical Care, 1980, 18(3), 282-288. Self-assessed health
and physician-rated impairment were compared for 174 Anglo, black, and Cuban
elderly medical outpatients. Level of disability was also recorded by the
interviewer. A minimal correlation was found between patient and
physician-rated health. Self-assessed health and level of functioning were
associated significantly in each of the 3 cultures. The way patients perceived
their health and functioned differed by culture, but impairment ratings of the
physician did not discriminate among cultures. It seems likely that nonmedical factors may explain cultural differences in
perception of health as well as how these perceptions influence ability to
perform everyday activities of living. The patients' estimates of health appear
to be an important factor in their overall health status, which physicians
could use to augment their assessments of impairment. Since self-assessed
health relates to level of functioning and to the way the elderly react to an
illness, it can be seen as a useful component in evaluating health and
predicting patient behavior.
Lopez-Aqueres, W. et al. Health needs of the
Hispanic elderly. Journal of the American Geriatrics
Society. 1984. 32(3) 191-198. Examined the health
care needs of the Hispanic elderly population of
Macheledt, JE. Vernon SW. Diabetes and disability
among Mexican Americans: the effect of different measures of diabetes on its
association with disability. Journal of Clinical
Epidemiology, 1992, 45(5), 519-28. The association of non-insulin-dependent
diabetes mellitus and disability was evaluated in a population of Mexican
Americans from the southwest
Mahurin, RK. Espino, DV.
Holifield, EB. Mental Status
Testing in Elderly Hispanic Populations - Special Concerns. Psycho-pharmacology Bulletin. 1992, 28(4): 391-399.
The rapid growth of the older Hispanic population highlights the importance of
accurately assessing the mental status of these individuals. Although several
community surveys have reported relatively higher rates of cognitive impairment
among older Hispanics, closer analysis has revealed excessive false positives
and the underestimation of cognitive functioning. Problems inherent in the
mental status testing of this group include the lack of appropriately
translated and culturally sensitive instrumentation, the diversity of the
population, differences in their educational experiences, and bias in the
test-taking situation. Commonly used neuropsychological test batteries have
generally been neither translated nor normed for
Hispanic subjects. To minimize cultural differences, cross-cultural tests have
used nonverbal content; however, nonverbal testing does not, in itself, remove
cultural bias. Alternative methods of testing that may reduce bias include
performance-based assessment of everyday living skills and measurement of basic
psychophysiological responses. [Measurement]
Mangum, WP. Garcia, JL. Kosberg, JI. Mullins, LC., et al. Racial/ethnic variations in informal caregiving. Special Issue: Caregiving:
A classroom resource. Educational Gerontology.
1994, 20(7), 715-731. Documents and discusses variations in informal caregiving among members of racial ethnic minority groups
in American society. Family members are the main providers of informal care for
older persons, furnishing approximately 80% of in-home care for persons aged 75
yrs or older and suffering chronic disabilities. Specifically, the article
summarizes the literature regarding attitudes, norms, practices, expectations,
and stereotypes in informal caregiving among Blacks,
Hispanics, American Indians, Asians, and Pacific Islanders. Although informal caregiving is the predominant mode of care provided for most older persons, demographic and cultural changes in all
groups in the
Escalante, A. Galarza-Delgado, D. Beardmore, TD. Baethge, BA;
Esquivel-Valerio, J. Marines, AL. Mingrone,
M. Cross- cultural adaptation of a brief outcome questionnaire for
Spanish-speaking arthritis patients. Arthritis & Rheumatism,
1996, 39(1), 93-100. Objective: To cross-culturally adapt a brief
self-assessment questionnaire to measure outcome among English- or
Spanish-speaking patients with arthritis. Methods. A
questionnaire containing the following items was translated to Spanish: the 8
activities of daily living (ADL) question of the Modified Health Assessment
Questionnaire; a question about the duration of morning stiffness; and a
10-point pain scale. Equivalence to the original English, test-retest
reliability, and construct, criterion, and discriminant
validity were determined on a population of patients with 4 clinical centers. Results. English-Spanish equivalence and test-retest
reliability of the questionnaire were almost perfect (intra-class correlation
coefficients [ri] > or =
0.90 for each). Construct validity, measured by comparing questionnaire scores
with an occupational therapist's evaluation, was also near-perfect in both
languages (ri = 0.93 for
English and 0.89 for Spanish). Both versions of the questionnaire correlated
well with the physician-determined Steinbrocker
functional class, as well as with the amount of pain, grip strength, and
walking velocity. Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus,
rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, and fibromyalgia
differed significantly in their pain: ADL ratios, in both languages.
Conclusions: The items of the Spanish questionnaire that we have adapted are
equivalent to the original English versions. This questionnaire is suitable for
studying Spanish-speaking subjects with arthritis in the
Escalante, A. Lichtenstein, MJ. White, K. Rios, N. Hazuda,
HP. A Method for Scoring the Pain Map of the McGill Pain
Questionnaire for Use in Epidemiologic Studies. Aging
Clinical and Experimental Research. 1995, 7(5), 358-366. Identifying
and quantifying the location of pain may be important for understanding
specific functional impairments in elderly populations. The purpose of the
present analysis was two-fold: first, to describe the reliability of a scoring
method for the McGill Pain Map (MPM), and second, to validate the method of
scoring the MPM as a tool for assessing areas of body pain in an epidemiologic
study. In interviews performed at the subjects' homes, 411 community dwelling
Mexican-American and non-Hispanic white subjects aged 65-74 from the San
Antonio Longitudinal Study of Aging (SALSA) were asked to describe the location
of their pain on the map of the human body included in the McGill Pain
Questionnaire. The location of pain was scored by overlaying the survey figures
with a MPM template divided into 36 anatomical areas. Inter- and intra-rater
agreement among three raters was measured by calculating a kappa statistic for
each of the body areas, and an intraclass correlation
coefficient for the total number of painful areas (NPA). Internal validity was
measured by Spearman's rho between the NPA and the
Present Pain Index (PPI) and Pain Rating Index (PRI) of the McGill Pain Questionnaire,
and external validity by correlation between NPA and the Perceived Health (PH),
Amount of Bodily Pain (APE), and Pain Interference with Work (PIW) items of the
Medical Outcomes Study, and the Perceived Physical Health (PPH) question of the
San Antonio Heart Study. Average inter-rater agreement for individual MPM areas
was 0.92 +/- 0.01, and average agreement for NPA was 0.96 +/- 0.01. Intra-rater
agreement for individual areas averaged 0.94 +/- 0.01, and for NPA = 0.99 +/-
0.001. Pain in one or more areas was present in 47.7% of the subjects. For the
whole sample, correlations between NPA and the validation indices were: PPI
(0.91), PRI (0.89), PH (0.25), ABP (0.64), PIW (0.49), and PPH (0.20). Among
the 196 subjects with pain, correlations were: PPI (0.34), PRI (0.34), PH
(O.19), ABP (0.21), PIW (0.38), and PPH (O.19) - p < 0.01 for all
correlations. In conclusion, we have developed a reliable method of scoring the
MPM and have shown evidence of its validity in a community-based sample of
elderly subjects. Patterns of painful body areas may be associated with
specific diseases and functional impairments. [Measurement, Pain.]
Gonzalez, VM. Stewart, A. Ritter, PL. Lorig, K.
Translation and validation of arthritis outcome measures into Spanish. Arthritis
and Rheumatism, 1995, 38(10), 1429-1446. Objective: To produce Spanish
versions of common arthritis outcome measures: the Health Assessment
Questionnaire (HAQ) Disability Scale, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies
Depression Scale (CES-D), the Medical Outcomes Study (MOS) Pain Severity Scale,
the Arthritis Self-Efficacy Scale for Pain and Other Symptoms (with the
addition of 2 new items), the Visual Analogue Pain Scale, the MOS Self-Rated
Health Item, and a Physical Activities Scale that would be usable by most
Hispanics living in the US. We tested these translated measures for reliability
and, where appropriate, validity. Methods: Instruments were translated and back
translated by bilingual persons from 5 different countries of origin.
Translators met to resolve variations in translation. The instruments were then
administered to Hispanic arthritis patients in 6 geographic locations (5 in the
Meyer, M. Harrington. Gender, race, and the distribution of social
assistance: Medicaid use among the frail elderly. Gender
& Society. 1994, 8(Mar.), 8-28. The writer explores the
distribution of Medicaid benefits to the frail elderly in order to examine
class-based and feminist theories of the welfare state. Class-based theories
claim that poverty-based benefits stratify society by social class. By
contrast, feminist theories suggest that universal and poverty-based benefits stratify
on the basis of gender and race, in addition to class. An analysis of data from
the National Long Term Care Survey on the distribution of Medicaid benefits to
the frail elderly revealed that class, gender, and race are significant
predictors of Medicaid use even when differences in income, education, age,
marital status, and nursing home use are accounted for. Women, blacks, and
Hispanics have the greatest need for long-term care and the fewest resources
with which to meet those needs. For this reason, they are more likely than
white men to depend on Medicaid and to face the differential treatment that
accompanies poverty-based benefits. (WSSI)
Miller, B. Campbell, RT. Davis, L. et al. Minority use of community
long-term care services: a comparative analysis. Journals of Gerontology,
Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences. 1996, 51B, S70-S81:
1079-5014. A series of national surveys since 1982 have examined health needs
of elders. Small proportions of minority elders in each sample have limited our
understanding of service use by minorities. This research sought to determine
(1) the extent to which minorities have restricted use of community long-term
care services as a result of socioeconomic status, family structure, and health
status, and (2) the replicability and validity of
results across three national surveys: Supplement on Aging, National Long-Term
Care, and National Medical Expenditure. Results indicate no bivariate
or multivariate differences between African American, Hispanic, or White frail
older persons in use of community long-term services. Living arrangements,
Medicaid use, and overall health and functional status were primary predictors
of service use. Taking methodological limitations into account, the results
suggest similarity in processes influencing use of community long-term care
services for African American and White older persons.
Mui, AC. Burnette, D.
Long-Term Care Service Use by Frail Elders - Is Ethnicity a Factor. Gerontologist,
1994, 34(2): 190-198. Using data from the 1982-84 National
Long-Term Care Channeling Demonstration, this study examines factors
associated with long-term care service use by African American, Hispanic, and
white frail elders living in the community. Findings indicate that in addition
to predisposing, enabling, and need factors, race/ethnicity is a significant
predictor of each type of service use.
Mulrow, CD. Chiodo, LK.
Mungas, D. Marshall, SC. Weldon, M. Haan, M. Reed, BR. Age and Education Correction of
Mini-Mental State Examination for English and Spanish-speaking Elderly. Neurology. 1996, 46(3), 700-706. Previous research has
shown that the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) is biased as a measure of
cognitive impairment in minority and low-education patients. The purpose of
this study was to (1) develop a statistical correction for effects of age and
education and (2) test the efficacy of the statistically adjusted MMSE (MMSAdj) as a screening test for dementia using different
ethnic groups and education levels, We used a population-based community survey
sample (n = 590) composed of 46.6% Hispanics and 53.4% non-Hispanics to derive
the statistical correction, defined as: MMSAdj = Raw
MMSE - (0.471 x `Education-12_) + (0.131 x `Age-70_). Ethnicity and language of
test administration were not significantly related to MMSAdj
in the community survey sample, but the raw MMSE was strongly influenced by
these factors. We used an independent sample (n =2,983) of patients evaluated
through the California Alzheimer's Disease Diagnostic and Treatment Centers to
test the diagnostic accuracy of the MMSE and the MMSAdj
across low- and high-education groups and across whites, Hispanics, and blacks.
Results showed greater stability of sensitivity and specificity across
education levels and ethnic groups for the MMSAdj
than for the raw MMSE and suggest that the MMSAdj is
a preferable measure of cognitive impairment for low-education and minority
individuals. (Measurement)
O'Donnell, RM. Functional disability among the Puerto
Rican elderly. Journal of Aging & Health. 1989. 1(2), 244-264. Compared
data on the functional status of 515 elderly Puerto Ricans (aged 65+ yrs)
living in the US with national data on 205 Black and 515 White age-matched Ss.
Puerto Ricans were significantly more disabled than either Blacks or Whites.
When the demographic factors and the English language disadvantage that distinguish
Puerto Ricans from both Blacks and Whites were taken into account, the estimate
of the effect of race/ethnicity on disability was reduced, but a considerable
effect remained. Older Puerto Ricans were at high risk for dependency,
particularly those whose lack of English severely limited their capacity to
interact with the environment. (PsycINFO).
Ponchillia, SV. The effect of
cultural beliefs on the treatment of native peoples with diabetes and visual
impairment. Special Issue: Diabetes. Journal of
Visual Impairment & Blindness. 1993, 87(9), 333-335. An increase
in the incidence of diabetes among Native Americans, Mexican Americans, and
Pacific Islanders as they adopt western diets and lifestyles is leading to a
modern epidemic of diabetes and its complications. Traditional cultural beliefs
can affect the success of services to native peoples who are experiencing
vision loss. These cultural beliefs, including the circle of life,
identification of persons with disabilities, natural causes of illness and
disability, the value of silence, and the healing role played by the blindness
professional are illustrated here by examples from Native American culture.
Sensitivity toward traditional beliefs can increase the success rates of
rehabilitation services. (PsycINFO) [Diabetes]
Ramirez de Arellano, Annette B. The Elderly.
Scox, EO. Dooley, AC. Care-Receivers Perception of
Their Role in the Care Process. Journal of Gerontological Social Work. 1996, 26(1-2),
133-152. Ninety-one elderly black, Hispanic and white care-receivers were
interviewed in-depth regarding their role and their perceptions of the caregiving/care-receiving process. In-depth structured
interviews were also conducted with 79 caregivers. Respondents identified a
number of common strategies used to assist their caregivers and/or provide
self-care. The importance of education, mutual support
between caregiver and care-receiver, assumption of responsibility for
acceptance of disabilities, and learning new ways of coping were
identified as key factors in the care process. The critical importance of
care-receivers' roles in maintaining mental health, positive attitudes, and
learning new patterns of behavior in the care process is described and the
importance of further exploration of care-receiver issues to social work
practice is suggested.
Strawbridge, WJ. Camacho, TC. Cohen, RD.
Tang, MX. Maestre, G. Tsai, WY. et
al. Relative Risk of Alzheimer Disease and Age - At- Onset Distributions, Based
on Apoe Genotypes among Elderly African Americans,
Caucasians, and Hispanics in
Teresi, JA. Golden, RR. Cross, P. Gurland, B. Kleinman,
M. Wilder, D. Item Bias in Cognitive Screening Measures - Comparisons of
Elderly White, Afro-American, Hispanic and High and Low Education Subgroups.
Journal of Clinical Epidemiology.
1995. 48(4), 473-483. A study of item bias in standard cognitive screening
measures was conducted in a sample of Afro-American, Hispanic and non-Hispanic white
elderly respondents who were part of a dementia case registry study. The
methods of item-response theory were applied to identify biased items. Both
cross-cultural and high and low education groups were examined to determine
which items were biased. Out of 50 cognitive items examined from six widely
used cognitive screening measures, 16 were identified as biased for either high
and low education groups or ethnic/racial group membership. (Measurement)
Wallace, SP. Lew-Ting, C. Getting
by at home. Community- based long-term care of Latino elders. Western Journal of Medicine, 1992, 157(3), 337-44.
Although evidence suggests that the morbidity and mortality of Latino elders
(of any Hispanic ancestry) are similar to those of non-Latino whites, Latinos
have higher rates of disability. Little is known about influences on the use of
in-home health services designed to assist disabled Latino elders. We examine
the effects of various cultural and structural factors on the use of visiting
nurse, home health aide, and homemaker services. Data are from the Commonwealth
Fund Commission's 1988 national survey of 2,299 Latinos aged 65 and older.
Mexican-American elders are less likely than the average Latino to use in-home
health services despite similar levels of need. Structural factors including
insurance status are important reasons, but acculturation is not pertinent.
Physicians should not assume that Latino families are taking care of their
disabled elders simply because of a cultural preference. They should provide
information and advice on the use of in-home health services when an older
Latino patient is physically disabled.
Wallace, SP. Levystorms, L. Ferguson, LR Access to paid in-home assistance among disabled elderly
people - Do latinos differ from non-latino whites? American Journal of
Public Health. 1995, 85(7), 970-975. Objectives.
The purpose of this study was to compare the national prevalences
and predictors of paid in-home functional assistance among disabled Latino and
non-Latino elderly people who receive such assistance. Methods.
Data were derived from the 1988 wave of the
Walston, J. Silver, K. Bogardus,
C. et al. Time of Onset of Non-Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus and Genetic
Variation in the Beta(3)-Adrenergic-receptor Gene.
Warner, DC. McCandless, RR.
Yaniz, Manuel J. Geriatric assessment: Risks of
functional disability, dementia and depression among Hispanic elderly living at
home with caregivers support. Dissertation Abstracts
Inter-national. 1991, 51(9-B), 4612. [Measurement]
Zsembik, BA. Ethnic and Sociodemographic
Correlates of the Use of Proxy Respondents - The National Survey of Hispanic
Elderly People, 1988. Research on Aging. 1994
Dec; 16(4): 401-414. The goal of this research is to examine the ethnic and
socio-demographic correlates of older Latino adults who report for themselves
in survey research, and those who use a spouse, child, or other adult as a
proxy respondent. Multivariate analysis of the National Survey of Hispanic
Elderly People identifies specific ethnic and sociodemographic
factors that are significant correlates to sources of information. Researchers
collecting data on an older, immigrant population might consider use of a proxy
respondent to reduce nonresponse rates. [Measurement,
Methodology, Data Collection.]
5. Service Delivery and Rehabilitation
Issues
This section is divided into four parts. The first addresses issues of access
to health care, lack of insurance, and service utilization by the Latino (and
other minority) persons with disabilities. The second part presents different
models and strategies for culturally competent service delivery and practice,
including assessment, counseling, and language services. Attention has been
paid to diversity issues and perceptions of the disabled. The third part
includes work on work and vocational rehabilitation. The fourth part presents
additional resources in the area of service delivery.
SERVICES ACCESS AND UTILIZATION
Akin, BV. Rucker, L. Hubbell, FA.
Cygan, RW. Waitzkin, H.
Access to medical care in a medically indigent population. Journal
of General Internal Medicine, 1989, 4(3), 216-20. Objective: To
study nature and extent of barriers to access to medical care in a single
county and to define the nature of the illnesses in a population affected by
those barriers. Design: Descriptive study of consecutive patients not able to
obtain medical care because of financial or other barriers. Financial barriers
and medical diagnoses were categorized and the severity of illness and impact
of unavailability of medical services were judged by a panel of internists
using consensus analysis. The likelihood of obtaining care after refusal of assistance
was also evaluated. Setting: A social services eligibility office on the
grounds of an urban, university teaching hospital that serves a largely
medically indigent population. Patients: 200 patients who presented to
eligibility workers seeking financial assistance. Measurements and Results:
Sixty percent could not obtain care because they were illegal aliens, 40% could
not obtain care because they did not meet the strict criteria of the assistance
programs. Sixty percent of patients had a moderate to high likelihood of
long-term disability from their illnesses; 38% of a subgroup were
not able to find care four weeks after entering the study, and these patients
appeared to have more severe disease than those who were able to find Care.
Conclusions: Many medically indigent persons with significant illnesses face
serious financial barriers to access to medical care. (Access to Care)
Berkanovic, E. Telesky,
C. Mexican-American, black-American and white-American differences in reporting
illnesses, disability and physician visits for illnesses. Social Science
& Medicine, 1985; 20(6): 567-77. This paper presents data on the
reporting of illnesses, disability due to illnesses and the decision to seek
medical attention for illnesses among a representative sample of
Mexican-Americans, Black-Americans and White-Americans in
Cornelius, LJ. Altman, BM. Have We Succeeded in Reducing Barriers to Medical
Care for African and Hispanic Americans with Disabilities? Social Work in
Health Care, 1995, 22(2), 1-17. There has been considerable progress in
reducing barriers to care for African and Hispanics Americans. Yet current
research indicates that overall African and Hispanic Americans are
disproportionately encountering barriers to care. Unfortunately very little is
known regarding the status of African and Hispanic Americans with disabilities.
The purpose of this paper is to assess by using data from the 1987 National
Medical Expenditure Survey (NMES), the degree of disability for African,
Hispanic and Native Americans and the extent to which it is correlated with the
use of services. The findings report that as in the case of other African and
Hispanic Americans, African and Hispanic Americans with disabilities
disproportionately encounter barriers to care. They are more likely than whites
to lack insurance, a regular provider and less likely to see a doctor during
the year. The implications of these findings for the care of persons with
disabilities are discussed. [Access to Care.]
Marcus, AC. Stone, JD. Racial/ethnic differences in access to health care:
further comments on the use-disability ratio. Medical Care, 1982, 20(9):
892-900. Indicators of access to health care generally fall into one of two
broad groups. The first group of indicators focuses on
factors responsible for differential rates of use and often are assessed
through reports of patient satisfaction. The second group of indicators focuses
more specifically on actual rates of use, and therefore represents a more
objective measure of access. One of the most widely used objective indicators
of access is the use-disability ratio. This article illustrates some problems
in using this ratio in health services research and some strategies one might
adopt to minimize these problems. The data reported below were obtained from an
analysis of racial/ethnic differences in use of services that was conducted as
part of the 1979 Los Angeles Health Survey (N=1003). Our findings suggest that
1) blacks had greater access to health care than either white/Anglos or
Hispanics, particularly for respiratory and musculo-skeletal
problems, and 2) the use-disability ratio should be used cautiously, since it
is sensitive to subgroup differences in the chronicity
and cause of the disability. (Access to Care)
Aranda, MP. Knight, BG. The Influence of Ethnicity and Culture on the Caregiver Stress and
Coping Process - A Sociocultural Review and Analysis.
Gerontologist. 1997, 37(3), 342-354. The
authors review the literature an ethnic minority caregivers and suggest that
ethnicity and culture play a significant role in the stress and coping process
for Latino caregivers. Caregivers of older Latinos face special challenges in
the caregiving for individuals at higher risk for
specific chronic diseases, who are disabled at earlier ages, and who have more
functional disabilities. Ethnicity and culture can also influence the appraisal
of stress events, the perception and use of family support, and coping
behaviors. Socioeconomic class and minority group status are discussed as
additional sources of variation in the caregiver stress and coping model.
Weller, B. Unmet needs for developmental disabilities services. Population
& Environment: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies. 1994, 15(4),
279-302. Data were collected in face-to-face interviews from 312 persons who
are developmentally disabled to determine the number of services these persons
receive, the extent to which they do not receive services they need, the
reasons these services are not received, and the factors that are related to
satisfaction with services. A battery of 90 services that can be grouped into 8
general categories was used. Results show that unmet need for developmental
services exists. One-third of the services reported as needed by the Ss were
not currently being received. Unmet need is most pronounced for residential,
education, and employment/vocational rehabilitation services. Predictors of a
relatively high level of unmet need include physical impairments, Hispanic
ethnicity, being a teenager, living in a family setting, and receiving
relatively few services. (PsycINFO)
DIVERSITY/CULTURAL SENSITIVITY AND COMPETENCE
Andrews, JF.
Blanche, EI.
Hays, PA. Culturally responsive
assessment with diverse older clients. Professional Psychology:
Research & Practice. 1996, 27(2), 188-193. Clinical research in the
field of geropsychology has focused primarily on
older people of dominant cultural identities. The purpose of this article is to
help psychologists conduct assessments that are more responsive to older people
of diverse minority cultures. The ADRESSING framework (which represents age and
generation-specific influences, disability, religion, ethnicity, social status,
sexual orientation, indigenous heritage, national origin, and gender) is used
to organize and consider diverse cultural influences and identities affecting
older clients. Suggestions are offered for establishing rapport with older
people of minority groups, understanding their cultural identities and
heritage, and obtaining clients' histories with attention to generational and
culture-specific contexts. (PsycINFO)
Middleton, RA, Flowers, C. Zawaiza, T. Multiculturalism, Affirmative Action, and Section 21 of
the 1992 Rehabilitation Act Amendments: Fact or Fiction? Rehabilitation
Counseling Bulletin, September 1996, 40(1), 11-30. (ABSTRACT
AVAILABLE.)
Pape, DA. Walker, GR. Quinn, FH. Ethnicity and
disability: Two minority statuses. Journal of Applied
Rehabilitation Counseling.
1983, 14(4) 18-23. Discusses various problems associated with each stage of the
rehabilitation process of disabled individuals of various ethnic minorities. It
is asserted that the knowledge and understanding of cultural diversity factors
as they relate to accurate problem identification, rehabilitation planning, and
service provision is an important aspect of the rehabilitation of this
population. Counselors must be aware of how cultural considerations affect the
functional limitations of the disabled person, but they must also recognize
that person as an individual who deserves individualized treatment planning.
Concerns pertaining to job placement are also reviewed. (PsycINFO)
Presidents Committee on Employment of People with
Disabilities. Operation People First: Toward a national disability
policy. Journal of Disability Policy Studies.
1994, 5(2), 81-106. Describes 11 issues identified by the President's Committee
on employment of People With Disabilities that
constitute the principal remaining barriers to employment for people with
disabilities. Three initiatives were given top priority: health care, Americans
With Disabilities Act implementation and enforcement,
and empowerment. Project findings in these areas are discussed as well as
findings in the areas of personal assistance services, removal of work barriers
from social services and creation of employment opportunities, mental health, education and the schools, attitudinal change, and minority
issues. Special initiatives need to be developed to ensure that minority
groups, including Blacks, Asian-Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans,
receive equal access to information, treatment, and services for people with
disabilities. (PsycINFO)
Smart, JF. Smart, DW. The Rehabilitation of Hispanics Experiencing Acculturative Stress -
Implications for Practice. Journal of
Rehabilitation. 1994, 60(4), 8-12. This article defines the unique
characteristics of acculturative stress encountered by Hispanic immigrants and
documents the need for rehabilitative services for this group. Implications for
rehabilitation practice are identified, including the need for (a) family,
group, and community-based interventions; (b) good client counselor
relationships; and (c) attention to language needs.
Smart, JF. Smart, DW. The
rehabilitation of Hispanics with disabilities: Sociocultural
constraints. Rehabilitation Education. 1993,
7(3), 167-184. Identifies 11 sociocultural
problems that work against the job placement specialist as an attempt is made
to place Hispanic persons with disabilities. These problems are (1) lack
of culturally sensitive career development theories, (2) issues of ethnic
density, (3) effects of 'tokenism,' (4) effects of social problems, (5) work
disincentives, (6) learning without earning, (7) lack of technological skills,
(8) low placement expectations, (9) job placement discrimination, (10) problems
with standardized tests, and (11) limitation of job placement of private
employers. It is argued that these problems are embedded in the cultural and social
practices of the dominant society. (PsycINFO)
Smart, JF. Smart, DW. Acculturation, biculturalism, and the rehabilitation of Mexican
Americans. Journal of Applied Rehabilitation
Counseling. 1993, 24(2),
46-51. Reviews the literature on the acculturation and
biculturalism processes of Mexican-Americans, the measurement and assessment of
acculturalism and biculturalism, and possible
relationships between acculturation of Mexican- Americans and rehabilitation
practice. Acculturation can be behavioral, psychological, and/or sociocultural and is generally thought of as the
acquisition of a second culture. Possible relationships may exist between level
of acculturation and (1) disability, (2) psychometric evaluation, and (3)
acceptance of disability. Implications for rehabilitation practice are given. (PsycINFO)
Smart, JF. Smart, D. The Use of Translators Interpreters in Rehabilitation. Journal of Rehabilitation.
1995, 61(2), 14-20. A marked change which faces the rehabilitation profession
is the extension of services to individuals who are not fluent in English.
Thus, the services of interpreters/translators are necessary. This article,
which is based upon a review of rehabilitation literature and the authors'
experience in bilingual practice, advocates the use of trained and supervised
interpreters/translators in order to provide ethical and successful services.
Problems and cautions in the use of translators are outlined as well as
recommendations to assist the rehabilitation worker in the use of translators/interpreters.
Swensen, JG. Counseling the
forgotten neighbor: Implications in the rehabilitation of migrant and seasonal farmworkers. Journal of Applied
Rehabilitation Counseling. 1994, 25(2), 7-10. Compares
migrant and seasonal farm workers with disabilities to static neighbors.
The article addresses effective cross-cultural counseling variables. Concepts
such as migration, cultural disadvantages, Hispanic traits that demonstrate ethnicity, and barriers that impede the disabled worker are
discussed. The process of rehabilitation and cultural sensitivity in counseling
are examined, from referral and eligibility to plan formulation and closure.
Effective counselor-client relationships facilitate service delivery and
overcome cultural barriers. Education of rehabilitation counselors working with
Hispanic populations is called for. (PsycINFO)
Zea, MC. Belgrave, FZ.
Townsend, TG. Jarama, SL. Banks, SR. The influence of social support and active coping on depression
among African Americans and Latinos with disabilities. Rehabilitation Psychology. 1996, 41(3), 225-242. Examined relationships among depression, active coping, and social
support in a sample of 109 African American and 57 Latinos with disabilities.
Measures included Beck and Beck (1972) short version of the Depression
Inventory, Brandt and Weinert's (1981, 1987) Personal
Resources Questionnaire (PRQ), and the condensed version of Tyler's (1978)
Behavioral Attributes of Psychosocial Competence Scale (Zea,
Reisen, & Tyler, 1996). Findings indicated that
active coping, satisfaction with social support, and type of
disability were significant predictors of depression for African
Americans, whereas active coping, perception of severity of disability, and
social support were significant predictors of depression for Latinos. These
findings underscore the importance of testing separate models for African
Americans and Latinos.
Zea, MC. Quezada, T. Belgrave,
FZ. Latino cultural values: Their role in adjustment to disability. Special
Issue: Psychosocial perspectives on disability. Journal of
Social Behavior & Personality. 1994, 9(5), 185-200. Reviews Latino cultural values and their impact on adjustment and
the rehabilitation process. Allocentrism, familialism, and interdependence may enlist family help in
rehabilitation. Well-defined gender roles may contribute to denial of the
disability in the case of men, but to 'aguante' or
endurance for women. A present-time orientation may make long-term planning of
treatment difficult. 'Simpatia,' power distance, and
'respeto' may be reflected by the imbalance in
relationships with health care providers and rehabilitation specialists, and
emphasis on the traditional past orientation of Latino culture may impact
long-term rehabilitation planning. Spirituality may influence the beliefs of
clients regarding the explanation of disability as determined by supernatural
forces. It is concluded that an understanding of culture and the role it plays
in adjustment to disability and rehabilitation is essential for specialists and
professionals. (PsycINFO) [Rehabilitation]
WORK, EMPLOYMENT, AND VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION
Meier, KN. (1993). Culture-Specific Variables That May
Affect Employment Outcomes for Mexican-American Youth with Disabilities.
In: Dais, Teresa, et al (Eds.). Selected
Smart, JF. Smart, DW.
Vocational evaluation of Hispanics with disabilities: Issues and implications.
Vocational Evaluation & Work Adjustment Bulletin. 1993, 26(3), 111-122. Discusses issues that influence the vocational evaluation of
Hispanics with disabilities. These issues include defining Hispanic
populations; historical and ongoing racial bias in testing and evaluation;
inequitable employee selection; inappropriate test content, standardization
samples, test instructions, motivational sets, and response sets; culture- and
language-biased test items; lack of cultural sensitivity of vocational
evaluators; clients' lack of test-taking strategies; and controversy over
'equal outcome' vs 'equal treatment' of evaluation
results. Implications for improved quality of vocational counseling are drawn.
(PsycINFO)
Trevino, B. Mora Szymanski, E. A Qualitative Study of the
Career Development of Hispanics with Disabilities. Journal of
Rehabilitation, 1996, July-Sept., 5-13. Career development of Hispanics
with disabilities was the focal problem of this study. Participants were 7
Hispanic women and 3 Hispanic men. 20 interviews were conducted and recorded.
Additional data were collected through in-depth questionnaires. A grounded
theory approach was used to identify, categorize, and connect themes. Two
overriding themes emerged. First, career motivation was defined by experiences
relating to developmental work motivation, the meaning of work, and the
hierarchy of work needs. The second, vocational behavior, related to personal
attributes, disability and work, and barriers and supports.
OTHER RESOURCES
6. Latino Health Status: Risk Factors
for Chronic Conditions, and
Disability
This section presents selected abstracts of a wide variety of work in this
area. It is our observation that much work has been done in this area, but that
much of the work that has been done is of limited quality. While much effort
has addressed inclusion of Latinos, there is little specification or
segmentation by Latino subgroups, gender, or age groups. While part of this
problem may be due to parsimonious instrument designs, a greater proportion is
due to a failure to include appropriate population measures (see Section VIII)
such as place of birth, acculturation, etc.
Mendoza, FS.
Molina, CW. & M. Aguirre-Molina (Eds.) Latino Health in the
@Plepys, C. Klein, R. Health Status Indicators:
Differentials by Race and Hispanic Origin. Statistical Notes, Number 10,
September 1995.
Reveille, JD. Moulds, JM.
Arnett, FC. Major Histocompatibility Complex Class II
and C4 Alleles in Mexican Americans with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.
Tissue Antigens, 1995, 45(2), 91-97. Few data exist on associations of
class II and class III alleles of the major histocompatibility
complex (MHC) and susceptibility to systemic lupus erythematosus
(SLE) in Mexican Americans, a group of predominantly mixed Spanish and Native
American ancestry. Therefore, MHC class II alleles (HLA-DRB1, DQA1, DQB1, DPA1
and DPB1 alleles) and C4 allotypes were determined in
52 Mexican American SLE patients and 105 ethnic-matched controls. HLA-DRB1*0301
and C4A* Q0 were each increased in the SLE patients, especially HLA-DRB1*0301
in those with anti-Ro/SSA autoantibodies. C4A*Q0 was
associated with HLA-DRB1*0301 only in a minority of patients and controls.
Anti-U1-RNP antibodies were significantly associated with the presence of
HLA-DQB1*0302, and the risk for the production of anti-Re antibodies was
heightened by the presence of at least three (out of four possible) DQA1 chains
possessing a glutamine at position 34 and/or DQB1 chains a leucine
at position 26 of their outermost domains. Thus the HLA class II and C4 null
allele associations that have been noted in other ethnic groups are also found
in Mexican Americans, suggesting shared susceptibility factors across ethnic
lines in predisposition to SLE. [Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.]
Roberts, RE. Lee, ES. The health of Mexican
Americans: evidence from the human population laboratory studies. American Journal of Public Health. 1980,
70(4), 375-84. Data are presented from sample surveys conducted in 1974
(N=3,119) and 1975 (N=657) in
Stern, MP. Patterson, JK. Haffner, SM. Hazuda, HP. Mitchell, BD. Lack of awareness and treatment
of hyperlipidemia in type II diabetes in a community
survey [see comments]. Journal of the American Medical
Association, 1989, 262(3), 360-4.
(Comments in: JAMA 1989 Jul 21: 262(30): 398-9; JAMA, 1990,
263(17), 2302.) Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of
morbidity, disability, and death among patients with type II
(non-insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus. Moreover, hyperlipidemia
is also common among these patients. Despite this, there are virtually no data
regarding the level of awareness and treatment of hyperlipidemia
among diabetic subjects at the community level. We therefore examined 374
Mexican-Americans and 86 non-Hispanic whites with type II diabetes identified
in an epidemiologic survey that involved 3279 Mexican-Americans and 1847
non-Hispanic whites who resided in San Antonio, Tex. More than 40% of the
diabetic subjects were hyperlipidemic according to
the criteria of the National Cholesterol Education Program, and an additional
23% had hypertriglyceridemia and/or low levels of
high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. By contrast, less than one fourth of the nondiabetic subjects were hyperlipidemic.
Only approximately 25% of non-Hispanic whites with diabetes were aware of their
hyperlipidemia, and less than 10% were receiving
treatment. Awareness and treatment were even less frequent among
Mexican-Americans with diabetes. Community physicians should be encouraged to
give early attention to the management of lipid disorders in their diabetic
patients. [Diabetes.]
|
A INJURY AND TRAUMA |
Agran,
PF. Winn, DG. Anderson, CL. Tran, C. Delvalle,
CP. The Role of the Physical and Traffic Environment in Child
Pedestrian Injuries. Pediatrics. 1997,
98(6), 1096-1103. Objective: To identify environmental risk factors on
residential streets for pediatric pedestrian injuries. Method: The sample
consisted of 39 Latino children 0 to 14 years of age injured as pedestrians on
a street in the same block as their home and 62 randomly selected neighborhood
control subjects matched to the case by city, age or year of birth, ethnicity,
and gender. The cases were identified from a population- based hospital and
coroner's office surveillance system established in north-central
Agran,
PF. Winn, DG. Anderson, CL. Delvalle, CP.
Pediatric Injury Hospitalization in Hispanic Children and Non-Hispanic White
Children in
Agran,
PF. Winn, DG. Anderson, CL. Who Carries Passengers in the Back of Pickup
Trucks. Accident Analysis and
Prevention. 1995, 27(1),
125-130. This study was designed to compare pickup truck drivers who carried
passengers in the back with those who did not, with respect to driving
behaviors, sociodemographic features, and issues
related to use of the pickup truck. A computerized assisted telephone survey
was conducted in
Aughan, RD. Mccarthy,
JF. Armstrong, B. Walter, HJ. Waterman, PD. Tiezzi,
L. Carrying and Using Weapons - A Survey of Minority Junior High School
Students in New York City. American Journal of Public
Health. 1996, 86(4), 568-572. To explore weapon carrying among
young, inner-city adolescents, a survey was administered in fall 1993 to 2005
predominantly Hispanic students (mean age = 12.8 years) in three
Baker, RS. Wilson, MR. Flowers, CW. Lee, DA. Wheeler, NC. Demographic
Factors in a Population-based Survey of Hospitalized, Work-related, Ocular
Injury. American Journal of Ophthalmology. 1996, 122(2), 213-219. Purpose:
To obtain population- based estimates of the incidence of severe work-related
ocular trauma and to identify demographic factors related to increased risk of
this type of injury. Methods: A statewide population-based survey of severe
work-related ocular injury was performed using hospital discharge data, These data were derived from all inpatient admissions to
nonfederal, acute care hospital facilities in the state of
Chang,
Christoffel, KK. Donovan, M. Schofer,
J. Wills, K. Lavigne, JV. Tanz,
RR. Barthel, M. Jenq, J.
Klinger, C. Mcguire, P. Psychosocial Factors in
Childhood Pedestrian Injury - A Matched Case-Control Study. Pediatrics.
1996, 97(1), 33-42. Hypothesis: Psychosocial factors-such as hyperactivity and
low family cohesion-contribute to the risk for child pedestrian injury (PI),
even after controlling for known demographic risk factors. Participants.
Urban PI victims aged 5 to 12 years were recruited from one large, urban
pediatric trauma center in a large city. One hundred twenty-eight cases were
matched to uninjured children on age, sex, race, location of residence, and
parental education. Among matched cases: 70% were male, 41% were black, 33%
were Hispanic, and 66% of the mothers had a high school education or less.
Research Design and Measurements: Case-control comparisons on 19 psychosocial
variables drawn from interviews and standardized tests, using one-tailed
matched-pairs t tests and conditional logistic regression analyses. Results:
Cases had higher reported physical quotient `PQï (P
=.01), self-help quotient (P = .04), and family stress (P = .02), and lower
family supportiveness (P = .03). Multivariate analyses confirmed that PQ was
higher in cases (10-point increase: odds ratio (OR) = 1.32 `90% confidence
interval (CI) 1.01-1.76ï, that stress was higher in cases (1 log increase: OR
2.13, `1.26-3.61ï), and that cases had lower family supportiveness (25-point
decrease: OR 1.43, `1.25-1.63ï). It also identified household crowding as a
factor for non-black cases (OR for increase of 0.25 people per room: 2.18,
`1.31-3.62ï). Conclusion: Even when controlling for demographic risk, several family
factors and one child factor place children at risk for PI. Clinicians may
choose to use these as indicators for injury prevention counseling. Research on
family effects may help clarify means to protect children who are
demographically at risk for PI.
Ginsburg, HJ. Mendez, R. Padilla, E. Arocena, M.
et al. Perceptual development and early childhood injuries: A prospective pilot
study. Perceptual & Motor Skills. 1993,
76(1), 125-126. A prospective pilot study of 172 Hispanic children and their
mothers was performed to identify developmental predictors of 9 maternal
reports of childhood injuries that required medical attention during the
following year. The 1972 McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities (MSCA) was
administered near the children's 3rd birthday, and maternal reports of injuries
were obtained 1 year later. The Verbal, Perceptual, Quantitative, Memory, and
Motor Subscales of the MSCA accounted for a small but significant proportion of
variance. Ss who showed advanced abilities on the
Perceptual subscale were more likely to be reported as having an injury
requiring medical attention during the subsequent 12 month period. [Injury risk; parent perceptions; measurement.]
Lee, P. Orsay, E. Lumpkin, J. Ramakrishman,
V. Callahan, E. Analysis of Hispanic Motor Vehicle Trauma Victims in Illinois,
1991-1992. Academic Emergency Medicine. 1996,
3(3), 221-227. Objective: 1) To develop a profile of Hispanic motor vehicle
trauma victims in
Looker, AC. Johnston, CC. Wahner,
HW. Dunn, WL. Calvo, MS. Harris, TB. Heyse, SP. Lindsay, RL. Prevalence of Low
Femoral Bone Density in Older
Matteucci, RM. Holbrook, T. Hoyt, DB. Molgaard, C. Trauma among Hispanic Children - A
Population-based Study in a Regionalized System of Trauma Care. American Journal of Public Health. 1995, 85(7),
1005-1008. We studied 1164 injured Hispanic and 2560 injured non-Hispanic White
children newborn through 14 years triaged to the
Payne, JE.
Rosenthal, M. Dijkers, M. Harrison Felix, C. Nabors, N. Witol, AD. Young, ME. Englander, JS. Impact of Minority Status on Functional Outcome and Community
Integration Following Traumatic Brain Injury. Journal
of Head Trauma Rehabilitation. 1996, 11(5), 40-57. Objective: To
determine whether minority status affected short-term and 1-year functional
outcome and community integration for patients with traumatic brain injury
(TBI) in the TBI Model Systems National Data Base. Design: Prospective study,
consecutive sample. Setting: Four tertiary care rehabilitation centers.
Patients: Five hundred and eighty-six patients with TBI admitted to one of four
TBI Model Systems programs from February 1989 through June 1995. Inclusion
criteria for the study included evidence of a TBI, admission to the system
hospital emergency department within 8 hours of injury, 19 years of age or older, and acute care and inpatient rehabilitation within
the system hospitals. Information was collected for demographics such as race,
age, gender, education, employment status, marital status, and data related to
the injury such as injury severity, etiology of injury, and payer source. Over
half of the sample was white (53.4%) with the 46.6% of minorities composed of
blacks (37.2%), Hispanics (7.3%), and Asians (2.0%). Main Outcome Measures:
Functional outcome was measured with the Functional Independence Measure (FIM).
Disability Rating Scale (DRS), and Community Integration Questionnaire (CIQ).
The FIM and DRS were measured at inpatient rehabilitation admission, discharge,
and 1 year post injury. The CIQ total score and subscale scores for Home
Integration, Social integration, and Productivity were obtained at 1-year post
injury. It was hypothesized that minority status would not predict functional
outcome after acute rehabilitation but would predict functional outcome and
community integration at 1 year post injury. Results: There were no significant
differences between whites and minorities for DRS and FM scores at acute
rehabilitation discharge. There were also no significant differences between
whites and minorities on FIM scores 1 year post injury, but there were
significant differences between whites and minorities on the Social Integration
and Productivity subscales and total score of the CIQ. Multiple regression
indicated that minority status predicted functional outcome for CIQ total score
(r=-.28) and two subscales, Social Integration (r=-.28) and Productivity
(r=-.23) even after controlling for etiology, severity of injury, age, gender,
and functional status a rehabilitation discharge. Conclusions: Although
minority status does not negatively impact recovery of basic mobility and daily
living skills, it may impact long-term outcome related to community integration
as measured by productivity and social integration. Greater outreach and access
to postdischarge services and support may be needed
to optimize community integration outcomes. Further studies are needed to
determine how best to serve the needs of this segment of the population with
TBI.
Weddle, M. Bissell, R. Shesser, R. Perceptions of
Preventability among Acutely Injured Hispanic Patients. Journal
of Safety Research. 1996, 27(3), 175-181. Attitudes and belief
systems are regarded as major factors affecting the success of injury
prevention efforts. It is not known whether cultural belief systems affect the
injury rates of Hispanics in the
Waters, RL. Adkins, RH. Firearm Versus Motor
Vehicle Related Spinal Cord Injury - Preinjury
Factors, Injury Characteristics, and Initial Outcome Comparisons among
Ethnically Diverse Groups. Archives of Physical Medicine
and Rehabilitation. 1997, 78(2), 150-155. Objective: To determine
the extent to which individuals with spinal cord injuries caused by firearms
differed from those caused by motor vehicle crash (MVC) in terms of selected preinjury factors, injury characteristics and related
treatment, and outcomes at discharge from rehabilitation; and to determine the
effect of ethnicity on preinjury factors and outcome.
Design: Survey including interview of former rehabilitation inpatients and
medical records review. Setting: Model Spinal Cord Injury Care System centered
at an urban, public rehabilitation medical center. Participants: Volunteer
convenience sample of 164 men who were between the ages of 18 and 35 years at
the time of injury and who were injured by firearm or MVC between
7. Multicultural and Cross-cultural
Perspectives on Disability
@ Bradsher, JE. Disability among
Racial and Ethnic Groups. Disabilities Statistics Abstract, No.
10, October 1995. Disability Statistics Rehabilitation
Research and
Dziekan, KI. Okocha, AA.
Accessibility of rehabilitation services: Comparison by racial-ethnic status. Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin, 1993, 36(4), 183-189.
Investigated whether there were any differences in the
application rates of majority (White) and racial-ethnic minority individuals
for public vocational rehabilitation services (VRSs).
Access and acceptance rate data were analyzed for 55,540 White and 8,234 racial
ethnic minority individuals applying for public VRSs
from 1985 though 1989. There was a clear association between membership in a
racial-ethnic minority group and acceptance for services. Even though minority
applicants applied for services at higher rates than their representation in
the population, they were accepted for services at lower rates than majority
applicants. (PsycINFO)
Kirchner, C. Peterson, C. Estimate of Race-Ethnic Groups in the
Kirchner, C. Peterson, C. Ethnicity and Rehabilitation: An Analysis of Blind
and Visually Impaired Clients in the Federal/State System.
Logue, BJ. Race differences in long-term disability: Middle-aged and older
American Indians, Blacks and Whites in
Pfeiffer, D. The influence of the
socio-economic characteristics of disabled people on their employment status
and income. Disability, Handicap &
Society. 1991, 6(2), 103-114. Results of a survey of 733 adults with
disabilities in
Walker, S. Brown, O. The
ASIAN\PACIFIC AMERICANS
Leung, P. Asian Pacific Americans and Section 21 of the
Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1992. American Rehabilitation,
1996, Spring, 2-6. The Rehabilitation Cultural Diversity Initiative includes
Asian Pacific Americans as a target group, yet little is known about the
incidence and prevalence if disability among these populations and, thus,
little is known about their rehabilitation needs. This article provides a brief
overview of the many groups which have been included under the rubric of Asian
Pacific Americans. In addition, it attempts to dispel some myths, provide some
insight into their culture and values, and offer a few suggestions related to
their involvement in vocational rehabilitation programs.
Yang, H. Leung, P. Wang, J. Shim, N. Asian Pacific Americans: The Need for
Ethnic-Specific Disability and Rehabilitation Data. Journal of Disability
Policy Studies, 1996, 7(1): 33-53. The Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1992
mandate that state and federal public vocational rehabilitation extend efforts to
further include "traditionally" underserved" populations.
Section 21 specifies the Asian Pacific American population as an
"underserved group", and other data indicate that they are the
fastest growing population in the
AFRICAN-AMERICANS
Alston, RJ.
Alston, RJ.
Alston, RJ. McCowan, CJ. Perception of Family
Competence and Adaptation to Illness Among African
Americans with Disabilities. Journal of Rehabilitation, 1995,
Jan.-March, 27-32.
Alston, RJ. Mngadi, S. The interaction between disability status and the
African American experience: Implications for rehabilitation counseling. Journal of Applied Rehabilitation Counseling. 1992,
23(2), 12-16. Presents information useful to rehabilitation
counselors and human service professionals providing services to
African-Americans with disabilities. The potential double bias of being
African- American and disabled is examined. There is a special focus on the
similarities in stigmas experienced by persons with disabilities and members of
the African-American community, and how the interaction between minority race
status and disability status affects the delivery of rehabilitation services to
African-Americans. The client-centered approach is described and suggested as a
theoretical orientation to be adopted by rehabilitation counselors to lessen
the impact of a double stigma on this population. (PsycINFO)
Asbury, CA. Walker, S. Belgrave, FZ. Maholmes, V. Green, L. Psychosocial, Cultural, and
Accessibility Factors Associated With Participation of African-Americans in
Rehabilitation. Rehabilitation Psychology, 1994, 39(2), 113-121.
Atkin, K. Health, illness, disability and Black
minorities: A speculative critique of present day discourse. Disability,
Handicap & Society. 1991, 6(1), 37-47. Discusses how the
construction of Black people's perceptions of health, illness, and disability
arises from the nature of the discourse. This discourse defines the nature and
source of and the solution to the "problem" and predetermines the
areas of relevance rather than those identified as appropriate by the Black
communities. To remedy this, the debate needs to shift its focus of attention
and become situated in the realities of people who form Black minorities. The
debate must be informed by an account of disability and health in terms of
Black people's perceptions without these perceptions becoming identified as
deviant and pathological. Fundamental to the analysis are the political,
social, and economic position of Black minorities and the context of racism. (PsycINFO
Longres, JF. Torrecilha,
RS. Race and the diagnosis, placement and exit status of children and youth in
a mental health and disability system. Journal of Social
Service Research. 1992, 15(3-4), 43-63. Analyzed the relationship between
race of child and primary diagnosis, service placement, and exit status in a
county mental health and disability system for 1980 (n= 1,779) and 1985 (n=
4,111), using a multivariate logit model. Results
indicate that race may be associated with the kinds of problems for which
minority and majority children and youth seek help. Results also indicate that
race may be related to the likelihood of being treated out-of-home, but that it
is only marginally related to the need for further services after treatment in
the system has expired. (PsycINFO)
Mendes de Leon, CF.
IMMIGRANTS
Stephen, EH. Foot, K. Hendershott, GE. Schoenborn,
CA. Health of the foreign-born population, 1989-90. Advance Data from vital
and health statistics, 241.
O'Brien, AM. Rhoades, GW. Providing
Outreach and Rehabilitation Services to Non-English Speaking Persons. American Rehabilitation, 1996. Spring, 7-9.
INTERNATIONAL
Gregory, RJ. Rehabilitation interventions: ideas based on a South Pacific
example. Disability and Rehabilitation, 1996, 18(1), 47-51. The South
Pacific represents a unique area of the world where people with disabilities do
need and want rehabilitation interventions. Cross-cultural work, however,
carries inherent misunderstandings. Some ideas and examples illustrate how
rehabilitation interventions can take place if and when deeper insight into
cultural differences is available.
Pongprapai,
Stuart, OW. Race and disability: Just a double oppression? Special Issue:
Researching disability. Disability, Handicap &
Society. 1992, 7(2), 177-188. This articles
argues that Black disabled people in
8. Measurement, Research, and
Surveillance Issues
For persons interested in disability and ethnic\racial populations, there
are two critical questions. How do we measure disability in these groups; and
how do we measure these groups? The first section presents selections on how we
measure and do research with Latino\Hispanic populations. The second part
presents work not presented earlier on how different aspects of disability are
measured in Latino populations. Where appropriate, we have included other cross-cultural
works.
MEASUREMENT OF ETHNICITY
Betancourt, H. Regeser Lopez, S. The Study of Culture, Ethnicity, and Race in American Psychology.
American Psychologist. 1993, 48(6), 629-637.
The study of culture and related concepts, such as ethnicity and race, in
American psychology are examined in this article. First, the conceptual
confusion and ways in which culture, ethnicity, and race are used as
explanatory factors for intergroup differences in
psychological phenomena are discussed. Second, ways in which to study in
mainstream psychology and to enhance hypothesis testing and theory in
cross-cultural psychology are illustrated. Finally, the importance of examining
sociocultural variables and considering theory in
ethnic minority research is addressed. In general, it is proposed that by
including theory, conceptualizing, and measuring cultural and related
variables, mainstream, cross-cultural, and ethnic research can advance the
understanding of culture in psychology as well as generality of principles and
the cultural sensitivity of applications.
Centers for Disease Control. Use of Race and
Ethnicity in Public Health Surveillance: Summary of the CDC/ATSDR Workshop. Morbidity
and Mortality Weekly Report, 42/RR-10,
Marin, G. VanOss Marin, B. Research with
Hispanic Populations.
Negy, C., & Woods, D.J. The
importance of acculturation in understanding research with Hispanic-Americans.
Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences. 1992,
14(2), 224-247. Reviews empirical studies addressing the role of acculturation
(ACC) in relation to a variety of psychosocial variables (i.e., family
socialization, social-support networks, alcoholism, psychosocial
adjustment). The primary deficiency in ACC studies is the lack of agreement as
to the definition of the construct, a lack of a satisfactory scale to assess
ACC, and an overreliance on self-reports. (PsycINFO)
Rogler, L. The Meaning of
Culturally Sensitive Research in Mental Health. American Journal of
Psychiatry, 1989, 146(3), 296-303.
Rogler, Lloyd H. Cortes, Dharma E. Malgady, & Robert G. Acculturation and mental health
status among Hispanics: Convergence and new directions for research. American
Psychologist, 1991, 46(6), 585-597. Acculturation, the process whereby
immigrants change their behavior and attitudes toward those of the host society,
is a fundamental part of migration- induced adaptations to new sociocultural environments. A rapidly expanding research
literature on acculturation has accompanied the growth of international
migrations. In response to the need to integrate the growing literature on
acculturation and mental health status among Hispanics in the
Saint-Germain, Michelle A. Bassford, Jamsen L. Montano,
Gail. (1993). Surveys and focus groups in health
research with older Hispanic women. Qualitative Health Research,
3(3), 341-367. Contrasts the findings from 2 studies
undertaken on the barriers to health care use in general and to breast cancer
screening faced by older Hispanic women. One study conducted a randomly
selected population survey of 409 Hispanic women; the other used focus group
interviews (FGIs) with 50 Hispanic women. FGIs are considered a culturally appropriate methodology
for research with older Hispanic women because they draw on oral traditions,
norms of helping, and existing social networks. While the two approaches tended
to produce similar findings, the focus group interviews revealed some important
differences. The article concludes that the survey interview is more suited to
documenting individual levels of knowledge and practice, whereas the focus
group interview is more suited to reproducing, community attitudes and patterns
of practice and explaining the reasons behind the survey findings. (PsycINFO).
Sasao, T. Sue, S. Toward
a Culturally Anchored Ecological Framework of Research in Ethnic-Cultural
Communities. American Journal of Community Psychology.
1993, 21(6), 705-727. Proposed a research framework (the
"cube" model) in which community psychologists working in
ethnic-cultural communities can make appropriate decisions on conceptual and
methodological issues from a culturally anchored, ecological- contextualist perspective. The intent of the model
is to articulate ethnic-cultural heterogeneity in community research by eluci-dating three metamethodological
issues: (a) definition of an ethnic-cultural community, (b) applicability of
cross-cultural theories and methods to ethnic-cultural community research, and
(c) geographical or ecological stability of an ethnic-cultural community. The
model posits that ethnic-cultural community research can be conceptualized as a
three-dimensional structure that represents an interaction among research
questions, methods, and cultural complexity (referring to the extent to which
an ethnic-cultural group is defined in a larger ecological context or community
both at the individual and collective levels). Future directions for research
were discussed in terms of the utility and the limitations of the proposed
research model.
Stanfield, JH.
Trimble, JE Ethnic Specification, Validation Prospects,
and the Future of Drug Use Research. The International
Journal of the Addictions. 1990-91, 25(2A), 149-170. Interest in drug
use among
Vega, William A. Theoretical and Pragmatic Implications of Cultural
Diversity for Community Research. American Journal of
Community Psychology. 1992, 20(3), 375-391.
Wagerer, D K. Ethical Considerations in the Design
and Execution of the National and Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination
Survey (HHANES). Environmental Health Perspectives, 1995, 103(S3),
75-80. The purpose of this article is to describe some ethical considerations
that have arisen during the design and implementation of the health examination
surveys conducted by the
Wyatt, Gail E. (1991). Examining Ethnicity Versus
Race in AIDS Related Sex Research. Social Science & Medicine, 33
(1), 37-45.
Zambrana, Ruth E. (1991). Cross-Cultural
Methodological Strategies in Low Income Racial Ethnic Populations. Pp.
221-228. In: Primary Care Research: Theory and Methods.
Zapka, JG. Chasan, TL.
Bigelow, C. Hurley, T. Methodological issues for health-related surveys of
multicultural older women. Evaluation & the Health
Professions. 1994, 17(4), 485-500. Given the concerns about survey nonresponse bias as well as the need to plan resources for
subject recruitment, the authors tracked each step of the recruitment process
(location, response, consent, and completion) of 767 sociodemographically
diverse older women for a survey on mammography experience. Younger, less
educated, poor women were likely to be lost due to inability to locate them,
while older middle- and upper-economic group women were more likely to be lost
due to refusal to participate. Hispanic and Black women were signi-ficantly more likely to respond on successive
attempts to recruit them than were White, non- Hispanic women. There was no
significant difference in refusal rates by minority women over the successive
contacts, as contrasted with White women, who refused at significantly higher
rates with each attempt. All subgroups of women need intensive recruitment and
follow-up, albeit for different reasons. (PsycINFO)
(Aging, Elderly, Women.]
MEASUREMENT OF DISABILITY
Canales, S. Ganz, PA. Coscarelli, CA. Translation and
Validation of a Quality of Life Instrument for Hispanic American Cancer
Patients - Methodological Considerations. Quality
of Life Research. 1995, 4(1), 3-11. The increasing diversity of the
Carr, W. Szapiro, N. Heisler,
T. Krasner, MI. Sentinel health events as indicators
of unmet needs. Social Science & Medicine, 1989,
29(6), 705-14. It is vitally important to be able to assess the impact
of the health care system on the populations it serves. This paper explores
whether sentinel health events--negative health states, such as death,
disability, and disease, that might have been avoided
given current medical and public health knowledge and technology--can be used
as sociomedical indicators to assess levels of unmet
needs and to evaluate health system performance. Using hospital discharge data,
the occurrence of sentinel health events in
Gonzalez, VM. Stewart, A. Ritter, PL. Lorig,
K. Translation and Validation of Arthritis Outcome Measures into Spanish.
Arthritis and Rheumatism. 1995, 38(10),
1429-1446. Objective: To produce Spanish versions of common arthritis outcome
measures: the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) Disability Scale, the
Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), the Medical Outcomes
Study (MOS) Pain Severity Scale, the Arthritis Self-Efficacy Scale for Pain and
Other Symptoms (with the addition of 2 new items), the Visual Analogue Pain
Scale, the MOS Self-Rated Health Item, and a Physical Activities Scale that
would be usable by most Hispanics living in the US. We tested these translated
measures for reliability and, where appropriate, validity. Methods.
Instruments were translated and back translated by bilingual persons from 5
different countries of origin. Translators met to resolve variations in translation,
The instruments were then administered to Hispanic
arthritis patients in 6 geographic locations (5 in the
Guillemin, F. Bombardier, C. Beaton,
D. Cross-Cultural Adaptation of Health-Related Quality of Life Measures -
Literature Review and Proposed Guidelines. Journal of
Clinical Epidemiology. 1993, 46(12), 1417-1432. Clinicians and
researchers without a suitable health-related quality of life (HRQOL) measure
in their own language have two choices: (1) to develop a new
measure, or (2) to modify a measure previously validated in another
language, known as a cross-cultural adaptation process. We propose a set of
standardized guidelines for this process based on previous research in
psychology and sociology and on published methodological frameworks. These
guidelines include recommendations for obtaining semantic, idiomatic,
experiential and conceptual equivalence in translation by using
back-translation techniques and committee review, pre-testing techniques and
re-examining the weights of scores. We applied these guidelines to 17
cross-cultural adaptation of HRQOL measures identified
through a comprehensive literature review. The reporting standards varied
across studies but agreement between raters in their ratings of the studies was
substantial to almost perfect (weighted kappa = 0.66-0.93) suggesting that the
guidelines are easy to apply. Further research is necessary in order to
delineate essential versus optional steps in the adaptation process.
Holbrook, TL. Hoyt, DB. Anderson, JP. Hollingsworth Fridlund,
P. Shackford, SR. Functional Limitation after Major
Trauma - A More Sensitive Assessment Using the Quality of Well-being Scale the
Trauma Recovery Pilot Project. Journal of Trauma.
1994, 36(1), 74-78. Little is known about the degree of disability and quality
of life of patients after major trauma. We conducted a prospective study to
examine the incidence and predictors of functional limitation (FL). Between
Solis, ML. Abidin, RR.
The Spanish version Parenting Stress Index: A psychometric study. Special
Section: Disadvantaged children and their families. Journal of Clinical
Child Psychology, 1991, 20(4), 372-378. Evaluated the
psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Parenting Stress Index
(PSI), based on the responses of 223 Hispanic mothers (aged 17-62 yrs).
Alpha coefficients were comparable to those for the original PSI. A factor
analysis of the 13 PSI subscales indicated that 3 factors rather than the
original 2-factor solution more meaningfully described the Hispanic data. This
study is consistent with recent research with Anglo-American mothers suggesting
that the dimensions of the PSI are better described by 3 factors: child
characteristics, parent characteristics, and child-parent interaction.
Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) indicated that in a Hispanic sample,
mothers of handicapped children reported more parenting stress than did mothers
of nonhandicapped children. Findings support the
cross-cultural utility of the PSI. (PsycINFO)
Tran, TV. & Williams, LF. Effect
of Language of Interview on the Validity and Reliability of Psychological
Well-Being Scales. Social Work Research.
1994, 18(1), 17-25. This study tested the hypothesis that the use of different
languages in a telephone survey could adversely affect the cross-cultural
comparability of standardized research measures. The data used in the analysis
were taken from the 1988 National Survey of Hispanic Elderly People (NSHEP) to
test this hypothesis. The NSHEP survey contains data on 2,299 Hispanic persons
aged 65 and older, and it was designed to study the living arrangements, health
status, use of services, and attitudes toward aging problems held by the
respondents. A telephone interview was used to collect the data. A majority of
the respondents (86.6 percent) were interviewed in Spanish, and 13.4 percent
were interviewed in English. LISREL-7 was the method of statistical analysis
used to examine the factor equality of the positive affect and negative effect
stales between the English and Spanish language respondents. Our findings
indicate that there was no significant difference between the factor structure of the negative affect scale between the two
groups; however, the factor structure associated with the positive affect scale
demonstrated marked factorial differences between the two groups.
9. Disability Databases
Where do we find data on disability and Latinos? Some key national databases
where one may find data on Hispanics\Latinos, other ethnic-racial groups, and
disability data are listed below. Some databases may be accessed from the
Internet, and their descriptions are posted on the agency Internet servers and
key recent emerging publications. In addition, there are number of privately funded
surveys, particularly for the elderly.
|
Federal
Databases |
Source/agency
|
Latino data |
Disability |
Chronic Conditions |
Risk |
|
Current Population
Survey (CPS) |
|
X
|
X
|
|
|
|
Survey of Income and
Program Participation (SIPP) |
|
X
|
X
|
-
|
|
|
National Medical
Expenditure Survey (NMES) |
Agency for Health Care
Policy and Research |
*
|
x
|
X
|
|
|
Behavioral Risk Factor
Surveys (BRFS) |
Centers for Disease Control
(CDC), State health agencies |
*
|
QOL
|
DM
|
X
|
|
National Health
Interview Survey (NHIS) |
|
x
|
1994-95
|
X
|
X
|
|
National Health and
Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)
|
|
X
|
x
|
X
|
x
|
|
Natality Statistics
(Congenital anomalies, etc,) |
|
X
|
|
X
|
x
|
|
Mortality Statistics (indirect indicator) |
|
X
|
|
X
|
|
Codes: X=good data; x=limited data;
QOL=Health Status/Quality of Life; DM=Diabetes Mellitus *=not published
Burt, VL. Harris, T. The 3rd National Health and Nutrition
Examination Survey - Contributing Data on Aging and Health. Gerontologist,
1994, 34(4), 486-490. The third National Health and Nutrition Examination
Survey (NHANES III, 1988-94) is the most recent in a series of national
examination studies conducted by the
LaVeist, TA. Data sources for aging research on
racial and ethnic groups. The Gerontologist.
1995, 35(June), 328-339. This article reports the results of a survey of recent
and ongoing aging-related data sources supported by
10. Disability Statistics and
Studies
This section provides a more abbreviated overview of the work on disability
in general. Some items may contain some data on Latinos and other ethnic\racial
groups (*). In general, it might be said that the status of Latinos is
generally ignored. In other cases, investigators may be reluctant to provide
Hispanic\Latino data because of the small sample sizes.
Brandt, EN Jr. Pope, AM. (Eds.) Enabling
Ferron, DT. Diagnostic Trends of Disabled Social
Security Beneficiaries, 1986-93. Social Security Bulletin, 1995, 58(3),
15-31.
Fitzgerald Storck,
Guralnik, JM. Fried, LP. Salive, ME. Disability as a Public Health Outcome in the Aging Population.
Annual Review of Public Health, 1996, 17, 25-46.
Kirchner, C. (Ed.) Data on Blindness and Visual Impairment in the
Kochhar, S. Scott, CG. Disability Patterns Among SSI Recipients. Social Security Bulletin, 1995,
58(1), 3-14. Describes changes in disability patterns among
SSI recipients.
@ Kraus, LE. Chartbook on Disability in the
Pope, AM. Tarlov, AR.
(Eds.). Disability in
Songer,
TJ. Disability in Diabetes.
Thompson-Hoffman, S. Fitzgerald Storck,
@ Winger, BL. Kaye, HS. LaPlante, MP. Disabilities
Among Children. Disabilities Statistics
Abstract, No. 15, March 1996. Disability Statistics Rehabilitation
Research and