Immigration, health status, and physician visits in a Puerto Rican community

A pilot study was undertaken to explore the effects of geographic migration and exposure to new cultural values and attitudes on rates of physician office visits in a Puerto Rican population in a major Northeastern urban area. A cross-sectional survey study of an immigrant community was performed, using a questionnaire developed to assess the degree of immigrants' adaptation to the dominant culture, self-perceived health status, levels of stress and social support, and attitudes toward Western medical care. A convenience sample of 93 respondents was obtained. Analysis of the data showed that adaptation to the dominant culture, as measured in this study, is as good an independent predictor of high levels of physician office visitation as self-reported health status. In addition, it has a small but significant effect on perceived health. These results suggest that further exploration of the effect of cultural adaptation on health behaviors would be productive for clinicians and health resource managers.