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Health-related, help-seeking behaviors in female Mexican-American adolescents
1Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA.
Purpose:
To explore and describe the health-related, help-seeking behaviors of young female Mexican-American adolescents.
Design:
Qualitative exploratory-descriptive design using focus groups.
Setting:
Community recreation centers.
Participants:
18 female Mexican-Americans ages 10-16 years residing in a South Central state.
Main Outcome Measures:
A demographic information form and semi-structured interview designed for the study.
Results:
Subjects described two themes of help-seeking behaviors: seeking help for physical health problems and preventive healthcare from formal sources (i.e., community health clinics, family physicians, and public schools), and seeking help for concerns about pubertal development and pregnancy from informal sources (i.e., their mothers, aunts, sisters, and friends).
Conclusion:
While young, female Hispanic adolescents may seek help from formal sources for preventive healthcare services and physical health problems not related to sexuality, they tend to seek help from informal sources for psychosocial and sexuality issues. Community-based interventions should be developed that focus on the importance of this pattern of help-seeking behaviors for young female Hispanics.