The Evolution and Value of Nuestros Cuerpos, Nuestras Vidas: Latinas’ Health Education in the Midst of Socio-Political Change
Main Article Content
Abstract
Comprising 18% of the total population in the United States, Latinos are one of the fastest growing minority groups in the country and an important demographic group for our public health efforts. In the current socioeconomic and political climate, the development of resources and health education materials tailored to specific cultural groups is urgently needed. To be effective, these materials must acknowledge the role of history, social and physical environment, cultural and economic conditions, migration history, and politics as key determinants of health and well-being. This article describes the development of Nuestros Cuerpos, Nuestras Vidas, the Spanish-language translation and cultural adaptation of the classic women’s health book Our Bodies, Ourselves, and the companion Spanish-language training guide for community health workers (Guía de Capacitación para Promotoras de Salud). Further, it examines the relevance of these health education materials to our current sociopolitical and historical moment. The Spanish-language and cultural adaptation process of Our Bodies, Ourselves is predicated on the social determinants and the cultural models of health. Both represent strong approaches that promote health and well-being in the midst of the current dramatic social change that adversely and disproportionately impacts the health of US minority groups.
Keywords:
health education, latina health
Article Details
How to Cite
BONILLA, Zobeida E.; MORRISON, Sharon D..
The Evolution and Value of Nuestros Cuerpos, Nuestras Vidas: Latinas’ Health Education in the Midst of Socio-Political Change.
Medical Research Archives, [S.l.], v. 8, n. 3, mar. 2020.
ISSN 2375-1924.
Available at: <https://esmed.org/MRA/mra/article/view/2072>. Date accessed: 22 dec. 2024.
doi: https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v8i3.2072.
Section
Research Articles
The Medical Research Archives grants authors the right to publish and reproduce the unrevised contribution in whole or in part at any time and in any form for any scholarly non-commercial purpose with the condition that all publications of the contribution include a full citation to the journal as published by the Medical Research Archives.
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33. Bonilla ZE, Morrison SD, Norsigian J, Rosero E. Reaching Latinas with Our Bodies, Ourselves and the Guía de Capacitación para Promotoras de Salud: Health education for social change. Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Studies. [Internet]. 2012;57(2):178–183. Accessed February 26, 2020.
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2. Whitehead D. Health promotion and health education: Advancing the concepts. J Adv Nurs. [Internet]. 2004;47:311–320. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2648.2004.03095.x. Accessed February 26, 2020.
3. World Health Organization (WHO). Health topics: Health education. [Website.]. Available at: https://www.who.int/topics/ health_education/en/. Accessed February 26, 2020.
4. Beauchamp DE. Public health as social justice. Inquiry. [Internet]. 1976;13(1):3-14. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/29770972?seq=1. Accessed February 26, 2020.
5. Healthy People (HP). Social determinants of health. [Website]. Available at: https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/social-determinants-of-health. Accessed February 26, 2020.
6. Donkin A, Goldblatt P, Allen J, Nathanson V, Marmot M. Global action on the social determinants of health. BMJ Glob Health. [Internet]. 2017;3. doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2017-000603. Accessed February 26, 2020.
7. Marmot M. Social determinants of health inequalities. Lancet. [Internet]. 2005;356(9464):1099–1104. doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(05)71146-6. Accessed February 26, 2020.
8. Geter Fugerson A, Sutton MY, Hubbard McCree D. Social and structural determinants of HIV treatment and care among Hispanic women and Latinas living with HIV infection in the United States: A qualitative review: 2008–2018. Health Equity. [Internet]. 2019;3(1):581–587. doi:10.1089/heq.2019.0039. Accessed February 26, 2020.
9. Boston Women’s Health Book Collective. Nuestros Cuerpos, Nuestras Vidas. New York, NY: Seven Stories Press; 2000.
10. Boston Women’s Health Book Collective. Our Bodies, Ourselves. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster; 2005.
11. Bonilla, Z. Guía de Capacitación para Promotoras de Salud. [Internet]. Boston, MA: Boston Women’s Health Book Collective; 2002. Available at: https://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/cms/assets/uploads/2014/05/Gu%C3%8Ca-de-Capacitacion-para-Promotoras-de-Salud.pdf. Accessed February 26, 2020.
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13. Flores A, Lopez MH, Krogstad M. Fact Tank: U.S. Hispanic population reaches new high in 2018 but growth has slowed. [Website]. Pew Research Center; 2019. Available at: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/07/08/u-s-hispanic-population-reached-new-high-in-2018-but-growth-has-slowed/. Accessed February 26, 2020.
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15. Hispanic Trends. Language spoken among U.S. Immigrants, 2017. [Website]. Pew Research Center; 2019. Available at: https://www.pewresearch.org/hispanic/chart/immigrant-statistical-portrait-languages-spoken-among-u-s-immigrants/ /). Accessed February 26, 2020 .
16. Heron M. Deaths: Leading causes for 2016. National Vital Statistics Reports. [Internet]. 2018;67(6). Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. Accessed February 26, 2020.
17. Alvarez C, Fedock, G. Addressing intimate partner violence with Latina women: A call for research. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse. [Internet]. 2018;19(4):488–493. doi.org/10.1177/1524838016669508. Accessed February 26, 2020.
18. Mann L, Tanner AE, Sun CJ, et al. Listening to the voices of Latina women: Sexual and reproductive health intervention needs and priorities in a new settlement state in the United States. Health Care Women Int. [Internet]. 2016;37(9):979–994. doi:10.1080/07399332.2016.1174244. Accessed February 26, 2020.
19. Velasco-Mondragon E, Jimenez A, Palladino-Davis A, Davis D, Escamilla-Cejudo J. Hispanic health in the USA: a scoping review of the literature. Public Health Rev. [Internet]. 2016;37(1). doi:10.1186/s40985-016-0043-2. Accessed February 26, 2020.
20. Martinez O, Wu E, Sandfort T, et al. Evaluating the impact of immigration policies on health status among undocumented immigrants: A systematic review (published correction appears in J Immigr Minor Health 2016). [Internet]. 2015;17(3):947–970. doi:10.1007/s10903-013-9968-4. Accessed February 26, 2020.
21. Becerra D. Anti-immigration policies and fear of deportation: A human rights issue. J Hum Rights Soc Work. [Internet]. 2016;1:109–119. doi.org/10.1007/s41134-016-0018-8. Accessed February 26, 2020.
22. Gómez S, O'Leary AO. “On edge all the time”: Mixed-status households navigating health care post Arizona's most stringent anti-immigrant law. Front. Public Health. [Internet]. 2019;6:383. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2018.00383. Accessed February 26, 2020.
23. Novak NL, Geronimus AT, Martinez-Cardoso AM. Change in birth outcomes among infants born to Latina mothers after a major immigration raid. Int J Epidemiol. [Internet]. 2017;46(3):839–849. doi:10.1093/ije/dyw346. Accessed February 26, 2020.
24. Sørbye IK, Vangen S, Juarez SP, et al. Birthweight of babies born to migrant mothers - What role do integration policies play? SSM Popul Health. [Internet]. 2019;9:100503. doi:10.1016/j.ssmph.2019.100503. Accessed February 26, 2020.
25. Gemmill A, Catalano R, Casey JA, et al. Association of preterm births among US Latina women with the 2016 Presidential Election. JAMA Netw Open. [Internet]. 2019;2(7):e197084. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.7084. Accessed February 26, 2020.
26. Black N, Neuhauser D. Books that have changed health services and health care policy. Journal of Health Services Research & Policy. [Internet]. 2006;11(3):180–183D. at: doi.org/10.1258/135581906777641695. Accessed February 26, 2020.
27. Norsigian J. Our Bodies Ourselves and the women’s health movement in the United States: Some reflections. Am J Public Health. [Internet]. 2019;109(6):844–846. doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2019.305059. Accessed February 26, 2020.
28. Stephenson H, Zeldes K. “Write a chapter and change the world” How the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective transformed women’s health then—and now. Am J Public Health. [Internet]. 2008;98:1–5. Accessed February 26, 2020.
29. Wells, S. Our Bodies, Ourselves: Reading the written body. Signs: Journal of women in culture and society. [Internet]. 2008;33(3):697–723. doi:10.1086/523710. Accessed February 26, 2020.
30. Shapiro ER. Because words are not enough: Latina re-visioning of transnational collaborations using health promotion for gender justice and social change. NWSAJ. [Internet]. 2005;17:141–172. Accessed February 26, 2020.
31. Davis K. Feminist body/politics as world traveler: translating Our Bodies, Ourselves. The Eur J Womens Stud. [Internet]. 2002;9:223–247.
32. Shapiro ER. Translating Latin American/Us Latina frameworks and methods in gender and health equity: Linking women’s health education and participatory social change. International Quarterly of Community Health Education. [Internet]. 2014;34(1):19–36. doi.org/10.2190/IQ.34.1.c. Accessed February 26, 2020.
33. Bonilla ZE, Morrison SD, Norsigian J, Rosero E. Reaching Latinas with Our Bodies, Ourselves and the Guía de Capacitación para Promotoras de Salud: Health education for social change. Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Studies. [Internet]. 2012;57(2):178–183. Accessed February 26, 2020.
34. King, ML, Jr. Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution (Speech given at the National Cathedral, March 31, 1968). [Internet]. https://www.si.edu/spotlight/mlk?page=4&iframe=true. Accessed February 26, 2020.