Collaborating with Culturally Competent Prenatal Education among Hispanic Communities

Introduction. Hispanics represent the largest minority group in the United States. In Kansas, the population of Hispanics has been increasing; unfortunately, their infant mortality rate has increased as well. Baby Talk is a prenatal education program promoting maternal and infant health through risk-reduction strategies and healthy decision-making. The aim of this pilot project was to develop and evaluate a Spanish curriculum for Baby Talk. Methods. A collaborative partnership between community members and bilingual health professionals from different origins, nationalities, and Spanish dialects was formed to create a culturally and linguistically appropriate Spanish Baby Talk curriculum. This interventional pilot study employed survey and interviews to evaluate participant knowledge, intentions, satisfaction and perceptions of the newly developed curriculum. Results. Fifteen pregnant women participated in Spanish Baby Talk. Of those, 12 participated in either phone interviews (n=6) or a focus group (n=6). All respondents described their experience with the Spanish Baby Talk program as “excellent”. Significant increases in knowledge were seen related to topics such as benefits of full-term pregnancy and benefits of breastfeeding. Four themes were identified from the focus group and interviews: 1) lack of accessible community resources; 2) sense of community; 3) Spanish Baby Talk strengths; and 4) areas for improvements. Conclusions. Findings suggested that the Spanish Baby Talk curriculum was linguistically appropriate and resulted in increases in knowledge and intentions related to health and safety behaviors. Areas for improvement were related to marketing the program and referring to resources that provide material supports (i.e., diapers) to continue the move towards a culturally competent program.

Developing Graphic Messages for Vaping Prevention Among Black and Latino Adolescents: Participatory Research Approach

Background As an important transition stage in human development, adolescence is a critical window for vaping prevention. There is a substantial gap in communication research on vaping prevention among racial and ethnic minority groups. Their representation is essential to develop, implement, and disseminate innovative and effective interventions for vaping prevention. Objective The aim of this study is to describe the participatory research (PR) procedures used with Black and Latino adolescents to develop culturally and linguistically appropriate graphic messages for vaping prevention. Methods This PR study used a qualitative, user-centered design method. We conducted a series of focus groups with 16 Black and Latino adolescents to develop culturally and linguistically appropriate graphic messages for vaping prevention. The biobehavioral model of nicotine addiction provided a framework for the development of the graphic messages. Participants met 4 times to provide iterative feedback on the graphic messages until they reached a consensus on overall quality and content. Results At baseline, the participants’ mean age was 15.4 years (SD 1.4). Of the participants, 50% (8/16) were female, 88% (14/16) were heterosexual, 56% (9/16) were Black/African American, and 44% (7/16) were Hispanic/Latino. A total of 12 of the 16 participants (75%) chose to participate in the English sessions. Participants decided to create four types of graphic messages: (1) financial reward, (2) health reward, (3) social norms, and (4) self-efficacy. Meeting 4 times with the 4 groups provided sufficient opportunities for iterative feedback on the graphic messages to reach a consensus on overall quality and content. Conclusions It is feasible and practical to build PR among Black and Latino adolescents focused on vaping prevention. Adolescents added innovation and creativity to the development of culturally and linguistically appropriate graphic messages for vaping prevention. Appropriate staffing, funding, and approaches are key for successful PR efforts among Black and Latino adolescents. Future research is needed to evaluate the impact of the graphic messages on vaping prevention.

Approaching explanatory adequacy in phonology using Minimum Description Length

A linguistic theory reaches explanatory adequacy if it arrives at a linguistically-appropriate grammar based on the kind of input available to children. In phonology, we assume that children can succeed even when the input consists of surface evidence alone, with no corrections or explicit paradigmatic information – that is, in learning from distributional evidence. We take the grammar to include both a lexicon of underlying representations and a mapping from the lexicon to surface forms. Moreover, this mapping should be able to express optionality and opacity, among other textbook patterns. This learning challenge has not yet been addressed in the literature. We argue that the principle of Minimum Description Length (MDL) offers the right kind of guidance to the learner – favoring generalizations that are neither overly general nor overly specific – and can help the learner overcome the learning challenge. We illustrate with an implemented MDL learner that succeeds in learning various linguistically-relevant patterns from small corpora.

A Scoping Review of Associations Between Ethno-Cultural Context and Mental Health in Canada

It is unclear how ethno-cultural concentration of residential areas relates to the mental health of immigrant, refugee, ethno-cultural, and racialized (IRER) groups. Communities of higher ethno-cultural density are theorized to support IRER groups’ mental health via community supports, access to culturally/linguistically appropriate healthcare, and lower discrimination/stigma. This article reviewed quantitative studies that examined relationships between communities’ ethno-cultural density and mental health among IRER groups in Canada. Eleven of the sixteen reviewed studies (almost 70%) observed protective associations between ethno-cultural density and mental health; patterns were more mixed for studies with child populations, suggesting associations may differ based on developmental phases. Findings suggested there was more support in protective associations of higher areal ethno-cultural density with regard to community mental health of IRER groups in Canada.

Exploring the impact of blending differentiated instruction with linguistically appropriate practice towards a culturally and linguistically responsive pedagogy: An action research in a reception class

Η παρούσα έρευνα δράσης πραγματεύεται την επίδραση της Διαφοροποιημένης Διδασκαλίας και της Γλωσσικά Κατάλληλης Πρακτικής στην εκπαίδευση μαθητών με μεταναστευτικό υπόβαθρο. Αντλώντας δεδομένα από το έργο ακαδημαϊκών (Tomlinson, Santamaria, Valiandes, Sfyroera, Chumak-Horbatsch), εξετάζεται το αποτέλεσμα της μίξης των δύο πρακτικών στη μαθησιακή διαδικασία και οι αντιλήψεις των μαθητών σχετικά με τη χρήση της νέας πρακτικής.Στο πλαίσιο αυτής της έρευνας, επτά μαθητές μεταναστευτικού υπόβαθρου (10-12 ετών), συμμετείχαν σε μια παρέμβαση πέντε ερευνητικών κύκλων. Η έρευνα διεξήχθη σε Τάξη Υποδοχής δημοτικού σχολείου του Πειραιά, την Άνοιξη του 2019. Η ερευνήτρια-εκπαιδευτικός μέσω συμμετοχικής παρατήρησης και ερευνητικών ημερολογίων συνέλεξε τα δεδομένα και αναστοχάστηκε πάνω στα αποτελέσματα κάθε κύκλου έρευνας. Συγκεντρώθηκαν επίσης ποιοτικά δεδομένα που προέκυψαν από τη συζήτηση της ομάδας εστίασης των μαθητών σχετικά με τις αντιλήψεις τους για τη νέα πρακτική.Τα ευρήματα έδειξαν ότι η Διαφοροποιημένη Διδασκαλία μέσα στο πλαίσιο της Πολιτισμικά και Γλωσσικά Ανταποκρινόμενης Παιδαγωγικής είχε θετικές επιδράσεις στους εκπαιδευόμενους όσον αφορά την εμπλοκή τους στην μαθησιακή διαδικασία, καθώς έδειξαν αυξημένα κίνητρα, οι διαπροσωπικές τους σχέσεις βελτιώθηκαν, ενώ όλοι δέχτηκαν τη νέα πρακτική χωρίς σοβαρούς δισταγμούς. Εκ μέρους των μαθητών, όλοι σχολίασαν θετικά τα πολλαπλά υλικά, την παιγνιώδη φύση των δραστηριοτήτων καθώς και την πολιτισμική και γλωσσική συνειδητοποίηση που προωθήθηκε.

Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Hospital Services Reduce Medicare Length of Stay

Introduction: Almost 40% of the 63 million Americans who speak a language other than English have limited English proficiency (LEP). This communication barrier can result in poor quality care and potentially adverse health outcomes. Of particular interest is that the greatest proportion of LEP adults are aged >65 years and will face barriers and delays in accessing high-quality care. Age cohort variation of LEP burden has not been widely addressed. Culturally and lin­guistically appropriate hospital care delivery can mitigate these barriers.Methods: In order to test whether culturally competent services reduced length-of-stay (LOS), we linked organizational cultural competence surveys across two-states (CA+FL) for comparison across Medicare acute care LOS. Using the 2013 American Hospital Association Database, and Hospital Compare Data from CMS (N=184), we compared hospital structure with cultur­ally and linguistically appropriate services related to improved care delivery for LEP populations and aging LEP populations. We utilized Kruskal-Wallis to test group differ­ences and a negative binomial regression to model median LOS. All analyses were conducted using SAS 9.4 (Cary, NC).Results: Median LOS across all hospitals was 4.7 days (mean 5.7, standard devia­tion 6.3). Most hospitals were not-for-profit (46.7%), small (<150 beds, 54.4%), Joint Commission accredited (67.9%), and in urban areas. We found shorter median LOS when hospital units identified cultural or language needs at admission (Wald χ2 3.82, P=.0506). Hospitals’ identification of these needs at discharge had no impact on LOS. Hospitals that accommodated patient cultural or ethnic dietary needs also reported lower median LOS (Wald χ2 12.93, P=.0003). Structurally, public hospitals, accredited hospitals, and hospitals that re­ported system membership were predictive of a lower median LOS.Discussion: Our findings demonstrate that patient outcomes are responsive to cultur­ally and linguistically appropriate services. Further, our findings suggest understanding of culturally competent care in hospitals is lacking. A larger and multi-level sample across the United States could yield a greater understanding of the role of cultur­ally and linguistically appropriate care for a rapidly growing population of diverse older adults. Ethn Dis. 2020;30(4):603-610; doi:10.18865/ed.30.4.603