Depression Among Latino Immigrants: Article Analysis

Perceptions of Depression in Latino Immigrants
While navigating the general topics covered on my assigned 2 journal issues I came across topics about assessing the role in culture, Madeleine Leininger, experiences of different cultural groups, nursing diagnosis, and child vulnerability in a particular diverse group. The article chosen in this essay are in regards to how Hispanic Immigrants view depression. I found that this article is an important topic because of the career choice I am making. As a Nurse Practitioner who is also Hispanic I want to ensure that I give the proper care to all patients I see and take their culture into consideration. To aide a patient properly one must consider all factors including psychosocial. As a Practitioner

In this part of the article it discusses what “The Beliefs about Causes of Depression Scale” (Caplan et al. 2013) entitles. In this specific article it studies how Dominican, Colombian, and Ecuadorian immigrants view depression and the factors that contribute to it. This scale used was a list of 35 explanations for illness causation with a 5-point rating scale. The scale is very specific and holistic to every aspect of the Hispanic individual. This scale included sexual abuse, death, trauma, religion, diet, character, finances, childhood, and many other factors. Analyzing the scale also made me think critically on what questions I would ask as a nurse practitioner; some factors that were not mention was fear, education, and accomplishment of goals. I find this to be important because some immigrants experience fear which can prevent achieving goals therefore can cause feelings of depression. One new thing that I learned was that fatalism was an important cultural belief for Hispanics. This belief elaborates that illness reflects God’s will. According to Caplan et al. (2013) “Fatalistic beliefs are cited as a cultural barrier to preventative care and help seeking behaviors”(p.69). As nurse practitioners we need to discover data about religious interpretations of Hispanic beliefs so that we can provide the best treatment

One thing I learned about was the term Niervos which is one cultural label believed by Hispanics that is used to describe mental illness. Cabassa et al.(2007) states “Nervios is often linked to individuals’ etiological conceptualizations of mental health problems that are associated with situational factors, such as romantic problems, school, work failure, strain in social roles, and death of loved one”(p.2). This term means “nerves” in English; it means something different to us but in reality this is how Hispanics view depression. This view may stop Hispanics from seeking mental health