Paper
Saturday, November 3, 2007
72
Self-Prescription Practices in Recent Latino Immigrants
Maren J. Coffman, PhD, RN, School of Nursing, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, USA and Marcia A. Shobe, PhD, MSW, Department of Social Work, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, USA.
| Learning Objective #1: define and describe self-prescription practices in the Latino population. |
| Learning Objective #2: identify health care barriers that influence self-prescription and other alternative health care patterns. |
Objective: Self-prescription involves the purchase and use of restricted medications without medical advice and without a prescription. Due to regulatory differences, this practice is common in Central and South American countries. Though widespread in the Latino population, relatively little is known about the practice in the U.S. The purpose of this study is to describe how Latino immigrants obtain and use prescription medications without accessing the formal health care system.
Methods: This exploratory descriptive study used focus groups to gain an understanding of health care and self-prescription use. Three focus group discussions were held with 19 adult Latino immigrants who were new to the U.S., did not have health insurance and were largely unauthorized residents. Each focus group session was tape recorded, transcribed into Spanish and translated into English. Related significant statements were placed into categories and collapsed into four overall themes. Validation of the themes was done through an independent categorization of the significant statements.
Results: The participants gave detailed accounts of self-prescription and experiences that drove the practice. Analysis of the data revealed four major themes: a) health care barriers, b) cultural norms, c) self-care, and d) self-prescription.
Conclusions: This population experiences significant barriers to health care. Though they lack the knowledge needed to make appropriate decisions, the participants in this study describe self-prescription as common, cost-effective, safe and accepted. There are many public health and safety concerns related to this practice. Since many states do not regulate the sale and distribution of medications from other countries, nurses who care for this population need to ask about medication use and sources. Nurses that recognize and understand self-prescription practices can reduce medication safety concerns.