| dc.description.abstract | The Southeast Asian refugees are the most numerous of the recently arrived refugees to the United States. The Hmong hilltribe people from Laos is one of these refugee groups. There -is little known about the Hmong health care practices and ways ;of reporting to health care professionals. Therefore, -this study was. undertaken to: (a) describe the broad categories of -self-care practices of the Hmong, (b) describe in depth those self-care practices which are related to nutrition, and (c) find out if any central themes occur in the self-care practices which can be differentiated to individual family and/or community practices. The theoretical framework was drawn mainly from the work of Dorothea E. Orem. Hmong experts were consulted for needed basic linguistic concepts. Fifteen Hmong men and women ranging from 24 to 69 years of age were selected from a large midwestern metropolitan city. An unstructured open-ended interview was conducted by the investigator and Hmong interpreter with each subject in their homes. Data analysis consisted of content analysis of the responses. Percentages were used where applicable. In analyzing the self-care practices among the Hmong there ii were three major categories: (a) general health practices which included prevention and sickness; (b) nutrition which was separated into general, prenatal, and postpartum nutrition; and (c) mental health practices which were differentiated to family and/or community. When self-care practices are not effective, there is a hierarchy by which people refer themselves to other care providers. These include herbalists, massage persons, spirit callers, shaman, and medical doctors. The results of this research have implications for nurses and other health professionals involved with the Hmong population. The findings in this study indicated that the Hmong refugees are continuing to carry out their cultural self-care practices in the United States and use a lay hierarchal referral system. | en_US |
