Kristin Haglund

The Influence of Religiosity, Gender, and Language Preference Acculturation on Sexual Activity Among Latino/a Adolescents

The purpose of this study was to determine the main and interactive effects of religiosity, gender, and language preference acculturation on sexual activity among 570 Latino/a adolescents from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth. Results indicated that adolescents who viewed religion as very important, had frequent church attendance, and had more traditional attitudes on sexuality were less likely ever to have sex compared with adolescents who were less religious. Those with frequent church attendance and high traditional attitudes had fewer lifetime and recent sex partners. Unassimilated religious youth were less likely ever to have sex, had fewer lifetime and recent sexual partners, and a later age of sexual debut. Females were less likely to have had sex, had fewer recent and lifetime partners, and had a later age of coital debut than males. Religiosity had a healthy dampening of sexual activity among Latino/a adolescents and, in particular, among those who were less assimilated.

Conducting Life History Research With Adolescents

This article is a commentary on the life history approach, which specifically described aspects of and offered suggestions for conducting life history research with adolescents. The life history approach is well suited to a wide variety of types of health-related inquiry. In this article, the author used an exemplar study to show how well the life history approach was suited for questions regarding adolescent issues. This approach was also a good match for the developmental skills and needs of adolescents. The author uses the strengths and weaknesses of the approach and a detailed example of how she used the life history data to identify themes drawn from the exemplar study. She makes specific suggestions, including the development and implementation of an interview guide, planning and scheduling interviews, and the use of a lifehistory grid. She includes examples of each suggestion and a sample lifehistory grid.

Parenting a Second Time Around: An Ethnography of African American Grandmothers Parenting Grandchildren Due to Parental Cocaine Abuse

This study describes a group of six African American grandmothers parenting their grandchildren secondary to cocaine abuse on the part of the parents. It explores the manner in which such parenting affected the grandmothers’ health. Data for this ethnography design were collected through participant observation, field notes, taped interviews, and supplementary data sources. The identification of cultural themes evolved from domain and taxonomic analyses. The themes—parenting a second time around, sacrifice, and God’s presence in daily life—expressed aspects of the grandmothers’ culture. The effects on health varied from none to exacerbation of chronic illnesses. The study results, and its picture of life from the grandmothers’ perspectives, suggest areas of nursing assessment and intervention that otherwise might be left unexplored.

Religiosity and Sexual Risk Behaviors Among Latina Adolescents: Trends from 1995 to 2008

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to determine trends in the influence of religiosity on sexual activity of Latina adolescents in the United States from 1995 to 2008 and to determine if differences existed between the Mexican American and other Latina groups. METHODS The sample comprised the subset of unmarried, 15-21-year-old (mean 17 years) Latina female respondents in the 1995 (n=267), 2002 (n=306), and 2006-2008 (n=400) National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) datasets. Associations between religiosity (importance of religion and service attendance) and history of ever having sex, number of sex partners, and age of sexual debut were investigated. RESULTS Less than one half of Latinas in 1995 (44%) and in 2006-2008 (44%) reported that religion was very important to them, whereas in 2002, 50% reported it was important. Only in 1995 did Latinas who viewed religion as very important have a significantly lower level of sexual initiation. In 1995 and in 2006-2008, Latinas who held religion as very important had significantly fewer partners. In all three cohorts, the higher religious importance group had higher virgin survival rates. Across cohorts, approximately one third of respondents reported frequent religious attendance. In all cohorts, frequent attenders were less likely to have had sex, had fewer partners, and had older age at sexual debut. The survival rate as virgins for Mexican origin Latinas was higher in 1995 and 2002 compared to non-Mexican Latinas but was almost the same in 2006-2008. CONCLUSIONS Religiosity had a protective association with sexual activity among Latina adolescents. The association of importance of religion with sexual activity has diminished from 1995 to 2008, however, whereas the importance of service attendance has remained stable. The influence of religion was more apparent among the Latinas of Mexican origin, but this greater influence also diminished by 2006-2008.

Mexican American Female Adolescents’ Perceptions of Relationships and Dating Violence

PURPOSE This study fills a gap regarding the perspectives of Mexican American female adolescents on dating relationships and dating violence (DV). METHODS This was a qualitative descriptive study. Focus groups included 20 Mexican American young women, primarily first and second generation, mean age 14.5 years (SD= 2.5). Data were analyzed with categorical analysis. FINDINGS Participants described key components of DV and identified cultural aspects that may serve to promote healthy dating relationships. CONCLUSIONS Family-based interventions to promote exploration of gender roles and parent-child communication may foster biculturalism as well as promote healthy dating relationships and prevent violence within this cultural group. CLINICAL RELEVANCE In the United States, 10% to 40% of teens experience DV. Hispanic females experience more physical DV than their White peers.

Understanding sexual abstinence in African American teens.

Purpose:To explore the perspectives of teenage girls on how life contexts influenced sexuality and sexual abstinence. Study Design and Methods:A qualitative descriptive study with a convenience sample of 14 sexually abstinent African American adolescent females who were interviewed to obtain their life histories. Narrative analysis was used to identify unique and common experiences and to develop themes. Results:For these participants, being abstinent was a way to demonstrate their emerging identities as adult women. They described themselves as faithful, unique persons who defied negative stereotypes, avoided risky situations, wanted to be strong women like their mothers and grandmothers, and were selective about their friends. The primary challenge to abstinence was their degree of vulnerability to sexual harassment, romantic partner pressure, and female peer pressure. Clinical Implications:Abstinence is a complex state of being that is influenced by a variety of contexts, develops over time, and is consciously chosen. Maintaining abstinence requires effort and a variety of skills. While these young women were cognitively familiar with reasons why they should refrain from sex, nurses may still assist youth with being abstinent by providing ongoing teaching and specific dialogue on how to refrain from sex.

Spirituality and Religiosity in Adolescents Living With Sickle Cell Disease

This study purports to address paucity in the literature regarding how adolescents with sickle cell disease (SCD) describe and experience spirituality and religiosity (S/R). This was a qualitative descriptive study. Two semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine adolescents (Mage = 16.2 years). Data were analyzed using a template analysis style and a concurrent analysis process of data reduction. Three major themes encompassed the participants’ descriptions of the relationships between S/R, health and illness in their lives including S/R as sources for coping, influence of S/R beliefs on health and illness, and sharing S/R with Health Care Providers (HCPs). S/R as coping mechanisms included six threads: interconnecting with God, interconnecting with others, interconnecting with creative arts, scriptural metanarratives, transcendent experiences, and acceptance and finding meaning. Expectations of health providers included two threads: Religiosity is private/personal and sharing spiritual and religious beliefs is risky. S/R are particularly salient for adolescents with SCD.

The Role of Spirituality and Religiosity in Persons Living With Sickle Cell Disease: A Review of the Literature

Purpose: Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a serious debilitating chronic illness, affecting approximately 90,000 Americans and millions globally. Spirituality and religiosity (S/R) may ease the burden faced by persons living with SCD. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of S/R in adolescents and adults living with SCD in the research literature. Method: The electronic databases Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Health Source Nursing/Academic, ProQuest Health Module, PsycINFO, Medline, PubMed, and the American Theological Library Association were searched from January 1995 to December 2014. Findings: Of the 89 studies retrieved, 11 articles between 2001 and 2013 met the inclusion criteria and were reviewed. Four themes emerged. The themes included (a) S/R as sources of coping, (b) S/R enhance pain management, (c) S/R influence health care utilization, and (d) S/R improve quality of life. Discussion: Use of S/R may be significant in coping with SCD, managing pain, affecting hospitalizations, and affecting quality of life. This review can direct researchers exploring S/R in adolescents and adults living with SCD.

Engaging in Culturally Informed Nursing Care With Hmong Children and Their Families

The Hmong are an ethnic hill tribe group originally from Southern China with concentrated populations throughout Southeast Asia, especially the mountains of northern Laos. Following the Vietnam War, the Hmong started immigrating to the United States in waves to escape prosecution for fighting communism alongside the United States. Today, the Hmong population in the United States is growing rapidly, with a median age of 20.4 years. As the Hmong move and redistribute themselves across the country to be with family or pursue new opportunities, it is more and more likely that nurses everywhere will interact with Hmong children and their families. Historically medically underserved, the Hmong community continues to face barriers to healthcare as a result of culture, language, and lack of access. Nurses who are informed about cultural values and norms of the Hmong and their family and social structures, as well as their spiritual and traditional practices, will be able to establish trust with their pediatric patients and their caregivers. Utilizing strategies including interpretive services, asking detailed social and physical histories, providing extra appointment time, asking open ended questions, and employing teach back methods can help improve communication as well as provide higher quality care that addresses the specific needs of this population.

Introducing Allergenic Food into Infants' Diets: Systematic Review

Purpose: The purpose of this systematic review was to explore the association between timing of introduction of potentially allergenic foods to infants and development of food allergies. Methods: CINAHL, Medline, PubMed, Science Direct, and Web of Science were searched using the terms solid food, complementary food, or infant feeding combined with allergy or hypersensitivity for articles published in English in 2000 or later. Inclusion criteria were 1) primary research articles with 2) a focus on association between introduction of complementary foods including potentially allergenic foods into diets of infants less than 12 months of age and development of food allergies. Articles were excluded if they were 1) not primary research, 2) about complementary foods only (without specificity of allergenic foods), or 3) on allergic conditions other than food allergy (such as asthma or eczema). Results: The initial literature search yielded 533 articles; 14 articles met inclusion criteria. Level of evidence of each study was determined with the SORT criteria. Results found that delayed introduction of solid foods in general and allergenic foods in particular was not associated with decreased risk for allergic diseases among high and low-risk infants. Later introduction was associated with increased risk for allergy development. Clinical Implications: For infants at low risk for development of food allergies, providers should advise caregivers to introduce potentially allergenic foods with other solid foods between 4 and 6 months of age when children show an interest in eating solids. Infants at high risk for peanut allergy, should be evaluated by an allergy specialist prior to introduction of peanuts and work with providers to create an individualized plan for introduction of peanuts and other allergenic foods as needed.