Knowledge and use of ethnomedical treatments for XXXX among Puerto Ricans in an urban community.

@entity1 @entity565
PURPOSE: Puerto Ricans have higher lifetime and current @entity565 prevalence than other racial and ethnic groups in the United States. A great many Hispanics use ethnomedical therapies for @entity565 . This study elicited @entity1 knowledge of ethnomedical therapies, developed a typology of the therapies, and considered whether some types are used or deemed efficacious based, in part, on information source. METHODS: Eligible @entity1 were randomly selected from the medical records of an inner-city primary care clinic serving a predominantly Hispanic community in Buffalo, New York. Thirty adult Puerto Ricans who had @entity565 or were care-givers of @entity1 with @entity565 were interviewed in @entity1 using a semistructured instrument. Qualitative data analysis followed a content-driven immersion-crystallization approach. Outcome measures were ethnomedical treatments for @entity565 known to @entity1 , whether these treatments were used or perceived effective, and the @entity1 's information source about the treatment. RESULTS: @entity1 identified 75 ethnomedical treatments for @entity565 . Behavioral strategies were significantly more likely to be used or perceived effective compared with ingested and topical remedies (P <.001). Among information sources for ingested and topical remedies, those recommended by community members were significantly less likely to be used or perceived effective (P <.001) compared with other sources. CONCLUSIONS: This sample of Puerto Ricans with a regular source of medical care was significantly more likely to use or perceive as effective behavioral strategies compared with ingested and topical remedies. Allopathic clinicians should ask Puerto Rican @entity1 about their use of ethnomedical therapies for @entity565 to better understand their health beliefs and to integrate ethnomedical therapies with allopathic medicine.
