The Role of Acculturation and Social Capital in Access to Health Care: A Meta-study on Hispanics in the US

Maria E. Rodriguez-Alcalá, Hua Qin, Stephen Jeanetta

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

23 Scopus citations

Abstract

A meta-study of 83 articles published from 1981 to 2016 was conducted on Hispanics access to health care in the US. Few of these studies have included acculturation and even fewer the role of social capital as important factors that impact healthcare access for this population. Among those that do include these two factors, there is confusion as to how they are defined and operationalized. Acculturation and social capital could serve to overcome some of the structural barriers in place that manifest stronger among Hispanics who are relatively newcomers to a healthcare system that is highly complex to navigate. The majority of studies included in this systematic review of the literature are in public health journals, which do not focus on sociological aspects as much. This study exposes the need to expand the worldviews used in the literature in order to enrich our understanding of access to health care for Hispanics.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1224-1252
Number of pages29
JournalJournal of Community Health
Volume44
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 1 2019
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.

Keywords

  • Access to health care
  • Acculturation
  • Hispanics
  • Latinos
  • Social capital

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