title: Puerto Rican women's perceptions of heart disease risk.
abstract: Women frequently fail to recognize that coronary heart disease (CHD), not breast cancer, is the primary cause of female mortality. CHD mortality among U.S. mainland Puerto Rican (PR) women is second only to African American women. It is unknown what PR women understand about their risk, what factors they believe contribute to CHD, or whether they know the atypical symptoms often experienced by women. Most CHD studies exclude Hispanic women. Those that do often aggregate their results, making subgroup variations invisible. This study explored awareness of CHD symptoms, risks, and help-seeking behaviors among 12 PR women. Focus group methodology revealed that participants were unaware of their risk and had misconceptions about CHD symptoms and contributing factors. Barriers to early recognition and treatment included lack of knowledge, gender role conflict (caregiver vs. care recipient), and fears of falsely alarming family members or the embarrassment of feeling "dismissed" by health care providers.
authors.affiliation: Fairfield University, Fairfield, Connecticut 06430, USA. jlange@fairfield.edu
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lange
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Evans-Benard
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fahey
authors.forename: Marlain
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kalapos
authors.forename: Donna
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tice
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wang-D'Amato
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Watsky
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000208:ethnology / Q000451:nursing / Q000523:psychology; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D016746:Transcultural Nursing / Q000379:methods*