Dichos & Diabetes: Literary Devices Used by Mexican-Origin Males to Share Their Perspectives on Type 2 Diabetes and Health

ABSTRACT

The medical literature emphasizes the increasing role of cultural c onsiderations for improved health education among Latinos. Research in Latino culture reveals the inherent function of figurative language devices, such as dichos, in individual expression and cultural norm transmission. Increased understanding of dichos may provide unique insight into the dynamic relationship between collective cultural knowledge and individual health perceptions. Dichos related to health and diabetes among Latinos, however, remain entirely unexplored. The present study represents a secondary qualitative analysis of the perspectives on diabetes and health of Mexican-origin males that identified inadequate understanding of disease processes and cultural customs as barriers to health. Spanish language transcriptions from the original study were content analyzed by two Latino researchers fluent in English and Spanish to identify the use of dichos by the participants to convey their perspectives on health and diabetes. The results reveal four major categorizations of dichos: religiosity, familism, formation, and individuality. Findings from this study provide insight on the utility of dichos for the identification of health-related perspectives. Dichos may also serve clinicians and health educators as culturally relevant vehicles of communication for encouraging and transformative health discussions. Future diabetes interventions should incorporate dichos to explore quantifiable outcomes of culturally tailored programs.

KEYWORDS:

• Dichos
• diabetes
• Mexican-origin males
• obesity
• motivation

Acknowledgments

This study is indebted to the Texas Woman’s University Small Grant Program and the welcoming respondents whose participation made this study possible. The primary investigator would like to thank the contributions of Dr. Claudia Sanchez for her passion and efforts for cross professional research for the advancement of Latino education in healthcare. Additionally, Dr. Cynthia Warren and Dr. David O. Garcia for their methodological guidance in the original study and the detailed improvements of this secondary qualitative analysis. Lastly, Mr. Adrian L. Gazaway as copyeditor, for his dedication to meticulous revisions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Texas Woman’s University Small Grant Program.