Impact of Acculturation on Body Mass Index in Haitians Immigrants

by Nirva Berthold Lafontant

Overview

Longer-term Haitian immigrants residing in the United States exhibit a decline in physical health-related to a high body mass index (BMI). While the literature doesn't have much to offer, I have used theories on immigrant acculturation to examine health patterns in Haitian immigrants by the length of their stay in the United States. The purpose of this cross-sectional study, guided by the Schwartz model of acculturation, was to examine the effect of acculturation and the length of stay in the United States on BMI in a sample of Haitian immigrants living in the Northeast Metropolitan area. This book is an extension of my study. According to the study results, acculturation, the length of stay, age, gender, and physical activity were not significant predictors of BMI change. An ancillary analysis using the subscales of acculturation revealed similar results. This study may provide positive social change by enabling health providers to understand the beliefs, values, and practices of Haitian immigrant groups and the acculturation pattern of individuals when providing care for this population.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940162646822
Publisher:	Paramount Publisher
Publication date:	10/05/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Nirva Birthold is a dedicated healthcare professional who has treated many immigrant patients in her career. Dur-ing her research project at Walden University, she conduct-ed a study to examine the effects of the length of stay of Haitian Immigrants in the U.S. and acculturation on the BMI of the immigrants.
Nirva wants to bring a positive social change with her study, and therefore, she decided to write this book based on the study she had conducted in her Ph.D., to make it easily accessible to healthcare professionals across the Unit-ed States.
Her first book, New Cultural Adaptation has the poten-tial to become a base for many future types of research in this area and can be used by healthcare practitioners in the U.S. to cater to the specific healthcare needs of Haitian and other immigrants in the country.