Public Health

Centro Campesino, Inc., in collaboration with Hispanic Advocacy and Community Empowerment through Research (HACER) and Dr. Michael Rodriguez from the Educational Psychology Department at the University of Minnesota, carried out an 18-month Developmental Community Academic Research Award project entitled
Understanding Behaviors, Values, Motivations and Recommendations of Latino Subgroups in Developing
Effective, Community-based Tobacco Cessation Programs. This research worked to unify Latino health promoters, bilingual/bicultural community-based researchers, academic researchers, and key stakeholders in a collaborative effort to better understand tobacco use and tobacco cessation among Latino subgroups in Minnesota. Our asset-oriented approach intended to shift from the current paradigm of focusing on negative behaviors associated with tobacco use, to a paradigm that focuses on positive behaviors associated with not using tobacco among Latino adults in south central Minnesota.

Secondhand smoke from cigarettes is one of the leading underlying causes of
death in the U.S., accounting for 3,000 deaths due to lung cancer and 35,000-62,000
deaths due to heart disease each year. It also contributes to asthma and other illnesses
in children. The Latino community seems to have smoking rates that are at least as
high as the state as a whole.1
Recognizing that culture shapes the way health
messages are understood and received, the Association for Nonsmokers–Minnesota
asked for HACER’s help in conducting focus groups to explore the Latino community’s
perceptions of secondhand smoke and its reaction to various kinds of messages about
secondhand smoke.

In an effort to gain a richer understanding of the problem of poverty and how it
affects Chicano-Latino Children in Minnesota, HACER conducted focus group research in
selected Minnesota communities where Chicanos-Latinos are known to reside in significant
numbers.