A Qualitative Exploration of Less Acculturated Mexican Mothers’ Safety Perceptions of Herbs, Medicines, and Cleaners in the Home

• Published in: Journal of immigrant and minority health Vol. 18; no. 2; pp. 420 - 427
• Main Authors: Crosslin, Katie, Tsai, Ray, Massey-Stokes, Marilyn
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer Science + Business Media 01.04.2016; Springer US; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Acculturation; Adult; Allergic reactions; Alternative medicine; Anatomy; Archives & records; At risk; Attitude to Health - ethnology; Brief interventions; Census of Population; Child; Child, Preschool; Childhood; Children; Children & youth; Comparative Law; Death & dying; Drug Use; Drugs; Educational Attainment; Emigrants and Immigrants - statistics & numerical data; Ethnic Groups; Exploration; Families & family life; Family Environment; Female; Hazardous materials; Health care; Herbal medicine; Herbs; Hispanic Americans; Home environment; Household Products - poisoning; Households; Humans; Hypersensitivity; Immigrants; Infant; Ingestion; Injuries; Internal Medicine; International & Foreign Law; Interviews; Language Skills; Male; Medical Services; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mexican Americans - psychology; Mexican Americans - statistics & numerical data; Mexican people; Migrant Children; Minority & ethnic groups; Mortality Rate; Mother-Child Relations - ethnology; Mothers; Noncitizens; ORIGINAL PAPER; Pediatrics; Perceptions; Personal safety; Pharmaceutical Preparations; Phenomenology; Phytotherapy - statistics & numerical data; Poisoning; Poisons; Primary care; Private International Law; Public Health; Qualitative Research; Reproducibility of Results; Safety; Semi Structured Interviews; Sociology; Structured interviews; Studies; Transportation safety; United States; Young Children; Fort Worth Texas; United States > US; USA, Texas, Dallas; USA, Texas, Fort Worth; Pile sorting; Childhood poisoning; Home safety; Qualitative; Mexicans; Semi-structured interviews
• ISSN: 1557-1912; 1557-1920
• DOI: 10.1007/s10903-015-0195-z

Childhood poisoning is a leading public health concern in our society. The death rate from unintentional poisonings among children has increased by 80 % from 2000 to 2009. Immigrant children are also at-risk. A qualitative study, consisting of a pile sort, was conducted among immigrant Mexican mothers to determine their safety perceptions of commonly used medicines, herbs, and cleaners. Participants (N = 35) were selected for semi-structured interviews from a pediatric primary care clinic in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. Some mothers over-estimated their children’s ability to discern the dangers of substances, relied heavily on sensory skills of children, and perceived a medicine as safe after successful use in the past. Other mothers were more cognizant of allergic reactions, ingestion, and the need to store substances carefully. Brief interventions that incorporate culturally-appropriate safety messages are needed to assist Mexican mothers in creating a safe home environment.