LatinaLista — If there is one vice most Latinas have, especially as we get older, is that we don’t exercise enough. It’s clearly evident with the skyrocketing diabetes rates among us.
So why don’t we exercise more? No time? Exhaustion? Just don’t care? Too busy?
Jennifer Lopez explains why she’s training for a triathlon.
Younger Latinas are trying to change that perception. One example is the singer Jennifer Lopez. After giving birth to twins, she is now training for a triathlon and sharing her experiences on a blog at Self.com.
But she’s a celebrity, right? She probably has maids, cooks and nannies and so of course she has time to exercise, but what’s the excuse for the rest of us older Latinas who are not doing it?
Well, it might have something to do with being Latina. Researchers at the University of Texas are conducting an unique study on Latinas, and other women of color, 40-60-years of age, to gauge our perspectives on exercise — they need our help.
If you qualify, there’s a little bit of an incentive for participating. Read on to see if you would like to be a part of helping in this worthwhile study.
“Ethnic Specific Midlife Women’s Attitudes Toward Physical Activity”.
The changing racial and ethnic makeup of the U.S. will require health professionals to practice with cultural competence in areas such as promotion of physical activity, where cultural beliefs may mediate health promotion behaviors.
Although the benefits of physical activity are now widely accepted, midlife women, especially ethnic minority women, have low participation rates in physical activity, and prevalence rates of cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and hypertension, and all-cause mortality among ethnic minority women (that can be effectively reduced by increasing physical activity) have been reported to be much higher than those of White midlife women. A plausible reason for the low participation rate is that the women’s ethnic-specific attitudes toward physical activity have rarely been incorporated into relevant interventions.
The purpose of this study is to explore attitudes of midlife women from four ethnic groups [Hispanic, Non-Hispanic (N-H) White, N-H African Americans, and N-H Asians] toward physical activity while considering the relationships between their attitudes and their actual participation in physical activity within the ethnic-specific contexts of their daily lives. Data will be gathered via Internet survey and ethnic-specific online forums to allow for a national sample.
You are eligible to participate in this study if you are a midlife women aged 40 to 60 years old who do not have any mobility problems; who can read and write English; who are online; and whose self-reported ethnic identity is Hispanic, non-Hispanic (N-H) White, N-H African American, or N-H Asian.
Your involvement will consist of the following: (a) about 30 minutes are usually needed to complete the Internet survey questionnaire; and (b) the online forums will be conducted for 6 months, should you agree to participate in the additional online forum discussion.
Your participation is asynchronous (you can visit the online forum site and read and post messages at your convenience).
You will receive a gift certificate of 10 dollars for filling out the Internet survey, and an additional gift certificate of 50 dollars for participating in the additional online forum (only those who participate in the additional online forum for 6 months will be provided with this additional gift certificate). To get reimbursed for the online forums, you have to post at least one message per topic.
For more information, please visit at our website (http://mapa.nur.utexas.edu) and/or contact us at eim@mail.utexas.edu
