Hispanic Culture and Health: Role of the Community Health NurseLaurent KimwamaRN-BSN ProgramUniversity of Central MissouriThe diverse population I want to talk about is Latino/Hispanics. Leininger's theory of cultural care diversity and universality aimed to provide culturally competent nursing care by understanding the similarities and differences of various cultures. (Nies and McEwen, 2011, p-219). She proposed transcultural nursing that community health nurses are expected to understand and use when interacting with the community (Hispanic population). According to Leininger, cultural distinctiveness refers to behaviors, values, or way of life that are unique to a particular population or culture. On the other hand, “universal culture” refers to shared and similar behaviors, values, lifestyles and beliefs between different populations or cultures (Nies & McEwen, 2011, p-219). The cultural specificities of the Hispanic population include: recourse to traditional healers in case of illness, belief in the “hot” and “cold” theory of illnesses. Universal culture for the Hispanic population includes: believing in religion (most are Roman Catholic) Nutrition is an important aspect that affects the health of Hispanics. Hispanic foods vary depending on their country of origin, but the main ones are rice, beans, and tortillas. Lard is used to prepare food. On the other hand, assimilation and acculturation have led to changes in traditional Hispanic diets, making processed foods and fast foods more common. Fast foods that are both American like hamburgers and Mexican like fajita tacos are enjoyed by many (De Paula, Lagana, & Gonzalez-Ramirez, 2009). This has made obesity a major problem for the Hispanic population. This h...... middle of paper ......ation. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 18(1 Suppl.), 7S-9S. Hakimzadeh, S. and Cohn, D. (2007). English usage among Hispanics in the United States. Retrieved from http://www. pewhispanic.org/2007/11/29/englishusage-Among-Hispanics-in-the-United States/Nies, M., McEwen, M. (2011). Community/Public Health Nursing: Promoting Population Health (5th ed.).St.Louis: Mosby Elsevier. Piedra, LM, Andrade, CD and Larrison, CR (2011). Strengthen response capacities: need for universally available language services. In LP Buki & LM Piedra (Eds.), Creating infrastructure for Latin American mental health, part 1 (pp. 55–75). New York, NY: Springer Science & Business Media, LLC. doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-9452-3_3Zapata, J. and Shippee-Rice, R. (1999). The use of folk healing and healers by six Latinos living in New England. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 10(2), 136-142.