The Relationship Between Health Adherence Behaviors, Level of Acculturation, Frequency of Cognitive Distortions, and Psychological Distress in Filipino Americans

Abstract

Nonadherence to medical recommendations is a prevalent concern within the U.S health care system, including among many ethnic minority groups, such as Filipino Americans. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between health adherence behaviors, acculturation level, frequency of cognitive distortions, and psychological distress in Filipino Americans. Filipino American participants (N = 121) completed the following measures: the Health Adherence Behavior Inventory, A Short Acculturation Scale for Filipino Americans, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9th edition, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale, and the Inventory of Cognitive Distortions. Results indicated a significant negative relationship between anxiety symptoms and health adherence behaviors and a significant negative relationship between depression symptoms and health adherence behaviors. Further, psychological distress was found to significantly predict health adherence behaviors, with depression making a significant contribution. There was also a significant positive relationship between acculturation and anxiety, and a significant positive relationship between acculturation and frequency of cognitive distortions. Clinical implications for this population include that the more acculturated a Filipino American is to the host culture, the higher frequency of cognitive distortions. This suggests that acculturation is an important factor to consider within health care as it relates to cognitive distortions. Future recommendations would be to consider the concept of colonial mentality, protective factors, and the development of more acculturation assessment tools for Filipino Americans