Avaliação: Un petit bout du chaos. Les anecdotes de terrain comme expériences de subversion – Una Mala Vida? Alzheimer’s Disease, Cultures of Care, and Structural Healthcare Disparities among Chicanos in New Jersey 

Scholars of race and class have engaged in considerable debate over the root cause of high rates of Alzheimer’s susceptibility among Chicanos. Some scholars argue that the shortage of primary care physicians and healthcare disparities are properly identified as the leading causes of this susceptibility. Others have attempted to refute these analyses, claiming that Chicanos conceptualize Alzheimer’s patients as individuals who led “una mala vida” (bad life). On this view, religiously and culturally motivated stigma represents the most significant contributor to high susceptibility among Chicanos, rather than structural healthcare deficiencies. This paper uses data gathered from original interviews conducted in high-density Chicano communities in New Jersey to address causes of elevated Alzheimer’s susceptibility. Subjects were interviewed to determine their perspectives on healthcare disparities, and responses were compared against existing studies on Chicano religious and cultural practices in New Jersey. The interviewed Chicanos gave no evidence of belief in targeted disparities, overwhelmingly indicating that they have experienced no healthcare disparities apart from the cost of insurance and care. Data confirmed, however, the widespread belief that Alzheimer’s resulted from patients having led sinful (mala) lives, generating embarrassment that discouraged patients from seeking medical intervention. This paper argues that although healthcare disparities and barriers contributed somewhat to New Jersey Chicanos’ reluctance to access medical assistance, the cultural and religious stigmas around the illness constituted the primary cause of this reluctance, which in turn strongly correlated with the high susceptibility rate towards Alzheimer’s among Chicanos in New Jersey. 

• Alzheimer's
• Chicanos
• Health Care Disparities
• Cultural Differences