New Survey
of Hispanics in the United
States Reveals Dramatic New Data on
Experiences and Awareness of Paralysis
Christopher & Dana Reeve
Paralysis Resource
Center Commissions its
First-Ever Survey on Paralysis in the Hispanic Community
SHORT
HILLS, N.J., Oct. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- A recent survey
of Hispanics living in the United States revealed that a sizeable proportion of
them know or have known someone who is paralyzed, yet more than half of them
are not aware of any resources in their community to help people with
paralysis.
"There
are very few statistics available on paralysis as it relates to minority
communities," said Joe Canose, Vice President,
Quality of Life, for the Christopher Reeve Foundation, who also directs
organizational and outreach efforts at the Christopher & Dana Reeve
Paralysis Resource Center (PRC). "Since the PRC has been making a
concerted effort to reach out to minorities over the past year, it is important
for us to know what their attitudes and awareness levels are, so that we can
administer our outreach accordingly."
The survey
revealed that more than 37 percent of Hispanics know or have known someone who
is paralyzed, but almost 56 percent of them are not aware of resources for
those with paralysis within their community, and less than 10 percent of them
access the Internet as a resource.
"The
Hispanic community is one of the largest in the United States today,"
continues Canose, "making it imperative for us
to spread our message to them. We encourage those living with and/or affected
by paralysis to call our toll- free number at 1-800-539-7309, where their
questions can be answered by Spanish-speaking Information Specialists. We also
urge them to ask for a free copy of our Paralysis Resource Guide, which is
available in Spanish, and contains a wealth of information for those trying to
navigate the world of paralysis."
Other key findings of the survey include:
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For
support with a health problem, Hispanics overwhelmingly (85.4 percent) turn
to close family members. Hispanics interviewed were most likely to mention
their spouse (33.4 percent), a parent (23.7 percent) or a sibling (18.4
percent) for support.
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Outside
of family and friends, medical professionals are the key source of
information (74.5 per cent) if a person has a health problem. Only 9.5 per
cent of those surveyed turned to the Internet as a resource.
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One in
three Hispanics (37.2 percent) know or have known someone who is paralyzed,
and almost all those interviewed were aware of the source of the paralysis.
The most frequent source of the paralysis was the result of an injury (40.6
percent), followed by an illness or health problem (33.3 percent), and a
birth defect (20.5 percent).
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One out
of four Hispanics (23 percent) say they are not at all comfortable with
people who are living with paralysis, but a large number feel their community
is supportive to people living with paralysis (extremely supportive: 10
percent; very supportive: 24.5 percent; and somewhat supportive: 34.6
percent).
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Despite
an overall feeling that their community is supportive to people living with
paralysis, more than half of Hispanics surveyed (55.5 percent) are not aware
of any resources in their community that specifically help people living with
paralysis.
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This
national survey commissioned by the Christopher & Dana Reeve Paralysis Resource
Center, was conducted by International
Communications Research to understand attitudes among the Hispanic
community towards people with paralysis, and awareness of resources available
to those with or affected by paralysis. The survey was based on telephone
interviews with 1,008 adult Hispanics (459 males, 549 females) living in
Hispanic households in the continental United States. Interviewing was
completed during the period September 13-26, 2005. With over half of the
interviews conducted in Spanish, the sample is representative across ethnic
origins, ability to speak English and Spanish, as well as levels of
acculturation, gender, age, education and geographic region. Findings are
weighted to provide national representative and projectable
data for the adult U. S. Hispanic population, aged 18 years and older. The
margin of error for the total sample is plus or minus 3.1 percent.
The
Minority Communities Outreach Campaign is a public awareness initiative of the
Christopher & Dana Reeve Paralysis Resource Center (PRC), a program of the
Christopher Reeve Foundation, formed through a cooperative agreement with the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The PRC provides information
services to people and their families nationwide who are living with paralysis.
For more information on the PRC, please visit http://www.paralysis.org.
SOURCE
Christopher and Dana
Reeve Paralysis
Resource Center
Web Site: http://www.paralysis.org
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