Award Date

12-1-2021

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Nursing

First Committee Member

Jennifer Kawi

Second Committee Member

Catherine Dingley

Third Committee Member

Hyunhwa Lee

Fourth Committee Member

Elizabeth Lawrence

Number of Pages

134

Abstract

The United States has a significant number of immigrants from Africa. More come from Nigeria than other African countries. Even though acculturation influences health behavior in other cultures, this relationship is understudied in the Nigerian immigrant community in the United States which can influence their health care. This study examined the relationship between acculturation, health-promoting lifestyle, and health status of Nigerian immigrants. Key constructs from Berry’s acculturation model guided the study. Acculturation was conceptualized as occurring through varying levels of ethnic society immersion (ESI) and dominant society immersion (DSI). The study also examined the influence of education on acculturation using a cross-sectional quantitative design since Nigerians are among the best educated in the United States. The Stephenson Multigroup Acculturation Scale (SMAS) measured ESI and DSI subscales of acculturation. The Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile-II (HPLP II) measured six subscales of health practices and the Short Form-12 (SF-12) measured the physical and mental health composite scores (PCS & MCS). Participants (N = 161) were recruited through convenience and snowball sampling. Bivariate correlations and path analysis were used to examine the data. Findings demonstrated that ESI and DSI predicted all health-promoting lifestyle domains. Particularly, spiritual growth was significantly predicted by ESI and DSI at the highest standardized coefficients of 0.34 and 0.30, respectively. Spiritual growth was also found to be strongly correlated with all other health-promoting lifestyle domains (moderate correlation with physical activity at 0.41) and had the highest influence on both physical (0.38) and mental composite scores (0.34). In conclusion, maximizing spiritual growth elements to enhance preventative care and chronic illness management can benefit this population. As well, adapting to a new culture (DSI) does not diminish connection to one’s ethnic culture (ESI). Keywords: acculturation, health-promoting lifestyle, health status, Nigerian immigrants

Controlled Subject

Acculturation; Public health; Immigrants; Nigerians

Disciplines

Nursing

File Format

pdf

File Size

2300 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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Nursing Commons

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