Cafecitos and Telenovelas: Culturally Competent Interventions to Facilitate Mexican American Families’ Decisions to Use Home Care Services

Latino elders have higher rates of chronic illness and death than their non-Latino counterparts. Latino elders are also the fastest growing minority group in the United States. Although many Mexican American (MA) elders could benefit from home care services (HCS), many MA elders and family caregivers resist using these services. The purpose of this study was to test using cafecitos and telenovelas to affect MA elders’ and caregivers’ attitudes toward use of HCS. Cafecitos are traditional informal discussions among similar people. Discussions about attitudes toward using HCS were tested with 3 samples in 3 settings at local and neighborhood associations (n = 43). Telenovelas are dramatizations of compelling stories in Spanish. These were tested with 4 samples in 4 settings (n = 55). Todo ha cambiado portrayed the story of an older MA woman who grappled with her attitudes toward using HCS. Themes of the cafecitos indicated that participation increased knowledge that HCS existed. Anecdotal comments revealed that the participants identified with the Telenovela story. Although the pilot sample was too small to derive statistical significance, comparisons of pre- and posttests showed a trend toward increased knowledge. Cafecitos and telenovelas are promising, culturally competent strategies for increasing MA elders’ and caregivers’ knowledge and willingness to consider using HCS.