College of Nursing, New York University, 246 Greene Street, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10003-6677, USA.
Public Health Nurs. 2009 Nov-Dec;26(6):561-7. doi: 10.1111/j.1525-1446.2009.00815.x.
Advocating overall improvements in health for individuals and communities is a daunting but important task for nurses in particular, and for health care professionals in general. This is particularly true when focusing on the population along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border, a unique region in which distinct cultures, economies, and political systems meet. The purpose of this paper is to confront the assumption that trade and economic expansion automatically translate into improved public health, and to explore policy implications of the public health situation at the border. It uses a meta-narrative, an overarching story that draws on and illustrates collective stories from 300 participants in a study of mental health disparities, to argue for a more nuanced and complex understanding of health among the largely Hispanic population in this region.
倡导个人和社区的整体健康改善，是护士，乃至整个医疗保健专业人员面临的艰巨但重要的任务。当聚焦于 2000 英里长的美墨边境地区的人口时，这一点尤为正确，这是一个独特的地区，不同的文化、经济和政治体系在这里交汇。本文旨在反驳这样一种假设，即贸易和经济扩张自动转化为公共卫生的改善，并探讨边境地区公共卫生状况的政策含义。它采用元叙事的方法，即一个总体故事，借鉴并说明了一项关于心理健康差异研究的 300 名参与者的集体故事，以呼吁对该地区主要是西班牙裔人口的健康有更细致和复杂的理解。
