Correlates of picuriste use in a sample of health-seeking Haitian immigrants and adult children of immigrants in Miami-Dade County, Florida

Abstract

Objectives: We explored covariates of the use of picuristes (traditional health workers with no formal medical training who provide intramuscular, subcutaneous, and intravenous injections, typically with nonsterile needles) in the Haitian community of Miami-Dade County, Florida.

Methods: We surveyed a community-based sample of 205 Haitian immigrants and adult children of Haitian immigrants. Through logistic regression analysis, we sought to corroborate the correlates of picuriste use identified in previous qualitative interviews of picuristes and their clients.

Results: Picuriste injections had been obtained by 17.6% of our respondents. After control for demographic characteristics, we found that participants who reported that a trusted person recommended a picuriste were 3.9 times as likely as participants without a recommendation to have used a picuriste. Similarly, participants who believed that the benefits associated with picuriste use were worth any resulting problems were 4.5 times as likely as those without this belief to have patronized a picuriste.

Conclusions: A significant minority of our sample patronized picuristes. Our data identified factors associated with picuriste use and shed light on a frequently hidden cultural health behavior.