Introduction
The need to address healthcare disparities in the United States requires health practitioners to look at healthcare from a different perspective. The elimination of these disparities, especially among racial ethnic minorities and underserved populations needs a shift from disease-focused biomedical perspectives or approaches to a healthy equity model that focuses on attaining optimal health for everyone by targeting structural and social health determinants using as asset-based approach.
Asset-Based Approach
Asset-based healthcare practitioners have a different approach as they ask the question “What makes us healthy” as opposed to “what makes us ill?” Therefore, they shift their focus from diseases to finding assets or wealth and resources that exist in communities which can be employed to promote and strength healthcare infrastructure (Benenson & Staggs, 2016). Further, asset-based approach practitioners among racial ethnic minorities seek resources to protect communities against poor health and build communities and networks which can sustain health. Asset-based practitioners’ vision is to improve people’s life opportunities by focusing on factors that can improve or enhance their health and wellbeing while at the same time reduces preventable health disparities, particularly among racial minorities (Rippon & Hopkins, 2015; Trinh-Shevrin, 2015).
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Using Asset-Based Approach in Addressing Health Disparities among Racial Minorities
Race and ethnicity are socially constructed and have profound effects on the lives of people affected and defined based on their perception and access to healthcare in the United States. Racial and ethnic minorities have the most obstinate inequities in health despite the many improvements that have been carried out to enhance their health (Rippon& Hopkins, 2015). As such, these communities can use their available assets to improve healthcare outcomes. However, a majority of the racial and ethnic minorities are from poor households that cannot afford healthcare. Imperatively, an asset-based approach can be used to enhance healthcare among these communities and reduce the existing disparities. Solutions to the disparities need to consider social, political, and historical issues in relation to the available assets at the local, state, and federal governments aimed at enhancing healthcare outcomes. Assets are stocks of resources that communities have accumulated that include financial resources, people, networks, land and institutions. Others include the use of social, cultural, religious and political structures and ideas possessed by the racial and ethnic minorities (Trinh-Shevrin et al., 2015). Therefore, an asset-based approach allows practitioners to focus on available assets to make the communities healthy.
Strengths of asset-based approach in addressing healthcare disparities among racial and ethnic minorities
The asset-based approach considers the potential and strengths that exist within communities and individuals as opposed to weaknesses. Using this approach, the practitioners shift their focus on resources to prevent diseases as opposed to focusing on the diseases (Rippon& Hopkins, 2015). Asset-based approach offers practitioners the opportunity to focus on the strengths that exist in communities and available resources aimed at preventing diseases and healthcare disparities. Additionally, the approach places emphasis on the role and knowledge of communities, networks, and other community organizations in alleviating existing challenges (Trinh-Shevrin et al., 2015). Further, it empowers people to have control of their health and lives using their available assets. The framework encourages practitioners to work with citizens to address social, economic and environmental health determinants and health disparities.
Weaknesses of Asset-based approach
The main weakness of the approach is that it focuses entirely on resources and ignores that community dynamics may affect the availability of the resources to address healthcare challenges. Secondly, healthcare disparities among racial and ethnic minorities are caused by low-income levels among these individuals yet the approach does not factor in such issues. As such, the approach ignores fundamental economic and political factors that create current disparities in healthcare among these people.
Closing
It follows that the asset-based approach to healthcare among racial and ethnic minorities offers benefits that go beyond practitioners’ expectations. Imperatively, the paper demonstrates that an asset-based approach allows practitioners and policy makers in healthcare sector to initiate strategies to improve access to healthcare and mitigate disparities using local available resources by focusing on initiatives to make people health and not diseases.
References
Benenson, J. & Staggs, A. (2016) An Asset-Based Approach to Volunteering: Exploring Benefits
for Low-Income Volunteers. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly , vol.45 (IS) pp. 131S-149S. Retrieved from http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0899764015604739
Rippon, S. & Hopkins, T. (2015) Head, hands and heart: asset-based approaches in health care;
Retrieved from http://www.health.org.uk/sites/health/files/HeadHandsAndHeartAssetBasedApproachesInHealthCare.pdf
Trinh-Shevrin, C. Nadkarni, S., Park, R., Islam, N., Kwon, S.C. (2015) Defining an integrative
approach for health promotion and disease prevention: A population health equity framework. Journal Health Care Poor Underserved , vol.26 (20) pp. 146-163. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4530990/
