Research reveals that racial/ethnic disparities in mortality and morbidity are largely tied to socioeconomic factors. This is major as a result of data availability, most of this research is based on the health experiences of African American and whites. With limited substantiation on the role of socioeconomic factors in comprehending racial/ethnic disparities when African Americans and Native Americans are part of the representation. The probable power of the socioeconomic status (SES) archetype in understanding health differences as well as racial/ethnic differences is manifested in the fact that socioeconomic disparities in health outcomes have been widely renowned for most health conditions in most counties.
People who are less privileged and who have less education are more probable to suffer from diseases to encounter loss of functioning, to be cognitively and physically challenged, and to encounter higher mortality rates. Socioeconomic factors are significant indicators of both lifespan and free from disease and disability. Imbalanced life expectancy and mortality replicate racial and ethnic differences in income, education, and wealth as well as poverty. Various research has identified that when socioeconomic and associated environmental factors are controlled. There is a decrease in the disparities in mortality, a decline in cause-specific mortality, and mental illness falls for groups with unreasonably high rates (Motyka, Nies, Walker & Myers Schim, 2009).
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Several types of research have concluded that the comparatively poor health and health outcomes of African Americans, documenting a long history of economic scarcity and obstructions to health care. Encompassing 12% of the U.S. population as of the year 2000. According to research conducted by Commonwealth Fund, the African Americans life expectancy is six years shorter than whites during birth and two years shorter during the age of 65.2. To offer a current depiction of African American health care encounters, The Health Care Quality Survey 2001 included 1,037 Americans classifying themselves as black or African-American out of an aggregate sample size of 6,722. Analysis conclusions highlight ongoing region of interest. Even among African Americans who are employed, high poverty rates and high un-insurance rates endure wearing down their easy access to care (CDC, 2016).
Across all ages, African Americans are living with greater rates of chronic diseases. On some signs, African Americans are also more probable to report adverse health care encounters. Nevertheless, the research also established favorable developments. African Americans are reporting clinical precautionary care at rates identical to the U.S. national average. This advancement may reveal escalated national attention to prevention to rectify past differences in preventive care (Ibrahim, 2005). Health Insurance and access to health care approximately one-third of African Americans ages 18 to 64 were uninsured during the year (30%), equated to one of five (20%) nonelderly white adults.
Though employment levels differed, African American nonelderly adults are also particularly less likely to have job-based insurance and more probable to depend on public initiatives. Lack of insurance reveals a broad income disparity with 50% of African Americans equated with 30% of whites’ reports annual income at poverty or near-poverty levels. However, having a doctor experienced with past health concerns is an essential to acquiring quality health care, 28% of African American adults say they have no regular doctor, compared with 19% of whites (CDC, 2016). African Americans were more probable to name hospital emergency rooms, clinics, or none as their common source of care. 22% of African Americans compared with 15% of whites reveals slight or no choice in where they go for health care. Inadequate regular doctor significantly weakens the quality of care.
African Americans with scarce regular doctor are less probable to access preventive services such as physical examinations, are less confident in and satisfied with their care, and are more likely to report communication challenges. Health habits and Health status in African American adults are more likely to report chronic disease than adults. The long-lasting disease problem escalates with age for all populations (CDC, 2016).
Health Promotion
Individual-level behavioral factors promoting health disparities are typically categorized into risk-taking and health-promoting behaviors. These behaviors involve the rate of preventive exams (self-breast exams, pelvic exams, prostate cancer screening, etc.), health-promoting practices (physical activity, adequate sleep, proper nutrition, etc.), and health-compromising behaviors (use of alcohol, drug abuse, and smoking). A study by epidemiologist’s reveals that African Americans are less probable as compared to white Americans, and Asian Americans more likely to participate in precautionary health behaviors related to use of screening tests diet, exercise, and smoking.
Cultural behaviors of racial and ethnic groups characterized as “cultures of repression,” “cultures of shame,” or “cultures of machismo,” for instance, are occasionally employed to describe some of these group disparities. Feelings and attitudes such as shame and stigma can minimize the probability of effective treatment. For instance, the study recommends that some cohorts of Asian-Pacific Americans are less agreeable to seek medical care for communally stigmatized diseases while gay African American men are more probable to hide an HIV-positive diagnosis and less likely to try to find early treatment than whites (Ibrahim, 2005).
In other research, highlight the apparent mental health welfares for African Americans of communal activities such as family gatherings, church going, and church-based social services. For the foreign-born population, unfamiliarity with the U.S. health care system and language barriers can hinder communication between practitioners and patients, who consequently may also stay away from a variation of medical services. Additional research shows that linking health behaviors to cultural norms can perpetuate stereotypes and mask root causes of unhealthy practices. Culture is not static; it changes over time and under different conditions. For example, smoking rates
Health Disparities
Life and death measures of health status, comprising mental health and psychological well-being, life expectancy, infant mortality, mortality and causes of death are methods of measuring the health of a population. In the United States, these health signs disclose noticeable differences among racial and ethnic groups. Even though Americans typical live longer than in the past, African Americans can look forward to living an average of five fewer years than whites. When sex is comprised of the evaluation, white women have the longest life span of 80.3 years, while African American men have the shortest of 68.8 years. Unluckily, equitable data are not existing for other racial and ethnic groups.
There are also remarkable racial and ethnic disparities in infant mortality rates. African American young ones have the highest death rates and are more than twice as probable as white newborns to die in their initial year of life. Differences in life span and health among African Americans and whites in the US have occupied since before the slavery age. According to David R. Williams and Chiquita Collins, although racial taxonomies are socially built and random, race is still one of the main foundations of separation in American life. All through US history racial differences in health have been universal (Ibrahim, 2005).
Byrd and Clayton write that there have been two durations of health reform precisely speaking the improvement of race-based health differences. The first duration was associated to Freedmen’s Bureau lawmaking and the second was a portion of the Civil Rights Movement. They both had a positive and dramatic impact on African American health outcome and status but were obsolete. Even though African-American health status and the outcome is gradually enhancing, African American health has deteriorated or stagnated related to whites (CDC, 2016).
References
Ibrahim, S. (2005). Critical Perspectives on Racial and Ethnic Differences in Health in Late Life. Annals Of Internal Medicine , 142 (1), 80. http://dx.doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-142-1-200501040-00023
Minority Health and Health Equity - CDC . (March 28, 2016). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . Retrieved 26 April 2016, from, http://www.cdc.gov/minorityhealth/index.html
Motyka, C., Nies, M., Walker, D., & Myers Schim, S. (2009). Improving the Quality of Life of African Americans Receiving Palliative Care. Home Health Care Management & Practice , 22 (2), 96-103. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1084822309331609
