Steps to Reduce Health Disparities
Steps to Reduce Health Disparities
Identifying Health Disparities
Using the South University Online Library or the Internet, research and read about a specific health disparity of interest to you. This can be based on gender, age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, etc.
Based on your research and data gathered, create a report that addresses the following:
What is the background of the disparity chosen?
Who does this disparity impact?
What are the determinants of this disparity?
What is the impact of this disparity?
Is there an intersection of multiple concerns related to race/ethnicity, gender, and sexuality related to this issue?
How and where would one seek to intervene to address this disparity in the context of the social ecological model?
How does this disparity affect the health of the population on a larger scale?
How does your race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or SES impact your ability to work within the community affected by this disparity?
SUPPORTING LECTURE:
Steps to Reduce Health Disparities
Documenting health disparities among different groups in the United States spans more than a quarter of a century. A 2011 report by the federal government on the status of efforts to reduce these inequalities offered a somewhat discouraging conclusion. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “insufficient evidence exists regarding effectiveness of particular interventions in reducing specific disparities among certain defined populations” (2011, p. 9).
In your text, researchers have identified five basic steps that we as a society can take to address and reduce health disparities:
Take explicit measures to eliminate unconscious race bias and ethnic bias as a cause of health disparities.
Monitor patterns of care to identify disparities when they exist.
Strengthen the physician-patient relationship, especially when physician and patient are from differing backgrounds.
Increase the racial and ethnic diversity of the medical profession and other health professions.
Assure access to care through universal health insurance.
Reference:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2011, January 14). Health disparities and inequalities report—United States, 2011. MMWR, 60, 1–113.
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