HLT-312v Week 5 Assignment – Collaborative Learning Community: Health Disparities Among Diverse Populations

Details:

This is a CLC assignment.

Students will be assigned to groups by the course instructor. This is a two-part assignment that will consist of a presentation and an accompanying flyer.

Part 1: Presentation

Develop a 10-15 slide presentation, using PowerPoint or Prezi that includes the following information:

1. Analyze the health care status of a specific minority group. Select a minority group that is represented in the United States (examples include: American Indian/Alaskan Native, Asian American, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander).
2. Compare  the health status of the minority group you have selected to the national average. What is the current health status of this minority group? What health disparities exist for this group?
3. You will find important health information regarding minority groups by exploring the following resources: “Minority Health” and “Racial and Ethnic Minority Populations,” both of which are located on the the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.
4. Explain the cultural and socioeconomic barriers to health. How do race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and education influence health for the minority group you have selected?

A minimum of three references must be used for this assignment.

The title slide and reference slide are not counted in required minimum slide count.

Part 2: Flyer

1. Develop a one-page flyer that describes a healthy prevention strategy to address one of the 10 leading causes of death for the minority group you have selected.
2. Refer to the resource “HealthyPeople 2020” for information regarding healthy prevention strategies.
3. Include the flyer in your group’s presentation.

While APA format is not required for the body of this assignment, solid academic writing is expected and in-text citations and references should be included within the presentation using APA documentation guidelines, which can be found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.

 

MORE INFO 

Health Disparities Among Diverse Populations

Introduction

The United States is a country with many different ethnic groups, and some of these groups experience significantly different health outcomes. This can be caused by socioeconomic factors, such as income level or education level. Other causes include ethnicity, race and gender discrimination in healthcare settings; geographic location; age groupings (e.g., children); class/socioeconomic status; literacy levels for English speaking populations vs Spanish speaking populations; sexual orientation identities; etc.

Different groups of populations experience different levels of health, based on life expectancy, mortality rates, causes of death, and other similar factors.

As you can see, different groups of populations experience different levels of health, based on life expectancy, mortality rates, causes of death and other similar factors. Examples include race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status (SES).

In addition to these factors that contribute to disparities in health outcomes between minority groups and White Americans, there are also other cultural differences between diverse populations. For example:

• Some cultures value the importance of cleanliness more than others; thus it might be more difficult for an individual from another culture to adapt if they return home after living away from their native land for several years at a time. This could lead them not only feel out-of-place but also unsure about how much effort should be put into maintaining good hygiene when visiting family members or friends who may not understand why someone would need such things as soap or toilet paper when traveling abroad!

What Causes Health Disparities?

Health disparities are the result of social and economic factors that make it harder for people to get the health care they need. These factors include:

• Lack of access to health care

• Lack of education about how to stay healthy and prevent disease

• Lack of healthy foods, such as fruits and vegetables, in their diets

Health disparities can also be caused by environmental factors, such as poor air quality or lack of access to parks and playgrounds. These are called environmental determinants because they’re outside our control—for example, we don’t choose where our ancestors lived (or where they didn’t live). Health disparities are a consequence of these social structures rather than an individual choice or preference.*

Socioeconomic status is one of the major contributing factors to health disparities among diverse populations.

Socioeconomic status (SES) is a measure of a person’s social, economic and material situation in life. It reflects their level of income, education and occupation.

The term SES was coined by sociologist Robert F. Woodward in 1967 to describe the social class to which an individual belongs based on their socioeconomic status. The term SES is often used interchangeably with categories such as race/ethnicity, gender identity and sexual orientation; however there are different levels of SES across these groups that may influence health outcomes differently.[1]

Other Causes of Health Disparities

Health disparities are not just a problem of race, ethnicity and socioeconomic status. There are many other factors that contribute to the health status of marginalized populations. Some of these include:

• Lack of access to healthcare (i.e., lack of insurance coverage or inadequate access)

• Lack of access to healthy food (i.e., low-income neighborhoods tend not to have grocery stores that sell fresh fruits and vegetables)

• Lack of clean water (many low-income communities do not have running tap water inside their homes)

• Lack of housing options for people who earn below median income levels—the average home price in suburban areas exceeds $300k per home!

Ethnicity and Race

Ethnicity and race are not the same thing. Ethnicity is a category created by humans, based on cultural characteristics (like hair color or skin tone), while race is a category created by humans, based on physical characteristics (such as eye color). Race does not exist in nature and does not have biological correlates; it’s just a social construct.

Race can be further subdivided into several categories: white, black/African American/Latino/Hispanics/Native Americans etc., which makes it easier to understand how diverse populations fit into these groups than if they were all lumped together under one big umbrella term like “human beings.”

Age

As you can see, age is a major factor in determining how much health care you receive. In fact, the number of people receiving care from doctors decreases with each year of age. This is because older adults tend to have more chronic conditions and require more long-term treatment than younger adults do.

The same thing happens for pregnant women: those who give birth at later points in pregnancy are less likely to receive prenatal care or even an abortion after their child’s birth (though they may receive some other services such as maternity clothes).

Class/Socioeconomic Status

Health disparities are a major problem in the United States and worldwide. While there is no one explanation for these disparities, they may be caused by socioeconomic status (SES).

SES is defined as the level of wealth and social position that an individual has relative to others around them. SES can be measured through education level, income level and occupation (e.g., college degree holder vs. high school dropout). Socioeconomic status helps determine access to health care services and influences how healthy people are able to live their lives.

Education and Literacy

• Education and literacy are important for health. Literacy is the ability to read and write, while education refers to all the steps necessary for becoming literate: learning how to read and write, acquiring knowledge about reading and writing (including grammar), being able to understand what you’ve read/written/written about, being able to use this knowledge in making decisions about your life—and so on.

• Education can be defined as “the acquisition of knowledge”; literacy encompasses both book knowledge (for example, knowing how many pages there are in a book) as well as non-book knowledge (for example, knowing how many bills are left at home). Thus, although it might seem logical that someone who has never gone outside their house would not have any concept of weather patterns or other natural phenomena outside their immediate area or even country—they may still be considered educated because they know something about those things!

Gender and Sexual Orientation

LGBTQ people are at a higher risk for health disparities. In particular, they experience mental health issues and are more likely to be uninsured. LGBTQ people also tend to be overweight or obese compared with the general population.

Geography/Residence Location

Geography can play a role in health disparities. For example, geographic location may affect access to healthcare, healthy food and housing.

• Access to Healthcare: People with lower incomes may not be able to afford the cost of medical care or live in areas where there are no hospitals or doctors’ offices. This can result in them going without needed treatment for chronic conditions like diabetes or heart disease, which could lead to more serious outcomes than if they had received timely care.* Access To Healthy Food: Many people who live in low-income neighborhoods do not have access to fresh fruits and vegetables due to where they live (e.g., inner city vs rural). They also may not have access because it would be too hard for them financially (e.,g., living paycheck-to-paycheck).

• Access To Healthy Housing: Homelessness is often associated with poverty and/or racial/ethnic minority status; however this does not mean that everyone who lives homeless does so because of these factors alone but rather it means most families experience homelessness at some point during childhood due largely due lack adequate resources such as income supports from social agencies when one becomes unemployed during adulthood

It is important to understand the various factors in order to create more equitable healthcare solutions.

Understanding the causes of health disparities is important for creating equitable healthcare solutions. Healthcare costs are higher for some groups of people and this can be attributed to a number of factors, including:

• Socioeconomic status

• Race/ethnicity

• Gender identity or expression

Conclusion

We hope that this post has helped you to understand the cause of health disparities among diverse populations and how we can work together to overcome them.