This crucial contribution exposes the misconception that health research and health services are equally effective for all and highlights their failures in reaching Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) groups. It provides essential case study examples on recruitment, engagement and partnerships with BAME groups in research and public engagement.
In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.
Racial and ethnic disparities in health care are known to reflect access to care and other issues that arise from differing socioeconomic conditions. There is, however, increasing evidence that even after such differences are accounted for, race and ethnicity remain significant predictors of the quality of health care received. In Unequal Treatment, a panel of experts documents this evidence and explores how persons of color experience the health care environment. The book examines how disparities in treatment may arise in health care systems and looks at aspects of the clinical encounter that may contribute to such disparities. Patients' and providers' attitudes, expectations, and behavior are analyzed. How to intervene? Unequal Treatment offers recommendations for improvements in medical care financing, allocation of care, availability of language translation, community-based care, and other arenas. The committee highlights the potential of cross-cultural education to improve provider-patient communication and offers a detailed look at how to integrate cross-cultural learning within the health professions. The book concludes with recommendations for data collection and research initiatives. Unequal Treatment will be vitally important to health care policymakers, administrators, providers, educators, and students as well as advocates for people of color.
In this crucial contribution to current debates, Natalie Darko exposes the misconception that health research and health services are equally effective for all and highlights their failures in engaging with Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) groups. Drawing on case studies, this book presents essential examples of culturally tailored recruitment, engagement and partnerships with BME groups in research and public engagement. Drawing attention to the organisational, structural and cultural barriers that prevent access for BME groups, this important book exposes the practices within health research, clinical practice, commissioning and health services that perpetuate the stereotyping of BME groups as ‘hard to reach’.
This book provides a unique insight into the challenges faced by people with learning disabilities trying to access mainstream health and social services and by the professionals who are trying to provide them. The combination of professional perspectives and viewpoints of people with learning disabilities themselves creates an authoritative explanation of why this group of people face the barriers they do. The contributors critique these barriers and also offer potential solutions to overcoming them. - Personal reflections written by people with learning disablities on their experiences of accessing health and social care services - Comprehensive coverage of policy in the four UK countries - Comprehensive analysis by subject experts of practice in a range of areas, from acute health care through mental health to leisure and housing provision - Accessible summaries at the end of each chapter including text for people with learning disablities
This book discusses the concepts of migration, race, and ethnicity and demonstrates how these can be applied in scientific research, policy making, health service planning, and health promotion. Extensive examples are used to demonstrate the application of the theory.
Experts from a range of disciplines offer practical advice for conducting social science research in racial and ethnic minority populations. Readers will learn how to choose appropriate methods—longitudinal studies, national surveys, quantitative analysis, personal interviews, and other qualitative approaches—and how best to employ them for research on specific demographic groups. The volume opens with a brief introduction to the difficulty of defining a population and designing a research program and then moves to illustrative examples drawn from the contributors’ own studies of Blacks in the United States, the Caribbean, and South Africa. Case studies cover research on the media, mental health, churches, work, marital relationships, education, and family roles.
Community Mental Health Engagement with Racially Diverse Populations summarizes research on reducing mental health disparities in underserved populations through community engagement programs. It discusses the efficacy of such programs with specific populations of people of color and cultures, for specific disorders, and via specific communities. It identifies how and why community engagement works with these populations, how best to set up new community programs, the steps and stakeholders to success, and includes case studies showing successes and the challenges involved. - Identifies how and why these programs achieve success through patient engagement - Explores efficacy with specific ethnicities and cultures - Discusses efficacy of programs through schools, churches, non-profits, and more - Includes case studies with their successes and challenges - Provides guidelines on the development and implementation of community programs
Disparities in health and health care across racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds in the United States are well documented. The reasons for these disparities are, however, not well understood. Current data available on race, ethnicity, SEP, and accumulation and language use are severely limited. The report examines data collection and reporting systems relating to the collection of data on race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic position and offers recommendations.
This book is the first to provide an aerial view, as well as detailed information, on ‘how’ activities in translational medicine are under development in countries such as the USA, China, the UK, and Taiwan. Institutions in each country are training investigators to work as sophisticated interdisciplinary teams. Investigators from 11 US academic health centers explain how they are incentivizing collaborations through pilot project programs, forming partnerships with business schools to promote efficient management of basic and clinical research, creating ethical, high-value public-private (industry) partnerships, improving efficiency with utilization of informatics, and engaging the community in research. The essential role of evaluation is explained in a clear and concise manner. The readers will also learn about the role of private funding in Taiwan and the vision of the government in China in developing multiple translational research centers. The UK is developing methodical approaches to patient needs across their lifespans; ongoing innovation is encouraged through incubator programs. With the emphasis on open innovation and sharing, the concepts and practice of translational medicine are spreading rapidly on an international scale.
