HHE 446: Quiz 1
The Census Bureau projects that in the next 4 decades the nation will have:
- Most of the population concentrated in urban areas rather than rural - Immigration will continue to drive demographic shifts - The number of people 60+ will continue to increase (people are living longer) - Increasing number of US residents will speak a language other than english - Non-white population expected to become the majority hispanic/asian population will continue to grow
Why do you think that people who spend more time in self reflection tend to have more empathy for others? What is the connection happening there?
- Once you understand yourself it's easier to relate to others - You can't help someone else without understanding yourself
What does Structural Racism look like?
- Redlining and Racialized residential segregation - Mass incarceration - Police brutality - Unequal medical care What do these examples share? - Harms that are historically grounded - Involve multiple institutions - Rely on ignorance in order to grow
Structural Racism
- There is no "official definition" of this concept - But all definitions of this term share one idea: that racism is not simply the result of prejudices held by individuals, but also produced by laws, rules, and practices sanctioned and even implemented by various levels of government - Confronting racism, therefore, requires not only changing attitudes, but also dismantling policies and institutions that work against IPOC
Redlining
- To guide determinations of mortgage-worthiness. Home-owner loan corporation (HOLC) companies created maps of at least 239 U.S. cities - Using racial composition as part of its assessment, HOLD literally drew red lines around communities with large Black population, flagging them as hazardous investment areas whose residents would not receive housing loans - Redlining made mortgages less accessible, rendering prospective Black homeboys vulnerable to predatory terms, thereby increasing lender profits, reducing access to home ownership, and depriving these communities of an asset that is central to intergenerational wealth transfer
Health Equity
- attainment of the highest level of health possible for all people - Achieving health equity requires valuing everyone with a focus on ongoing social efforts to address - Avoidable inequalities - Historical and contemporary injustices - Elimination of health disparities
Equity
- everyone gets the treatment they NEED to succeed - Fairness or justice - Justice- the causes of the inequality was addressed
How can we take this seemingly complex definition of health disparities and translate it into terms that you can explain to someone who maybe isn't a public health major?
- Barriers vs. advantages to health of a certain population - Concerns about social justices
Primary care doctors
Family doctors, general practitioners, surgeons
Structural Inequities
Structures of systems of society - such as finance, housing, transportation, education, social opportunities - that are structured in such a way that they benefit one population unfairly (whether intended or not)
Life Expectancy (health disparity)
how long someone is expected to live
What is health?
"Health is a state of complete physical, social and mental wellbeing, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." - WHO 1948
Cultural Humility is a Pathway to Empathy
"Not a discreet endpoint, but a commitment and active engagement in a lifelong process that individuals enter into on an ongoing basis with participations, communities,k colleagues, and with themselves" - Leland Brown, 1994
Public health
"Public health is what we AS A SOCIETY. Do COLLECTIVELY to assure the conditions in which (all) people can be healthy" Institute of Medicine 1988
Cultural Awareness
- "Me Centered" Analysis: What are my values, beliefs, and customs? - "Other Centered: Analysis: What are other's values, beliefs and customs? - It means being observant and consciousness of similarities and differences among and between cultural groups - Includes: Having a firm grasp of what culture is and what it is not, Understanding how people acquire their cultures, Being conscious of one's own culturally shaped values, beliefs, perceptions, and bias
4 Pillars of Cultural Humility
- A lifelong process of critical self-reflection and self-critique - Redressing the power imbalances in the patient- provider dynamic - Developing mutually beneficial partnerships with communities on behalf of individuals and defined populations - Advocation and maintaining institutional accountability that parallels the three principles above
What are the affects of enforcing diversity? (TedTalk)
- Creativity - Problem solving: people from different backgrounds bring their own opinions - Communication - Friendship
Why do we need Empathy?
- Empathy is,, communicating that incredibly healing message of "You're not alone" - Brene Brown - Empathy is: Seeing with the eyes of another, Listening with the ears of another, And feeling with the heart of another - Studies have shown... that those who spend time in self-reflection tend to have more empathy for others
Equity
- Equity recognizes that everyone does not begin in the same place in society - Some people face adverse conditions and circumstances making it more challenging even with the same effort and desire, to achieve the same goals
Cultural is Dynamic
- Though the term "culture" is often used when describing different ethnic or religious affiliations, most people experience and participate in different cultures just by moving through their daily lives - Example) a person's family or home culture will likely have distinctly different qualities and behavioral expectations that their work culture, school culture, or social group culture - A person cannot begin to understand the makeup and contact of another person's life without being aware and reflective of their own background and situation first
Whats a burden of disease?
- Toll on family - Geographical location - Cost
Health Inequity
- differences in health status between more and less socially and economically advantages groups - Cause by systematic differences in social conditions and processes that effectively determine health - avoidable, unjust, and therefore actionable
Equality
- everyone gets the same treatment; everyone is treated the same exact way, regardless of need or any other individual experience - "sameness"
What is the importance of social justice in healthcare?
-Making sure that everyone has the same opportunity - Everyone has access to the care that they need despite the disparities
Leading Health Disparities in the U.S.
Cardiovascular disease Cancer Diabetes HIV/AIDS Infant Mortality Asthma Mental Health Maternal Health
Factors that determine health figure explained
Clinical care takes up 20% of our health Other 80%: - Social factors - Education - Money SES - Where you grew up Note that clinical care only accounts for ~20% percent of the total, yet we have often equated health care with health
Cultural Competence vs Cultural Humility
Cultural competence: - mastery/expert - Ideally, there is an endpoint to achieve - Rigid guidelines Cultural Humility: - Always a learner/student - No endpoint - Fluid and flexible - Personal, authentic
Cultural Competence vs Cultural Humility
Cultural competence: the ability of individuals to use academic, experimental, and interpersonal skills to increase their appreciation of cultural differences and similarities among, within, and between groups Cultural humility: process of reflection and lifelong inquiry, involves self-awareness of personal and cultural biases as well as awareness to significant cultural issues
You/ The individual
Dieting behaviors, exercise, learning behaviors
Lack of access to care (health disparity)
High out of pocket costs, geographic location
when people show up at the clinic with a health issue, there are always multiple underlying issues
Housing Income Family dynamics Transportation Mistrust Previous experience
Uninsured/Underinsured (health disparity)
Lacking insurance coverage or not having adequate insurance coverage
Why is Public Health Important?
Prevention! Public health professionals aim to prevent the problems from happening or recurring in society Accomplish through... - Educational programming - Needs assessment - Policy - Research
Secondary prevention
Prevents injury/ disease once exposure to risk factors occurs but still in early, "preclinical" stage
What would you say are necessary conditions for your health?
Sleep Water Nutritional food Community Shelter Insurance
"We all see the world through cultural glasses" - What does this quote mean? ( TedTalk)
Some cultures see some things from a different perspective just because of how they view themselves and others
Public health professionals
State health departments, healthy policy makers, health educators, curriculum advises, researchers
Primary prevention
Targets risk factors leading to injury/disease (safety belt laws or vaccinations)
Primordial Prevention
Targets social and economic policies affecting health
Mass Incarceration
This extends beyond policing! Systematic racism is evident at every stage of the system - From policing - To prosecutorial decision - Pretrial release processes - Sentencing - Correctional discipline - Reentry
The "UN" populations: A Major Part of Health Disparities
Underserved Under deserved Underprivileged Underemployed Underclass Uninsured Underinsured Undocumented Undereducated Uninformed
redlining; affects peoples life expectancy
What is an example of structural inequity?
Mortality (health disparity)
death rate
What is equity rooted in?
justice and fairness
Ways to create change
- A shift in thinking and acting this big requires multiple levels of response - Building public understanding of what creates health is essential - We must work to change the "narrative" so that people understand that health is created in the community by peoples working together to create just social and economic conditions - The next thing is to increase the expectations that these conditions can and will change - And public and political will is necessary because these are tough choices, and there will be competing forces - Accountability too is essential to follow up on the decisions that are made
Cultural Awareness
- Acknowledge differences - Doesn't seek broader context or understanding - Very limited behavior change
Environmental Barriers
- Air quality - Housing - Food safety
Equality
- Equality is one of the central principles of democracy and is based on the belief that all people should have the same opportunities to be successful and have a productive, enjoyable life - Rooted in sameness - Everyone will be able to achieve based on their efforts and contributions
Key Drivers of Health Disparities
- Institutional Barriers - Environmental Barriers - Social Barriers
Why didn't the Fair Housing Act work?
- Just because laws are put in place doesn't mean there sustainable - Its really hard to change just because its a law
Cultural Competency
- Represents action on the part of an individual or organization - Systems elements are aligned with respect to other cultures
What is structural Inequity?
- Systemic or structural elements of society that benefit one population unfairly - Finance - Housing - Transportation - Education - Social opportunities - Lower education: lack of qualified teachers, inadequate teaching materials, poor sanitation
4 reasons why we need cultural and linguistic competence:
- To respond to current and projected demographic changes - To eliminate long-standing disparities in health status of people of diverse racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds - To improve the quality of service and health outcomes - To meet legislatives, regulatory, and accreditation mandates
Puerto Rican Sterilization Campaign
- Women told to get their tubes tied - 1 in 3 women in Puerto Rico were sterilized - Women's rights - Low economic status
Tuskegee Experiment:
- syphilis treatment - African american men - Penicillin discovered although never given to patients of the treatment; experiment went on 30 years after treatment was discovered - Medical distrust
Cultural Competence
- the ability to understand and interact effectively with people from other cultures - Requires: Understanding of your own culture, A willingness to learn about the cultural practices and worldview of other, A positive attitude toward cultural differences and readiness to accept and respect those differences - Asking ourselves... "What adjustments both in the way I think and the way I behave do I need to make in order to effectively operate in a different cultural context?"
What are the three C's relating to culture? (TedTalk)
Conform: conscious effort Confront: wanting to make change Complaint: your individual behavior is the right behavior
Burden of disease (health disparity)
Considers health, social, political, economic and environmental factors to determine the cost that disease exerts upon an individual - Cost of treatment - Getting to where you need treatment - Support
In order to be effective, health education and prevention strategies must address each groups unique feature in a culturally and linguistically appropriate manner
Culture Experiences Language Age Gender Sexual orientation
Necessary Conditions for Health
Peace Shelter Education Food Income Stable ecosystems Sustainable resources Social justice and equity
Healthcare professionals
Physical therapists, occupational therapists, technicians, physicians assistants, nurses, nurse practitioners
Covid-19 and Dimensions of Health Inequality
Testing, treatment, and health outcomes Lack of racial/ethnic testing data Ability to socially distance Housing and other social determinants Racist narratives and stigma Access to economic stimulus
Real World Examples of Equity and Equality
- Gender equality: giving equal quantity of food to all family members at the table, irrespective of their nutritional requirement, dietary needs, allergies - Gender Equity: giving more nutritious and additional quantity of food to the pregnant and lactating women, based on their dietary requirements
A community effort
- Health is truly a community effort - People have the power to change their communities - We need to recognize when and where certain communities are being excluded from decision making processes and assure that all people have the opportunity and capacity to participate in creating healthy communities
How is this demographic shift a call to action for health educators and professionals to become more culturally and linguistically competent?
- If people that your serving speak a different language it it important to make sure to communicate properly - Being aware of what's happening and be more empathetic
Cultural Humility
- Lifelong commitment to self-evaluation to readdress power imbalances - Develop and maintain respectful relationships based on mutual trust
Red-lining
- Mark the low income socioeconomic population - Still happens til this day - Lower income schools - Less ability to actually buy a house
Social barriers
- Racism - Education level - Stigma, poverty, SES
The Power of interconnectivity
- The more we understand our interconnectedness, the more we move from "charity" or "services" for others to recognizing that the whole community is being held back by health inequities. - The health of everyone in the U.S. at different income levels is worse than the health of people of the same income in countries that have smaller inequities
Demographic shift
- The numbers and characteristics of the US population have been changing drastically ever since the turn of the century - The racial and ethnic diversification of the US population established the need to cultural and linguistic competence
Culture
- group membership such as racial, ethnic, linguistic, or geographical groups - Collection of beliefs, values, customs, ways of thinking, communicating, and behaving in a specific group - is learned, shared, and transmitted from one generation to the next - helps us organize + interpret life - Includes thought, styles of communication, ways of interacting, roles/relationships, values, practices and customs
Institutional Barriers
- laws/policies - Workplace mandates - Hospital settings
Cultural Humility
- lifelong process of self-reflection and self-critique whereby an individual not only is learning about other cultures, but starts to examine his/her/their own beliefs and identities - To be humble, means to demonstrate humility, which is often defined as "freedom of pride or arrogance"
Tertiary prevention
Rehabilitating persons with injury/disease to reduce complications (vocational rehab to retrain workers after alter)
What makes something a health disparity?
The fact that these chronic diseases are adversely affecting certain groups of people over others.