Inequality in Health Care
Assignment: Aversive Racism and Inequality in Health Care
Aversive racism is a subtle and indirect type of racism that can contribute to unequal treatment in a variety of settings and situations including, but not limited to, health care access for minority racial and ethnic groups. Individuals who engage in aversive racism say they support the principle of racial equality and do not believe they are prejudiced. However, they also possess subconscious negative feelings and beliefs about specific racial and/or ethnic groups. Aversive racism often results in a majority group’s failure to help a minority group, even though they do not intentionally cause harm. Aversive racism may be a contributing factor to poor quality health care for some minorities.
To prepare for this Assignment:
· Review the Section III, “Framework Essay,” and Reading 31 in the course text. Pay particular attention to aversive racism and health care access.
· Review the article, “Psychiatrists’ Attitudes Toward and Awareness About Racial Disparities in Mental Health Care,” and focus on methods for reducing aversive racism.
· Take the Race Implicit Bias test at the Project Implicit website.
· Identify two examples of racial or ethnic inequality in health care in the United States.
· Think about how aversive racism contributes to the examples that you identified.
· Consider methods for reducing aversive racism in your examples.
The Assignment (3–pages):
· Describe two examples of racial or ethnic inequality in health care in the United States.
· Explain how aversive racism contributes to the inequality illustrated in the examples (and thus in health care) you described.
· Explain methods for reducing aversive racism in your examples. Be specific and provide examples to support your explanation.
· Discuss how implicit bias might impact health care in the United States.
Support your Assignment with specific references to all resources used in its preparation.
THIS INFORMATION WAS UNDER RESOURCES FOR THE WEEK:
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html
https://ps-psychiatryonline-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/doi/full/10.1176/ps.2010.61.2.173
Published Online:1 Feb 2010https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1176/ps.2010.61.2.173
Persons from racial-ethnic minority groups have disproportionately poor mental health status, experience more barriers to and receive lower quality mental health care, and are underrepresented in mental health research ( 1 , 2 ). The relatively lower socioeconomic status of most racial-ethnic minority groups explains some variation—that is, persons from racial-ethnic minority groups are more likely to be uninsured or underinsured, to be less educated and have lower income, and to reside in areas where medical services are less available ( 3 , 4 ). Moreover, persons from racial-ethnic minority groups may be more distrustful of health care providers, have lower health literacy, be less likely to seek care, and prefer fewer services ( 5 , 6 ). Nonetheless, disparities persist even after controlling for such factors. Some of this variation is likely due to differences based on race-ethnicity in physician-patient interactions ( 7 ,8 , 9
