In Thomas LaVeist's "Minority Populations and Health: An Introduction to Health Disparities in the United States," the author discusses the social determinants that results in the health disparities of racial and ethnic minorities in the United States. The studies on the epidemiological profile of racial/ethnic minorities show that African American, Native American and Hispanic/Latinos have the worst health profiles and Asians/Pacific Islanders and Whites have the best health status. Research has showed that racial and ethnic minorities have reduced access to healthcare compared to their White counterparts. Even when the minorities have equal access to care, they usually receive less quality care. Socioeconomic status is a major factor in predicting health status because minorities are affected by low socioeconomic status and this ultimately leads to worse health conditions. Racial/ethnic difference in health behavior is also a factor in health disparities in minorities. Issues relating to prevention and risk behavior stated that minorities are more likely to be physically inactive, have poor nutrition, be overweight/obese, more likely to smoke, more likely for alcohol abuse and illicit drug use. The minority population is more likely to delay seeking for treatment compared to their White counterparts.
The author further discusses specific health issues relating to each racial group. African Americans have the highest mortality rates, high death rates from homicide and HIV/AIDS, high rates of obesity, and more likely to face discrimination in a healthcare setting. American Indian and Alaska Natives have high mortality rates relating to accidents and alcohol abuse. The Asian/Pacific Islander population is known as the "model minority" group because they have the fewest health risks, lower mortality rate and have the longest life expectancy than the other racial groups. The API population has many diverse subgroups that make it difficult to study the underlying health issues specific to each group. Similar to the API group, the Hispanic/Latino population has many variations among their subgroups, so it's difficult to draw conclusions on their health status too. This group is the largest minority group and has good overall health status from their low socioeconomic status, lack of insurance coverage and difficulty in accessing quality healthcare. The author also proposes models and solutions in addressing these disparities and improving the overall health system for the different racial and ethnic minorities. In order to eliminate the health gap and reduce health disparities, he proposed three points of intervention for health disparities: socioenvironmental, individual-level and the health care system. Socioenvironmental factors to improve health disparities include "eliminating exposures to environmental hazards, improved housing, reduced availability for alcohol, tobacco and other drugs, etc." (LaVeist, 292) Individual-level factors to improve health disparities include "improve education, improve health literacy, reduce inactivity, increase health eating, improve health screenings and English proficiency." (LaVeist, 292) He stated that, "increas[ing] availability of health services, provid[ing] universal access to health care and pharmaceuticals and increas[ing] number of health care providers who are proficient in a second language" (LaVeist, 292) and increased cultural competency will help to reduce health disparities in the health care system.
Thomas LaVeist's idea of inequality in health revolves around the impact of social factors result in health disparities of minorities in the United States. He argues that factors like socioeconomic status, education, poverty, stress, housing, nutrition, substance/alcohol abuse, etc influences the minority health profile and this ultimately creates the health disparity in health care access, utilization of medical services and quality of care for the minority population. His analysis on how different health issues affect each minority group is credible and shows intellectual knowledge on the topic. LaVeist provides a comprehensive overview of the issues in health care affecting the minority populations in the United States by explaining his ideas with 14 chapters, numerous charts, tables and figures. The structure of the book creates a logical analysis of how the author addresses the problem of health disparities. First, he provides historical context from the early slavery period and their development on the minority population, then he goes in depth into more specific topics relating to minority health care and finally provides solutions in addressing the disparities in health and health care. This book has a well-formatted outline to help the audience engage into important healthcare concepts that developed into its current status. He avoids using logical fallacious in his proving his arguments. He also supports his concepts with credible data that proves his perspective on why health disparities came to be and what he believes will help to reduce the racial/ethnic gap in health care.
This book does a great job at analyzing health disparities in minority populations. I would assume that this book is mostly for undergraduate and graduate students, but I would recommend this book to teachers, professors, healthcare professionals, student activists and all other people who wants to better understand how health disparities was developed and their impact on minority populations. Because health disparities are existent in our society, it is important to understand how these disparities influence our healthcare system and their influence on our overall health. Educated individuals, like teachers, professors, healthcare professionals and student activists are important people who specialize in specific studies and strive to gain better understanding of the entire world. Important issues like healthcare disparities is relevant in gaining perspective in our healthcare system, so I would recommend this book for this category of people. Everyone else who is passionate about equality in healthcare for all people should also read this book because it addresses the problem of healthcare disparities and proposes solutions to eliminate the inequality in healthcare.
The book has helped me to understand the research topic in many ways. This book provided historical context on our largest minority population as former slaves and the development of the other racial minority groups. Distinguishing certain definitions of health care was important in helping me better understand my research topic. The author distinguishes the difference between health care disparities and health status disparities. He stated that, "The term health care disparities refers to differences in the access, use, quality, or outcomes of health care services received by racial/ethnic minorities. In contrast, the term health status disparities refers to differences among racial/ethnic groups in health status (that is, morbidity, mortality, functional status, or disability)." (LaVeist, 108) Being able to tell the difference between health care and health status disparities is critical because "it is crucial to understanding the nature of the causes of health status and health care disparities." (LaVeist, 109) This book also discussed in depth on specific health issues for the different racial/ethnic groups. Because each racial/ethnic minority group is unique in their culture and beliefs, the impact of socioenvironmental factors affect each group differently and understanding these differences will allow us to develop methods to addressing their disparities.
Some of the quotes in LaVeist's book made a strong impact on my current knowledge of minority healthcare. He stated that, "Nonminorities receive better quality care than racial minorities. The differences between the quality of care received by minorities and nonminorities fall into two broad groupings: health care disparities and health care dissimilarities. Health care disparities are racial/ethnic differences in the outcomes of quality of care that are indicative of injustice within the health care system or in the behavior of health care providers. Health care dissimilarities refer to racial/ethnic differences that are not caused by underlying inequities; for example, differences produced by patient cultural preferences or patient choice." (LaVeist, 109) After reading this quote, I was able to learn about the differences between health care disparities and health care dissimilarities. The main difference between the two terms is that one is caused by injustice and the other is not. It's important to distinguish the differences between both of them in order to determine the quality of health care towards minorities and nonminorities. He also stated that, "differences in access to and use of health care services are largely caused by socioeconomic inequities, such as discrimination or differences in health coverage. However, differences in use of health care services are also influenced by differences in need for services and in patient preferences." (LaVeist, 111) I agree with how these factors contribute to the access and use of health care services. Health care disparities are mostly affected by health care coverage and health care dissimilarities are mostly affected by cultural reasons or patient's choice to use health care services. These quotes helped me to learn about the different terminology in healthcare and how it's important to differentiate them from each other when learning about similar concepts.
In conclusion, this book displayed a collection of information in discussing health issues affecting the minority population. The knowledge that I gained from this book gave me more understanding of the healthcare system and this knowledge will carry on to my future career in the healthcare field.
Works Cited
Headen, Sandra. "Footnotes." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 15 Sept 2005. Web. 06 Dec. 2013.
LaVeist, Thomas Alexis. Minority Populations and Halth: An Introduction to Health Disparities in the United States. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2005. Print.
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