Awareness of racial and ethnic health disparities has improved only modestly over a decade

Health Affairs

Volumn 30, Issue 10, 2011, Pages 1860-1867

  Benz, Jennifer K ^a   Espinosa, Oscar ^a   Welsh, Valerie ^b   Fontes, Angela ^c  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO   (United States)

^b U S DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES   (United States)

^c ILLINOIS STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ACQUIRED IMMUNE DEFICIENCY SYNDROME; ADULT; AFRICAN AMERICAN; ARTICLE; AWARENESS; CAUCASIAN; EDUCATION PROGRAM; ETHNIC DIFFERENCE; HEALTH CARE POLICY; HEALTH CARE QUALITY; HEALTH DISPARITY; HEALTH SURVEY; HISPANIC; HUMAN; HUMAN IMMUNODEFICIENCY VIRUS INFECTION; RACE DIFFERENCE; UNITED STATES;

ADOLESCENT; ADULT; AFRICAN AMERICANS; AGED; AGED, 80 AND OVER; ASIAN AMERICANS; AWARENESS; EUROPEAN CONTINENTAL ANCESTRY GROUP; FEMALE; HEALTH SERVICES ACCESSIBILITY; HEALTH STATUS DISPARITIES; HEALTH SURVEYS; HEALTHCARE DISPARITIES; HISPANIC AMERICANS; HIV INFECTIONS; HUMANS; INTERVIEWS AS TOPIC; MALE; MIDDLE AGED; MINORITY GROUPS; OCEANIC ANCESTRY GROUP; QUESTIONNAIRES; SOCIOECONOMIC FACTORS; UNITED STATES; YOUNG ADULT;

EID: 84855998842     PISSN: 02782715     EISSN: 15445208     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.2010.0702     Document Type: Article

References (28)

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15. The phrase racial and ethnic health disparities includes health and health care disparities and refers to racial and ethnic differences in the occurrence of disease, health outcomes, or access to health care. This definition is adapted from the broader definition of health disparities in the Affordable Care Act of 2010.
16. Awareness is an indicator of respondents' experiences and the inferences they have drawn from those experiences, rather than an inquiry into their factual knowledge of an actual disparity. This measure therefore allows us to answer the question: Do average people understand, in general, that racial and ethnic health disparities exist?
17. To access the Appendix, click on the Appendix link in the box to the right of the article online.
18. Oversampling was achieved by completing the following steps: We estimated the racial and ethnic composition of each telephone exchange by matching the exchange to census data at the block group level; we stratified the random-digit dial sampling frame of telephone numbers by telephone exchange based on the racial and ethnic composition of each exchange; we estimated the racial and ethnic composition of each telephone exchange stratum from exchange-level information; we determined the stratum sample size based on the required number of interviews per racial and ethnic group; and we selected the sample systematically and independently from each stratum.
19. Because of differences in question wording and response choices, direct comparisons should not be made between disparities in Exhibit 2. For example, several questions asked respondents if a racial or ethnic minority group was better off, just as well off, or worse off compared to whites on a health indicator, while other questions asked if a health indicator was a major problem, minor problem, or not a problem at all for a racial or ethnic minority group. Rather, comparisons should be made over time for the same disparity.
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