Health Disparities and Inequities

Question 1

Health equity

Answer 1

The idea that everyone should have the opportunity to have the best health possible

Question 2

Health disparity

Answer 2

Differences in disease, incidence, prevalence, morbidity, and morality in a population. This could be a result of:
- biological variation: women suffer from breast cancer > men
- Freely-chosen health damaging behavior: smoking
- Freely-choosing not to adopt a health innovation: anti-vaxx

Question 3

Health inequities

Answer 3

When health disparities are socially produced, unavoidable and unfair. Not everyone has the opportunity to have great health

Question 4

Sources of health inequities

Answer 4

• Socio-economic status
• Good or bad access to healthcare
• Where they live
• Racism
• Homophobia/transphobia
• Their exposure to stress
  ex. more black women die than white women while giving birth, more men commit suicide, average age in Back Bay is 90, Roxbury is 59

Question 5

Racial inequities in doctor-patient comm: bias hypothesis

Answer 5

• Doctors have bias towards minority patients, so they may not know what they need

Question 6

Racial inequities in doctor-patient comm: preferences hypothesis

Answer 6

Thinking that minorities choose to ignore health services

Question 7

Racial inequities in doctor-patient comm: communication hypothesis

Answer 7

• doctors have worse comm with minority patients
• not taught in med school

Question 8

Interventions to address health inequities: message-based persuasion interventions

Answer 8

Targeted at individuals and tailored to their community
- here’s this resource for you: cheap health service

Question 9

Interventions to address health inequities: training-based communication interventions

Answer 9

Targeted at healthcare workers
- work on comm skills & cultural competence

Question 10

Interventions to address health inequities: community-driven interventions

Answer 10

Targeting communities through leaders
- ex. sharing the story of a respected community leader who got the covid vaxx

Question 11

Policy-driven interventions

Answer 11

Targeting everyone through power
- using media to get support for change in laws and policies
- writing editorials
- investigative journalism
- protests
- work w news to present an issue