Lecture 4 Health Disparities

Question 2

What is the definition of health disparities?

Answer 2

Preventable differences in health status or outcomes due to systemic injustice and oppression of groups based on social identities.

Question 3

True or False: Health disparities are just health differences between groups.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

What are some factors that contribute to health disparities?

Answer 4

• Access to resources (healthcare, insurance, education)
• Neighborhoods (redlining, pollution, food deserts)
• Federal policy (who gets insurance)
• State policy (where abortions are legal)
• Interpersonal treatment by doctors
• Clinical formulas for disease treatments

Question 5

List some populations that experience health disparities.

Answer 5

• Gender (women, transgender people)
• Race and Ethnicity (Hispanic or Latino; Black or African American; Asian; American Indian or Alaskan Native; Middle Eastern; Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander)
• Nationality (undocumented people, immigrants)
• Socioeconomic status (fewer years of education; lower income; no health insurance)
• Sexual orientation (LGBQA+)
• Geographical location (rural, some urban areas)
• Disability (people with physical or mental disabilities)

Question 6

What is one example of a health disparity?

Answer 6

Black Americans do not live as long as White Americans.

Question 7

Fill in the blank: Health disparities arise from injustices that permeate all aspects of _______.

Answer 7

life

Question 8

What does intersectionality refer to in the context of health disparities?

Answer 8

The interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender that create overlapping systems of disadvantage.

Question 9

True or False: Socially disadvantaged groups are monoliths.

Answer 9

False

Question 10

What is the goal of health disparities research?

Answer 10

• To document patterns of health disparities
• To understand how and why they exist
• To identify ways to reduce disparities and promote health equity

Question 11

What is the Biopsychosocial Model?

Answer 11

A model that suggests health disparities are multiply determined by intertwined biopsychosocial factors.

Question 12

What does Minority Stress Theory explain?

Answer 12

Higher engagement in risky health behaviors among LGBTQ populations due to discrimination, victimization, and harassment.

Question 13

Fill in the blank: According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, sociocultural disadvantage can prevent individuals from achieving their full _______.

Answer 13

potential

Question 14

What is the Gender Paradox?

Answer 14

Women have greater morbidity but lower mortality risk than men.

Question 15

What is the Immigrant Paradox?

Answer 15

Observation that immigrants are ‘healthier’ compared to U.S.-born peers of similar demographic and socioeconomic profiles.

Question 16

List possible explanations for the Immigrant Paradox.

Answer 16

• Cultural and behavioral factors
• Migrant selectivity
• Salmon bias (return migration selectivity)
• Data artifacts

Question 17

True or False: The Immigrant Paradox remains consistent regardless of how long immigrants are in the host country.

Answer 17

False

Question 18

What types of research questions can new data help answer regarding health disparities?

Answer 18

• Who has access to healthy amenities in their environments?
• How does access to healthy amenities change over time?
• How does access to healthy amenities shape health behaviors?
• How does access to healthy amenities relate to health outcomes?