Health Disparities a Growing Concern in the United States - Research Paper Example

Health Disparities a Growing Concern in the United s s Health Disparities a Growing Concern in the United States Introduction Majority of the United States residents are in dire need of a society in which all individuals lives a healthy live. On the contrary, this need has not yet been fully realized. This is because of the health disparities prevalence in the United States medical healthcare. Health disparities by definition are the differences in health results and how they are determined between various population segments as defined by environmental, demographic, geographic and social attributes (Carter-Pokras & Baquet, 2003).

Health disparities or inequalities are often linked with social disadvantages and perceived to be ethically unfair. Health inequalities, disparities and equity are significant indicators of the health of the community and helps in providing vital information for intervention implementation and decision making to help reduce preventable mortality and morbidity (Braveman & Gruskin, 2003). Problem Statement In the years 1980-2000, the United States population became more diverse ethnically and the number of older population increased significantly (Hobbs & Stoops, 2002).

In 1992-2005, inequality in terms of household income decreased. Given the fact that the combined impacts of changes in racial/ ethnic diversity, age structure and inequality in income on health disparities are extremely difficult to assess, U.S as a nation will continue to experience substantial socio-economic and racial/ethnic health disparities even thought its health outcomes have been seen to be improving (Bishaw & Semega, 2008). As a matter of fact, populations that are highly vulnerable are also highly susceptible to economic recession.

As a result, the global economy recent downturn might aggravate health disparities throughout the US. This is only if the effectiveness and the coverage of the targeted programs and safety-net do not keep pace with the population needs (Hurjey et al., 2008). Thus, the purpose of this paper is to advocate ways on how health disparities issues can be solved in the United States. Research Objective The main objective of the research is to document the health disparity issues in the United States and ways of addressing them.

In addition to that, the research will also investigate why the health disparities are prevalent in the US context and why individuals have limited or no access to health insurance thus preventing them from accessing adequate medication, health care and the utilization of preventive measures such as diet and exercise. Research Questions Why is the issue of health disparity difficult to address? To what extent does citizenship status in the United States affects an individual probability of accessing the normal source of care?

This will be done after controlling for enabling, predisposing and need factors? What are the associated predicators of having a normal source of care among the immigrants in the United States? Methodology The research will employ quantitative research methods. This is because; the methods aim at providing (casual) explanation. It provides primary answers to why? Questions. As such, they will be able to provide answers to my research questions. In addition to that, the method defines and isolates variables and tests, it hypotheses on data and is deductive.

The qualitative and mixed method will not be appropriate because their research divide is extremely broad to bridge. In addition to that, they are very distinct in their methodological and epistemological orientation. For instance, with regards to epistemology, quantitative research assumes that the researcher is independent from what is being researched whilst in qualitative research; the researcher interacts with the subject being researched. Thus, combining of the two methods will be very contradicting.

Conceptual framework The research will employ the Anderson’s health service utilization behavioral model (the modified version) (Anderson, 1995, Anderson and Aday, 1978). The model will help in conceptualizing the use of services as a function of: conditions enabling an individual to secure services and the need for such services. Furthermore, the predisposition to utilize the services will be analyzed using the model. The word predisposing factors implies the propensity of distinct people to utilize fewer or more services, enabling factors are the available conditions that makes access to health services to individuals more easier whilst enabling factors are the evaluated and perceived illness or health status which is the most crucial and direct cause of the use of health services(Anderson, 1995).

Target population The target population will include the neutralized citizens, native-born citizens and non-citizens in the United States. The target population will be randomly selected to eliminate bias. Individuals between the ages of 18-64years will be sampled for data collection and analysis. The older participants will be excluded from the research study because of their known health behaviors which are distinct from the population comprising of non-elderly. This is because of their health care higher levels of needs and medical care coverage that is almost universal.

The research study Variables The dependent variable of the study will be the” usual source of care” whilst the independent variables are such as age, marital status, level of education, citizenship status, insurance status, household income, English proficiency. Instruments needed in the study In carrying out of the research, I will need questionnaires, surveys, systematic reviews/ Meta-analyses and randomized controlled trials. These instruments will be vital in data collection as they will help in giving in-depth information about the health disparities prevalence in the United States.

In addition to that, they will help in providing the situation on the ground via reviewing what has already been done regarding the study topic. Threat to validity and how they can be mitigated Research study results can only be useful if they can confidently and accurately interpreted. These issues are centered on validity discussion. Validity can be threatened by use measurement instruments that are inconsistent or use of testing methods that may temper with participants interpretation of the questions.

Selection of study group in terms of gender, ethnic/ racial group with different characteristics may influence the outcome of the results. As such, researchers should always be consistent and keen while conducting their studies through standardization of research condition among others. Data analysis Statistical analysis will be conducted utilizing the survey procedures for purposes of producing population estimates that are accurate while maintaining the respondents’ anonymity. Logistic regression series of analyses will be employed to determine the extent to which citizenship status in the United States affects the accessing of “usual source of care” probability whilst controlling for enabling, need and predisposing factors.

Ethical consideration related to the plan The ethical considerations related to my research are such as: planning for the research, Responsibility, reporting of results and plagiarism, approval of my research by the institution, producing of an informed consent and inducement of participants to participate in the research study. References Andersen, R. & Aday, L. (1978) .Access to medical care in the US: Realized and potential. Medical Care, 16, 533–547. Andersen, R. (1995). Revisiting the behavioral model and access to medical care: Does it matter?

’ Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 36, 1–10. Bishaw, A. & Semega, J. (2008). Income, earnings, and poverty data from the 2007 American Community Survey. Washington, DC: US Census Bureau. Available at http://www.census.gov/prod/2008pubs/acs-09.pdf. Braveman, P., & Gruskin, S.(2003). Defining equity in health. J Epidemiology Com­munity Health, 57, 254–8. Carter-Pokras, O., & Baquet, C. (2002). What is a “health disparity”? Public Health Rep 117, 426–34. Hobbs, F., & Stoops, N.(2009). Demographic trends in the 20th century.

Wash­ington, DC: US Census Bureau. Available at http://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/censr-4.pdf. Hurley, R.,& Katz, A., & Felland, L.(2008). Relief, restoration and reform: econom­ic upturn yields modest and uneven health returns. Issue Brief Cent Stud Health Syst Change, 117, 1–4.