Health Promotions among Diverse Populations - Essay Sample

Introduction

In the United States, it is estimated that the health status of black people is 13.5% of the national average (Williams, Priest & Anderson, 2016). The health status of African American people shows a high level of prevalence of diseases such as diabetes, obesity, cancer, hypertension, sexually transmitted infections and cardiovascular diseases among others. The health status of the minority group has become a significant concern, and there is more need for intensive research to identify the socioeconomic variables and other factors that act as barriers to good health and also identify the needed health programs and promotions among the black population (Marshall et al., 2015). The paper aims to discuss the health status of the African American people, the health disparities that occur within the group. Additionally, it will highlight the health promotion approaches that are effective while focusing on the needs of the minority group. Cubing of health disparities among African American requires the involvement of both the public and the private sector, as well as individuals and communities and the national effort as a whole.

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Despite the improvements in the health sector in many counties, the minorities specifically the black people tend to experience more chronic diseases because most of them live in poverty and this makes most of them to lack health insurance covers. It is one of the reasons why there are high mortality rates among them. Most of them are also unable to work because of disabilities and other health-related problems (Marshall et al., 2015). Some of the contributing factors to health disparities among the minority groups are the poor socioeconomic status of the minority groups including poor education or lack of adequate education, unemployment and reduced income that hinders them from accessing sufficient health services. Socioeconomic status has been associated with untreated diseases, avoidable hospitalizations. It is also related to low levels of education since most of the minorities are not able to access higher education levels due to their poor financial status (Williams et al., 2016). Low levels of education attribute to low levels of income when it comes to employment and limited knowledge and exposure to many health solutions.

Another contributing factor includes poor health literacy where they are not fully aware of how to maintain their health and the effects of some lifestyle behaviors on their health status. Some of the behaviors that contribute to poor health status among the minority groups include reduced physical activity which may lead to health conditions such as obesity and heart disease, substance abuse which has become very common among the minority groups among others.

Ethnicity and cultural racism also fall under the main factors that act as hindrances. They deter mobility upward for the ethnic and racial minorities who may be striving to escape poverty due to the issues of discrimination and marginalization (Williams et al., 2015). Institutional discrimination, especially in the health institutions, creates barriers to health care access due to stigmatization. Moreover, it reduces the quality of care that the minority groups receive.

Socioeconomic status and ethnic and cultural discrimination are also some of the causes of psychological health problems such as depressions. Wealth is one of the factors that explain the causes of depressions in racial and ethnic differences (Williams et al., 2016). For example, a young adult not owning a home or has a zero net worth can significantly be associated with depressive symptoms holding all the other socioeconomic factors constant.

After examining the contributing factors to health disparities among the minority group of the black population, there is need to come up with health programs or health promotion programs. The strategies can help improve their health status since health is a crucial resource for everyday life and its well-being should not only be the responsibility of the health sector alone, but it goes beyond healthy lifestyles to wellbeing (Malik, Blake, & Suggs, 2014). Health promotion is the processes through which a nation or a health group can help people improve their health by having much control over it and increasing awareness among them. The method also involves helping people to cope with different kinds of the environment to attain a complete mental, physical and social wellbeing. Well, there are three main stages of health promotions that entail preventive health actions that help improve the health status of people in various nations. They include the primary prevention, secondary prevention, and the tertiary prevention.

Primary prevention is a preventive health action that aims that reducing the incidences of disease and disabilities or poor health conditions in a given population. Some of the examples of primary prevention actions are: promoting physical activity by reducing the number of elevators in the buildings for people to use the staircases (Malik et al., 2014). It enables body exercise that may prevent such conditions as obesity, Immunization programs and discouraging the uptake of smoke among others. Primary prevention focuses on the whole populations even the healthy individuals. Moreover, secondary prevention actions aimed at preventing the progression of diseases in certain conditions (Malik et al., 2014) For example breast and cervical cancer screening, eyesight tests for workers exposed to too much light, hearing tests for workers exposed to too much noise among others.

Tertiary prevention focuses on reducing the effects or the consequences of an already established illness. It aims at improving the wellbeing of the affected individuals. For example, rehabilitation programs for individuals recovering from given diseases or accidents and programs to help patients suffering from chronic illnesses to help them manage themselves.

Conclusion

In conclusion, health promotion levels should be adopted in an integrated approach and should not be confined to one level. The standards should be used as a checklist whenever the health promotion interventions are planned. As well, health promotion interventions should be provided to all the groups in the community to avoid the cases of health disparities especially among the minority groups in the black population. It is the responsibility of every individual and the community as a whole to eliminate the cases of discrimination according to cultural racism, ethnicity or socioeconomic status of various groups in the society to promote a complete physical, the mental and social well-being of every individual in the community.

References

Malik, S. H., Blake, H., & Suggs, L. S. (2014). A systematic review of workplace health promotion interventions for increasing physical activity. British journal of health psychology, 19(1), 149-180.

Marshall, I. J., Wang, Y., Crichton, S., McKevitt, C., Rudd, A. G., & Wolfe, C. D. (2015). The effects of socioeconomic status on stroke risk and outcomes. The Lancet Neurology, 14(12), 1206-1218.

Williams, D. R., Priest, N., & Anderson, N. B. (2016). Understanding associations among race, socioeconomic status, and health: Patterns and prospects. Health Psychology, 35(4), 407.