Trust, Medication Adherence, And Hypertension Control Of Southern African American Men By Elder & Colleagues

Barriers in health care can lead to disparities in meeting health needs and receiving appropriate care, including preventive services and the prevention of unnecessary hospitalizations (HealthyPeople.gov, 2012). In their 2008 annual report, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality lists several disparities’ in health care. They report that racial and ethnic minorities in the United States

A notable discrepancy exists between health care received by the black population in comparison to the white population. However, the foundation of health care inconsistencies has yet to be firmly established. Instead, conflicting views prioritize causes of health care disparities as due to social determinants or due to individual responsibility for health (Woolf & Braveman, 2011). Emerging literature also indicates that health care providers propagate disparities by employing implicit biases (Chapman, Kaatz, & Carnes, 2013; Dovidio, Fiske, 2012). This paper aims to discuss black health care disparities as a function of socially constructed beliefs that both consciously and unconsciously influence health care professionals practice.

The purpose of this paper is to exemplify the healthcare crisis of African Americans within the broader context of American healthcare reform. In order for one to appreciate the depth of necessity for healthcare reform in the African American community, he or she must have a general understanding of the history of healthcare for African Americans. As stated by the institute of medicine in a study assessing the health and mental health disparities of African Americans, “The sources of these disparities are complex, are rooted in historic and contemporary inequities, and involve many participants at several levels, including health systems, their administrative and bureaucratic processes, utilization managers, healthcare professionals, and

In looking on the subject of race you realize there is a racial stigma when it comes to health care. The American health care system is geared to treat the majority, while the minority suffers. As one looks at the African American society we see the racial discrimination in the health care system. According to the American heart association, “African Americans are 28% more likely

A reformation of the achievement levels of African-Americans starts through the investment of high achieving mentors, families, and friends. It begins with African-Americans straying away from statistical choices, such as placing improper value on education, community involvement, and health. The overcoming of such adversities involved with being an African-American woman has propelled my career goals. By striving to become a pharmacist and non-profit leader I am showing that the accomplishments of African-American women in health and leadership are not abnormal. One of the major causes of minority health disparities is the lack of minority health providers. As a healthcare provider, I will be better able to promote wellness in minority populations.

When it comes to healthcare racial disparities continue to be an ongoing issue. In fact racial disparities have been a topic of discussion since desegregation. The US Department of Health and Human Services, in 1984 published a report that called attention to the healthcare disparities. The report was called Heath, United States 1983(Dougher, 2015). Within the context of the report there lies a passage that describes the major disparities that are within the burden of illness and death that is experienced by African Americans and other minorities, “despite significant progress in the overall health of the nation” (Dougher, 2015). It was evident that there was a serious lack of health care minorities.

The population for this evidence based project are African Americans diagnosed with prediabetes at a local primary care facility in Tallahassee, Florida. The intended age group is for this evidence based practice change project are patients from the ages of 18- 60 years of age. Participants must be English speaking African American males or females between the ages of 18-60 years of age old and clinically diagnosed with pre-diabetes with an a1c of 5.7 % to 6.4%.

Race-based medications seem highly personalized to the consumer but are simply a short cut to the goal of individually-specific medication. Marketing drugs targeted at particular phenotypes such as race is incredibly lucrative for pharmaceutical companies. For NitroMed, this factor will be especially important because African Americans have far higher cases of hypertension than whites while tending to be less responsive to normal treatments than their white counterparts.

Personal and institutional relationships may be affected by concerns of continued discrimination against African Americans who have historically been victims of both interpersonal and institutional racial discrimination (LaVeist & Nuru-Jeter, 2002). Research demonstrated that concordance in patient and physician race is positively related to African Americans perceptions of quality of care. Patient satisfaction supports the notion that fear of race-based discrimination in interpersonal relationships with health care providers may also affect trust (Cooper, Gallo, Gonzales, Vu, Powe, Nelson & Ford, 1999; LaVeist, 2002). African Americans had been shown to have greater awareness of the documented history of racial discrimination in the health care system than white Americans.

Hypertension is a developing problem worldwide associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. In 2020, the world population will be approximately 7.8 billion people, and there will be 1 billon people who may be affected by hypertension (Tomson & Lip, 2005). One in three adults in the United States has high blood pressure. According to the report “Health, United States, 2010 with Special Feature on Death and Dying,” the prevalence of hypertension among adults 20 years old or older increased from 24% to 32% during 1988-1994 and 2005-2008. The African-American population has a higher prevalence of this health condition than white Americans do. In 2005 to 2008, the prevalence of hypertension among black males (41.4%) was more than 10%,

These findings suggest that factors such as patient and physician attitudes, as well as race concordance, play a role

Carter, Barba, and Kautz (2013) report culturally tailored education can lead to significant improvements in self-care in African Americans with type 2 diabetes. Also, appropriate dieting, exercise, medical checkups and medication regimens for prevention and management show efficient improvements. The Health Belief Model is realistic and acknowledges that having a desire to change health behavior may not be enough. Therefore, two elements that may be helpful include cues to action and self-efficacy. The cues to action are external whereas, self-efficacy focuses on his or her ability to make a health-related change (Boskey, 2014).

The African Americans are at a higher risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality than other ethnicities.1 This obvious health disparity between African-American population compared to other ethnicities calls for attention towards the need for an increased awareness of heart disease that affects African-Americans in the United States. Although African-Americans women have a higher risk of developing heart disease, very few are aware of their risks or get the medical care. Thus, the HBM model forms the conceptual framework that helps develop an ideal intervention that targets the African-American women’s lack of awareness of their health risk. On the other hand, the TTM model provides the perfect model to assesses the participant’s readiness to take charge and make the necessary behavior change, and helps recognize and create an ideal environment for the individuals to utilize the opportunities provided for the intervention to be effective. The physical activity intervention is a great intervention that targets younger as well as non- educated or low socio-economic status

The analyses presented here used three data sources: the Relationship Dynamics and Social Life (RDSL) survey, the women’s Pharmacy Perceptions and Experiences (PPE) survey, and the Community Pharmacy Survey. Data from all three sources came from one county in Michigan, which is known to have a significant number of black women and to also have a significant socioeconomic variation. Ethical approval for all three surveys was obtained from the University of Michigan’s Institutional Review Board (IRB). Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in this study.

Factors that contribute to hypertension are age, ethnicity, gender, and lifestyles as shown in Figure 1 (Yoon, Burt, Louis, & Carroll, 2012). While the prevalence of hypertension is relatively equal among men and women, certain ethnicities have a higher propensity for developing hypertension. The prevalence of hypertension in African-Americans is among the highest in the United States for a single ethnic group (Ferdinand & Armani, 2007). In the United States, around 78% of people suffering from hypertension are aware of their condition, with only 68% using hypertensive medications to control their blood