Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities
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J Racial Ethn Health Disparities · Apr 2021
Changes in Insurance Coverage and Healthcare Use Among Immigrants and US-Born Adults Following the Affordable Care Act.
Immigrants to the USA have disparate access to health insurance coverage and healthcare services. We evaluate the effects of gaining insurance following the January 2014 Affordable Care Act's (ACA) key provisions implementation on health services use among foreign- (FB) and US-born (USB) adults. ⋯ US immigrants had notable gains in health insurance after the ACA provisions took full effect, but major disparities in coverage persist. If insurance continues to expand among immigrants, then the gains may reduce longstanding disparities in health services use and enhance primary and preventive healthcare.
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J Racial Ethn Health Disparities · Feb 2021
Coping with Racism: a Perspective of COVID-19 Church Closures on the Mental Health of African Americans.
Academic medical literature and news outlets extensively document how older individuals in communities of color, especially African American communities, are dying disproportionately of COVID-19 due to ongoing societal, racial, and healthcare disparities. Fear of death and suffering are acutely elevated in Black communities; yet, African Americans have been facing, coping with, and overcoming American societal racism and subsequent detriments to our mental health for centuries. ⋯ This article is a first-hand perspective of five Black internists/psychiatrists who are deeply involved in both academic medicine and leadership positions within the Black Church. It will explore how the physical closure of Black Churches during this period of increased mental stress, as caused by healthcare inequities revealed by the COVID-19 epidemic, is likely to be uniquely taxing to the mental health of African Americans, particularly older African Americans, who must cope with American racism without physical access to the Black Church for the first time in history.
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J Racial Ethn Health Disparities · Jan 2021
The Association Between Adverse Life Events, Psychological Stress, and Pain-Promoting Affect and Cognitions in Native Americans: Results from the Oklahoma Study of Native American Pain Risk.
Native Americans (NAs) experience higher rates of chronic pain. To examine the mechanisms for this pain inequity, we have previously shown that NAs report higher levels of pain-related anxiety and pain catastrophizing, which are in turn related to pronociceptive (pain-promoting) processes. But, it is currently unclear why NAs would report greater pain-related anxiety and catastrophizing. ⋯ Notably, NAs did not report greater psychological distress when controlling for ALE exposure. This suggests that a higher risk of chronic pain in NAs may be due, in part, to psychological distress, pain-related anxiety, and pain catastrophizing that are promoted by exposure to ALEs. These results highlight several targets for intervention to decrease NA pain risk.
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J Racial Ethn Health Disparities · Dec 2020
Health Implications of Black Lives Matter Among Black Adults.
The current study examined whether knowledge, understanding and support of the Black Lives Matter movement were positively linked to self-reported physical health among a representative sample of Black American adults. ⋯ Black American adults who understand and support Black Lives Matter reported more positive overall physical health.
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J Racial Ethn Health Disparities · Dec 2020
Coronavirus (COVID-19) and Racial Disparities: a Perspective Analysis.
Health disparity refers to systematic differences in health outcomes between groups and communities based on socioeconomic isolation. In the USA, health disparities among minority groups, especially African Americans, limit their access to quality medical care and other beneficial resources and services. ⋯ With inadequate access to quality healthcare, viable resources, and information, COVID-19 will continue to have a disastrous effect on African American communities. This communication provides a brief overview of the health inequalities resulting in African Americans dying disproportionately during the COVID-19 pandemic.