Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Discrimination Against African Americans Results in Worst Mental and…
Discrimination Against African Americans Results in Worst Mental and Physical Health Outcomes
Depression, a highly prevalent psychiatric disorder, is a common cause of disability. Depression has also been associated with poorer socioeconomic status
Since African Americans face discrimination and inherently have a disadvantage in both the social and economic arenas due to the systems in place (along with high levels of stress and adversity), this population has higher rates and susceptibility to depression.
To deal with mental health issues along with discrimination, many African Americans use high-effort coping (i.e. sustained cognitive and emotional engagement) to cope with stressors
John Henryism is a name given to this high-effort coping skill. It is defined as "a strong behavioral predisposition to cope actively with psychosocial and environmental stressors."
Structural Factors in racial discrimination
There is much evidence that shows how African Americans are facing rase-based discrimination in the US health care system.
It has been found, for example, that African Americans are treated differently in emergency departments, and they has a much longer wait time to be treated compared to their white counterparts. Medical intervention was also delayed when facing serious health issues, compared to whites who have the same medical issue.
Harmful physical effects resulting from discrimination can be seen, such as high heart rate and high blood pressure, that could lead to earlier development of diseases and even mortality rates.
African immigrants have been seen to have better health status on arrival to the US, but these health outcomes worsen in just a couple generations. This shows the devestaing effects that race-based discrimination can have on long-term physical health outcomes for African Americans.
Another factor that leads to worst health outcomes is the mistrust that many African Americans have in the US health care system because of trauma and mistreatment of American Americans at the hands of doctors in the past.
The focus of the study "Racial Discrimination, John Henryism, and Depression Among African Americans" is to assess depression in American Americans and the complex relationships between John Henryism, depression, SES, and racial discrimination.
The Hypotheses of the Study:
(1) Higher levels of SES would be positively associated with greater reports of racial discrimination and higher John Henryism scores.
(2) Both racial discrimination and John Henryism would be associated with greater odds of depression.
(3) The relationship between racial discrimination and depression would be moderated by John Henryism.
Results for the first Hypothesis (1): The study found that there was a significant positive relationship between SES and racial discrimination. So, higher levels of education among African Americans is associated with more racial discrimination. However, there was no significant relationship between income, relative to poverty, and racial discrimination. There was also no evidence to support the hypothesis that greater levels of SES would be associated with increased levels of John Henryism.
Results for the second Hypothesis (2): The study found that there was a significant association between discrimination and greater chances for developing depression. There was also a significant association between John Henryism and depression.
Results for the third Hypothesis (3): There was a significant relationship between racial discrimination and John Henryism. Though there were significant relationships between both John Henryism and depression and between racial discrimination and depression, the relationship between racial discrimination and John Henryism was not statistically significant. This suggests that the relationship between racial discrimination and depression was not decreased by the effects of John Henryism.
Overall, this study shows how discrimination can inflict devastating effects on the mental health outcomes of the
African American population.
Health Literacy and the Impacts of Cultural and Language Barries on Health Literacy
Health literacy is defined as "the degree to which an individual has the capacity to obtain, communicate, process, and understand basic health information and services to make appropriate health decisions."
Health literacy can have a big impact on health outcomes. So, how does racial and cultural discrimination affect a person's health literacy.
Many people who are racial and ethnic minorities who do not speak English are impacted the most by lower health literacy. Other populations that face poor health literacy include low SES, lower levels of education, and being a minority.
The values and traditions of a culture can effect health literacy, such as certain African cultures who maintain that issues of reproductive health should be kept private and are not to be discussed with someone of the opposite gender.
Since African immigrants may not have access to an interpreter of the preferred gender, they may choose to not seek medical health at all.
These factors as wells as others create frustration among immigrants who are seeking health care.
Nurses and other health care professionals can help their patients who are not proficient in English by talking slowly, adapting their communication, using physical handouts, and repeating information to ensure that the patient understand the important information.