Seeking Healthcare? Perceptions and Beliefs Among African Americans (original) (raw)

While African Americans account for only 13% of the population in the United States, they suffer disproportionately from higher disease prevalence, higher mortality rates, and lower life expectancy compared to white Americans (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017). African Americans have the highest age-adjusted death rates for several causes, including cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, diabetes, HIV and several forms of cancer (Noonan, Velasco-Mondragon, and Wagner, 2016). Health and healthcare disparities are serious health issues in the United States. Health disparities are defined as differences in the incidence, prevalence, mortality, and burden of disease and other adverse health conditions that exist among population groups, and healthcare disparities refers to differences between groups in the availability, accessibility, utilization, and quality of healthcare services aimed at preventing, treating, and managing illnesses. For example, while African American men are more likely to die than white Americans from prostate cancer, this figure is likely driven by diagnoses occurring at later stages of the disease (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2019). Similarly, despite having lower overall rates of breast cancer, African American women are more likely to die from breast cancer due to later medical interventions (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014). Consequently, health care disparities, differences in the rates of access and utilization of health care services, are serious issues in the United States. Racial and ethnic minorities, especially African Americans, face more barriers to accessing healthcare and utilize healthcare less compared to white Americans. In addition, low income African Americans experience more barriers, as well as those living in rural areas due to limited access to facilities. If health disparities are to be eliminated, then healthcare disparities must be addressed. Health care disparities result in stark differences in terms of disease rates and treatments by race. For example, African Americans receive less aggressive cardiac interventions, less pain management, less therapy for cancer, and less rigorous diabetes management (Ross, Lypson, & Kumagai, 2012). In North Carolina, especially in rural areas, African Americans are less likely to be insured, less likely to get the preventative care they need to stay healthy, face more barriers to accessing care, and are more likely to suffer from serious illnesses (State Center for Health Statistics and Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities, 2010). Multiple studies have documented health and healthcare disparities between African Americans and whites in the United States, and these studies have shown that African Americans face greater obstacles to