Cultural Differences In Health And Social Care Essay

Racial and ethnic minorities receive poorer quality of care and have poorer health outcomes in terms of both morbidity and mortality when compared to non-minorities (Nazroo, 2003). Similarly, lower socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with poorer health outcomes including higher rates of mortality and morbidity (Adler et al., 1994). The factors that contribute to these health disparities for racial/ethnic minorities and lower SES individuals have some commonalities but are, for the most part, distinct from one another. The main similarity between the two is the issue of access to quality health care. Race, ethnicity, social class, education level, and occupation can influence provider’s beliefs and expectations about a patient (Van Ryn & Fu, 2003). This can result in conscious and unconscious stereotyping of the

Thus, the factors that contribute to health dipartites in relation to race/ethnicity and SES must differ. Factors that contribute to health disparities in relation to race/ethnicity include language and cultural barriers as well as racism and discrimination experienced by minority groups. Individuals who are subject to racism are more likely to experience psychological distress, depression/anxiety, substance use and physical health problems (Williams, 1999). Higher rates of hypertension among African Americans can be partially explained by exposure to the chronic stress of perceived racism (Clark, 2000). Stress related to discrimination is not accounted for in SES measures. A clear example of this is the fact that African Americans with college degrees have higher rates of infant mortality than Whites without a high school degree (Jackson, 2007). This health disparity is not related to SES but instead race/ethnicity and unfortunately, the experience of racism and