Please see attachment
Disucssion : Health Equity and Disparity
Step 1:
Answer the following prompts:
· How do health equity and social justice impact health?
· Consider your current or a past workplace.
· What does your workplace do to reduce health disparities and move toward greater equity in health?
· Imagine that you were put in charge of developing a new initiative aimed at reducing health disparities for your workplace. What would you suggest? What are the chief obstacles to doing more?
Step 2:
In addition to your original post, be sure to provide a meaningful response
Your initial post should be 2-3 paragraphs long and follow the requirements outlined in the discussion rubric. Please add to the discussion in your peer responses with informative responses, instead of posts similar to “great idea! I really agree with you.” The initial post and the peer responses have different deadlines. Make sure that your discussion adheres to these deadlines.
APA guidelines and plagiarism prevention matter in discussion posts just like with other scholarly assignments. Cite all references appropriately using APA format
PLEASE RESPOND TO THE DISCUSSION RESPONSE BELOW
Discussion Response #1
Health Equity and Disparities
There is no doubt that health equity and social justice play a major role in healthcare outcomes, as the sources have shown. The Health Equity Framework defines health equity as a level of fairness in resources and opportunities to achieve optimal health in all physical, emotional, and social dimensions (Peterson et al., 2020). Health inequities are the result of the accumulation of experiences across different life stages and may involve factors such as racism. Coyne-Beasley et al. (2023) argue that racism is a fundamental social justice problem that leads to the unequal distribution of barriers to good health across racial/ethnic groups. It is directly influencing the lives of adolescents and young adults by changing their brain and body development, disrupting parental capacity to nurture them, and discouraging neighborhoods that enable them to grow. Racism finds a place in society at large, including healthcare institutions, it is expressed as implicit bias that may influence the quality of professional care delivery.
In my workplace at a hospital, we have attempted to lower the health divides and inequalities, and I understand we still have a long way to go. We offer translation for patients with limited English proficiency and carry out cultural competency training for staff. The community outreach activities are directed at reaching out to the deprived communities. On the other side, our care model still uses a predominantly biomedical approach, which concentrates on individual health behaviors while sometimes ignoring the systemic factors that foster health inequities in our community. Although this is undoubtedly a helpful approach, such measures are fragmented and do not focus on the underlying factors in different parts of the Health Equity Framework.
If I were given the chance to create a new initiative to help my workplace hospital reduce health disparities, I would opt to apply the Health Equity Framework (HEF) as the main tool. This would call for continuous training for all staff to develop an understanding of racism, disenfranchisement, and the fundamental causes of health disparities that arise from structural, relational, individual, and physiological factors. We would strive to be aware of the needs of the marginalized community and where we are failing to reach their objectives. I would suggest that we use our policies, practices, and data to be segregated by race/ethnicity to identify inequities within our system. Subsequently, we will form cross-sector partnerships to coordinate services and resources to reduce the gaps in influence within the many spheres of health equity. The main barriers to overcome would be institutional inertia, which favors the existing situation, fragmented healthcare financing that discourages population-level healthy approaches, and lack of leadership commitment to equity becoming an organizational priority backed up by budget allocation.
References
Coyne-Beasley, T., Hill, S. V., Miller, E., & Svetaz, M. V. (2023). Health equity and the impact of racism on adolescent health.
Pediatrics,
151(Supplement 1).
to an external site.
Peterson, A., Charles, V., Yeung, D., & Coyle, K. (2020). The health equity framework: a science- and justice-based model for public health researchers and practitioners.
Health promotion practice 22(6), 741-746.
to an external site.
Discussion Response #2
Health equity is the belief that health should be accessible to all, regardless of where they live, how much money they make, where they live, or where they live (Kleinman et al., 2021). It is about eliminating barriers to health, from poverty and discrimination to unequal access to good-paying, high-quality jobs, safe housing, and quality health care. On the other hand, social justice is defined in the New Oxford American Dictionary as “the equitable distribution of wealth, opportunity and privileges within a society”(Cardarelli et al., 2023). Therefore, ensuring social justice is one of the components of achieving health equity. When these values aren’t put in place, marginalized communities face higher barriers to accessing health care, living standards, and economic opportunities. This can result in poor health outcomes, a higher risk of chronic diseases, and higher mortality rates for underprivileged populations. Societies can work toward improving health outcomes and minimizing gaps among diverse communities by addressing social injustices and inequalities.
In my current workplace, initiatives are in place to help reduce health disparities and promote greater equity in health outcomes. One of these initiatives is to provide healthier food choices in the cafeteria, such as sugar-free beverages and healthy snack options. This means that employees, patients and visitors will have access to food that promotes their overall health and wellness, regardless of their eating habits or dietary restrictions. In addition, the hospital ensures that patients from all backgrounds receive high-quality care that is mindful of their cultural beliefs and customs by hiring a diverse staff and providing interpreter services.
If I were in charge of putting together a new initiative, I would like to see an increase in health literacy and health education programs in the community. A lot of health disparities is due to a lack of knowledge about prevention, treatment, and resources. By providing training sessions, workshops, and educational resources in community-based settings, we can help people make better health choices and navigate the health care system better. Getting enough money to promote outreach programs, recruit more employees, and provide necessary resources can be a significant obstacle.
References
Cardarelli, K. M., Perez-Figueroa, R. E., & Mathews, B. (2023). Health Disparities and Social Justice. In
connect.springerpub.com. Springer Publishing Company.
to an external site.
Kleinman, D. V., Pronk, N., Gómez, C. A., Wrenn Gordon, G. L., Ochiai, E., Blakey, C., Johnson, A., & Brewer, K. H. (2021). Addressing health equity and social determinants of health through healthy people 2030.
Journal of Public Health Management and Practice,
27(6), 249–257.
to an external site.
