Diabetes, Minority Status, and the African American and Hispanic American Communities
In March of 2003, a bill known as the "Minority Population Diabetes Prevention and Control Act of 2003" was introduced to Congress, and then referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce. According to this bill's findings, "minority populations, including African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Asians, have the highest incidence of diabetes and the highest complications of the disease" (1). The alarming rate at which the incidence of diabetes is affecting African American and Hispanic American communities has led the government, health care professionals, clinics, and other organizations to begin to question the process by which information and treatment is being accessed by members of these communities.
Diabetes mellitus is defined as "a group of diseases characterized by high levels of blood glucose, which result from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action or both" (2). There are two types of diabetes, one that "occurs when the body produces little or no insulin, and that typically affects children and young adults," and the other, which "typically develops in adults, and occurs when the body does not use insulin effectively", types II diabetes being the most common (3). According to the CDC and the National Center for Health Statistics, "the number of Americans with diabetes in the year 2000 was 17 million or 6.2 percent of the population, as compared to 15.7 million (5.9 percent) in 1998" (4). However, and on average, Hispanic Americans and African Americans are almost twice as likely to have diabetes in comparison to white Americans. In addition, African Americans and Hispanic Americans show a higher incidence of suffering from diabetes related complications including but not limited to eye and kidney disease, amputations, heart disease, heart stroke etc (5).
Various factors are said to increase the chances of developing type II diabetes. These factors fall under two categories-genetics and medical/lifestyle risk factors, which include impaired glucose tolerance, gestational diabetes, hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance, obesity and physical activity (6). Although studies have shied away from making direct correlations between obesity/physical activity and the susceptibility of developing type II diabetes, researchers suspect, however, that a lack of exercise and obesity, as well as other unidentifiable factors, may be contributing to the high diabetes rates in African American and Hispanic American communities. The NHANES III survey indicated that "50 percent of African American men/65 percent of Mexican American men, and 67 percent of African American women/74 percent of Mexican American women participated in little or no exercise" (7).
Castro, F., Shaibi, G. Q., & Boehm-Smith, E. (2009). Ecodevelopmental contexts for preventing type 2 diabetes in Latino and other racial/ethnic minority populations. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 32(1), 89-105.
Literary critics seem to come to a consensus on the subject of Hawthorne’s preference for solitude. Edmund Fuller and B. Jo Kinnick in “Stories Derived from New England Living” state that “Hawthorne was essentially of a solitary nature, and group life was not for him. . .” (30) Sculley Bradley, Richmond Croom Beatty and E. Hudson Long in “The Social Criticism of a Public Man” say that “a young man engrossed in historical study and in learning the writer’s craft is not notably queer if he does not seek society. . . .” (47) Stanley T. Williams in “Hawthorne’s Puritan Mind” states: “Soon after Hawthorne’s birth in 1804, circumstances intensified his innate Puritan characteristics: his analysis of the mind, his somber outlook on living, his tendency to withdraw from his fellows” (40). According to A.N. Kaul in his Introduction to Hawthorne – A Collection of Critical Essays, the themes of isolation and alienation were ones which Hawthorne was “deeply preoccupied with” in his writings (2).
16Scientist have found trends in ethnic groups and ages begin to occur in today’s day and age. Type 2 diabetes has been found to be more
Sharpe, D. A Culturally Targeted Self-Management Program for African Americans with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. (2012, December 15). Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Obesity is more prevalent among African American women in the lower socioeconomic status. Characteristics of being subject to lower economic status included poorer education, income levels, less likely to have private insurance with no real source of regular medical care (Rajaram, 1998). Therefore low-income African American women are less educated on proper diet and exercise. The U.S. Department of Agr...
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2012), the diabetes rate has more than tripled since 1980 from about 5.6 million people affected, to nearly 21 million people. And, of the 2.9 million Native Americans, approximately 16% have been afflicted with type-2 diabetes (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). These rates were more than twice the rates for the white population and strongly correlated with income level. One factor that is believed to have contributed to the high rates of non-insulin-dependent diabetes is dietary changes from traditional foods to processed foods (Reinhard et al., 2012).
Studies have analyzed how African Americans deal with an enormous amount of disease, injury, death, and disability compared to other ethnic group, and whites, Utilization of health services by African Americans is less frequent than other ethnic groups in the country. This non utilization of services contributes to health disparities amongst African Americans in the United States. Current and past studies have shown that because of discrimination, medical mistrust, racial/ethnic background, and poor communication African Americans tend to not seek medical care unless they are in dire need or forced to seek professional care. African Americans would rather self –medicate than to trust a doctor who might show some type of discriminatory
Since the arrival of Columbus in 1492, American Indians have been in a continuous struggle with diseases. It may not be small pox anymore, but illnesses are still haunting the native population. According to statistics, Native Americans have much higher rates of disease than the overall population. This includes a higher death rate from alcoholism, tuberculosis, and diabetes than any other racial or ethnic group. Recent studies by Indian health experts show that diabetes among Indian youth ages 15-19 has increased 54% since 1996 and 40% of Indian children are overweight. Even though diabetes rates vary considerably among the Native American population, deaths caused from diabetes are 230 percent greater than the United States population as a whole. Diabetes is an increasing crisis among the Native American population.
Over 60 million people are obese in the world today. The socioeconomic statuses of the Americans play a major part in the obesity rates across the country. People with higher incomes are less likely to be obese than people with lower incomes. One in every seven preschool-aged children living in lower income areas are obese (Center for Disease Control and Prevention). A 2008 study showed that obesity is highest among American Indian and Alaska Native (21.2 percent) and Hispanic Americans (18.5 percent) children, and it is lowest among white (12.6 percent), Asian or Pacific Islander (12.3 percent), and black (11.8 percent) children (Get America Fit).
It’s very important that the units that are supportive of evidence based practices instill the idea of the patients being as important as family members or close friends in order to carry out the best practice. These would be good areas for individuals of the team to reflect during meetings. What is means to care for patients as a close friends or family members and what areas they can improve their practice; For instance, long term care nurses taking the time to ensure that all of their bedridden residents are turned every 2 hours to prevent bed sores.
China is the largest developing country in today’s world and the rapid growth of the Chinese economy has attracted attention from all over the world. Some people falsely think that China is a country that China is only pursuing their economic reform, but without any democratic changes. On the contrary, China actually has a long history of democratic reforms. China has a different way of democratic reform that different from western-style democracy, which made Westerners think China is a powerful country with limitations in democracy. However, my point of view is that China is not limiting their democratic change, and China is utilizing a distinctive form of democracy.
years. In this research paper, I will focus on the transition of China from a Communist
Despite the substantial developments in diagnostic and treatment processes, there is convincing evidence that ethnic and racial minorities normally access and receive low quality services compared to the majority communities (Lum, 2011). As such, minority groups have higher mortality and morbidity rates arising from both preventable and treatable diseases judged against the majority groups. Elimination of both racial and ethnic disparities is mainly politically sensitive, but plays an important role in the equitable access of services, including the health care ones without discrimination. In addition, accountability, accessibility, and availability of equitable health care services are crucial for the continually growing
Diabetes is a disease that is one of the most leading causes that affects blindness, kidney disease and leg or foot amputations (Rosdahl, 2012). In the U.S 29.1 million people have been diagnosed with diabetes and 8.1 million people with diabetes who are undiagnosed (American Diabetes Association, 2015). There are 3 types of diabetes all in which lead to an increase in blood sugar.
Decision-making is the process requiring critical thinking and forecasting ability to assist a person in selecting a logical choice from the available number of options. (Tiffen, Corbridge & Slimmer, 2014). Studies show that nurses make a health care decision every 30 seconds so it becomes an involuntary process for nurses to make clinical decisions. From admission itself, the plan regarding the patient’s bed occupancy, care and treatment will be decided. In geriatric nursing along with many other clinical care decisions nurse need to make decisions on long term care plan like selection of end of life care (EOL) and discharge planning.