Document Type
STEM
Date
2024
Submission Date
November 2024
Abstract
Asthma is a prevalent condition characterized by an individual’s airway becoming inflamed, constricted, and leads to the formation of mucus and difficulty breathing. Nearly 27 million individuals are currently diagnosed with Asthma in the United States, and African Americans are 40% more likely to be diagnosed with asthma than Caucasians. This literature review analyzed multifaceted barriers that restrict African American asthmatic children from gaining consistent asthma treatment. Some of these barriers range from historical racial discrimination that leads to parental mistrust to financial and educational barriers that result in inconsistent pediatric care for asthmatic children. The combination of the above factors has devastating health consequences, such as reduced life expectancy and a higher probability of developing chronic diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Through this analysis of physician-based interactions between primary care providers in hospitals and clinics and African American parents, who typically have a household income below the U.S. median ($68,000) and an education level of an undergraduate degree or lower, the specific challenges and barriers faced by these parents are explored. An analysis of the various African American parental views of pediatric care was conducted to determine if there is a connection between financial stability, education, physician trust and a lack of early medical intervention, which leads to the delay of medical intervention for African American children struggling with asthma. The findings reveal that due to historical medical discrimination, medical mistrust, and reduced health literacy, African American parents tend to avoid primary physician care. Future research can help illustrate how health literacy levels directly affect medical mistrust which can spread awareness of the long-term consequences of untreated asthma. Addressing these issues can affect life expectancies for asthmatic children within the African American community, while also improving general asthma care for many other ethnic populations.
Rights
© The Author(s)
Is Part Of
Auctus
DOI
https://doi.org/10.25886/2yw2-ps26
Included in
Community Health and Preventive Medicine Commons, Early Childhood Education Commons, Maternal and Child Health Commons, Pediatrics Commons, Public Health Education and Promotion Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, Respiratory Tract Diseases Commons