Liz Zyzo Health Justice CT Clinical Summer Research Fellowship Program Department of Health Career Opportunity Programs Racial and ethnic health disparities is a very crucial issue that is unfortunately unfamiliar to most people. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Health Disparities and Inequalities Report, health disparities are differences in health outcomes and their determinants between segments of the population, as defined by social, demographic, environmental, and geographic attributes. Many Connecticut residents are unaware of these differences in health outcomes between groups that face social inequalities. Substantial progress has been made in improving residents’ health and reducing health disparities since the 1980’s, but there are ongoing racial/ethnic, economic and other social disparities in health left to deal with. The National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Minority Health (OMH) administered the Trends in U.S. Public Awareness of Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health ( ) study. This study conducted an extensive analysis of awareness among the U.S. public of health disparities that place a disproportionate burden of premature death and preventable disease on racial/ethnic minorities as compared to the rest of the U.S. population. This study included a random sample of 3,159 telephone interviews with adults 18 and over. 1,329 non-Hispanic Whites, 855 non-Hispanic African Americans, 591 Hispanic/Latinos, and 179 Asian American/Pacific Islanders were surveyed on an index based on 24 items. The findings of this study show that fewer than two-thirds (59%) of Americans are aware of racial and ethnic health disparities. The Trends in U.S. Public Awareness of Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health ( ) study also reported that awareness of racial and ethnic health disparities generally increases with education. The 2010 data show evidence that participants with at least a high school education are more aware of racial and ethnic health disparities. The results from this study reveal that attracting the student population may be a solution to increase awareness of racial and ethnic health disparities. The objectives of this research were to identify the level of awareness of racial and ethnic health disparities among Connecticut residents, particularly the student population. Health Justice CT, a movement of Connecticut residents committed to raise awareness about the issue of racial and ethnic health disparities implemented a survey asking a random sample of Connecticut residents if they have heard of the term “health justice”. They found that only 6% of a total of 469 Connecticut residents have heard of this term before. In order to increase this level of awareness, it’s imperative to address the reasons why it is so low. What are the underlying factors that contribute to this level of awareness? Therefore, it was also important to understand where participants were learning about this issue. Progress must be made in raising awareness of racial and ethnic health disparities in order to eliminate health disparities and achieve health equity for all. Several very interesting findings came from this survey. First of all, 32 of the 50 participants who completed the survey were adults (ages 25 and over). Among the adult participants, 88% answered “yes” to knowing what racial and ethnic health disparities are. From the same pool of 32 adult participants, 36% said they learned this term from school, 20% from a friend or colleague, 18% from the news, 11% from work, 11% were self-taught, and 4% answered other. When the student population (ages 17-24) responses were analyzed independently, even more interesting findings surfaced. 6 of the 18 students were Caucasian and the remaining 12 were Asian, African American, Hispanic, Puerto Rican, Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, or Indian. Out of the 18 students who took the survey, 83% answered “yes” they do know the term racial and ethnic health disparities. 100% of the student minority population answered that they knew what racial and ethnic health disparities were while as only 1/6 th of Caucasian students knew what the term meant. Of the 15 students who said yes to knowing what the term is, 11 students (73%) said that they learned this term from school. The remaining 27% said that they learned the term from a friend or a colleague or was self-taught. 89% of students answered that the issue (racial and ethnic health disparities) is not publicly well recognized. 100% of the students who come from the minority population think this issue is not well recognized. Looking at the entire sample as a whole, 22 of the 50 participants answered that a class in high school or college would have informed them the most when asked, “What source(s) would have informed you the most about the issue on racial and ethnic health disparities?” The second leading answer was “Personal stories told by close acquaintances,” with a ratio of 20 out of the 50 participants. 60% think that racial and ethnic health disparities are not publicly well recognized. In response to why this issue (racial and ethnic health disparities) is not well recognized, majority of people think it is “Too complex to talk about,” “Too political,” and “It does not affect me or anyone I know.” 34% think that racial and ethnic health disparities are too complex to talk about, 26% think it’s too political, and 21% answered that it does not affect them or anyone they know. Participants: I conducted a random survey consisting of 12 questions on an online survey website, asking participants of all ages to anonymously answer questions regarding health disparities awareness. The sample of participants consisted of 18 students, ranging from age The remaining 32 participants were 25 years and older. 74% of the participants were female while as the remaining 26% were male. Among the participants, 35% were Caucasian, 33% were Asian, 12% were African American, 10% were Hispanic, 4% were Puerto Rican and another 4% were Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, with the remaining 2% Indian. Measures: Based on my literature review, I designed a survey that included questions surrounding demographics and racial and ethnic health disparities. First of all, the survey asked participants if they knew what the term racial and ethnic health disparities means and if so, where they learned the term. From there, it asked a range of questions. The questions included: “Why do you think some people are healthier than others? Why do you think this issue (racial and ethnic health disparities) is not well recognized? Which source(s) would have informed you the most about the issue on racial and ethnic health disparities? What actions are you willing to take in order to build health disparities awareness?” Procedures: The survey was created on an online survey website called Fluidsurveys.com. It was open for participants to complete from Monday, July 16, 2012 until Thursday, July 19, Directions and reasons for conducting the survey were explained at the beginning of every survey. They were allowed an unlimited amount of time to complete the survey, but it did not take anyone more than three minutes to complete. Once 50 random participants completed the survey, I closed it and gathered the responses. The results of every question were compiled into an Excel Sheet where I organized and tallied each response. Because my main focus was to assess the level of awareness of the student population, I further organized the data by student responses vs. adult responses. My goal was to distinguish any response trends that may have been a result of the age difference. Once every response was tallied, I was then able to further analyze the data provided by the 50 anonymous participants. The author acknowledges the Health Career Opportunity Program of the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Stacey Brown, Ph.D., Department of Community Medicine and Health Care, Granville Wrensford, Ph.D., C.R.A., Assistant Dean and Associate Director for Health Career Opportunity Programs, Marja M. Hurley, Associate Dean, Director, Office of Health Career Opportunities Program, Jan Figueroa, Department of Health Career Opportunity Programs, Heang Kim Tan, Project Manager, Health Justice CT, and Anastasia Rollins, Department of Health Career Opportunity Programs. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. [CDC Health Disparities and Inequalities Report]. MMWR 2011;60(Suppl):[1- 7]. Banales, Jorge E. “Fewer Than Two-Thirds of Americans Are Aware of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities.” OHC Content. Office of Minority Health Web. 19 July “Trends in U.S. Public Trends In U.S. Public Awareness of Racial And Ethnic Health Disparities ( ).” Office Of Minority Health. N.p., 30 Sept Web. 19 July Aetna Foundation Connecticut State Legislative Fund Fisher Foundation William and Alice Mortensen Foundation John and Valerie Rowe Health Professions Scholars Program University of Connecticut Foundation - Friends of the Department of Health Career Opportunity Programs University of Connecticut Health Center The hypothesis of the experiment was that students (ages 17-24) were going to have a greater level of awareness than adults 25 and over due to educational factors. This study concluded that students’ level of awareness of racial and ethnic health disparities is 5% less than the level of awareness of adults ages 25 and over. However, the study did support the hypothesis in terms of how students were aware of this issue. 73% of students learned this term racial and ethnic health disparities in school while as only 36% of adults learned this term in school. The adult participants who completed this survey learned this term through a range of resources, whether it was from a friend or colleague or from watching the news. The results of this study conclude that educating students about racial and ethnic health disparities through schooling as well as personal stories from close acquaintances will aid in increasing the awareness of this issue. The conclusions of this study go beyond that of the hypothesis. This study shows that 100% of students who are minorities are aware of health disparities. Although they are aware, these students also know that this issue is not publically recognized. This, in itself, addresses the issues advocates face in raising awareness. Health disparities affects a very specific population; it affects people who are poor, underprivileged, and those who do not have many resources. This study shows that providing a class in high school or college on health disparities will help in raising awareness of this issue in Connecticut residents regardless of their race/ethnicity. This study could have been improved through having an increased sample size. With a bigger sample, more reliable data could have been retrieved and more accurate conclusions could have been drawn. More questions concerning their level of awareness could have improved the study as well. In terms of error, there are many possible sources that could have contributed to unreliable data. Firstly, the sample of participants may have been more exposed to the issue of racial and ethnic health disparities than the general population. Another source of error may have been the honesty of participants answering the survey questions. It could be possible that they did not fully understand the questions being asked. Because the survey was anonymous, the honesty of each participants’ survey should not be a factor. Therefore, as a whole the survey deems to be a reliable source of information. Introduction Objectives Methods Results Discussion Acknowledgements References Funders Sample Survey