Research indicates the health of many immigrant populations’ deteriorates the longer they live in the U.S., leading to a phenomenon known as the “immigrant health advantage” (Antecol and Bedard 2006). Several studies suggest new immigrants tend to have healthier behaviors when they first arrive in America compared to U.S. natives. Immigrants tend to originate from cultures with lower stress levels that promote healthier lifestyles because of strong familial and societal networks (Venters and Gany, 2009). The eventual decline in immigrant health could potentially be explained by the lack of access to healthcare services. Immigrants lacking access to health services are likelier to have poor health outcomes. According to research studies, many
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Existing articles and data recognize variation among subgroups of foreign-born black populations but tend to ignore country-of-origin data for African-born immigrants, citing the small number of African immigrant participants as a reason for exclusion. Researchers have long ignored the health care needs and practices of African immigrant populations with minimal attention to heterogeneity, which has led to an incomplete analysis of the factors influencing utilization and access to health care services (Venters and Gany 2009). Throughout this thesis the terms African and African immigrant will be used to refer to African-born persons who have emigrated to the U.S. by way of visa or seeking asylum (refugees) from the any of the fifty-three countries in Africa. The term foreign-born blacks will be used to describe persons of African ancestry who have national origins outside of the continent of Africa. The term black American will be used to refer to persons of African ancestry who were forcefully settled in the U.S. through the trans-Atlantic slave …show more content…
The congregation was asked to participate in a voluntary survey. The survey questions were organized around 3 major themes 1) Perceived barriers to access of healthcare services; 2) Perceived quality of healthcare provided; 3) Previous access to healthcare services. Surveys were distributed and collected by the church reverend between June and July 2015. Data was analyzed using SPSS Statistics to provide a qualitative and quantitative descriptive review. The University of Pittsburgh Institutional Review Board approved this project.
I expect the results to be consistent with current literature, which indicates there is a lack of access to healthcare services for African immigrants. I suspect the reasons for disparity in access to healthcare may be attributable to factors such as lifestyle changes, income, transportation, language barriers and poor understanding of U.S. health
Existing articles and data recognize variation among subgroups of foreign-born black populations but tend to ignore country-of-origin data for African-born immigrants, citing the small number of African immigrant participants as a reason for exclusion. Researchers have long ignored the health care needs and practices of African immigrant populations with minimal attention to heterogeneity, which has led to an incomplete analysis of the factors influencing utilization and access to health care services (Venters and Gany 2009). Throughout this thesis the terms African and African immigrant will be used to refer to African-born persons who have emigrated to the U.S. by way of visa or seeking asylum (refugees) from the any of the fifty-three countries in Africa. The term foreign-born blacks will be used to describe persons of African ancestry who have national origins outside of the continent of Africa. The term black American will be used to refer to persons of African ancestry who were forcefully settled in the U.S. through the trans-Atlantic slave …show more content…
The congregation was asked to participate in a voluntary survey. The survey questions were organized around 3 major themes 1) Perceived barriers to access of healthcare services; 2) Perceived quality of healthcare provided; 3) Previous access to healthcare services. Surveys were distributed and collected by the church reverend between June and July 2015. Data was analyzed using SPSS Statistics to provide a qualitative and quantitative descriptive review. The University of Pittsburgh Institutional Review Board approved this project.
I expect the results to be consistent with current literature, which indicates there is a lack of access to healthcare services for African immigrants. I suspect the reasons for disparity in access to healthcare may be attributable to factors such as lifestyle changes, income, transportation, language barriers and poor understanding of U.S. health