All flashcards
Flashcard 1: What is structural violence as a cause of health disparities?
Answer: Social structures that systematically harm health by limiting resources. Social systems inflict harm through resource deprivation.
Flashcard 2: What is intersectionality in health disparities research?
Answer: Overlapping identities create unique, non-additive health risks. Multiple marginalized identities interact to produce compounded disadvantages.
Flashcard 3: What is a health disparity (public health definition) on the MCAT?
Answer: A preventable difference in health linked to social disadvantage. Focuses on differences that could be eliminated through social change.
Flashcard 4: What is health inequity (as distinct from disparity)?
Answer: An unfair, avoidable health difference rooted in injustice. Emphasizes moral dimension and systemic causes vs. mere differences.
Flashcard 5: What is the difference between equality and equity in health care access?
Answer: Equality gives same resources; equity allocates by need to equalize outcomes. Equity recognizes different starting points require different support.
Flashcard 6: What is the social gradient in health?
Answer: Health improves stepwise with higher socioeconomic status. Each increase in income/education correlates with better health outcomes.
Flashcard 7: What is structural violence in the context of health disparities?
Answer: Institutional arrangements that systematically harm marginalized groups. Social structures inflict harm through unequal resource distribution.
Flashcard 8: What is structural racism as a determinant of health?
Answer: Policies and institutions that produce racialized inequities in health. Discriminatory systems embedded in laws, policies, and practices.
Flashcard 9: What is discrimination in health research (operational definition)?
Answer: Unequal treatment due to group membership (race, gender, class, etc.). Differential treatment based on social category membership.
Flashcard 10: What is implicit bias, and why is it relevant to clinical disparities?
Answer: Unconscious attitudes that can alter decisions and patient care. Automatic biases influence clinical judgment without awareness.
Flashcard 11: What is stereotype threat in health care settings?
Answer: Anxiety about confirming stereotypes that impairs performance or communication. Fear of confirming negative stereotypes creates stress and barriers.
Flashcard 12: What is medical mistrust, and what commonly contributes to it?
Answer: Low trust in health systems, often due to historical and ongoing mistreatment. Past abuses and current discrimination erode patient confidence.
Flashcard 13: What is the "weathering" hypothesis in explaining health disparities?
Answer: Chronic stress accelerates physiological wear in marginalized groups. Discrimination causes premature biological aging through stress pathways.
Flashcard 14: What is allostatic load in health disparities research?
Answer: Cumulative physiological burden from repeated or chronic stress. Stress hormones and inflammation accumulate, damaging body systems.
Flashcard 15: What is the biopsychosocial model of health used to frame disparities?
Answer: Health reflects interacting biological, psychological, and social factors. Integrates multiple levels of analysis to understand health outcomes.
Flashcard 16: What is the difference between access to care and quality of care?
Answer: Access is ability to obtain services; quality is effectiveness and safety. Access means getting care; quality means receiving appropriate care.
Flashcard 17: Identify the concept: unequal health outcomes persist after controlling for income and education.
Answer: Structural factors (for example, racism) beyond individual SES. Shows health gaps stem from systemic inequities, not just poverty.
Flashcard 18: Identify the concept: a patient avoids clinics due to fear of stigma about their identity.
Answer: Anticipated stigma. Expecting discrimination prevents seeking needed health services.
Flashcard 19: Identify the concept: a clinician spends less time with a patient due to unconscious assumptions.
Answer: Implicit bias affecting care delivery. Unconscious stereotypes shape provider behavior and patient interactions.
Flashcard 20: Which study design best tests whether discrimination mediates the link between race and hypertension?
Answer: Mediation model: race → discrimination → hypertension. Tests if discrimination explains how race affects health outcomes.
Flashcard 21: Identify the concept: risks for a Black transgender woman cannot be predicted by adding race and gender effects.
Answer: Non-additive (interaction) effects consistent with intersectionality. Intersecting identities create unique vulnerabilities beyond simple addition.
Flashcard 22: What is a health inequity (distinct from a simple difference in health outcomes)?
Answer: Unfair, unjust disparities caused by social and structural conditions. Disparities rooted in injustice, not just biological variation.
Flashcard 23: Identify the most appropriate interpretation: a disparity persists after SES adjustment.
Answer: Other mechanisms (discrimination, environment, care quality) likely contribute. SES doesn't capture all pathways creating disparities.
Flashcard 24: Which approach best applies intersectionality when comparing outcomes across groups?
Answer: Stratify by combined identities (e.g., race × gender) rather than single categories. Examines how identity combinations create distinct outcomes.
Flashcard 25: What is institutional discrimination in health care?
Answer: Policies/practices that produce unequal care across groups, independent of intent. Systemic patterns create disparities regardless of individual bias.
Flashcard 26: What is internalized stigma and how does it relate to health disparities?
Answer: Adopting negative beliefs about one’s group; worsens stress and health behaviors. Self-stigma creates stress and unhealthy coping behaviors.
Flashcard 27: What is the key difference between intersectionality and additive risk models?
Answer: Intersectionality emphasizes nonadditive, interacting effects of identities. Identities interact synergistically, not just sum together.
Flashcard 28: What is interpersonal discrimination in the context of health outcomes?
Answer: Direct biased treatment by individuals that can impair health and care access. Face-to-face bias affects treatment quality and access.
Flashcard 29: What is allostatic load in stress physiology and health disparities?
Answer: Cumulative wear-and-tear from chronic stress on multiple body systems. Chronic stress causes measurable physiological damage.
Flashcard 30: What is weathering as an explanation for racial/ethnic health disparities?
Answer: Accelerated health decline from chronic exposure to social adversity. Continuous stress exposure ages bodies prematurely.