Exploring Preventive Health Care Utilization Among Black/African American Men
Black/African American (BAA) men have the lowest life expectancy among other major demographic groups in the United States, with BAA male mortality rates 40% higher than their White male counterparts. Despite known benefits of preventive health care utilization, BAA men are 43% more likely to use th...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
SAGE Publishing
2024-01-01
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| Series: | American Journal of Men's Health |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/15579883231225548 |
| _version_ | 1797350735384412160 |
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| author | Harrell Jordan Rohan Jeremiah Karriem Watson Colleen Corte Alana Steffen Alicia K. Matthews |
| author_facet | Harrell Jordan Rohan Jeremiah Karriem Watson Colleen Corte Alana Steffen Alicia K. Matthews |
| author_sort | Harrell Jordan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Black/African American (BAA) men have the lowest life expectancy among other major demographic groups in the United States, with BAA male mortality rates 40% higher than their White male counterparts. Despite known benefits of preventive health care utilization, BAA men are 43% more likely to use the emergency department for usual care. Many intersecting factors like medical mistrust and religion have been identified as common barriers BAA men face in health care utilization with few studies exploring factors that impact their current preventive health care utilization. In addition, BAA men’s perceptions of health and ability to identify or seek help have always been disproportionately lower than other racial groups despite higher rates of preventable diseases. Using the tenets of the Andersen Healthcare Utilization Model, this cross-sectional study of 176 BAA men explores BAA men’s current preventive health care practices while examining the intersection of predisposing, enabling, and need factors on BAA men’s preventive health care utilization. While it is well known that higher income levels and higher education positively influence health care utilization, the intersection of religious affiliation and higher levels of medical mistrust was associated with BAA men’s decreased engagement with health care as religion posed as a buffer to health care utilization. This study demonstrated that BAA men’s perception of health differed by sexual orientation, educational status, and income. However, across all groups the participants’ perspective of their health was not in alignment with their current health outcomes. Future studies should evaluate the impact of masculine norms as potential enabling factors on BAA men’s preventive health care utilization. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T12:49:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4fb6a71e695a40a793afc57d27760fa9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1557-9891 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T12:49:06Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | American Journal of Men's Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-4fb6a71e695a40a793afc57d27760fa92024-01-20T11:04:27ZengSAGE PublishingAmerican Journal of Men's Health1557-98912024-01-011810.1177/15579883231225548Exploring Preventive Health Care Utilization Among Black/African American MenHarrell Jordan0Rohan Jeremiah1Karriem Watson2Colleen Corte3Alana Steffen4Alicia K. Matthews5College of Nursing, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL, USACollege of Nursing, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL, USACollege of Nursing, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL, USACollege of Nursing, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL, USACollege of Nursing, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL, USACollege of Nursing, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL, USABlack/African American (BAA) men have the lowest life expectancy among other major demographic groups in the United States, with BAA male mortality rates 40% higher than their White male counterparts. Despite known benefits of preventive health care utilization, BAA men are 43% more likely to use the emergency department for usual care. Many intersecting factors like medical mistrust and religion have been identified as common barriers BAA men face in health care utilization with few studies exploring factors that impact their current preventive health care utilization. In addition, BAA men’s perceptions of health and ability to identify or seek help have always been disproportionately lower than other racial groups despite higher rates of preventable diseases. Using the tenets of the Andersen Healthcare Utilization Model, this cross-sectional study of 176 BAA men explores BAA men’s current preventive health care practices while examining the intersection of predisposing, enabling, and need factors on BAA men’s preventive health care utilization. While it is well known that higher income levels and higher education positively influence health care utilization, the intersection of religious affiliation and higher levels of medical mistrust was associated with BAA men’s decreased engagement with health care as religion posed as a buffer to health care utilization. This study demonstrated that BAA men’s perception of health differed by sexual orientation, educational status, and income. However, across all groups the participants’ perspective of their health was not in alignment with their current health outcomes. Future studies should evaluate the impact of masculine norms as potential enabling factors on BAA men’s preventive health care utilization.https://doi.org/10.1177/15579883231225548 |
| spellingShingle | Harrell Jordan Rohan Jeremiah Karriem Watson Colleen Corte Alana Steffen Alicia K. Matthews Exploring Preventive Health Care Utilization Among Black/African American Men American Journal of Men's Health |
| title | Exploring Preventive Health Care Utilization Among Black/African American Men |
| title_full | Exploring Preventive Health Care Utilization Among Black/African American Men |
| title_fullStr | Exploring Preventive Health Care Utilization Among Black/African American Men |
| title_full_unstemmed | Exploring Preventive Health Care Utilization Among Black/African American Men |
| title_short | Exploring Preventive Health Care Utilization Among Black/African American Men |
| title_sort | exploring preventive health care utilization among black african american men |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/15579883231225548 |
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