I work at a childcare center that primarily serves low income hispanic families. I decided to survey ten parents from this population to see the overall messages about healthcare that these individuals from this group pertain. When developing the survey, I focused on digging deep within the healthcare issues of our nation but in a simple, understanding manner. As I watched each of them fill out the survey, I saw a lot of thought and concern in many of their faces. They each took their time filling out the five question survey which indicated the care they took in answering each question truthfully. After one lady finished the survey, she looked at me and said in a kind, warm voice that she wished everyone could just be treated equally no matter what the color of their skin was or where they originated from. Those words were very strong and powerful, and in many ways, gave a voice to my simple survey. One of the most striking realization of the survey was when I asked: Do you and your family feel like the healthcare system meets the needs of your own culture? I received 5 nevers and 5 sometimes. The 5 nevers shocked me because half of the people I surveyed felt like the healthcare system never meets their cultural needs. I feel like this is a strong indicator within the healthcare system that it needs to be more culturally open to the growing diverse nation that we live in. The last question I asked: Do you feel like health care professionals treat you different because of your culture (ex. Talk slower, give less options, put you in a box based on your culture)? I received 6 yeses and 4 nos. Once again, I was surprised and saddened by these results. All in all, I feel like the answers that I received indicate the need for change within the healthcare system to make it a more friendly, culturally competent environment.
I think the responses to the last question on your questionnaire was very eye opening. I agree with you that the healthcare system should try to cater to everyones' needs and hopefully everyone will feel more accommodated in a health environment.
Angela , I had a similar question to your last one mentioned . One individual responded with " When I have gone to the emergency room especially with my children they seem to think everything is a question of my lifestyle , they make assumptions "
I wish that I was able to conduct my survey with a group of people ethnically different from me (which was difficult to find 10 people of the same ethnicity with the time availability I have), because I agree that things like this can be very eye opening. It's like I have no idea the struggle other cultures go through when it comes to healthcare because I've never lived it. It becomes like a humbling experience to put yourself in someone else's shoes.
I have decided to interview a mixture of some of my coworkers, neighbors, close friends and some family members. I chose to focus on the elders and their main concerns with health. After getting all of my responses, I realized that we can easily take our health for granted at our young age and will eventually pay for it later.
I am intrigued with what people over 65 feel they are being told. So I had five short answer questions. In a nutshell, the questions were about how they see their health verses how society portrays messages to them, main sources of information about health, lifestyle changes, do people treat you differently than when you were younger, and where do you expect yourself to be in ten years. I knew four of the ten, and the other six participants were at a local senior center. They were all women ranging from 66 to 85. Two contrasting remarks to where you'll be in 10 years were: The 85 year old woman wrote she hoped to be in a smaller house, and that perhaps she can finally do some new things that she hasn't had a chance to do. Strikingly, a 67 year old woman wrote "no longer alive". The others were varieties of being in Florida, hoping to be right where they are now, hoping to be above ground and breathing, and so on. This group of participants, in general, has made lifestyle changes consisting of exercise and a healthier diet. Most of them had an opinion that television commercial, and other marketing trends telling you to "ask your doctor" if you should be on this medication. The remarks where pleasingly knowledgeable that pharmaceuticals are money driven and not a cure. Most of the participants viewed themselves as healthy as and possibly even healthier than others their age, but they are being given negative messages, such as “don’t’ age”, get on medications, dementia is a real expectation, get rid of the wrinkles in your neck, under your eyes and look 20 years younger! Yet the message I received is one where society needs to come to the realization that people are living longer, healthier, and are more active. I would like to see more programs for literacy and education on health to help cut down on health disparities. These were some fairly positive answers, and wouldn't it be nice if everyone could know that there are choices that can be made for a healthier lifestyle even if you are disabled or have a chronic condition.
Some of the responses you shared were awesome!! We have been entering an era where the "Baby Boomers" are all aging and wondering what is going to happen with themselves. Your survey is just the tip of the iceberg to come. We are gradually living longer lives, life expectancies are increasing. People need to have real expectations as to what is going to happen to them. They need to realize that these miracle creams advertised will not make you 20 years younger and that pharmaceutical companies are money hungry. I could not agree with you more about educating about health disparities. Educating people about living healthier lifestyles and allowing people, especially the elderly, to keep as much independence as possible will not only allow people to live out their lives as they would want to, but to be happier doing it. I do hope that the 67 year old women you interviewed who said "no longer alive" changes her mind about this response. Very heartbreaking to read. Nena T.
Christine, I really enjoyed reading your post. I think that was a great direction to go with because we can learn so much as a population from the elders in our communities. I also agree that we should spend more time and money educating about health disparities and the beauties of aging. I feel that so many individuals see aging as a bad thing when it shouldn't be viewed that way. Wrinkles are a simple reminder of all the beautiful memories that a person has had on this earth. The roads they've traveled down and the people they have met on this crazy beautiful journey known as life. But all companies keep doing is reminding them how unattractive wrinkles are which is a lie. We all will age, and I will definitely embrace it.
This was my first time having to make and give out a survey for a class. I originally had somewhat of a hard time thinking of survey questions because my questions tended to be yes or no questions so I had to reword them a little to make them survey questions. Most of my questions were related to culturally competency like: do you think you’re a cultural competent person, do you think your healthcare has been impacted by your culture or cultural views, do you think the doctors or hospital you go to is a culturally competent place. I asked questions about cultural competency because this has been a large amount of what this course has been about. However, one question I did ask was different and didn’t relate to the others and this was if the person taking my survey understood what kind of services their insurance covers. I asked this question because before this course I didn’t know anything about my health insurance and the types of services it covers until we had to do the health insurance comparison did I really learn what my insurance covers. I asked this question wondering if other college kids were like me and didn’t know anything about their health insurance and coverage but shockingly more than half of the people I surveyed said they had a good understanding of their insurance coverage. I found this very surprising. The age group I was surveying was college age kids with most of the people I surveyed were from my other classes.
Hi Breanna: That's very interesting information, that your college age kids know what their insurance covers! I did short answer questions for my survey and it took me a little bit of time and conversation to come up with what I thought were good and interesting questions. When we were doing health insurance comparisons, I randomly asked a few people who have a family and were 35 or older, just to see what they would say. Three out of five said, you don't really KNOW what your insurance covers until you have to use it! So perhaps on a yes/no question, if you know something about the insurance, you would say yes. Or a good understanding, might mean that they've experienced going to the doctor or the ER etc. Or perhaps they are vigilant in their health coverage! Either way, I would have been a bit amazed and happy with a response like you received.
I decided to survey women and ask them about how they felt about their healthcare provider, if they received the same, less, or more care from them, and about women’s health overall and what is televised. I was kind of shocked that most of the women I surveyed felt they received the same amount of care from their providers than a male would. I would have figured this to have a lower response especially after what I have learned in this class and past sociology and psychology classes. I also would have thought that more women would have more knowledge about women’s health and stayed more up to date with current women’s health issues. Most said that their provider addresses all of their concerns, while a few stated that they have to stress their concerns with their provider. This should not be the case with any provider, this is when things are missed, misdiagnosed, or medication errors happen. Providers need to slow down and focus on the patient in front of them and not the others who are waiting in the waiting room. Women’s health is huge and I think rushed over sometimes. Women are not the female version of a man, we are all unique individuals with different physiological concerns. We can present with a disease or illness differently than a man would and it is sometimes brushed off as something completely different. Women and healthcare providers need to understand the importance of each individual and the needs that go along with them. Education is the best tool to help fix this problem for both women and providers alike.
For this week's activity paper, I went to my town community center to ask the elderly and retired (ages 65+) a few questions about their healthcare! I asked questions about Medicare, other supplementary insurance, and prescription medication coverage. I found out that 10 out of the 10 seniors that I surveyed, all purchase a supplemental healthcare insurance to add to their Medicare coverage. I was so shocked with the results of this question because why should the retired and senior citizens have to pay for another insurance if they have this state insurance that is supposed to help them? Another thing that I discovered after doing this assignment is that the elderly pay a lot of money monthly for this "extra" insurance. I found out that 6 out of the 10 pay less than $300, but more than $200 per month. That's crazy! One last thing that I learned from the group that I surveyed was that they pay a lot every month on their prescriptions too.
Hannah this is very interesting, am surprise that they pay extra insurance. Hopefully there is another way to help our seniors out. Thanks for sharing.
I am very shocked as well that the elderly had to purchase a supplement insurance as well to their Medicare coverage. I thought Medicare was a good insurance plan for the elderly but from your survey it does not seem so.
This survey was a bit challenging for me. I decided to survey ten people that smoke. Out of the ten, three were white, four were Hispanic and the remaining three were African Americans. They were between the ages of 30 to 55 years. Some of the questions included the age that they began smoking, their designated areas of smoking especially if they smoke around kids or non smokers, the health risk that is involved in smoking and if any members of their family smoke as well. And also if they have thought about quitting. What strike me most was the age. Most of them started smoking at the age of 11 because their family members were doing it and they thought it was cool and relaxing. This gave me the opportunity to educate them on the risk involve and also provided them with information on how to quit. As we all know tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable chronic disease and death in the United States. Cigarette smoking continues to be a major challenge to the public and its community.
Barbara, I had a hard time with the survey too. I had a hard time with thinking of questions that you could answer on a scale of one to five. Or just thinking of a survey in general. I like how your survey is really focused on a specific group and with specific questions that really went well with your survey! Your survey seems very interesting and I'm glad you were given the opportunity to educate these people about the danger (and grossness) of smoking. Smoking is a problem in our country but the people who do smoke don't seem to understand how bad it is for them despite the evidence and horrible things you show them that smoking can do to them!
Hi Barbara, Wow, I cant believe how people start smoking at such a young age! It was good that the people you surveyed were from a diverse popluation, because smokers come from such varying backgrounds. I used to smoke but would never smoke around my children so I always wonder if many other people do that? The funny thing about smoking is that so many smokers know the risks and health effects, yet still choose to smoke. Some people, even after having cancer or other life threatening illnessess or diseases.
Hi Danielle I was surprise at the ages too and to answer your question, two of them do smoke around their kids and the others don't. One of them actually started smoking because his Uncle used to do it around him and that is how he started. it was a very interesting survey.
I decided to survey 10 women regarding their opinions about healthcare and to see what their responses about some of the stereotypes were. This survey was interesting for me and I'm glad I had the chance to do this. Most of the women agreed that there were several general stereotypes when it came to women compared to men in healthcare. Generally, the women agreed that women tend to "handle" being sick better than men. One woman stated that this was because we, as women have more to take care of. Aside from work, this woman stated that most women are responsible for making sure things run smoothly with the children and household and that if left up to men, it would not be worth the time off. One thing that I did find interesting while doing this survey was that most of the women said that they felt that they were treated equally (in comparison to men) by healthcare professionals.
Hi Danielle: Both you and Nena mention that women said they felt they were treated equally in comparison to men. I do not find this surprising. I don't know why men would be treated better overall than women. Women, although I do not have statistics, have more ongoing reasons to see their healthcare providers. Girls, get their periods, then their is safe sex, no sex, the pill, or other contraceptives, then there is pms and cramps and WHY? Then their are pap smears, pregnancy, childbirth, mammograms, perimenopause, menopause and so on.
I also wonder on what context they say that. Men typically are more evasive in their concerns about their health. But really, each individual should have their time with their healthcare provider as if they are the only one that matters for the moment.
My survey respondents were asked questions regarding their healthcare providers and perceptions in regards to care received . Participants were of varying age groups, genders , and were not Caucasian . None of the respondents have primary care providers of their same race. Most surprising discrepancies that were observed seemed to be related to age.The younger participants perceived less racial bias from providers .The older participants expressed a preference for providers similar to them in race as a matter of comfort. Younger participants did not express a racial preference for providers and felt race was not an issue when conveying their health information. Only one respondent stated that they would change the frequency of medical visits by an increase if their provider was similar to them in race .
It is interesting that the older participants expressed a race preference in their providers and the younger ones didn't. This is something I have never put any thought into but it is completely understandable for someone to be more comfortable that way. I guess it is a good thing that the younger participants did not care as much. It can only means that things are getting better and there are not as many racial stereotypes.
I surveyed some of my co-workers ,who were all women .It was was a diversely made up group of African ,African American ,Hispanic and White women .Interestingly some of the comments and concerns shared were similar.What I wanted to do was focus on the identity of being a woman and not of their race.Collectively as women we all have the same concerns when it comes to our healthcare.Most of the issues that was expressed was flexibility,well being incentives and so on and so forth .
I somewhat did the same thing in my survey. It was not all women, but I wanted to focus on the way people feel about health overall without race or stereotypes interfering. However, the women in mine did express some of the same things...eating healthy, motives, etc.
For this assignment, I administered my five question survey to five men and five women between the ages of 20 and 25. The men and women were not of any specific race or ethnicity but simply random college students who fit the age category. The purpose of this survey was to get a better understanding of the relationship better health and wellness and the young men and women of our generation. More specifically, to see if people of this generation are actually taking advantage of health care or taking the measures to become a healthy person. The most interesting thing about my results were that the men all thought they were healthy and fit but never had annual physicals or went to any doctor and couldn’t remember when they even went last! The women thought about their health daily, exercises, ate right, and took advantage of every doctor their insurance covered. I was saddened by this because many of them could not see special doctors, for example to get an eye exam, and needed too but their insurance would not cover it. Whereas the men, simply didn’t care. It reminded me of the videos in our last blog. How this generation is becoming more lazy and uncaring towards eating right and taking care of their bodies and the proper education on how to do all this is not being presented at a young enough age. However, there are many other factors that could be the cause of this as well. A lot of it depends on your family, how you were raised, and where you grew up. I was brought up in a family that went to the doctors for everything and I never feel completely healthy until I have used up all my visits in the year, but that’s just me haha
From a psychological standpoint, it makes sense that a college age male would be uninterested in his health - they are (typically) still in a stage of life where they feel invincible. Unfortunately, my husband is still in that frame of mind - we have the best health insurance ever and he refuses to see a doctor or the dentist. There is definitely a gender difference in the importance of health. Very interesting.
I gave my survey to Brown University ungergraduate students - 5 males and 5 females, with a mix of ethnicities. The five questions that unasked were: 1. What do you think is most important about your own health? 2. Do you feel like you have access to the healthcare that you need? 3. Do you have health insurance? 4. Do you understand what your healthcare plan covers and how it works? 5. What do you think about healthcare in America in general?
Working on a college campus, college student are the easiest population for me to survey. My institution requires students to have health insurance through the university or submit proof of other coverage, so all the students that I surveyed had health insurance. What I found very interesting (but not surprising) is that all 10 answered that they felt that they did not understand their coverage. One student shared that after surgery her freshman year, she looked over the explanation of benefits and called her parents in a panic over what it meant. The last question that I asked got an interesting mix of responses. Overwhelmingly, people feel that health, in general, is confusing. Health insurance plans are hard to understand, doctors opinions on what is good and bad for you is constantly changing, TV is filled with ads for prescriptions for diseases I didn't know existed. I also got a few stabs at the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare), but I also got the sense that the comments were just politically motivated and none of them really understood it.
My feeling spatter completing this is that people, of all ethnicities, are confused about their health and healthcare. It's certainly a complex topic to begin with, but adding mixed messages about health in the media, and a healthcare system that takes a PhD to navigate, people are just overwhelmed by it all. I would imagine that it must be much more terrifying to a non-native English speaker.
I agree. I feel like insurance companies sometimes do not clearly write about the benefits and it is very confusing. As a college student who has the insurance provided from the college, I just recently understood my benefits after having the insurance for almost 4 years!
Insurance in my opinion has never been clear, I have decades of insurance through different providers depending on my employment. Most of the companies I worked with through the years, had a Benefits Administrator through Human Resources. We would have to sign up at varying times to have a meeting with explanation and Questions and Answers as the company enrolled you in their benefits. Or if the company changed health carriers, my last company I worked with, changed every year to help keep costs down for their employees. Each time we changed, we would have to have meetings to grasp how our insurance was different from the last.
I chose to survey women about the messages they receive about health, because A. I and a female, and B. because I work with all women at my full time job. I focused my survey questions around what messages they receive about female health from family members and family heredity and also from the media as it portrays women's health. I wanted to know whether messages from the media influenced their health choices in terms of diet and exercise, and if family health history played a big role in their preventative care practices. I was not surprised to learn that most of the women I surveyed took preventative health precautions for predominantly female conditions, such as breast and cervical cancer based on the experiences and advice of female family members, however it was interesting some of the women to share with me that they took preventative measured for things like breast cancer because, "As a women, it's just what you do." It was also interesting to hear varying views on the influence of media's portrayal of female health and how affects their health decisions. There were some who of course admitted to trying certain advertised diets and exercise cure-alls because a magazine or more recently Pinterest suggested it would make they look the way a women should. More impressively to me was the number of women who said they did not choice healthy habits based on how it would affect their physical appearance, but rather how it affected their physical well-being and how their own habits affected the health of their families by example.
I work at Lenscrafters where I work with a lot of being of different races. From here I asked five different questions, "What do you think about the health insurance provided by the company?", "Do you think the amount of money you pay for the health insurance is worth with what you get", "How would you say your health is", "Do you think vision insurance is necessary", "What should we do about people that are clearly abusing state provided insurances such as MassHealth". The answers were so spread out because I work with 19 to 55 year olds. The 55+ definitely were more narrow mindded about how some people abuse insurance by trying to get everything for free and the 19 year olds were definitely more care free from my analysis.
I work at a childcare center that primarily serves low income hispanic families. I decided to survey ten parents from this population to see the overall messages about healthcare that these individuals from this group pertain. When developing the survey, I focused on digging deep within the healthcare issues of our nation but in a simple, understanding manner.
ReplyDeleteAs I watched each of them fill out the survey, I saw a lot of thought and concern in many of their faces. They each took their time filling out the five question survey which indicated the care they took in answering each question truthfully. After one lady finished the survey, she looked at me and said in a kind, warm voice that she wished everyone could just be treated equally no matter what the color of their skin was or where they originated from. Those words were very strong and powerful, and in many ways, gave a voice to my simple survey.
One of the most striking realization of the survey was when I asked: Do you and your family feel like the healthcare system meets the needs of your own culture? I received 5 nevers and 5 sometimes. The 5 nevers shocked me because half of the people I surveyed felt like the healthcare system never meets their cultural needs. I feel like this is a strong indicator within the healthcare system that it needs to be more culturally open to the growing diverse nation that we live in.
The last question I asked: Do you feel like health care professionals treat you different because of your culture (ex. Talk slower, give less options, put you in a box based on your culture)? I received 6 yeses and 4 nos. Once again, I was surprised and saddened by these results. All in all, I feel like the answers that I received indicate the need for change within the healthcare system to make it a more friendly, culturally competent environment.
Hi Angela,
DeleteI think the responses to the last question on your questionnaire was very eye opening. I agree with you that the healthcare system should try to cater to everyones' needs and hopefully everyone will feel more accommodated in a health environment.
Angela ,
DeleteI had a similar question to your last one mentioned . One individual responded with " When I have gone to the emergency room especially with my children they seem to think everything is a question of my lifestyle , they make assumptions "
I wish that I was able to conduct my survey with a group of people ethnically different from me (which was difficult to find 10 people of the same ethnicity with the time availability I have), because I agree that things like this can be very eye opening. It's like I have no idea the struggle other cultures go through when it comes to healthcare because I've never lived it. It becomes like a humbling experience to put yourself in someone else's shoes.
DeleteI have decided to interview a mixture of some of my coworkers, neighbors, close friends and some family members. I chose to focus on the elders and their main concerns with health. After getting all of my responses, I realized that we can easily take our health for granted at our young age and will eventually pay for it later.
ReplyDeleteI am intrigued with what people over 65 feel they are being told. So I had five short answer questions. In a nutshell, the questions were about how they see their health verses how society portrays messages to them, main sources of information about health, lifestyle changes, do people treat you differently than when you were younger, and where do you expect yourself to be in ten years.
ReplyDeleteI knew four of the ten, and the other six participants were at a local senior center. They were all women ranging from 66 to 85.
Two contrasting remarks to where you'll be in 10 years were: The 85 year old woman wrote she hoped to be in a smaller house, and that perhaps she can finally do some new things that she hasn't had a chance to do. Strikingly, a 67 year old woman wrote "no longer alive". The others were varieties of being in Florida, hoping to be right where they are now, hoping to be above ground and breathing, and so on.
This group of participants, in general, has made lifestyle changes consisting of exercise and a healthier diet. Most of them had an opinion that television commercial, and other marketing trends telling you to "ask your doctor" if you should be on this medication. The remarks where pleasingly knowledgeable that pharmaceuticals are money driven and not a cure.
Most of the participants viewed themselves as healthy as and possibly even healthier than others their age, but they are being given negative messages, such as “don’t’ age”, get on medications, dementia is a real expectation, get rid of the wrinkles in your neck, under your eyes and look 20 years younger! Yet the message I received is one where society needs to come to the realization that people are living longer, healthier, and are more active. I would like to see more programs for literacy and education on health to help cut down on health disparities. These were some fairly positive answers, and wouldn't it be nice if everyone could know that there are choices that can be made for a healthier lifestyle even if you are disabled or have a chronic condition.
Some of the responses you shared were awesome!! We have been entering an era where the "Baby Boomers" are all aging and wondering what is going to happen with themselves. Your survey is just the tip of the iceberg to come. We are gradually living longer lives, life expectancies are increasing. People need to have real expectations as to what is going to happen to them. They need to realize that these miracle creams advertised will not make you 20 years younger and that pharmaceutical companies are money hungry. I could not agree with you more about educating about health disparities. Educating people about living healthier lifestyles and allowing people, especially the elderly, to keep as much independence as possible will not only allow people to live out their lives as they would want to, but to be happier doing it. I do hope that the 67 year old women you interviewed who said "no longer alive" changes her mind about this response. Very heartbreaking to read.
DeleteNena T.
Christine, I really enjoyed reading your post. I think that was a great direction to go with because we can learn so much as a population from the elders in our communities. I also agree that we should spend more time and money educating about health disparities and the beauties of aging. I feel that so many individuals see aging as a bad thing when it shouldn't be viewed that way. Wrinkles are a simple reminder of all the beautiful memories that a person has had on this earth. The roads they've traveled down and the people they have met on this crazy beautiful journey known as life. But all companies keep doing is reminding them how unattractive wrinkles are which is a lie. We all will age, and I will definitely embrace it.
DeleteThis was my first time having to make and give out a survey for a class. I originally had somewhat of a hard time thinking of survey questions because my questions tended to be yes or no questions so I had to reword them a little to make them survey questions. Most of my questions were related to culturally competency like: do you think you’re a cultural competent person, do you think your healthcare has been impacted by your culture or cultural views, do you think the doctors or hospital you go to is a culturally competent place. I asked questions about cultural competency because this has been a large amount of what this course has been about. However, one question I did ask was different and didn’t relate to the others and this was if the person taking my survey understood what kind of services their insurance covers. I asked this question because before this course I didn’t know anything about my health insurance and the types of services it covers until we had to do the health insurance comparison did I really learn what my insurance covers. I asked this question wondering if other college kids were like me and didn’t know anything about their health insurance and coverage but shockingly more than half of the people I surveyed said they had a good understanding of their insurance coverage. I found this very surprising. The age group I was surveying was college age kids with most of the people I surveyed were from my other classes.
ReplyDeleteHi Breanna: That's very interesting information, that your college age kids know what their insurance covers! I did short answer questions for my survey and it took me a little bit of time and conversation to come up with what I thought were good and interesting questions. When we were doing health insurance comparisons, I randomly asked a few people who have a family and were 35 or older, just to see what they would say. Three out of five said, you don't really KNOW what your insurance covers until you have to use it!
ReplyDeleteSo perhaps on a yes/no question, if you know something about the insurance, you would say yes. Or a good understanding, might mean that they've experienced going to the doctor or the ER etc. Or perhaps they are vigilant in their health coverage! Either way, I would have been a bit amazed and happy with a response like you received.
I decided to survey women and ask them about how they felt about their healthcare provider, if they received the same, less, or more care from them, and about women’s health overall and what is televised. I was kind of shocked that most of the women I surveyed felt they received the same amount of care from their providers than a male would. I would have figured this to have a lower response especially after what I have learned in this class and past sociology and psychology classes. I also would have thought that more women would have more knowledge about women’s health and stayed more up to date with current women’s health issues. Most said that their provider addresses all of their concerns, while a few stated that they have to stress their concerns with their provider. This should not be the case with any provider, this is when things are missed, misdiagnosed, or medication errors happen. Providers need to slow down and focus on the patient in front of them and not the others who are waiting in the waiting room. Women’s health is huge and I think rushed over sometimes. Women are not the female version of a man, we are all unique individuals with different physiological concerns. We can present with a disease or illness differently than a man would and it is sometimes brushed off as something completely different. Women and healthcare providers need to understand the importance of each individual and the needs that go along with them. Education is the best tool to help fix this problem for both women and providers alike.
ReplyDeleteHi Nena,
DeleteI think that the topic you decided to focus on was really interesting and such a great idea. I am surprised by your results as well
For this week's activity paper, I went to my town community center to ask the elderly and retired (ages 65+) a few questions about their healthcare! I asked questions about Medicare, other supplementary insurance, and prescription medication coverage. I found out that 10 out of the 10 seniors that I surveyed, all purchase a supplemental healthcare insurance to add to their Medicare coverage. I was so shocked with the results of this question because why should the retired and senior citizens have to pay for another insurance if they have this state insurance that is supposed to help them? Another thing that I discovered after doing this assignment is that the elderly pay a lot of money monthly for this "extra" insurance. I found out that 6 out of the 10 pay less than $300, but more than $200 per month. That's crazy! One last thing that I learned from the group that I surveyed was that they pay a lot every month on their prescriptions too.
ReplyDeleteHannah this is very interesting, am surprise that they pay extra insurance. Hopefully there is another way to help our seniors out. Thanks for sharing.
DeleteI am very shocked as well that the elderly had to purchase a supplement insurance as well to their Medicare coverage. I thought Medicare was a good insurance plan for the elderly but from your survey it does not seem so.
DeleteThis survey was a bit challenging for me. I decided to survey ten people that smoke. Out of the ten, three were white, four were Hispanic and the remaining three were African Americans. They were between the ages of 30 to 55 years. Some of the questions included the age that they began smoking, their designated areas of smoking especially if they smoke around kids or non smokers, the health risk that is involved in smoking and if any members of their family smoke as well. And also if they have thought about quitting. What strike me most was the age. Most of them started smoking at the age of 11 because their family members were doing it and they thought it was cool and relaxing. This gave me the opportunity to educate them on the risk involve and also provided them with information on how to quit. As we all know tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable chronic disease and death in the United States. Cigarette smoking continues to be a major challenge to the public and its community.
ReplyDeleteBarbara, I had a hard time with the survey too. I had a hard time with thinking of questions that you could answer on a scale of one to five. Or just thinking of a survey in general. I like how your survey is really focused on a specific group and with specific questions that really went well with your survey! Your survey seems very interesting and I'm glad you were given the opportunity to educate these people about the danger (and grossness) of smoking. Smoking is a problem in our country but the people who do smoke don't seem to understand how bad it is for them despite the evidence and horrible things you show them that smoking can do to them!
DeleteHi Barbara,
DeleteWow, I cant believe how people start smoking at such a young age! It was good that the people you surveyed were from a diverse popluation, because smokers come from such varying backgrounds. I used to smoke but would never smoke around my children so I always wonder if many other people do that? The funny thing about smoking is that so many smokers know the risks and health effects, yet still choose to smoke. Some people, even after having cancer or other life threatening illnessess or diseases.
Hi Danielle I was surprise at the ages too and to answer your question, two of them do smoke around their kids and the others don't. One of them actually started smoking because his Uncle used to do it around him and that is how he started. it was a very interesting survey.
DeleteI decided to survey 10 women regarding their opinions about healthcare and to see what their responses about some of the stereotypes were. This survey was interesting for me and I'm glad I had the chance to do this. Most of the women agreed that there were several general stereotypes when it came to women compared to men in healthcare. Generally, the women agreed that women tend to "handle" being sick better than men. One woman stated that this was because we, as women have more to take care of. Aside from work, this woman stated that most women are responsible for making sure things run smoothly with the children and household and that if left up to men, it would not be worth the time off. One thing that I did find interesting while doing this survey was that most of the women said that they felt that they were treated equally (in comparison to men) by healthcare professionals.
ReplyDeleteHi Danielle: Both you and Nena mention that women said they felt they were treated equally in comparison to men. I do not find this surprising.
DeleteI don't know why men would be treated better overall than women. Women, although I do not have statistics, have more ongoing reasons to see their healthcare providers. Girls, get their periods, then their is safe sex, no sex, the pill, or other contraceptives, then there is pms and cramps and WHY? Then their are pap smears, pregnancy, childbirth, mammograms, perimenopause, menopause and so on.
I also wonder on what context they say that. Men typically are more evasive in their concerns about their health. But really, each individual should have their time with their healthcare provider as if they are the only one that matters for the moment.
My survey respondents were asked questions regarding their healthcare providers and perceptions in regards to care received . Participants were of varying age groups, genders , and were not Caucasian . None of the respondents have primary care providers of their same race. Most surprising discrepancies that were observed seemed to be related to age.The younger participants perceived less racial bias from providers .The older participants expressed a preference for providers similar to them in race as a matter of comfort. Younger participants did not express a racial preference for providers and felt race was not an issue when conveying their health information. Only one respondent stated that they would change the frequency of medical visits by an increase if their provider was similar to them in race .
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting that the older participants expressed a race preference in their providers and the younger ones didn't. This is something I have never put any thought into but it is completely understandable for someone to be more comfortable that way. I guess it is a good thing that the younger participants did not care as much. It can only means that things are getting better and there are not as many racial stereotypes.
DeleteI surveyed some of my co-workers ,who were all women .It was was a diversely made up group of African ,African American ,Hispanic and White women .Interestingly some of the comments and concerns shared were similar.What I wanted to do was focus on the identity of being a woman and not of their race.Collectively as women we all have the same concerns when it comes to our healthcare.Most of the issues that was expressed was flexibility,well being incentives and so on and so forth .
ReplyDeleteI somewhat did the same thing in my survey. It was not all women, but I wanted to focus on the way people feel about health overall without race or stereotypes interfering. However, the women in mine did express some of the same things...eating healthy, motives, etc.
DeleteFor this assignment, I administered my five question survey to five men and five women between the ages of 20 and 25. The men and women were not of any specific race or ethnicity but simply random college students who fit the age category. The purpose of this survey was to get a better understanding of the relationship better health and wellness and the young men and women of our generation. More specifically, to see if people of this generation are actually taking advantage of health care or taking the measures to become a healthy person. The most interesting thing about my results were that the men all thought they were healthy and fit but never had annual physicals or went to any doctor and couldn’t remember when they even went last! The women thought about their health daily, exercises, ate right, and took advantage of every doctor their insurance covered. I was saddened by this because many of them could not see special doctors, for example to get an eye exam, and needed too but their insurance would not cover it. Whereas the men, simply didn’t care. It reminded me of the videos in our last blog. How this generation is becoming more lazy and uncaring towards eating right and taking care of their bodies and the proper education on how to do all this is not being presented at a young enough age. However, there are many other factors that could be the cause of this as well. A lot of it depends on your family, how you were raised, and where you grew up. I was brought up in a family that went to the doctors for everything and I never feel completely healthy until I have used up all my visits in the year, but that’s just me haha
ReplyDelete-Andrea D
Hi Andrea,
DeleteFrom a psychological standpoint, it makes sense that a college age male would be uninterested in his health - they are (typically) still in a stage of life where they feel invincible. Unfortunately, my husband is still in that frame of mind - we have the best health insurance ever and he refuses to see a doctor or the dentist. There is definitely a gender difference in the importance of health. Very interesting.
I gave my survey to Brown University ungergraduate students - 5 males and 5 females, with a mix of ethnicities. The five questions that unasked were: 1. What do you think is most important about your own health? 2. Do you feel like you have access to the healthcare that you need? 3. Do you have health insurance? 4. Do you understand what your healthcare plan covers and how it works? 5. What do you think about healthcare in America in general?
ReplyDeleteWorking on a college campus, college student are the easiest population for me to survey. My institution requires students to have health insurance through the university or submit proof of other coverage, so all the students that I surveyed had health insurance. What I found very interesting (but not surprising) is that all 10 answered that they felt that they did not understand their coverage. One student shared that after surgery her freshman year, she looked over the explanation of benefits and called her parents in a panic over what it meant. The last question that I asked got an interesting mix of responses. Overwhelmingly, people feel that health, in general, is confusing. Health insurance plans are hard to understand, doctors opinions on what is good and bad for you is constantly changing, TV is filled with ads for prescriptions for diseases I didn't know existed. I also got a few stabs at the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare), but I also got the sense that the comments were just politically motivated and none of them really understood it.
My feeling spatter completing this is that people, of all ethnicities, are confused about their health and healthcare. It's certainly a complex topic to begin with, but adding mixed messages about health in the media, and a healthcare system that takes a PhD to navigate, people are just overwhelmed by it all. I would imagine that it must be much more terrifying to a non-native English speaker.
Sorry, I signed this Brittany M. - it should be Brittany K. I got married 2 years ago and still have a terrible time remembering what my name is.
DeleteI agree. I feel like insurance companies sometimes do not clearly write about the benefits and it is very confusing. As a college student who has the insurance provided from the college, I just recently understood my benefits after having the insurance for almost 4 years!
DeleteInsurance in my opinion has never been clear, I have decades of insurance through different providers depending on my employment. Most of the companies I worked with through the years, had a Benefits
DeleteAdministrator through Human Resources. We would have to sign up at varying times to have a meeting with explanation and Questions and Answers as the company enrolled you in their benefits. Or if the company changed health carriers, my last company I worked with, changed every year to help keep costs down for their employees. Each time we changed, we would have to have meetings to grasp how our insurance was different from the last.
I thought we had a new student. : )
DeleteI chose to survey women about the messages they receive about health, because A. I and a female, and B. because I work with all women at my full time job. I focused my survey questions around what messages they receive about female health from family members and family heredity and also from the media as it portrays women's health. I wanted to know whether messages from the media influenced their health choices in terms of diet and exercise, and if family health history played a big role in their preventative care practices. I was not surprised to learn that most of the women I surveyed took preventative health precautions for predominantly female conditions, such as breast and cervical cancer based on the experiences and advice of female family members, however it was interesting some of the women to share with me that they took preventative measured for things like breast cancer because, "As a women, it's just what you do." It was also interesting to hear varying views on the influence of media's portrayal of female health and how affects their health decisions. There were some who of course admitted to trying certain advertised diets and exercise cure-alls because a magazine or more recently Pinterest suggested it would make they look the way a women should. More impressively to me was the number of women who said they did not choice healthy habits based on how it would affect their physical appearance, but rather how it affected their physical well-being and how their own habits affected the health of their families by example.
ReplyDeleteI work at Lenscrafters where I work with a lot of being of different races. From here I asked five different questions, "What do you think about the health insurance provided by the company?", "Do you think the amount of money you pay for the health insurance is worth with what you get", "How would you say your health is", "Do you think vision insurance is necessary", "What should we do about people that are clearly abusing state provided insurances such as MassHealth". The answers were so spread out because I work with 19 to 55 year olds. The 55+ definitely were more narrow mindded about how some people abuse insurance by trying to get everything for free and the 19 year olds were definitely more care free from my analysis.
ReplyDelete