Customer Reviews

Minority Populations and Health: An Introduction to Health Disparities in the U.S.

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I used this book for a race & minority health class. It is very well written and does a good job at synthesizing information about this subject. I will agree with a previous reviewer that there is plenty of theory and explanations in addition to charts and statistics. The only negative thing is that sometimes there are lots of theories to explain a phenomenon (for example, lower minority mortality rates among the elderly) with more research needing to be done to determine which explanation is correct.

There was a good balance between facts and explanations, and the book was very readable and understandable. It did a great job emphasizing the changing demographics of the United States and the need to focus on the issue of minority health.

I am a biomedical engineering major, so the work is not directly pertinent to my field, but I still enjoyed reading it and thinking about the ideas it contains, even a year after I finished my class.

This is the first textbook written for a very important topic, health disparities and minority health. The other books are edited with different authors of each chapter. This book was written by one author. It was written for use in classes. It outlines and describes the state of the topic, which explains the tables and charts that the "C. Bullman" review talked about. However, there is MUCH more than just charts and tables in this book. The book talks about causes of health disparities and describes all of the various theories and research. Also, it includes chapters on all minority groups, including Native Americans and Pacific Islanders, two groups that are usually left out. I agree with the book review from JAMA. I think this an excellent book for use in classes.

I bought this text for an online class over minority health. Nearly all of the information for the class came from the book, so I read it cover to cover. I am a senior, so I have gone through many textbooks during my studies. This is the first textbook I am selling, for I do not think it is worth taking up space on my bookshelves.

The first chapter describes the need for writing this textbook. LaVeist mentions that before this book minority health disparities was taught by reading individual studies. After reading this book I wish it was still taught that way.

The majority of this book is definitions directly quoted from their source and half-page charts whose data is restated in the text. When the author defines a word, he often chooses to present multiple definitions to the same word to illustrate the idea that there is no consensus definition; the first time he does this makes the point; all other times is just filler to make the text more than a 50-page report. The data presented in the charts often conflicts with the data presented in the body of the text; beware if this is your main source of information for a class, for you will not know which is correct. There are also contradictions from paragraph to paragraph and chapter to chapter in the second half of the book, but if you read it carefully you can figure out which is most likely correct.

Several of the studies in the text cite LaVeist as the source. You can look at this one of two ways: any credible textbook author will not use their own research as primary sources in their book, or the author actually does research in the topic of minority health and therefore is better suited to write a textbook. I'll let you decide which you believe, but I personally believe the former.

As another reviewer pointed out, this topic is constantly changing, so once the book hits the stores it is outdated. This is why it is better to learn from the actual studies rather than an outdated textbook. To help counter this reality, the author presents historical data as well as more recent data. Because of this, I rated it two stars instead of one, for I actually did learn some history.

Overall, if this book is supposed to supplement information learned in a class taught by a professor, it might be worthwhile to pick it up. If you are purchasing this text as your main source of information for a class, drop the class if at all possible, or you will be frustrated and gain little knowledge.

As a textbook, it is difficult to address the fast paced world of health care and health care disparities. The situation and statistics change too quickly. In the case of this book, the authors attempt to cast a wide net and report as many statistics as possible related to the subject matter. There is little else in the way of substance in this book. Unfortunately, that means that the book is out-of-date and of little use by the time it makes it to the bookstore/library shelves.

The minority book that i receive came right on time. I love the book, a couple of highlights, but it help me. I'm glad that i bought this book from this website. I will do more often. Thank you

This book covers the disparities in health among different racial/ethnic groups. For the most part, I commend Thomas LaVeist for his research and for publishing a book about a field that may be considered controversial. He goes through a great deal of length explaining his reasoning for using certain terms to define racial/ethnic groups to try avoid offending his reader(s). For the most part, he provides relevant statistics, charts, and plots to illustrate non-trivial occurances. His overall message is to try to recognize why these disparities occur, and what can be done to correct/minimize this deviance. All of this is admirable/amicable.

Now for my beef. From my interpretation, it seems that LaVeist suggests that more government regulation is the solution to the problem of health disparities. LaVeist also, to some extent, places different ethnic groups into different levels of, what he calls "socioeconomic status (SES)" loosely modeled after Karl Marx's communist manifesto. LaVeist also fails to give alternative opinions on the subject of race, such that the main problem with race is the mere recognition that races exist (although, in sort of an afterthought, he does at least acknowledge that there are theorists who suggest this, but that they are in the minority).

As a laissez-faire capitalist / fiscal conservative, and as a socially classic-liberal, it is in my humble opinion that government regulations are the reasons why there are disparities among different races with regard to health; more regulation, such as redistribution of wealth (e.g. through tax-credits) could only make matters worse.

To those who read this book, be prepared to learn some interesting new facts as well as possibly confirming some previously held stereotypes. Please, just take the facts as they are, but keep an open mind with regard to the author's suggestions. LaVeist has good intentions to try and "equalize" health statistics among people, but his means to such end are likely to only make matters worse.

With that, I end with a quote from Milton Friedman.

"A society that puts equality before freedom will get neither. A society that puts freedom before equality will get a high degree of both."

This book had interesting information about how America does not make it's health care resources equal access to all citizen communities. And this unequal access results in disturbing health/mortality patterns which are disproportionately broken down by ethnicity. Entire communities receive the best resources whereas other communities alternately have to make do with what is left over.

This is not a new argument, first the Black Panthers and then Martin Luther King argued it back in the 1960's. And as opposed to just integrating existing society, this argument made people uncomfortable because we now had to confront that actual racial justice is simply not about having a group join the status quo and their way of life. It's about examining the 'other' infrastructure which had been allowed to develop in certain communities and critiquing this existence.

Acknowledging that America has different policy standards for different racial groups is what brings out the passionate opposition. We don't want to conceede that America treats people unfairly because of skin tone. We are supposed to be the land of prosperity and opportunity.

The book still provides interesting statistics, but I think it would continue to be really powerful if a new version with more reccent data was published. Ongoing battles over health care reform continue to demonstrate how unsuccessful we have remained in addressing--and removing--these resource disparities. An expanded edition would(hopefully) examine how these issues remain, and also the inevitably racialized politics which surfaced when health care reform was signed under America's first African American president.

The book is important as a text in medical and even public affairs/government classes. But it's also good reading for people curious about health care policy and wanting information free of television sound bites.

I am a F/24 year old graduate school student. According to my items description there was supposed to only be minimal notes and highliter in my book. However, there are so many markings it's hard for me to concentrate on what I'm reading. I would just appreciate a more accurate description of the books condition in the future.