Citation

Amuta-Jimenez AO, Jacobs W, Smith G. Health Promot. Pract. 2019; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Texas Woman's University, Denton, TX, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Society for Public Health Education, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1524839919895507

PMID

31876190

Abstract

Each year, millions of dollars are spent on research and public health interventions targeted toward reducing health disparities primarily among the "Black/African Americans" community, yet the progress made lags far behind the amount of money and effort spent. We hypothesize that part of the problem is that sociocultural factors play a significant role in disease prevention. Most studies and programs aggregate "Black immigrants" (BIs) and "African Americans" (AAs) as "Black/African American." This categorization assumes that the sociocultural determinants that influence BIs are the same as for AAs. BIs have health and mortality profiles that vary from AAs. This commentary aims to (1) introduce this idea in more depth and provide a brief scope of the problem, (2) provide scientific evidence of noteworthy differences between AAs and BIs in areas of sociodemographics, health behaviors, and health outcomes, (3) discuss implications of considering the Black/AA group as homogeneous and provide recommendations for disaggregation.

Language: en

Keywords

Black/African American; health disparities; health promotion; minority health