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Health Disparities

Population-specific differences in access to quality health care, whether caused by gender, race, geography, environment, or other factors, can affect individual and community health. RAND research aims to understand the causes of—and thereby reduce disparities in—health outcomes, access, and care at the individual, community, and international levels.

Journal Article

Journal Article

Advancing LGBTQ Health Equity Via Human-Centered Design

Human-centered design (HCD; also known as user-centered design) is well-suited to advance the field of substance use prevention interventions for LGBTQ youths by designing interventions that simultaneously target several the complex, multilevel factors that drive health disparities.

Feb 4, 2020
Journal Article

Journal Article

Urban Religious Congregations' Responses to Community Substance Use: An Exploratory Study of Four Cases

This paper explores the characteristics of congregation-based substance abuse disorder treatment programs in a diverse sample of urban religious congregations.

Oct 22, 2019
Journal Article

Journal Article

Using Ancillary Sociodemographic Data to Identify Sexual Minority Adults Among Those Responding "Something Else" or "Don't Know" to Sexual Orientation Questions

Using National Health Interview Survey data, this article compares three analytic strategies for using "something else" and "don't know" responses to estimate health disparities for sexual minorities.

Sep 19, 2019
Blog

DMZ Meeting, Students with Disabilities, Iran: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on Trump's meeting with Kim Jong Un, supporting students with disabilities, the flawed logic of a proportional response in Iran, and more.

Jul 5, 2019
Essay

How Pittsburgh Is Addressing Social and Economic Disparities

Pittsburgh has been taking a hard look at race, wealth, and opportunity. In partnership with RAND, the city has run and published its numbers on subjects ranging from police contacts to business ownership to graduation rates as part of a commitment to do better.

Jul 2, 2019
Journal Article

Journal Article

Rural-Urban Disparities in Access to Home- and Community-Based Services and Supports: Stakeholder Perspectives From 14 States

This paper presents findings from a qualitative study examining the impact of the Medicaid Balancing Incentive Program. The analysis in this paper examines factors associated with rural disparities in access to home and community-based services.

Jun 26, 2019
Journal Article

Journal Article

Overt Perceived Discrimination and Racial Microaggressions and Their Association with Health Risk Behaviors Among a Sample of Urban American Indian/Alaska Native Adolescents

Analyzing the potential effects of the broad range of perceived discrimination (PD) experiences, including both overt PD and racial microaggressions, among urban American Indian/Alaska Native adolescents on health outcomes offers a unique opportunity to further our understanding of these health disparities.

Jun 12, 2019
Journal Article

Sexual Minority Disparities in Opioid Misuse, Perceived Heroin Risk and Heroin Access Among a National Sample of US Adults

LGB opioid disparities varied significantly by sexual identity &gender. All LGB subgroups had elevated lifetime pain reliever misuse. Bisexual women uniquely had elevated OUD rates and lifetime injection heroin use.

Jun 12, 2019
Journal Article

Journal Article

Systematic Review: United States Workforce for Autism-Related Child Healthcare Services

The 33 studies reviewed identify multiple workforce-related challenges for families seeking treatment for children with autism spectrum disorder-including lack of primary care providers to serve these children, lack of specialty providers, and sociodemographic and geographic disparities in access to ASD services.

Jun 10, 2019
Journal Article

Journal Article

The Effect of Medicaid Waivers on Ameliorating Racial/Ethnic Disparities Among Children With Autism

Increasing Medicaid waivers to include more services for children with autism spectrum disorder has the potential to ameliorate well-documented black-white disparities in treatment.

May 29, 2019
Journal Article

Journal Article

Pittsburgh Equity Indicators: A Baseline Measurement for Enhancing Equity in Pittsburgh

The Pittsburgh Equity Indicators assess annual progress toward equitable opportunities and outcomes for Pittsburghers of all races, genders, and incomes. The 2017 report summarizes baseline equality scores, which measure disparities in Pittsburgh.

Apr 24, 2019
Journal Article

Pittsburgh Equity Indicators: A Baseline Measurement for Enhancing Equity in Pittsburgh

The 2018 Pittsburgh Equity Indicators report in enables the comparison of two years of data to measure change in disparities. The report includes information on equality scores for 2017 and 2018, as well as "change scores" between years.

Apr 24, 2019
Journal Article

Disparities in Substance Use Behaviors and Disorders Among Adult Sexual Minorities by Age, Gender, and Sexual Identity

Disparities in substance use and disorders were most pronounced in young adulthood for gay/lesbian individuals and mid-adulthood for bisexual men; bisexual women uniquely experienced disparities across all ages. Minority stress experiences may vary with respect to gender, age/cohort, and sexual identity, resulting in differential risk for substance use.

Dec 27, 2018
Journal Article

Journal Article

Speaking Up and Walking Out: Are Vulnerable Patients Less Likely to Disagree With or Change Doctors?

Older, less educated, and lower-income Medicare beneficiaries are less likely to disagree with or change doctors; to help prevent disparities, doctors and advocates should encourage vulnerable populations to express their concerns and perspectives.

Aug 24, 2018
Journal Article

Journal Article

Mapping the Gaps: Gender Differences in Preventive Cardiovascular Care Among Managed Care Members in Four Metropolitan Areas

Using geospatial technology to generate maps for quality of care metrics and making the information accessible to key stakeholders provides the opportunity to better address disparities in CVD management for women.

Aug 24, 2018
Journal Article

Journal Article

Multilevel and Community-Level Interventions with Native Americans: Challenges and Opportunities

To address health disparities among Native American communities, researchers need to collaborate with community leaders to develop, adapt, and test culturally relevant and sustainable measures and interventions.

Jun 28, 2018
Journal Article

Use of Medication Therapy to Treat Opioid Abuse Among Medicaid Recipients Increased After Approval of New Drug

The number of Medicaid recipients receiving medication to treat opioid abuse increased sharply in the years after approval of buprenorphine, but the increase was smaller in poorer counties and areas with larger populations of black and Hispanic residents.

Jun 27, 2018
Journal Article

Journal Article

Do Sleep and Psychological Distress Mediate the Association Between Neighborhood Factors and Pain?

Understanding how sleep problems, psychological distress, and neighborhood characteristics contribute to pain can help shape interventions to reduce pain-related disparities.

Jun 27, 2018
News Release

News Release

Use of Medication Therapy to Treat Opioid Abuse Among Medicaid Recipients Increased After Approval of New Drug

The number of Medicaid recipients receiving medication to treat opioid abuse increased sharply in the years after approval of buprenorphine, but the increase was smaller in poorer counties and areas with larger populations of black and Hispanic residents.

Jun 25, 2018
Journal Article

Journal Article

Psychosocial Health Disparities Among Black Bisexual Men in the U.S.: Effects of Sexuality Nondisclosure and Gay Community Support

Compared with Black gay men, Black bisexual men experience significant psychosocial health disparities; interventions to decrease biphobia could improve sexual minority community support for these men.

Jun 1, 2018

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