edms3
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Posts: 5
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Post by edms3 on May 12, 2016 12:21:16 GMT -4
This article is an example on how research can sometimes be biased due to socioeconomic differences. This article talked about autism and how certain social economic and racial groups may not be truly represented such as hispanics, African Americans, and Koreans. This is just one example of medical conditions that may be under represented in the minority groups. In this article an attempt was made to include more minority groups and efforts such as translating information into different languages were helpful. I believe it actually more difficult for minorities to get help than the article alluded to. If you don't have the financial resources, flexible work schedule and community support to meet your basic needs for every day life, then every thins else becomes secondary. EDSMS3
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Post by Rita J on May 12, 2016 13:57:02 GMT -4
Prevalence of autism should not differ across racial and ethnic groups, but the article states there are limited number of studies that have shown that children of African American, Hispanic, and Asian descend being diagnosed with autism. It is interesting how the article pointed out that African American are often misdiagnosed as conduct disorder instead of autism. It is the racial bias in the community that needs to disappear to have a better understanding of Autism. The article also stated the Korean community does not understanding autism or accept it. I can relate to this being indian that lot of indian community do not want to come forth and state that their children have issue. They just hope that hiding it will eventually make the diseases go away. I hope that more community understand that early diagnosis of Autism will help the children assimilate better in their community.
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Post by Sammy Janus, PA-S on May 12, 2016 15:25:14 GMT -4
This article sheds light on the research that has been conducted on autism in that the majority of it has been conducted on Caucasians. As the article highlights, the racial bias created within current autism research isn’t fueled necessarily by racism, but rather by lack of available resources, education on the matter, and socioeconomic status. The article also touches on the stigmas specific cultures have surrounding mental disease and how that could also prevent them from seeking public help. The current efforts being made to make more information available to minorities seems to be a step in the right direction. As future providers, we can help the effort by making sure we focus on the "education" portion of patient visits. This was a good article to read as a student because it teaches us that just because research is published in a journal article doesn’t mean that it is valid. We should all take the time to evaluate medical research for internal and external validity to make sure we are properly accounting for all populations in regards to disease states and treatments.
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Christina Richardson
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Post by Christina Richardson on May 12, 2016 15:44:53 GMT -4
The article “Autism Research’s Overlooked Racial Bias” exposed its readers to the idea that minorities such as Hispanic, African, Americans, and Asians struggle with getting diagnosed and treated for Autism. Traditionally, researchers believed that Autism predominantly affected Caucasians, but recent evidence may have proven otherwise. In minorities, Autism goes undiagnosed for a multitude of reasons such as: money, language barrier, lack of knowledge, lack of transportation or flexibility with child care or work, a misdiagnosis, and incompetent health care professionals. Many minorities associate negativity with mental disorders. To educate the public and spread awareness, researchers employ many unconventional methods. Instead of posting flyers attempting to recruit research subjects, they take a more tailored approach targeting leaders in the community such as pastors. They also hold meetings at small community centers. The goal is to spread awareness about the signs and symptoms of Autism and normal developmental milestones so that parents will understand when something is abnormal with their child. Also, researchers aim to diagnose Autism so that ultimately the affected child will benefit by getting the appropriate treatment and other additional services provided to Autistic children.
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Post by Amina C. on May 12, 2016 15:45:48 GMT -4
You would think racial bias wouldn't exist in the medical field let alone in any type of medical research. However, this article states otherwise. It describes a research on a childhood disorder called autism where racial bias is occurring. This article states that the research on autism thought that this disorder is more common in whites than other race and research on this disorder mainly focused on the white population. This has been proven wrong; now there are more cases of autistic children from Asian, Latin and the Black community. The difference is that the other race is less willingly accepting the diagnosis than are the white community. As Rashaan Meador, the black father of an autistic son mentions in the article, "tremendous stigma about any mental condition or disorder in the black community." This statement is not only true for the black community but also for many other non-white communities. This article states that many factors are to blame for the reason of having such unrepresentable research one being language. In the medical field itself language is still a problem that physicians are having to overcome on a daily basis. However, if the case is of a mental or psychological issue the problem is even bigger because the patient's history is the only way to know what is actually wrong with the patient and come up with the right diagnosis. A patient who already has a problem with communicating with the doctor will suffer and instead just accept the problem and live with it. Therefore, research programs should focus on solving the language barrier problem with all the races instead of ignoring this issue and only focusing on one race. Making everyone accept and understand this disorder can be very helpful start. Hopefully with a little hard work a more reliable research can be conducted where all the races are studied and at the end each race can be correctly diagnosed. As David Mandell said in the article, “We have a long way to go toward reaching minority populations and engaging them in these efforts.”
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Post by Ruben Cabrera on May 12, 2016 16:22:23 GMT -4
This article points out the differences in quality of health care faced by different ethnicities especially when it comes to ASD. Racial profiling in medicine should be limited to identifying common diseases & effective treatments in different ethnic groups based on clinical evidence. Racism in medicine is a major issue that is hiding in the shadows, therefore it is hard to confront this problem head on. In my opinion, there's only a few areas where doctors could actually make a difference. For example, conducting more research to highlight the existing racial gaps in health care. Identifying and reforming the internal structures and education systems that have led to fewer doctors arising from black populations, and publicly advocating for progressive changes in law and policy. Also, these occurrences often happen in private because of patient confidentiality, but something must done to bring light to this ever growing problem.
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Post by LW on May 12, 2016 16:23:11 GMT -4
As students in the medical field, it is easy to assume that autism is a disorder that everyone and anyone should be aware of. Clearly, that is not the case. This article was very eye-opening to me. Educating teachers and community leaders may help with this issue, but that will not be enough. Programs that reach out to low income communities and churches could make a great change and bring knowledge to people of all ethnicities. Medical schools could also take part in this change by forming more student programs that go into underserved communities and complete physical exams. A small amount of education about the disorder could go a long way.
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Post by Delmaya Generette on May 12, 2016 16:40:59 GMT -4
I really enjoyed this article. We need to increase Minority Awareness and Education. Many overlook signs. Because of limited research, treatment is either delayed or mistreated. With such a diverse world, I'm finding it hard to believe how other ethnicities are not included in research. When parents cannot identify signs and symptoms, how can they present it to the doctor?!! Education for all should be implement and readily available when seeing the pediatric doctors on regular visits.
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Post by Tanya Joseph on May 12, 2016 16:41:05 GMT -4
Knowledge is power and it is commendable that various research groups are trying community-based approaches to reach the minority groups. True, the socioeconomic status of many, prevents them from obtaining the medical services that they may need and therefore these children are not diagnosed at an early age. The initiative by the teams working to educate the under-privileged masses, is for a good cause. The article itself, instead of 'bashing' racial groups, should have looked at autism across the spectrum of racial groups. Otherwise, it was an okay read. Could have been a bit more interesting. Maybe the author should have spent more time enlightening the reader on emerging studies on autism and also more on the research teams who constantly work to educate, demystify and diagnose the condition.
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Post by Irshad Prasla on May 12, 2016 16:44:39 GMT -4
This was an interesting read. The thing that I particularly found interesting was the trouble some of the community outreach programs were having with getting people to listen and trust what they were saying. The study points out that a majority of the minority population that is poorly represented in scientific literature is in a lower socioeconomic demographic. We often refer to these groups as the "disenfranchised" but I felt that in this article the people themselves owned that title. The researchers were trying to help these communities and educate them about autism yet so many were reluctant. The article even pointed out that the biggest issue before parents started taking interest in the outreach programs was trust. Ultimately, Rush University and their research program is recognizing the paucity of information that is out there and they are taking steps to correct it. Hopefully this effort will pay off and new light can be shined on the larger issue of autism.
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Post by krissylove on May 12, 2016 16:56:03 GMT -4
Autism is becoming more prevalent as more awareness is being drawn towards it. No one wants to believe that anything is wrong with their child and minority races are facing different SES issues which makes diagnosis, awareness and acceptance of autism more difficult among them in addition to whatever else they are facing. Research bias is understandable if the minority autistic children are under diagnosed or the parents fail to accept the diagnosis.
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Post by Michelle Parisi on May 12, 2016 18:39:06 GMT -4
The need for cultural competency is not exclusive to autism. Healthcare disparities are linked to socioeconomic and cultural factors across the board regardless of the medical illness being studied. The caveat to tailoring part of a research study to specific groups is that this process potentially creates unforeseen variables that may alter research results. This article does little to conclude any racial, cultural, or socioeconomic variability in autism prevalence. The author’s argument that autism research has overlooked racial bias is unsupported as the author fails to provide any evidence or reference to specific research studies that may have overlooked racial bias. What this article incites is the potential need for more research.
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Bisola Fakorede (BF)
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Post by Bisola Fakorede (BF) on May 12, 2016 19:38:43 GMT -4
I think it is very important to that necessary tools for diagnosing and managing autism are put out there, so I commend the research that has been done for the condition. I however understood from the article that certain races like the black and Latino groups aren't involved in such study as much as the White population is. I can only hope that, they will be more involved in the study. I suppose the dissemination of adequate information as well success stories from past studies will encourage them into being more willing and interested in making their children participate or at least be diagnosed. As with many medical conditions, early diagnosis helps with better management.
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