Buch(elektronisch)2017

Occupational health disparities: improving the well-being of ethnic and racial minority workers

In: Cultural, racial, and ethnic psychology book series

In: APA/MSU series on multicultural psychology

Leong, Frederick T. L.; Eggerth, Donald E.; Zhang, Juxiang; Flynn, Michael A.; Ford, J. Kevin; Martinez, Rubén Orlando

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Abstract

"According to a recent report from the World Health Organization (WHO) Commission on the Social Determinants of Health, "a girl born in Sweden will live 43 years longer than a girl born in Sierra Leone." The report goes on to observe that "in Glasgow, an unskilled, working-class person will have a lifespan 28 years shorter than a businessman in the top income bracket in Scotland" (see Footnote 1, p. 5). Commenting on these sobering statistics of health disparities around the world in an invited address, Vicente Navarro (2009) of Johns Hopkins University noted that: the mortality differentials among countries are enormous. But such inequalities also appear within each country, including the so-called rich or developed countries. . . . We could add here similar data from the United States. In East Baltimore (where my university, the Johns Hopkins University, is located), a black unemployed youth has a lifespan 32 years shorter than a white corporate lawyer. Actually, as I have documented elsewhere, a young African American is 1.8 times more likely than a young White American to die from a cardiovascular condition. Race mortality differentials are large in the US. . . . In the same study, I showed that a blue-collar worker is 2.8 times more likely than a businessman to die from a cardiovascular condition. (p. 5) The challenges of health disparities for racial and ethnic minorities in this country have been publicized in the scientific community by reports such as Unequal Treatment and articles like Navarro's (2009) address. However, much less attention and research have been focused on occupational health disparities (OHDs) among racial and ethnic minority groups. Despite an increasing number of immigrant and nonimmigrant racial and ethnic minorities in the United States, little is known about OHDs among these populations. Worker groups in the United States have differential exposure to workplace hazards, and in many cases, these hazards are disproportionately experienced by racial and ethnic minorities. As a result, any research and policy efforts to address health disparities among racial and ethnic minorities will also need to address the differential impacts of working conditions on their health. These OHDs are exacerbated by barriers resulting from language issues, socioeconomic factors, and cultural beliefs and attitudes. Therefore, a multicultural perspective on OHDs is needed to understand the unique barriers and stressors that they encounter in the workplace. This volume will provide a state-of-the-art review of the literature as well as a road map to guide future research to address the challenges in OHDs among racial and ethnic minorities"--Preface. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).