Independent Research Week Ten, Post Two (Synthesis & Connection)

    Due to the pervasive issue that is health care inequity throughout the country, it makes sense the people that act as the frontline when interacting with citizens would be the first group to make changes to help remove these inequities. To put it simply, all health care workers must be committed to addressing health care equity issues for any real, sustainable solution to come about. However, research has shown that not all health care providers believe that they hold any part in these inequities, and thus cannot and should not be the ones to fix them. This is due to their own personal perception of the factors the contribute to inequity. Due to this common belief in the health care community, this study aimed to understand how health care workers perceive casual attributions to racism and health care disparities, as well as why they believe their personal line of thinking and what may contribute to it.

    Oftetimes, providers believe that it is only social and economic conditions that contribute to inequity and inequality more than patient/provider behavior. However, the study noted that providers that believed that they (meaning folx in their profession) contributed in inequity in the health care system were also more likely to readily and openly discuss race and racism overall, both in and outside of a health care context. On the other hand, providers that do not see themselves contributing to the issue are also less likely to see themselves as being a part of the solution.  

    These ideas can be tied back to psychological theories about human perception, with the study stating that "ondividuals' causal attributions for problems are important contributors to their beliefs about solutions". Furthermore, Bernard Weiner's theory of social behavior provides a clear explanation not only for the causes of health care disparities, but also the issue of racism that has been recently pervasive in the social climate today. Most often, people respond to an event by judging its cause. Thus, if they believe that the situation was outside of the victim's control, they feel sympathy, and vice versa. 

    This study closed a large gap in existing research regarding health care inequities, though the topic is still relatively new, with its first wide-scale research paper being published in 2002. However, this study is following a trend of an increase in discourse surrounding systematic racism that began in the 2000s.