Racial Centrality and Health Care Use Among African American Adults With Sickle Cell Disease

The present study examined an exploratory model of the confluence of racial centrality, pain, psychological variables, and health care use in a sample of African American adults with sickle cell disease. Significant path coefficients were observed between pain severity, perceived stress, and psychol...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of black psychology 2007-11, Vol.33 (4), p.422-438
Main Authors: Bediako, Shawn M., Lavender, Annette R., Yasin, Zahida
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
African Americans
Black American people
Blood diseases
Cultural anthropology
Health care
Health services
Health services utilization
Mental health
Older people
Pain
Psychological distress
Psychological problems
Racial identity
Severity
Sickle cell anaemia
Sickle cell disease
Sociocultural factors
Stress
Studies
United States
Users
Variables
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Summary:The present study examined an exploratory model of the confluence of racial centrality, pain, psychological variables, and health care use in a sample of African American adults with sickle cell disease. Significant path coefficients were observed between pain severity, perceived stress, and psychological symptoms. The model yielded direct effects for paths to health care use from pain frequency and racial centrality—indicating that participants who reported more frequent pain episodes tended to use more health care services and those who endorsed a highly central African American identity utilized fewer health care services. Generally, these findings suggest a need for expanded thinking about determinants of health care use in this population beyond psychological and physiological variables. These findings support a rationale for further exploring the sociocultural context of sickle cell and highlight a specific need for better understanding the complex relationships among multidimensional aspects of racial identity and health care use.
ISSN:0095-7984
1552-4558
DOI:10.1177/0095798407307044