We examined racial differences in concern that people’s health would be hurt by their diet, an inability to exercise, an inability to follow a doctor’s recommendations or disease. There are at least two ways of viewing our findings. One is that although blacks and Latinos did not show differences in con¬cern across the different variables, whites did. Specifically, whites were less concerned about their inability to follow their doctor’s recommendations than they were about diet, an inability to exercise and a disease. Future research is needed to determine why this pattern of health concern emerged. In our own research, we have learned that people find it more difficult to adhere to diet and exercise recommendations than to adhere to other doctor recommendations, such as taking medication. Thus, the level of health concern might reflect people’s self-efficacy to perform those behaviors.

Another way of viewing our findings is that there were racial differences for the doctor recommendations item but not the other health concern items. The finding that whites were significantly less concerned than blacks or Latinos about an inability to follow a physician’s recommendations is sensible, given that whites frequently have more access to healthcare and more financial resources, such as income and health insurance, compared to blacks and Latinos. More surprising was the lack of racial differences in concern regarding diet, exercise and disease, given that minority groups fare worse in these areas. For example, blacks and Latinos have different dietary patterns and have lower aerobic fitness than whites. Moreover, compared to whites, blacks experience higher rates of hypertension, diabetes, end-stage renal disease and stroke. Despite well-documented racial differences in health outcomes, blacks and Latinos may not believe they are at greater risk and therefore do not report greater health concern. Your life is worth living. Buy levitra professional

A strength of this study was the representation of two minority groups—blacks and Latinos—which enabled us to examine racial differences in health concern. However, several caveats should be considered when interpreting these results. For example, the low response rate limits the generalizability of our results to those individuals whom were reached, who consented to participate and who have telephones. Census data from 1990, the most recent available, indicated that 95% of Durham County had telephones. The external validity is also limited because Latinos were younger, were less educated, less likely to have health insurance, had worse financial status and were less healthy (i.e., lower self-rated health, more likely to have depressive symptoms or a disease) compared to whites and blacks. Although the same pattern of findings emerged even when statistically controlling for these factors, the external validity is limited to the persons represented in our sample. Another limitation is that we do not know what participants considered when responding to the doctor recommendations item. Recommendations often include advice about diet and exercise, but they also encompass obtaining or refilling a prescription, referrals and returning for follow-up. If participants only considered diet and exercise when responding to this item, we might have found no difference in health concern across the items; however, we found differences, at least among whites. Finally, our study was limited because we did not assess behavioral outcomes and therefore could not examine the relationship between health concern and behavior.

Despite these limitations, our findings, if they replicated in other settings, have implications for health education efforts. Because perceived vulnerability or susceptibility is a necessary condition for health behavior, and because minorities suffer disproportionately from many diseases, interventions might incorporate educational efforts to heighten awareness of absolute risk, especially among blacks and Latinos. In so doing, careful attention would need to be given to the way that the information is framed, striking a balance between creating enough health concern to encourage health behavior but not so much that it causes anxiety, leading to avoidance, denial or stress-induced outcomes. In order to increase people’s willingness to accept risk information, the information should be balanced with practical, achievable steps to improving health. For example, someone who is informed that family history of heart disease is a risk factor should also be told that there are modifiable environmental factors (e.g., losing weight, exercising and not smoking) that can help prevent heart disease.
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Even if people are educated about their risk and steps they can take to avoid an undesired outcome, they may continue to underestimate their risk relative to that of others. Experimental studies have shown that this tendency may be reduced by prior experience, thinking carefully about peers’ circumstances, decreasing perceptions of control or increasing anxiety. Community interventions might be successful if they incorporate some of these methods.

Although we found strong effects of race even after controlling for education, income and insurance status, we do not believe race should be the only factor taken into account in designing interventions. Financial factors may play more of a role in different samples. For example, Ransford found that worry was associated with health-protective behavior, but only among blacks of low socioeconomic status. Clearly, then, other factors that may contribute to racial differences should be considered. As we consider new opportunities for prevention such as prospective healthcare, understanding how to opera-tionalize education and intervention programs across race and socioeconomic groups is essential. Get smart and save money! Female pink viagra