Health Equity

The purpose of this book is to provide public health, disability, and rehabilitation professionals and practitioners evidence-based science with respect to health disparities faced by people with disabilities, especially people with mobility limitations; alternative methods of rehabilitation and exercise science for this population; assistive device technology; and, improved access to health care, employment, and social participation.

Using patient-networking websites, the Quantified Self, and online breast cancer narratives, Communicative Biocapitalism examines the cultural, technological, economic, and rhetorical logics that shape the "voice of the patient" in digital health to identify how cultural understandings and social locations of race, gender, and disability shape whose voices are elicited and how they are interpreted.

In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways.

The third edition of Community-Based Participatory Research for Health provides the latest research and practice of community-based participatory research (CBPR) and community-engaged research. This new edition maintains its appeal for students, academics, and practitioners, with its practice-based orientation and health equity lens across multiple fields. With a majority of new chapters, the book provides a thorough overview of CBPR history, theories of action and participatory research, emerging trends of knowledge democracy, and promising practices.

This book is based on the principle and belief that all healthcare professionals-regardless of discipline, level of education, or role within the healthcare system-have a role in caring for individuals with disability. As such, they need a basic understanding of the issue of disability to provide appropriate, optimal, and sensitive healthcare to those with disability. These issues and more are addressed in the chapters of this book. It is intended to provide information to nurses, nursing students, and other healthcare professionals to enable them to communicate with and provide quality healthcare to individuals with disability.

Disabilities and Public Health opens up a new vista and territory by drawing down a new set of tools and strategies from the public health domain to examine the social determinants of health for people with disabilities and to develop systems of health education, health literacy and organization of services to improve their health and well-being. It examines the circumstances of disability from a personal, cultural, environmental, clinical, and policy perspective and ties it together in a public health paradigm.

Over 20 million American women and girls have some form of disability, and this number will only increase in the years to come. At the same time, women with disabilities often have difficulty accessing health care services, and the quality of the health care they do receive is often worse than the care received by women without disabilities and by men with disabilities. The consequences of these disparities include increased prevalence of secondary complications, diminished quality of life, and even premature death. In this book, Miles-Cohen, Signore, and colleagues investigate the causes and consequences of these health care disparities. -publisher

International Review of Research in Developmental Disabilities is an ongoing scholarly look at research into the causes, effects, classification systems, and syndromes of developmental disabilities. Contributors come from wide-ranging perspectives, including genetics, psychology, education, and other health and behavioral sciences.

People with intellectual disabilities die at a younger age and have poorer health than their non-disabled peers. This is largely avoidable and is unjust. This book uses concepts from contemporary public health to provide a comprehensive evidence-based overview of: the nature and extent of the health inequalities experienced by people with intellectual disabilities; why these inequalities occur and persist; and what can and needs to be done to address these inequalities. The authors have a wealth of firsthand experience gained from years of working at the interface between disability research and public health. This experience is collected and shared in this volume, which will be an invaluable resource for practitioners, advocates, policymakers and researchers concerned with health and social care and the wellbeing of disabled people.

Couples and families face daunting challenges as they cope with serious illness and disability. This book gives clinicians a roadmap for helping affected individuals and their loved ones live well with a wide range of child, adult, and later-life conditions. John S. Rolland describes ways to intervene with emerging challenges over the course of long-term or life-threatening disorders. Using vivid case examples, he illustrates how clinicians can help families harness their strengths for positive adaptation and relational growth. Rolland's integrated systemic approach is useful for preventive screening, consultations, brief counseling, more intensive therapy, and multifamily groups, across health care settings and disciplines. This book significantly advances the clinical utility of Rolland's earlier landmark volume, Families, Illness, and Disability. -publisher

In a society where a person's zip code is a stronger predictor of health status than their genetic profile, every public health challenge is also a challenge of equity, implementation, and policy. For better or worse, improving health requires societal change, and the scale of today's societalchallenges can have a stifling effect on even the most well-intended efforts.Assembled by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and featuring today's most prominent voices from diverse sectors, Knowledge to Action is a collection of short conversations focused on the idea of meaningful change - its definition, its impediments, and exploring how we can transition from researchto action in health, well-being, and equity. Steeped in honesty and benefiting from the diverse experiences of an extraordinary assembly of academics, journalists, policymakers, public health practitioners, and researchers, this book offers provocative yet actionable perspectives that will benefitanyone who reads it.

Over the past decade, practitioners in the field of maternal and child health have gained a general understanding of Life Course Theory and its potential application to practice. This book focuses on moving Life Course Theory into action, filling a need for practitioners across a variety of fields to maximize the opportunities this model offers.

Oral Health in America details inequities to an oral health care system that disproportionately affects the poor, those without insurance, underrepresented and underserved communities, the disabled, and senior citizens. This book addresses issues in workforce development including the use of dental therapists, the rationale for the development of racially/ethnically diverse providers, and the lack of public support through Medicaid, which would guarantee access and also provide a rationale for building a system, one that takes into account the impact of a lack of visionary and inclusive leadership on the nation's ability to insure health justice for all. -publisher

Traditionally, the public health viewpoint on disability was geared toward primary prevention of disabling conditions or events. More recently, with the movement for disability rights and the emergence of disability studies, the challenge to the field has been to promote positive health outcomes in this underserved community. Such a change in public health culture must start at the educational level, yet training programs have generally been slow in integrating this perspective--with its potential for enriching the field--into their curricula. Public Health Perspectives on Disability meets this challenge with an educational framework for rethinking disability in public health study and practice, and for attaining the competencies that should accompany this knowledge.

Treating the Dental Patient with a Developmental Disorder provides a basic understanding of patients with developmental and intellectual disorders and offers help in communicating with and treating with developmental disabilities, including autism spectrum disorders, Down Syndrome, attention deficit, cerebral palsy, spina bifida, learning disabilities, and others.  Presents descriptions of most common forms of developmental and intellectual disorders Provides practical methods of caring for patients with these disabilities, including how to guide and model behavior Offers practice management tips to accommodate patients with special needs, particularly those with autism Includes instructions to give caregivers for home oral therapy. -publisher