Factors Influencing Health Seeking African Americans during a Stroke - Essay Example

Factors Influencing Health Seeking African Americans during a StrokeThis paper intends to present a brief discussion on what are the major factors that cause delay among the African American patients to seek medical help. They are found to have longer delay in timings in the case of serious stroke bouts which needs immediate attention and assistance.Stroke, a cerebrovascular deadly disease, is a disorder that causes termination of blood flow to certain parts of the brain. The most popular drug used against the crippling outcomes of a stroke is recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA), which should be administrated within 3 hours after the symptoms are noticed.

“A study was sought to determine whether African-American stroke victims presented for treatment within the first 3 hr. And was found that less than half of this population sought assistance in the emergency department in time to take advantage of rt-PA therapy.” (King, Trouth and Adams, 2001, p.43). The Health Belief Model (HBM) theory is used in health education and awareness programs to identify the reasons for the failure of medical screening and diagnostic procedures in America. “The underlying concept of the original HBM is that health behavior is determined by personal beliefs or perceptions about a disease and the strategies available to decrease its occurrence (Hochbaum, 1958).

Personal perception is influenced by the whole range of inter-personal factors affecting health behavior.” (Chapter 4: Health belief model, n.d.). According to this time tested theory, perceptions vary from person to person and are influenced greatly by the socio-economic and cultural backgrounds of an individual as well. The theory further defines the possible perceptions through different angles; seriousness of the disease, susceptibility towards it, benefits or advantages of the situation and barriers that need to be overcome.

Other common factors, apart from the theoretically proved ones, are the lack of knowledge about medical conditions, limited or incorrect perception of a disease, racial mistrust, pagan religious practices, emotional issues, and fear factor. Health Belief Model Construct Chart explains this further. According to the theory, the seriousness factor is the patient’s ability to understand the severity of a disease. The susceptibility factor narrates the chances of getting a disease and the beneficial factor makes the patient think how far is the new treatment effective than the traditional one.

Finally, the barrier factor is what the patient thinks as an obstacle to the process of obtaining new methodologies of treatment, which are actually alien to him or her. These are the perceptional factors which can differ from person to person. These are further affected by the inter-personal attitudes and behavior which further affect the need to seek or try something new, no matter how uncontrollable the situation – in this case the stroke struck patient’s condition – is. “The barriers identified include socioeconomic status, masculinity, racism, lack of awareness of the need for primary care, religious beliefs, and peer influences.

As singular entities, these may not appear unique, but when viewed collectively, they represent an overwhelming constellation of obstacles for Black men.” (Cheatham, et al., 2008). Stroke is feared to be the second most death causing condition in the whole of US especially with the Afro-Americans topping the chart. Lack of primary awareness to life-threatening diseases, a careless attitude towards health and dietary habits, failing to notice the warning symptoms, unwilling to administrate first aid treatments etc are found as primary causes for the rise of death toll amidst the Afro-Americans.

“There are certain nonmodifiable risk factors that are associated with stroke onset, and these include:(a) older age, (b) male gender, (c) race, (d) diabetes, (e) prior stroke, (f) family history of strokes,and (g) asymptomatic carotid bruit.” (King, Trouth and Adams, 2001, p.44). Unfortunately, most of the patients who form this group’s core is African Americans as they are more prone to stroke and its severity at all the levels mentioned above. Raising awareness and educating them through simple yet effective means of communication like commercials, outdoor promos and interactive health screening programs can definitely bring in positive results.

Reference ListChapter 4: Health belief model. (n.d.). Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Retrieved March 19, 2010, from http://www.jbpub.com/samples/0763743836/Chapter%204.pdfCheatham, C.T., et al. (2008). Barriers to health care and health-seeking behaviors faced by black men. Wiley Inter Science. Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners 20(11), pp.555-562. Retrieved March 19, 2010, from http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121496685/abstractKing, Dwight F, Trouth, Annapurni-Jayam and Adams, Alice O. (2001). Factors preventing African Americans from seeking early intervention in the treatment of Ischemic strokes.

Journal of the National Medical Association 93(2).