Woodrow Jones

Black health inequities and the American health care system

This paper examines the health care status of blacks in the American health care system and points out that blacks are burdened by a number of health inequities when compared to their white counterparts. The papers central theme is that the degree of governmental commitment in a liberal, pluralistic society is at the foundation of inadequate health care for black Americans. Blacks lack input in the health care politics and decision/policy-making processes. This lack of input has resulted in a health care system that appears to be unresponsive to the health care needs of black Americans. This is most acute in the areas of health manpower planning and health planning. The conclusion suggests that an increase in the number of blacks in the health professions along with more black participation in health decision/policy-making could lead to a substantial improvement in the overall health care of blacks.

Alcohol Abuse, Prevention Issues, and The Black Community:

Alcohol abuse and its related difficulties present major concerns for public health professionals. It has been associated with both increased morbidity and premature mortality. Although alcohol abuse is a problem of great magnitude for society in general, minority communities experience its overall negative impact more severely than do other groups. Furthermore, the rate ofproblematic drinking among members of the lower socioeconomic status group has been estimated to be almost three times higher than that of the general adult U.S. population. This is particularly disturbing given thefact that a disproportionate number of minority people are classified within lower SES groupings. The lack of an adequate conceptualization of a public health strategy contributes significantly to the problems of alcohol abuse prevention in the Black community. Priority must be given to national policies that foster the development and delivery of primary prevention services targeted for minority populations.

U.S. Senate voting on health and safety regulation: the effects of ideology and interest-group orientations.

Ideological and interest-group influences attempt to influence policy formulation during the legislative process. In health and safety policy-making these interest-group influences, which are some of the best organized groups, are related to ideological and interest-group orientations of the legislators themselves. The authors analyzed Senate health care voting in the 95th U.S. Congress. General ideology, structured along the left-right dimension was important, but it was not the overriding factor. The senators voted as supporters or opponents of environmentalism as much or even more than as adherents of either liberal or conservative beliefs.

Municipal Service Suits, Local Public Services and Service Equality

WOODROW JONES, JR. San Diego State University Since local public bureaucracies are the key determinants in the quality of urban life, governmental outputs, particularly public services, must be distributed in such a manner to assure that the poor, disadvantaged and minorities receive their proper share of services. A number of researchers have written that public bureaucracies tend to be less responsive to these

Health care, public policy and the courts: black health status as a civil rights issue.

In the U.S.A. serious differences in the health status between black and white citizens continue to exist. Black Americans are less healthy and receive less health care than while Americans. The discrimination is examined as a civil rights issue with focus on both the policy and judicial perspectives of the application of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the implementative effects of the Hill-Burton Act of 1946. The application, and compliance and enforcement, of civil rights to health care is complicated by a captivity process involving Federal agencies, by corporate medical rights emphasizing a business approach to health care, and by a liberal pluralistic political arena in which certain influential groups prevail over others. In order for black health status and care to improve in the U.S.A., blacks must continue to utilize the judicial system to seek redress of health care inequities. Second, they must utilize their demonstrated political power to demand better treatment from the medical establishment.

Congressional Cohorts and Voting Patterns

Voting behavior on selected issues during the 90th and 95th sessions of Congress is used to determine whether important generational differences altered congressional behavior during the 1970s. Voting differences between newer and older members are examined on issues concerning social welfare, government management, foreign policy, civil liberties and rights, and public interest issues such as environmentalism and consumerism. Some seniority-related differences were expressed in the 90th and 95th sessions. While the younger members of Congress are more likely to reflect the temper of the times, the longer Democrats are in Congress, the more conservative they become.

Interaction Effects of Students, Drugs and Alienation

The purpose of this study was to examine the interaction effects of students, drugs and alienation in a large university. More specifically, the study attempts to test the linkages of both social and political alienation with drug behavior. By using a statistical technique to test for interaction the study found that certain forms of alienation were important predictors of drug usage. The interaction terms which composed these forms of alienation were evaluated as to their comparative ability to produce drug behavior.

Dimensionality and the Structure of Student Drug Usage

The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between political alienation and drug behavior using nonmetric techniques. A survey of undergraduate students was used to explore the dimensionality of drug attitudes and behavior. Through the use of smallest space analysis a dimensional structure of two dimension was derived from the data. Two space diagrams were constructed and examined as to the rank order of distances between alienation and drug behavior. The finding of the analysis indicates the validity of a nonmetric approach which focuses upon the rank order of alienation and drug usage.