Public Responses to Health Disparities: How Group Cues Influence Support for Government Intervention<sup>*</sup>

Rigby, Elizabeth; Soss, Joe; Booske, Bridget C.; Rohan, Angela; Robert, Stephanie A.

doi:10.1111/j.1540-6237.2009.00646.x

Cited by 64 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…First, although we selected messages used in public debate to date, the short messages do not reflect the full range of claims about health disparities in public discourse, particularly because we included messages only about socioeconomic-based health disparities. An alternative specified group would likely produce different responses, given that research has found greater willingness to take action to remedy disparities when low socioeconomic status groups are the identified disadvantaged group compared with racial groups (Rigby, Soss, Booske, Rohan, & Robert, 2009). Second, the messages deliberately did not feature a specific source, but the source would likely have an important role in muting (or even exacerbating) reactance.…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Understanding Public Resistance to Messages About Health Disparities

Gollust

Cappella

2014

Journal of Health Communication

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Advocates and policymakers strategically communicate about health disparities in an effort to raise public awareness, often by emphasizing the social and economic factors that influence these disparities. Previous research suggests that predisposing political orientation and values related to self-reliance and personal responsibility may produce resistance to such messages. In this study, the authors culled 4 messages about the causes of disparities in life expectancy from public discourse and randomly presented them to a nationally representative sample of 732 Americans. Three indicators of message resistance were measured: belief that messages are weak, elicitation of anger, and production of counterarguments. Expected political differences in message resistance were identified, with Republicans perceiving messages to be weaker, arousing less anger, and eliciting more counterarguing than for Democrats. Among 3 messages that described the social determinants of health disparities, a message that identified the role of personal choices (explicitly acknowledging personal responsibility) produced the least anger and counterarguing among Republicans. Political differences in anger arousal and counterarguing can be explained, in part, by predisposing values toward personal responsibility. These findings have relevance for policy advocates seeking to bridge public divides surrounding health disparities and for scholars advancing theories of reactance to policy-relevant health messaging.

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Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Understanding Public Resistance to Messages About Health Disparities

Gollust

Cappella

2014

Journal of Health Communication

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“…We also find in this article that evaluations of the fairness of health disparities depend on the social group that is depicted as disadvantaged and on beliefs about the causes of disparities (which also vary consistently depending on the social group depicted). Other research has shown that the social group affected by an inequality influences not only the public's beliefs about the causes of that inequality but also the preferred policy response (Rigby et al 2009;Gollust and Lynch 2010).…”

Section: Implications For Politicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Playing Fair: Fairness Beliefs and Health Policy Preferences in the United States

Lynch¹,

Gollust²

2010

Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law

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Conventional wisdom suggests that the best way to persuade Americans to support changes in health care policy is to appeal to their self-interest - particularly to concerns about their economic and health security. An alternative strategy, framing problems in the health care system to emphasize inequalities, could also, however, mobilize public support for policy change by activating underlying attitudes about the unfairness or injustice of these inequalities. In this article, we draw on original data from a nationally representative survey to describe Americans' beliefs about fairness in the health domain, including their perceptions of the fairness of particular inequalities in health and health care. We then assess the influence of these fairness considerations on opinions about the appropriate role of private actors versus government in providing health insurance. Respondents believe inequalities in access to and quality of health care are more unfair than unequal health outcomes. Even after taking into account self-interest considerations and the other usual suspects driving policy opinions, perceptions of the unfairness of inequalities in health care strongly influence respondents' preferences for government provision of health insurance.

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“…We encourage public and private entities to 1) review what many states achieved in both general improvement and disparity reduction and 2) set policy and investment priorities in accordance with their own values and perspectives (23). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can States Simultaneously Improve Health Outcomes and Reduce Health Outcome Disparities?

2016

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IntroductionReducing racial health disparities is often stated as a population health goal, but specific targets for such improvement are seldom set. It is often assumed that improving overall health outcomes will be linked to disparity reduction, but this is not necessarily the case.MethodsWe compared the annual change from 1999 through 2013 in combined-race (black and white) mortality with the annual change in absolute and relative racial mortality disparities for US states.ResultsMedian annual improvement in combined-race mortality was 1.08% per year. Annual overall mortality rate reductions ranged from 0.24% per year in Oklahoma to 1.83% per year in Maryland. For disparities, the median for the black–white absolute gap was 3.60% per year, and the median for the relative black-to-white ratio was 1.19% per year. There was no significant correlation between the combined-race measure and either the absolute (0.03) or relative disparity measure reductions (−0.17).ConclusionFor mortality in US states over a recent period, improvement in the population mean and disparity reduction do not usually occur together. The disparity reduction rates observed may provide realistic guidance for public and private policy makers in setting goals for reducing population health disparity and creating investment priorities. As a starting point for discussion, the observed national median annual percentage improvement of 1.1 per year combined, 3.6% per year absolute gap reduction, and 1.2% per year relative gap reduction would be modest and reasonable goals.

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Public Responses to Health Disparities: How Group Cues Influence Support for Government Intervention^*

Abstract: To examine whether public support for government intervention to address health disparities varies when disparities are framed in terms of different social groups. Copyright (c) 2009 by the Southwestern Social Science Association.

Cited by 64 publications

References 23 publications

Understanding Public Resistance to Messages About Health Disparities

Understanding Public Resistance to Messages About Health Disparities

Playing Fair: Fairness Beliefs and Health Policy Preferences in the United States

Can States Simultaneously Improve Health Outcomes and Reduce Health Outcome Disparities?

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Public Responses to Health Disparities: How Group Cues Influence Support for Government Intervention*

Abstract: To examine whether public support for government intervention to address health disparities varies when disparities are framed in terms of different social groups. Copyright (c) 2009 by the Southwestern Social Science Association.

Cited by 64 publications

References 23 publications

Understanding Public Resistance to Messages About Health Disparities

Understanding Public Resistance to Messages About Health Disparities

Playing Fair: Fairness Beliefs and Health Policy Preferences in the United States

Can States Simultaneously Improve Health Outcomes and Reduce Health Outcome Disparities?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

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Public Responses to Health Disparities: How Group Cues Influence Support for Government Intervention^*