Public Health is connected to the study of disease prevention and health promotion through the efforts of the society, the characteristics of such society are of major importance. In that regard, the article “Race/Ethnicity and the 2000 Census” (2000) by Sondik, Lucas, Madans, and Smith emphasizes the fact that the characteristics of the society play a major role in health, namely race and ethnicity. Analyzing the aforementioned article, the present paper provides a critique of the work and the study supporting its main findings.
The basis of the work is the investigation of the relation between various ethnicities and races, living on the territory of the United States, and different levels of health. The founding statement of the study is that race and ethnicity are of crucial importance for public health. To confirm such a statement several examples were given, including the prevalence of HIV infections, which, according to statistic data, is among Blacks eight times that among Whites and 2 times that among Hispanics and others (Sondik, Lucas, Madans, & Smith, 2000, p. 1709).
Such statistics have an influence on infant mortality as well as immunizations of all people. The latter facts imply that the Public Health sector of the US is dependent on the public health of each separate group in the population because no group is completely separated from another. In multinational countries, the health of separate races and ethnicities must be taken into consideration to improve the health of the whole community. Thus, all possible demographic shifts, as well as population changes, are to be measured and monitored (p. 1709). Accordingly, such dynamics should be understood, not just as independent phenomena, but as health outcomes (p. 1709).
All the changes taking place in such dynamics must be observed and documented. However, it can be stated that a great amount of research should be conducted to study those dynamics and changes, where interviews with representatives of different races and ethnic groups or other forms of qualitative studies might not be sufficient in that matter. The main point included in the notion of public health is improving life via disease prevention.
Conducting the study, the authors considered quantitative variables, which were a combination of selected measures from the data of the National Health Interview Survey. Accordingly, with such data missing several variables such as size, composition, and geographic distribution of the groups as well as the small percentage of the multiple-race group in the US population, little influence was observed on single-race groups (Sondik, Lucas, Madans, & Smith, 2000). Thus, it can be stated that the study contains several limitations, which indicate the need for another study.
As stated in the conclusion of the article, “[m]ore research is needed to support a thorough understanding of the reporting of multirace data and the development of techniques for analyzing these data” (Sondik, Lucas, Madans, & Smith, 2000, p. 1709). The validity of the research can be seen as significant in such issues, considering that in such a multiracial society as the United States, the relation of race and ethnicity on public health is of major importance.
With the great attention paid to the issue of racial discrimination, it should be stated that the validity of studies and their generalization of the findings, should be approached with due care, to avoid further controversy. In that regard, the authors’ proposition for expanded research in this area might be seen as a comprehension of the problem’s scope.
References
Sondik, E., Lucas, J., Madans, J., & Smith, S. (2000). Race/ethnicity and the 2000 census: implications for public health. American Journal of Public Health, 90(11), 1709-1713.