Staff Scientist
National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities
Identifying Barriers that Drive Health Disparities in Adherence to Preventive Services RecommendationsPreventive services (such as cancer screenings and vaccinations) are important for reducing health disparities in chronic and infectious diseases. However, between 30% to 50% of U.S. adults do not receive recommended preventive services. Racial and ethnic disparities in the receipt of preventive services have been observed among Asian, Black/African American, and Hispanic/Latino adults, but less is known about adherence to preventive services among Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander and Middle Eastern communities in the United States. It is also unclear how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted adherence to recommendations for preventive services among adults or the role that neighborhood factors play in producing disparities in preventive services.
Dr. Strassle’s study will assess current preventive services utilization across racial and ethnic groups, describe how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted utilization, and estimate the role of individual and structural barriers in preventive services disparities through a nationally representative survey of American Indian and Alaska Native, Asian, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino (English- and Spanish-speaking), Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, Middle Eastern and North African, and White adults. Participants will be recruited from the YouGov opt-in survey panel, which comprises over 1.8 million U.S. residents. The study will provide estimates of adherence to preventive services recommendations by race and ethnicity before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mediation analysis will be used to assess the relative impact of individual and neighborhood barriers to health care access on preventive services disparities.
This survey will be the most comprehensive assessment of preventive services utilization during the COVID-19 pandemic among a diverse sample of adults living in the United States (including being one of the first surveys to include Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander and Middle Eastern adults).
