Date of Award

Fall 2022

Degree Type

Open Access Dissertation

Degree Name

Public Health, DPH

Program

School of Community and Global Health

Advisor/Supervisor/Committee Chair

Bin Xie

Dissertation or Thesis Committee Member

C. Anderson Johnson

Dissertation or Thesis Committee Member

Wei-Chin Hwang

Dissertation or Thesis Committee Member

Yawen Li

Terms of Use & License Information

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Rights Information

© 2022 Gaole Song

Keywords

Diabetes, Healthcare Service Use, Racial and Ethnic Disparities

Subject Categories

Public Health

Abstract

Diabetes is a serious public health issue in the United States. As one of the leading causes of death, the prevalence of diabetes has increased steadily and leads to an enormous medical and societal burden each year. Compared to non-Hispanic White adults, racial/ethnic minority adults have a higher risk to develop diabetes and its complications. Proper healthcare service use is important for reducing the prevalence of diabetes and the risk of complications. However, minority populations receive a lower quality healthcare service and have greater barriers to diabetes self-management. To get a better understanding of racial disparities in diabetes-related healthcare service use, this project assessed service use status among adults who have been diagnosed with diabetes and adults who were at risk of developing diabetes and examined factors that potentially affected these disparities. The results of this project suggested that the use of diabetes-related care services was lower among minority patients with diabetes; the rate of undergoing diabetes screening tests was also lower among minority adults who are at risk of developing diabetes. Socioeconomic status, healthcare insurance coverage, self-rated health status, and health behaviors were factors that significantly impacted the diabetes-related care services use. The findings of this project implicated that promoting the use of diabetes-related care services is critical for reducing the burden caused by diabetes among minority populations. More effective and culturally tailored diabetes intervention programs and related healthcare policies are needed.

ISBN

9798351419589

Included in

Public Health Commons

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