<p>“Affirmative action does nothing in the long run… it’s just a quick fix, like some drug.”</p>
<p>Interesting analogy. I wonder if there is as much feeling, research, and political action, against other “quick fixes …like some drugs”. Many psychotropics, presumably remedying “a chemical imbalance” come to mind. One of the most intriguing examples of “health disparities” in the US, and maybe elsewhere.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1550705/[/url]”>http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1550705/</a></p>
<p>“Stimulant medications represent an important class of psychotropic medication for children and adolescents, given the relatively high prevalence rate (4–12%) of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in school-aged children (Jensen et al., 1999; Szatmari et al., 1989; Wasserman et al., 1998). Several recent studies have reported racial/ethnic differences in rates of stimulant medication prescription patterns and/or care-giver report of use among children with, or at risk for, ADHD (Bussing et al., 1998c; Hoagwood et al., 2000; Safer and Malever, 2000). In a study of special education students in a Florida school district, Bussing et al. (1998c) found that minorities at risk for ADHD were nearly twice as likely to have unmet service needs, including medication treatment. In another study, a statewide school survey of Maryland public school students documented that African-American and Latino students received methylphenidate at approximately half the rate of their white counterparts (Safer and Malever, 2000). A recent report by Rowland et al. (2002) on elementary school children in North Carolina found that compared to white children, the care-givers of African-American (70%) and Hispanic children (30%) were less likely to report use of ADHD medication, even after adjusting for gender, grade, and past diagnosis of ADHD. Hoagwood et al. (2000) found similar discrepancies in medication use in a study on practice patterns using the 1995 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS). Analyses showed that whites assigned a psychiatric diagnosis were nearly nine times as likely to receive a prescription for stimulant medication compared to others, even when age, gender, length of visit, and insurance coverage were controlled.
These studies identified racial/ethnic disparities in four different samples: children enrolled in Medicaid, special education students, public school students, and participants in the NAMCS. Past research has demonstrated that children served in public sector systems such as child welfare, juvenile justice, and mental health are at increased risk for mental health problems and are more commonly from minority backgrounds (Garland and Besinger, 1997; Garland et al., 1998; Leslie et al., 2000). Research on psychotropic medication use among children with high rates of demonstrated need who are served by public service systems offers an important adjunct to prevalence rates of medication use reported in traditional epidemiological studies and allows further focus on possible disparities.
This report focuses on race/ethnicity as a factor in the reported use of psychotropic medications among high-risk children participating in the Patterns of Youth Mental Health Care in Public Service Systems (POC) study, a longitudinal study of the mental health needs of children served in public service sectors (Garland et al., 2001). The prevalence of psychiatric diagnoses in general in the POC sample was high (54%). Our objectives were to describe rates of past-year and lifetime psychotropic medication use in these high-risk children as a function of demographic, clinical, and system-level factors, with a specific focus on race/ethnicity.”</p>
<p>Probably not the right forum, so I will sign off this thread.</p>
<p>Have a good weekend everyone!</p>