Limitations:
The main limitation to our survey and data was the amount of participants, there were 30 fully completed surveys and 72% of respondents have never been discriminated against in healthcare. Some of our questions allowed for only one choice which was another limitation. By not defining or elaborating on the different types of inequality, respondents seemed to be less aware initially of the inequality and reported more instances as the survey questions progressed. Since the majority of our participants were healthcare workers, there may be less awareness of inequality due to bias as a result of working in the medical field. Another limitation of our data includes a lack of ethnic diversity. From our data, 96% of participants have never been uncomfortable in a healthcare provider’s office due to their gender identity. 56% have not experienced or witnessed health/patient care discrimination based off of race, while 70% have never experienced or witnessed maltreatment regarding sexual orientation in a healthcare setting. 83% of participants were from the state of Georgia as well, all of this shows there was a lack of respondents to our survey.
Future Research:
Data shows inequality in healthcare exists on many levels, some of the many factors that contribute to this issue are: race, gender, economic status, where people live, where they work, etc. (Amadeo para. 1). Without awareness of these inequalities change will not happen. Consequences of continued inequality is for example, a transgender participant in a study stated, “...it can be hard to find someone that’s trans-friendly. So, when you do declare that you are trans, they will say, “I don't have any experience in that side of things.” (Haire et. al. 6) This person told how seeking medical attention was challenging because no healthcare provider was able to assist them. Lack of knowledge of a patient's health issues is only a first step to many more mental health complications. (Vermir et. al. 13). To fix a problem we must first be aware that it exists.
To make our data more accurate, having 150-200 respondents would provide a better range of data to analyze. Another limitation would be the limited amount of time allowed to collect data, these tie along with having more respondents for more data. Having a lot of data on this type of survey is much needed. If I were to do this project over again I would make sure there were more respondents, a longer time frame to collect data from the survey, post the survey in many more hospitals, and take out a few questions. For example, we had a question asking about the participant’s highest education level, I would replace some of the demographic questions with more questions about being discriminated against in a healthcare provider’s setting. Overall, research shows that inequality in healthcare exists in many different forms and that could have an incredibly negative effect on the life of someone who is/has experienced discrimination by gender, income, age, race, etc.
We found one question that stuck with us, and that we want to challenge others to think more about. How do we dismantle structural inequalities without knowing they exist? Throughout our studies, we found ourselves questioning what we really do know and if we see the inequality in any aspect of life.