Debunking 'race' and asserting social determinants as primary causes of cancer health disparities: outcomes of a science education activity for teens.
Debunking 'race' and asserting social determinants as primary causes of cancer health disparities: outcomes of a science education activity for teens.
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揭穿“种族”并断言社会决定因素是癌症健康差异的主要原因：青少年科学教育活动的结果。
DOI：
10.1007/s13187-013-0474-0
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发表时间：
2013
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Umanzor,Carol
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Márquez-Magaña,Leticia;Samayoa,Cathy;Umanzor,Carol
癌症健康差异通常被描述为一个种族/族裔群体与另一个种族/族裔群体相比癌症死亡的不平等负担。例如，美国的国家癌症统计数据显示，在男性和女性的十大癌症中，有九种是黑人死亡最多的。当被问及这种差异的潜在原因时，青少年参与者推测主要是由于遗传或生物学。这种推测似乎是基于一个错误的“种族”概念。一项科学活动是为了反驳遗传学/生物学是将人类划分为不同“种族”的基础这一错误观念。“这项活动为青少年参与者提供了第一手证据，证明他们在一个基因位点上是如何联系在一起的，以及他们在不同种族/民族之间的基因联系如何比在同一种族/民族内部更紧密。”活动前后的调查结果显示，他们改变了对“种族”的看法。“在这项活动之前，他们认为自己在基因层面上与1-2个知名人士（即名人）最相关，主要是因为他们的外貌相似，所以他们认为这些人是自己‘种族’的成员。”在活动结束后，他们认为自己与更多/所有的名人有关系，或者他们说他们不知道自己与谁的关系最密切。这种对个体表面上的“种族”与其基因之间的不确定性的日益增强的认识，促使青少年将基因或生物学视为癌症结果中种族/民族差异的主要原因。相反，他们认为健康的社会决定因素分配不均是癌症差异的主要原因。
Cancer health disparities are often described as the unequal burden of cancer deaths in one racial/ethnic group compared to another. For example, national cancer statistics in the USA shows that Blacks die the most for 9 of the top 10 cancers in men and women. When asked about the underlying causes for this disparity, teen participants speculated that it is primarily due to genetics or biology. This speculation appears to be based on a false concept of ‘race.’ A science activity was created to counter the false concept that genetics/biology underlie the categorization of humans into different ‘races.’ This activity provided teen participants with first-hand evidence of how they are all related at one genetic locus, and how they are more genetically related across racial/ethnic groups than within them. Results of surveys given before and after the activity show that they change their perceptions of ‘race.’ Before the activity, they view themselves as most related at the genetic level to 1–2 well-known individuals (i.e., celebrities) who they perceive as members of their own ‘race’ mainly because of similar appearance. After the activity, they view themselves as related to more/all the celebrities or they state that they do not know to whom they are most related. This increased awareness of the uncertainty between the apparent ‘race’ of an individual and their genetics drives teens to dismiss genetics or biology as the primary cause of racial/ethnic disparities in cancer outcomes. Instead, they consider the unequal distribution of the social determinants of health as the primary cause of cancer disparities.