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Human Rights in Rhode Island:

Human Rights in Rhode Island:. Knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs; experienced human rights deficits; and affects of deficits on health outcomes. Jessica Hart, MSII Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. What are human rights?.

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Human Rights in Rhode Island:

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  1. Human Rights in Rhode Island: Knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs;experienced human rights deficits;and affects of deficits on health outcomes Jessica Hart, MSII Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University

  2. What are human rights? By nature of being human, all people have certain entitlements. There are the essential “things” that each person needs to have in order to live well. • Civil and Political Rights • Social, Economic, and Cultural Rights • Life, liberty, security • Freedom of religion • Freedom of opinion • Freedom of assembly • Freedom from slavery, servitude, torture, arbitrary arrest • Property • Marriage • Food and water • Housing • Employment • Rest and leisure • Education • Medical care • Participation in cultural life of community, including being able to share in scientific advancements

  3. Fast Facts: UDHR The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is the written document that elucidates all of these rights. The UDHR: • Was written following World War II. • Was adopted by the general assembly of the United Nations. • Contains both civil/political and social/economic/cultural rights. • Has been translated into more than 375 languages and dialects, making it one of the most widely-translated documents in the world.

  4. Project Aims • What do people know about human rights? • What do people think about human rights, especially social, economic, and cultural rights (SECR)? • What proportion of people are experiencing human rights deficits? • How do these human rights deficits correlate with health? • How useful is the human rights framework in identifying and quantifying the impact of injustices in RI?

  5. Methods • Written survey administered at RI Superior Court among individuals awaiting jury duty. • >18 years old and eligible to vote • Representative sample • Survey elicited: • Sociodemographic data • Knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about SECR • Health-related rights deficits • Food security • Access to and use of medical care • Housing status • Employment status • Attitudes about health care legislation • Self-reported health outcomes on a variety of indicators • Brown IRB approval, exempt status.

  6. Results • N =259; data entry and analysis ongoing. • Preliminary analysis completed on the first 229 surveys indicates: • 56% of participants were women. • Median age between 45 and 54 years. • 87% identified as white, 5% as African American, and 3% as Hispanic. • 85% identified as Christian. • 28% had a high school education or less. • 30% had a household income of less than $50,000/year, with a mean household size of 3 people. • 38% identified as Democrats, 10% as Republicans, and 33% as Independents. Representative sample?

  7. Results Only 24.9%! Percentage of Respondents Number of Correct Responses

  8. Results Percentage of Respondents who “agree” or “strongly agree”

  9. Results • “All people should have a right to medical care.” • “All US citizens should have equal access to health care.” • “If there were no health care legislation or other national or state taxation to provide money for health care, how much of your yearly income would you be willing to pay to help provide health care for those who cannot otherwise afford it?” 81% “agreed” or “strongly agreed” 72% “agreed” or “strongly agreed” 41% chose “none of my income.”

  10. Results Experienced Health-Related Rights Deficits over the past year (N=229) Food security: • 34% experienced at least marginal food insecurity. Delayed health care due to expense: • 14% delayed seeing a doctor. • 11% didn’t get the prescriptions they needed. • 18% delayed dental care. • 12% delayed vision care. • 5% delayed mental health care. Housing status: • 35% worried about being able to afford the place in which they were living. Employment status: • 14% had been laid off from a job, 44% of whom were still looking for another.

  11. Results Health Outcomes by Self-Report • 30% had a history of hypertension, • 25% of whom were diagnosed within the past year. • 24% had a history of hyperlipidemia, • 24% of whom were diagnosed within the past year. • 13% had a history of depression, • 55% of whom were diagnosed within the past year. • 10% had a history of diabetes, • 32% of whom were diagnosed within the past year. Next steps: how does the stress of experiencing health-related right deficits affect health outcomes?

  12. Conclusions from Interim Findings • While most people espouse the same values as those set forth by the UDHR, many have little knowledge about this international document. • Despite these widespread beliefs in SECR for all, a significant subset of people experienced human rights deficits firsthand over the past year. • There is a large disconnect between believing in health care as a human right and being willing to pay for all people to actualize their right to health care. • Final results, including multivariate analysis of human rights deficits and experienced health outcomes, are pending.

  13. Acknowledgements • Dr. Peter Friedmann • Randy Hoskinson • Bill Maguire • John O’Hara • The UDHR can be accessed at: http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

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