Please respond to the following prompt in a 300-500 word

Please respond to the following prompt in a 300-500 word reflective essay  and should include your name and word count at the top of the page.

 Over the remainder of the semester we will be spending some time talking about healthcare disparities—or differences in the quality of and access to healthcare between sub-groups—in the US. In preparation for this discussion, I want you to think about what kind of implicit bias may affect the quality of healthcare. Implicit bias is the bias that we experience and express that we are not consciously aware of.

 For this essay, I would like you to go to the Project Implicit website (link in the Module 12 folder) and take at least two of the Implicit Association Tests (IATs) that are there. The website explains IATs as the following:

 The Implicit Association Test (IAT) measures attitudes and beliefs that people may be unwilling or unable to report. The IAT may be especially interesting if it shows that you have an implicit attitude that you did not know about. For example, you may believe that women and men should be equally associated with science, but your automatic associations could show that you (like many others) associate men with science more than you associate women with science.

 There are many different versions of the IAT online that you can choose from. Please note that the intention of the IAT is to uncover bias that you’re NOT aware that you have. The tests may indicate that you have biases that you would rather not have, which some students find unsettling. If you are concerned about identifying biases that you may be uncomfortable with, you may choose to take tests on topics that are more comfortable for you. If you would like some insight on biases that we will be discussing in class, there are several IATs focused on populations that we have been discussing.

AFTER you have completed at least two IATs, it is very important that you review Lecture 12.2 before you complete your essay. The lecture shares additional insight into the process and purpose of the IATs.

 Project Implicit Website: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html

Reflective Writing: After completing the IATs and reviewing lecture 12.2, please write a reflective essay on your experience. Some questions you may want to consider are below. You do NOT need to respond to all these questions.They are simply provided as a starting point for your reflections.

 – How did you decide which IATs to complete?

 – How did you feel about the process of taking the IATs and seeing your results?

 – Were your results on the IATs consistent with what you thought they would be?

 – What factors do you think may shape your implicit biases?

 – What role do you think implicit biases may play in perpetuating discrimination in public health practice?

 IMPORTANT NOTE: Please do NOT share your IAT results in your reflective writing. I am asking you to the take the tests to stimulate your thinking about this topic. I do not want to know your specific results, but rather how the experience of taking it and seeing the results did/did not affect your views about bias and disparities in healthcare and public health.

Implicit Association Analysis

The Implicit Association Test typically abbreviated as (IAT) turned out to be an exciting test and experience in getting to understand the nature of biases or lack of prejudice in some occasions. The tests conducted were centered on racial bias white/black adults and that for the gender bias gender/career. Regarding the racial bias, the result came out to be “Automatic preference for African Americans over European Americans.” However, this feedback does not adequately describe personal unconscious opinion even though it describes the nature of surrounding I went through while growing up which had minimal interactions with the people of European-American background. However, this test appeared confusing to me on my motor techniques as consciously knew to pick a given key; however, due to constant repletion of one input, this would lead to wrong feedbacks to occur. This is typically an intuitive effect even though it cannot be predicted due to its unpredictable condition of the test.

The process of taking the implicit association test turned out to be slightly tricky and unclear plus the results are somewhat accurate. However, it strictly measures the positive aspects of associations between various concepts which is this case is the European American and the African American or Black people and the White people (BANAJI, 2013). The primary idea of the carried test is that giving out a given response or feedback appears to be comfortable when closely associated items share similar response key. The results of this test are somehow accurate as it capable of predicting a given behavior and character that are associated with discrimination in the hiring and promotion process. On the same note, the entire process may at times turn out to be puzzling due to the various instructions it contains thus can be misleading if not keenly articulated even though its end feedback is slightly accurate and predictable.

The results of the implicit association test carried out appeared to be somehow consistent with what I predicted could be the answer. The results indicated a moderate automatic preference for African Americans over European Americans, and this was attributed by the type of questions asked and from my point of view (Greenwald, Banaji & Nosek, 2015). In real occasions, the feedbacks provided by this test have a significant practical life situation implication as racial prejudice continues to be a significant issue across the globe. It is thus critical to entirely pinpoint what makes up explicit discrimination and find out the right steps that should be taken to make things right.

Implicit bias also known as implicit common cognition is the attitudes or perceptions that hinder a person’s indulgent, procedures, and ways of thinking in an insensible way. These prejudices that incorporate both positive and negative evaluation are at times activated unwillingly and without a person’s intentions and awareness. The factor that can shape these implicit biases is through getting to understand risk areas where these prejudices make affect the type of behavior and judgments (Sabin & Greenwald, 2012). Also, there is the need to fully consider some of the adverse effects of implicit biases thus will be essential in avoiding any acts related to preferences that are contrary to the values and beliefs.

Disparities in public health practice have turned out to be of great concern with much concentration focused on the contributions of implicit bias as the source of the problem. Inherent prejudice against members of a given social group typically hurts the type of communication or the degree of care offered to them (Sabin & Greenwald, 2012). These prejudices affect the patient-clinical rapport and other related procedures, and this can lead to wrong medical prescription or poor treatment procedures. A clinical may believe to have made the best decision given a particular situation; however, failing to understand that his or her perceptions were based on implicit bias.

References

BANAJI, M. R. (2013). The Implicit Association Test at age 7: A methodological and conceptual review. Social psychology and the unconscious: The automaticity of higher mental processes, 265.

Greenwald, A. G., Banaji, M. R., & Nosek, B. A. (2015). Statistically small effects of the Implicit Association Test can have societally large effects.

Sabin, J. A., & Greenwald, A. G. (2012). The influence of implicit bias on treatment recommendations for 4 common pediatric conditions: pain, urinary tract infection, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and asthma. American journal of public health, 102(5), 988-995.