Tag: wholistic health

New Annual Report Highlights Economic, Educational, and Racial Disparities

The economic, employment, and racial disparities detailed in County Health Rankings and Roadmaps’ 2022 Annual Report have a ripple effect across all social determinants of health. Access to all basic human needs is at issue and must be addressed.

County Health Rankings and Roadmaps (CHR&R) released their 2022 annual report this week, and what a read it is! Those in the health equity space unfamiliar with this resource need to get familiar quickly! The site provides current data and outcomes on societal disparities for every county in the United States. CHR & R was created by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The site is among my favorite “go to” sites for health disparities data, along with CMS’s Mapping US Medicare Disparities and the Health Equity Tracker courtesy of the Satcher Health Leadership Institute and Morehouse School of Medicine). But, back to those CHR & R the interesting results!

What the Data Reveals

Much has been written during the pandemic about economic shifts and their impact on the population. The results of the CHR & R report are glaring, and have strong potential to impact wholistic health equity across physical, behavioral, and psychosocial health:

  • Many US residents do not earn a living wage: $35.80 an hour for households with one adult and two children:
    • In nearly all US counties, the typical wage is less than the living wage for the area. Among these counties, a more than 73% increase in wages is necessary to meet the living wage; some counties require a 229% increase.
  • The gender disparity gap is only eclipsed by that for racial disparities:
    • Women earn 81 cents on the dollar relative to White Men
    • Women of all races and ethnicities must work more time to earn the $61,807 average annual salary of a White man.
      • Asian Women: 34 days more (approximately 1 month)
      • White Women: 103 days more (> 3.5 months)
      • Black Women: 223 days more (> 7 months)
      • American Indian/Alaskan Native: 266 days (>8.5 months)
      • Hispanic Women: 299 days more (approximately 10 months)
    • The largest pay gaps exist in the South and Western Plains States, often related to prevailing systemic racism
  • Childcare costs negate the ability of many parents to work, and is considered unaffordable when it exceeds 7% of the household’s income:
    • No counties have the childcare cost for two children at or below the 7% benchmark
    • On average, a family with two children spends 25% of its household income on childcare 
    • Childcare cost burden is highest in urban metro regions and rural counties: 27% and 25% respectively
    • For a person earning the federal minimum wage of $7.25-an-hour, the average childcare costs for two children is >90% of their annual income.
  • Vast educational disparities appear across rural, suburban and urban schools:
    • 50% of all counties in the US have a public school funding deficit, needing to spend >$3,000 more per student, annually 
    • 70% of counties with deficits of > -$4,500 per student, annually, are rural
    • Counties with higher proportions of Black, Hispanic, and American Indian & Alaska Native populations have funding deficits higher than most US counties; deficits are especially high in certain areas, such as the Southern Black Belt region (systemic racism hits again).
    • Large school funding deficits (-$4,500 per student, annually) correlate with students performing below their grade level for reading and math.

Ripples Effects and Recommendations

The economic, employment, and racial disparities detailed in the report have a ripple effect across all social determinants of health. Access to all basic human needs is at issue, and must be addressed. The report includes a series of data maps, resources, and successful programming to mitigate the issues. Recommendations encompass, but are not limited to:

A table with additional measures and data sources are appears at end of the report, which reaffirms the product’s value to the industry. The report is accessible from the embedded URL above, or through the County Ranking and Roadmaps site, www.countyhealthrankings.org

Feel free to add your comments about this blog post below, or other valuable resources. 

Managing the Doomscrolling Dichotomy

Doomscrolling (or doomsurfing) is a recent addition to Merriam-Webster and other dictionaries: addictive surfing or scrolling through bad news, even though negative in scope. The dynamic is impacting rising numbers of persons across the globe, along with their physical and behavioral health; this includes the professional workforce. Here are 5 ways to manage the doom scrolling dilemma.

A versions of this article was initially published by the CGI Newsletter, and appears with permission.

You have a break in the day and decide to catch up on your favorite social media feeds;  suddenly it’s 30 minutes later. What began as a look at your BFFs Facebook feed spiraled to viewing headlines, graphics, and disturbing images of recent events. You are sucked into a vortex of posts across platforms and apps, distracted from everything on your calendar: social, occupational, or education activities. Emotions bubble up: anger, bewilderment, frustration, rage, sadness. You become unable to focus, sleep, and feel crispy around the edges. Welcome to the world of doomscrolling: a dynamic impacting rising numbers of persons across the globe.

What it Means

Doomscrolling (or doomsurfing) is a recent addition to Merriam-Webster and other dictionaries: addictive surfing or scrolling through bad news, even though negative in scope.  Society has been exposed to a pervasive cycle of negative news these past two years including the pandemic, cultural, racial, and ethnic disparities, and the recent Ukraine crisis. It becomes easy to get caught up consuming mass quantities of online news in a single sitting.

The impact of these events on our wholistic health is telling. Growing studies speak to rising incidence of severe anxiety, depression, and psychological distress from over-consumption of pandemic-related media (Bendau et al., 2021). Daily social and traditional (e.g., new portals, magazines) media use exacerbates onset and exacerbation of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (Price et al., 2022). Poor mental health negatively impacts sleep, putting further stress on the immune system; the interconnection between psychopathology and chronic illness is well-documented in the literature (Isvoranu et al., 2021).

The professional workforce walks a slippery slope with the doomscrolling dilemma, particularly those in behavioral health, integrated care, and related roles. Practitioners are faced with increasing numbers of patients seeking treatment for anxiety, depression, insomnia, and other symptoms related to the negative news cycle. Yet, each practitioner, is also a human being, striving to set limits on their own over-exposure to the media. Balancing professional self-care with respect for patient autonomy and rendering of effective treatment becomes the sharpest of double-edged swords. Professionals must limit their (over) exposure and potential collective occupational trauma, while intervening effectively with patients: an ethical dilemma of its own!

Why We Do It

            One quick answer is, misery loves company. Reading about negative events validates negative feelings felt by individuals. The more one seeks to satisfy this need, the more doomscrolling advances to addictive habit. Striving to stay informed about current events devolves into a vicious cycle where stress increases and cortisol levels rise. A myriad of health issues can result: increased blood pressure and glucose levels, migraine headaches, insomnia, or autoimmune disorders (e.g., lupus, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, Sjögren’s syndrome).  


What to Do About It

Here are 5 strategies to inform your efforts:

  1. Limit Social Media Bandwidth: Read one article in the morning, listen to a podcast from that favorite platform (or news outlet) you trust. 
  2. Take Social Media Breaks: Don’t get sucked in or your energy will be sucked out. You may stay off social media certain times of the day, or for longer periods of time (e.g., during the workday, weekends, or for several months).
  3. Use Body Scanning, Breathing, and Other Trauma-informed Tactics: Doomscrolling can trigger prior traumas. A colleague recently shared how use of trauma-informed interventions made the difference, for both clinician and patient. Regular body scans are an asset: take that nice deep breath, then start at the top of your head and move down your body. Note any sensations that appear: ringing in your ears, pressure around or behind your eyes, a tight neck or back, tingling in your chest or gut. 4-7-8 breathing is an asset as well. 
  4. Sleep Hygiene Strategies: Doomscrolling and insomnia are a dyad. Sound strategies that address both disruptors include:
    • Declare a screen-free sleep space.
    • Keep traditional items nearby, such as a notepad or book. Jot down thoughts that wake you up or read to tire your eyes without using a digital screen.
    • Detox devices by turning off notifications and removing apps; block apps and distracting websites using Freedom or other like-platforms. 
    • Avoid heated or emotional posts within an hour of bedtime
    • Keep screen-free hours one hour prior to bedtime and over the sleep cycle.
  5. Stay Proactive and Consistent: It is easy to fall off the Doomscrolling wagon. Stay vigilant; like any addiction, it won’t take much to fall down the rabbit hole and re-engage. Take control of doomscrolling before it takes control of you!

Have other thoughts? Feel free to add them below!

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