Epidemiological data suggests increased morbidity, prevalence and mortality associated with asthma among African-American children. This population tends to over-utilize the emergency department for asthma care although preventive asthma care within the primary care setting is more optimal to control and manage asthma-associated morbidity. Previous studies have suggested that racial differences in the rates of preventive asthma care utilization can be attributed to several factors, including the disparity in health insurance coverage between racial groups, social, financial and system barriers to preventive asthma care, and divergent health care seeking beliefs among African-American women. For my dissertation research, I plan to investigate how """"""""race"""""""" when defined explicitly as social class, culturally derived health beliefs, and exposure to structural forces such as racism mediates my outcome of interest, utilization of preventive asthma care.
