Vulnerable Populations in the United States

by Leiyu Shi, Gregory D. Stevens

Based on the authors' teaching and research at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, the second edition of this landmark text offers a general framework for students, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers for learning about vulnerable populations. It contains in-depth data and information on major health and health care disparities by race or ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and health insurance coverage. It is thoroughly updated to include the latest data and trends and provides a detailed synthesis of recent and increasingly expansive programs and initiatives to remedy these disparities. To keep current with recent trends it incorporates the latest Healthy People 2020 objectives, includes new sections on real-world clinical examples, and discusses the impact of health care reform on vulnerable populations. The book's Web site includes instructor's materials that may be downloaded. Praise for the First Edition of Vulnerable Populations in the United States "An excellent primer for undergraduates and graduate students interested in vulnerable populations and health disparities."
― New England Journal of Medicine "Combines thoughtful, coherent theory with a large amount of information available in a single source. It will prove to be a valuable resource for policymakers, researchers, teachers, and students alike for years to come."
― Journal of the American Medical Association "A very worthwhile read for health care administrators, health policy analysts, public health and health promotion practitioners, students of public health, and health researchers."
― Inquiry "It makes clear that, for political, social, and economic (as well as moral) reasons, the country must increasingly make vulnerable populations a national health policy priority."
― Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved "I have reviewed a number of books looking for meaningful content to help my students understand and work with vulnerable populations. This is the most comprehensive, yet understandable book on the topic."
― Doody's Reviews "Provides much-needed guidance to policymakers challenged with providing solutions to this embarrassing issue in the United States."
― F. Douglas Scutchfield , MD, Peter P. Bosomworth Professor of Health Services Research and Policy, University of Kentucky Companion Web www.josseybass.com/go/shi

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Tama · Rating 3 out of 5]

I used this book for a 5 week undergraduate summer course "Appreciating Vulnerable Populations." The book focuses on three main risk factors: race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and health insurance status. On the plus side, the book provides a great explanation of Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP. The authors bio indicate a Public Health perspective, yet the book include great nursing case studies as examples. I like how educational achievement is considered as part of SES. On the negative side, the model presented by the authors is confusing. Perhaps they are trying to accomplish too much with it. The book is also very repetitive from chapter to chapter. Actually, I found this to be a plus for a summer course. I assigned small groups of students to present several of the chapters. As a teacher, I believed there was a chance that students may not read every chapter (oh my!), but the repetition from chapter to chapter mitigated this factor! Good for a 5 week course but I am not sure if I would use it for a full semester course.