Racial-Ethnic Diversity in Allied Health: The Continuing Challenge
Despite gains over the last few decades, the racial-ethnic diversity of health professionals has not kept pace with demographic changes in the general population of the United States, with significant consequences for the health of minority populations and access to health care services. We analyzed data for allied health educational programs accredited in 1989–90 and 2006–07, with particular attention to the race/ethnicity of enrollments, attrition, and graduates and the types of institutions that were more or less likely to have increased diversity over the time period. Our data show that blacks and Hispanics have higher attrition rates than whites and Asian or Pacific Islanders. In addition, federal institutions and for-profit institutions have higher rates of student racial/ethnic diversity, and both have become more diverse over time, although for-profit institutions have higher attrition rates than other types of institutions. Because minority students are more likely to attend for-profit institutions, the higher attrition rate at these institutions versus other types of institutions merits continued attention and additional study. At the same time, all institutions must direct resources toward increasing diversity and ensuring higher graduation rates among racial/ethnic minority students.
Document Type: Research Article
Publication date: 01 June 2010
- The Journal of Allied Health is the official publication of the Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions (ASAHP). The Journal is the only interdisciplinary allied health periodical, publishing scholarly works related to research and development, feature articles, research abstracts and book reviews. Readers of the Journal comprise allied health leaders, educators, faculty and students.
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