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With the rapid development of ethnicity and health as a field of sociological research, this paper seeks to re-evaluate the development of ideas around ethnicity, 'race' and culture and consider how they have been applied to the question of health. Ethnicity as a social characteristic is contingent on the situation in which it is manifest. The process of marking 'other' ethnic groups includes stereotyping and racialisation, a process through which 'racial' or ethnic differences predominate to the exclusion of a consideration of social, economic and power relations. In the British context, the history of empire and medicine's justification of racist treatment of enslaved and colonised people, is relevant to understanding how ethnic and cultural differences have come to be essentialised and pathologised. Immigration to Britain only became a mass phenomenon after World War II, with settlement patterns following employment opportunities and kinship alliances. The state has a longstanding history of 'managing' diversity, sometimes essentialising differences between groups, at other times tackling disadvantage and discrimination experiences through policy action. Sociologists of health were slow to study ethnicity, with initial research coming from tropical disease specialists. The tendency of medicine to pathologise minority cultures is explored through case studies of the approach to rickets and the assessment of health risks associated with consanguineous marriage. Anti-racist approaches have encouraged the consideration of discrimination against and socioeconomic position of minorities. The field has developed with work on nomenclature and the operationalisation of ethnic identity, necessary to study health inequalities between ethnic groups and paying due heed to the contribution of socioeconomic position and racism to group experiences. Research into chronic conditions with complex analysis of a number of distinct contributory variables has been published of late. However, the excessive focus on South Asians and the record of measuring, analysing, but not necessarily tackling health disadvantage, are problems that remain to be addressed.

This paper explores how Asian deaf young people negotiate identity claims against the backdrop of deaf politics, ethnicity, religion, gender and age. The paper is based on a qualitative study of Asian (mainly Pakistani Muslim) deaf young people and their parents in the UK. The findings provide little support for notions of singular or primary identities (as, for example, 'Deaf' people or 'Muslims') which may make other identity claims irrelevant. Instead, young people's identifications were multiple, complex and contingent. However, resources and structures remained important for identifications to be cultivated and gaining legitimisation.

Background: Demographic and socioeconomic changes have increased policy interest in informal carers. However, despite the multicultural nature of British society, most research in this field has been in majority communities., Aim: To explore the role of the primary health care team (PHCT) in supporting carers from British South Asian communities., Design of Study: Qualitative study., Setting: Four South Asian communities in Leicestershire and West Yorkshire., Methods: Focus groups and in-depth interviews were used to assess male and female carers, supported by a literature review., Results: Failure to recognise carers' needs, gaps in service provision, and communication and language issues compromised carers' ability to care. While some carers were positive about the PHCT role, the main weaknesses concerned poor consultation, PHCT attitudes towards carers, and access to appropriate services., Conclusion: South Asian carers' experiences largely parallel those of others, but there are some issues that are distinct, namely, language and communication barriers, culturally inappropriate services, and implicit or explicit racism. The multi-ethnic nature of Great Britain requires that professional practice enhances the ability of minority ethnic communities to provide informal care. The findings underline the important role of the PHCT in ensuring that carers' needs are taken seriously and that appropriate services reach them.

Ethnicity is a social division that is increasingly difficult to ignore. Ethnicity has to be considered alongside other social divisions including socioeconomic status which is crucial to explaining minority disadvantages in health. Identity is a key dimension of ethnicity, which encompasses self-ascribed and externally-imposed elements. The stigma associated with particular conditions, combined with the effects of racism and economic marginalization, can be central to some minority groups' ability to discuss disease and seek treatment. In a world where human rights are taken seriously, minority ethnic groups' presence in research has to become a routine consideration, rather than an optional extra. In research, as in service provision, planning for linguistic and cultural diversity represents additional work and will require extra resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the exponential growth in the number of studies addressing ethnicity and health, there is considerable debate about definitions of ethnicity, the appropriate use of ethnicity in health research and whether research focusing on ethnicity in the health field will ultimately result in reduced disadvantage or will simply contribute to the reification of ethnic origin as a cause of health problems. The authors present and discuss health outcomes among White (n = 227), African-Caribbean (n = 213) and Indian and Pakistani (n = 233) adults aged between 18 and 59 years living in Leeds as measured in a stratified population survey, with particular emphasis on the interaction between reports of health conditions and health status in relation to ethnicity and gender. The survey included both general and specific measures of health and impairment and was undertaken following extensive qualitative fieldwork. Overall the results of the study suggest that adults in both broad minority ethnic groups studied have a somewhat less favourable profile of physical and mental health and risk factors such as obesity and low birthweight. Despite an absence of ethnic differences in reporting of long-term conditions, minority groups had lower health status because those with long-term conditions were generally in worse health than their White counterparts. The study findings agree with previous research in suggesting that variation in health status was better explained by specific measures of actual limitations in daily activities than by general measures of limiting long-term illness. These data suggest that limiting long-term illness or disability questions may underestimate functional limitation relative to more specific measures and consequently their use in resource allocation may be problematic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how various and competing identity claims are negotiated by young deaf people and their families. Our findings, based on group and individual interviews with young South Asian deaf people and individual interviews with their families, illustrate the complex realities of identity negotiation and how this process occurs against the backdrop of ethnicity, religion, gender, racism and deafness. More generally, the structures against which these negotiations take place influence the identity choices to be negotiated. Equally, the struggles to define self-hood in meaningful and fulfilling ways show agency and ingenuity at work. This helps us to understand a fundamental tension facing young South Asian deaf people as they make sense of their deafness. Deaf culture represented a source of strength and inclusion in a community, which reaffirmed and respected their difference as deaf people, while at the same time denying and undermining their ethnic and religious difference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Services for haemoglobinopathies have been a major site of struggles for the black communities, yet the social research literature on haemoglobinopathies remains patchy and fragmented. We provide an overview of the literature on sickle cell disorders and thalassaemia major in the broader context of debates on childhood disability and chronic illness, and on ethnicity, racism and health care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In this study we explicitly examine the effect of using asset-based and conventional measures of socioeconomic position (SEP) on ethnic differences in health. Methods: The survey of white (n = 227), Indian and Pakistani (n = 233), and African Caribbean (n = 213) adults aged 18 to 59 years living in Leeds, United Kingdom aimed to examine the relationship between ethnicity, health, and SEP. SEP variables included perceived ability to get ₤10,000 if needed, car ownership, level of education, and home ownership. Health variables included self-reported health status, presence of a long-term illness or disability, presence of limitations arising from a long-term illness or disability, one or more limitations in mobility, obesity, and being anxious, worried, or depressed. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between ethnicity and SEP and health. Five models were run for each health variable so that the effects of changing the SEP measure could be ascertained. The first model included only ethnicity and the remaining 4 models tested the effects of the perceived ability to get ₤10,000, car ownership, level of education, and home ownership separately. Results: The results suggest that the statistical inclusion of asset-based SEP measures, such as car ownership and ability to obtain ₤10,000, which reflect an individual''s ability to mobilize resources, tend to increase ethnic differences in health, whereas more conventional steady-state indicators, such as education level and home ownership, tended to have little effect or to reduce ethnic differences in health. Conclusions: Overall, this study suggests that the choice of SEP measure may affect the conclusion of research on ethnicity and health and that choice of SEP measures should in turn be informed by the research problem being examined. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this study we examine the relationship between education, racial discrimination and health among white (n =227), African Caribbean (n =213) and Indian and Pakistani (n =233) adults aged between 18 and 59 years living in Leeds, England, as measured in a stratified population survey. Measures of discrimination included any physical attack, verbal abuse and a combined variable, any discrimination due to race, colour, ethnicity or sex. Analyses were conducted examining the relationship between education and discrimination, discrimination and health, and discrimination and health controlling for education. People educated above secondary level were more likely than people educated to secondary level or below to report being physically attacked, verbally abused and exposed to discrimination. People from minority ethnic groups (African Caribbean and Indian Pakistani) were more likely to be verbally abused and exposed to discrimination than the white group. Ethnicity and education interacted for African Caribbeans, such that respondents with post-school qualifications were more likely to report verbal abuse or any discrimination. There was no association between having been exposed to any kind of discrimination and having fair or poor health. Physical attack and any discrimination were associated with anxiety, worry and depression. The results remained unchanged when ethnicity and education were included in the models. Education and ethnicity were associated with differences in exposure to discrimination. In turn, exposure to discrimination was associated with higher levels of anxiety, worry or depression although there was no association between discrimination and health. The results support the contention that racial discrimination may play an important role in modifying the relationship between ethnicity, socioeconomic position and health. The counter-intuitive relationship between education and levels of reported discrimination in non-minority ethnic groups highlights the value of explicitly modeling discrimination to gain a better understanding of the social determinants of health. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]