Friday, October 28, 2022 | The Latest Research, Commentary, And News From Health Affairs
Dear John,
We're looking for someone to join our team and assist in maintaining and optimizing the Health Affairs website. Know someone who might be a good fit for the Web Coordinator role? Forward them this email and encourage them to apply today!
Measuring Disability
How many people are living in the United States with a disability? The answer to that question can be challenging given the stigma that many may face when identifying their
disability.
Most federal surveys use a set of six questions from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS-6) to identify disability among respondents. A different question set, the Washington Group Short Set on Functioning (WG-SS), is considered the international standard.
The National Survey on Health and Disability (NSHD) uses both question sets and contains other disability questions.
The authors find that both the ACS-6 and WG-SS failed to identify 20 percent and 43 percent, respectively, of respondents who reported disabilities in response to other NSHD questions.
Additionally, the ACS-6 and the WG-SS performed poorly in capturing respondents with psychiatric disabilities or chronic health conditions.
The findings suggest that there is room to improve the accuracy of disability prevalence counts, which could impact plans to appropriate services for a diverse and growing population.
Please take a few minutes to let us know how we're doing by taking this brief survey about our newsletters.
Advertisement
Elsewhere At Health Affairs
Today on Forefront we're launching Health Affairs Reads, a series of reviews of recently published books relevant to health, health care, and health policy.
In the first book review, Henry Claypool and Mary Lou Breslin discuss Making Their Days Happen, in which physician and researcher Lisa Iezzoni examines the role that personal
assistance services play for people with disability in the US.
Enjoying Forefront articles? Bookmark our website to never miss an update.
A new report from America’s Health Rankings revealed increasing mental health needs among young people. To help better address these mental health needs, we are partnering with Active Minds to launch a new program in 50 school districts across Minnesota, North Carolina and Florida. Learn more.
The FDA's Controversial Pregnancy Drug Decision Explained
Health Affairs' Leslie Erdelack and Jessica Bylander discuss the FDA's efforts to pull the pregnancy drug Makena from the market and the implications for drug policy.
Health Affairs is the leading peer-reviewedjournalat the intersection of health, health care, and policy. Published monthly by Project HOPE, the journal is available in print and online. Late-breaking
content is also found through healthaffairs.org, Health Affairs Today, and Health Affairs Sunday Update.
Project HOPE is a global health and humanitarian relief organization that places power in the hands of local health care workers to save lives across the globe. Project HOPE has published Health Affairs since 1981.
