Information on Small Populations with Significant Health Disparities: A Report on Data Collected on the Health of Asian Americans in Massachusetts (Download or view online)  

How can data collection procedures be improved to capture information on Asian populations with significant health disparities? Hoping that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts might become a model for the country, authors Carolyn Wong, Hannah Hosotani and John Her offer a number of recommendations to public authorities and private health care organizations in Information on Small Populations with Significant Health Disparities: A Report on Data Collected on the Health of Asian Americans in Massachusetts.

One is to conduct health surveys in local communities where many Asian Americans live. Another is to use categories that reflect "sensitivity to ordinary people's understandings" of their primary identity, which may not be "Asian." Another is to use interviewers speaking the languages of Asian populations so that findings are not biased towards fluent English speakers. Additionally, academic researchers should partner with community-based organizations, especially those working in low-wage Asian communities, to gain access to hard-to-reach populations. (Summary by Nick Montalto.) 

Get more from the Institute for Asian American Studies, University of Massachusetts Boston. 

Information on Small Populations with Significant Health Disparities: A Report on Data Collected on the Health of Asian Americans in Massachusetts (Download or view online)  

Report File: 

IAAS_Information_on_Small_Populations_with_Health_Disparities.pdf