Health Needs Assessment of Five Pennsylvania Plain Populations

Kirk Miller, Berwood Yost, Christina Abbott, Scottie Thompson Buckland, Emily Dlugi, Zachary Adams, Varun Rajagopalan, Meryl Schulman, Kimberly Hilfrank and Mara A. Cohen
Additional contact information
Kirk Miller: Department of Biology, Franklin & Marshall College, 415 Harrisburg Ave., Lancaster, PA 17603, USA
Berwood Yost: Floyd Institute Center for Opinion Research, Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, PA 17603, USA
Christina Abbott: Department of Psychology, Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, PA 17603, USA
Scottie Thompson Buckland: Floyd Institute Center for Opinion Research, Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, PA 17603, USA
Emily Dlugi: Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA
Zachary Adams: U.S. News & World Report, Washington, DC 20007, USA
Varun Rajagopalan: Ernst and Young Advisory Services, New York, NY 10036, USA
Meryl Schulman: Center for Health Care Strategies, Trenton, NJ 08619, USA
Kimberly Hilfrank: School of Public Health, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
Mara A. Cohen: Department of Biology, Franklin & Marshall College, 415 Harrisburg Ave., Lancaster, PA 17603, USA

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 13, 1-10

Abstract: We performed a health needs assessment for five Plain communities in Pennsylvania from a random sample of households, comparing them to the general population of Pennsylvania adults. Plain respondents were more likely to drink well water, as likely to eat fruit and vegetables and much more likely to drink raw milk and be exposed to agricultural chemicals. Plain respondents were less likely to receive screening exams compared to the general population and there was variation from settlement to settlement in whether respondents had a regular doctor, whether they received preventive screenings or had their children vaccinated, with Mifflin County Amish generally lowest in these and Plain Mennonites highest. Plain respondents reported good physical and mental health compared to the general population but Groffdale Mennonite respondents had a high proportion of diagnoses of depression and were more likely to be receiving treatment for a mental health condition. Most Plain respondents would want a spouse tested for genetic disease with Mifflin County Amish least in favor of these tests. Despite their geographic and genetic isolation, the health of Plain communities in Pennsylvania is similar to that of other adults in the state.

Keywords: Amish; Old Order Mennonite; health needs; household survey (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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