Professional Documents
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Psy Sig
Psy Sig
Eportfolio Assignment
1. In Utah, because air quality during winter can be bad, the EPA and department of health put
a limit on how much bad air is too much for schoolchildren. This means, that on bad air days,
children must stay inside during recess. When a chemical level called PM 2.5 is in the “red
zone” all children must stay inside. I was unaware of recess restrictions based on air quality
in Utah. I don’t remember ever having recess inside due to bad air, it was always just due to
bad weather. The Utah department of health has articles pertaining to this topic. I chose to
write about the article containing information about asthma and socioeconomic status
correlation. In this article, graphs and charts explain how asthma is correlated to people in
lower socioeconomic statuses, unemployment, annual household incomes under 25,000 and
lack of health insurance. This article is a strong proponent of reaching out to populations that
are uninsured and promoting education about air quality and asthma. They also wanted to
respiratory issues. The highest proportions of uninsured adults with asthma in Utah are
TriCounty, Central and Southeastern Utah. The considerations taken in this article are to
adults who have capability of acquiring health insurance, and the Asthma program’s
2. I chose Salt Lake County, because that’s where my home is, although currently I’m in
Louisville, KY. All children would be allowed recess today because of the air quality being
in the green range. The Air Quality Index (AQI) today is in between 0-100, which is green
and yellow. That means that the PM 2.5 is low enough for all children to be outside. If it
considered too high PM 2.5 and would be unhealthy for all children to be outside. 301-500
3. Invitation to the Lifespan has some interesting remarks on asthma that are different than the
common asthma here in Utah due in part by bad air quality. In fact, this text book doesn’t
really cover air quality much at all. This book argues that some instances of asthma are due
to pollution, airtight windows, mold, cockroaches, etc. and that asthma rates have tripled in
the last few years in America. Pp. 244. When it comes to socioeconomic status, however, this
textbook has quite a bit to say (pp. 212, 301,etc) , so I’m using it in reference to the article
and education (g-12). Because Invitation to the Lifespan has a lot to say about obesity pp
244-247 and socioeconomic status, I would argue asthma falls into that same category.
People who walk or bike instead of drive, who don’t have insurance to avoid high copays for
albuterol, who don’t get vaccinated and thereby get respiratory illnesses such as pertussis that
predisposes them to weaker lungs, people who smoke cigarettes socially and who work in
jobs that secondhand smoke is inhaled frequently. These are all factors. Socioeconomic
status is a big predisposition on whether or not a child or adult gets a particular illness.
4. I think the website is helpful, easy to understand, and informative. One reason I like it is that
people of any SES can utilize the information on the website, whether by using a personal
computer or going to their local library. The video provided useful information about air
quality that I hadn’t heard of before. I chose to make the comment I did because health issues
in regards to socioeconomic status is a topic that interests me. I am going to be a nurse
practitioner and perhaps work in urban areas for scholarship purposes. Learning about this
helps me think of many other ways that SES can effect healthcare in America today. I also
want to dig into this more and brainstorm ways that would help people who aren’t able to
afford many of the things that are seemingly a “freedom” of that is promised to people in
America.