Understanding health needs in the black community in Central Northeast, Wichita, KS

Abstract

From ethnographic fieldwork from June 2015 until February 2016, this research helps to create a better understanding of the felt needs of residents of the black community in Central Northeast, Wichita, Kansas. Interviews, participant observation, surveys, and spatial mapping using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), allow for a comprehensive assessment of the health needs of this specific community. Health researchers are becoming increasingly aware that the examination of health needs using a bottom-up approach is more effective than approaching this research from the top-down. This assessment uses anthropological methods to understand deeply embedded structural problems of health in the Central Northeast from the perspective of the community. Historical memory of segregation and institutionalized racism in Wichita contribute to current understandings of a deteriorating infrastructure, perceptions of safety issues, and unequal opportunities of African Americans in Central Northeast Wichita.