Minority Health and Health Equity Archive

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/21769

Welcome to the Minority Health and Health Equity Archive (MHHEA), an electronic archive for digital resource materials in the fields of minority health and health disparities research and policy. It is offered as a no-charge resource to the public, academic scholars and health science researchers interested in the elimination of racial and ethnic health disparities.

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 11
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    Disparities in the provision of medical care: an outcome in search of an explanation
    (2009) Klonoff, Elizabeth A.
    Abstract available at publisher's website.
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    Coping with racism: a selective review of the literature and a theoretical and methodological critique
    (2009) Brondolo, Elizabeth; Brady ver Halen, Nisha; Pencille, Melissa; Beatty, Danielle; Contrada, Richard J.
    Abstract available at publisher's website.
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    Ethnicity- and socio-economic status-related stresses in context: an integrative review and conceptual model
    (2009) Myers, Hector F.
    Abstract available at publisher's website.
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    Race, racism and health: disparities, mechanisms, and interventions
    (2009) Brondolo, Elizabeth; Gallo, Linda C.; Myers, Hector F.
    Abstract available at publisher's website.
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    Discrimination and racial disparities in health: evidence and needed research
    (2009) Williams, David R.; Mohammed, Selina A.
    Abstract available at publisher's website.
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    Stress-related racial discrimination and hypertension likelihood in a population-based sample of African Americans: the Metro Atlanta Heart Disease Study.
    (2005) Davis, Sharon K; Liu, Yong; Quarells, Rakale Collins; Din-Dzietharn, Rebecca
    Exposure to racial discrimination is a prevalent psychosocial stressor in African Americans but may not be significantly associated with hypertension prevalence; degree of stress derived from encounters may be an important determinant. More research is needed to clarify the complex relationship between stress-related racial discrimination and hypertension in African Americans.
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    The public health critical race methodology: praxis for antiracism research.
    (2010) Ford, Chandra L; Airhihenbuwa, Collins O
    The number of studies targeting racial health inequities and the capabilities for measuring racism effects have grown substantially in recent years. Still, the need remains for a public health framework that moves beyond merely documenting disparities toward eliminating them. Critical Race Theory (CRT) has been the dominant influence on racial scholarship since the 1980s; however, its jurisprudential origins have, until now, limited its application to public health research. To improve the ease and fidelity with which health equity research applies CRT, this paper introduces the Public Health Critical Race praxis (PHCR). PHCR aids the study of contemporary racial phenomena, illuminates disciplinary conventions that may inadvertently reinforce social hierarchies and offers tools for racial equity approaches to knowledge production.
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    Racism and Child Health: A Review of the Literature and Future Directions
    (2009) Pachter, Lee M.; Coll, Cynthia García
    OBJECTIVE: Racism is a mechanism through which racial/ethnic disparities occur in child health. To assess the present state of research into the effects of racism on child health, a review of the literature was undertaken. METHODS: A MEDLINE review of the literature was conducted between October and November 2007. Studies reporting on empirical research relating to racism or racial discrimination as a predictor or contributor to a child health outcome were included in this review. The definition of "child health" was broad and included behavioral, mental, and physical health. RESULTS: Forty articles describing empirical research on racism and child health were found. Most studies (65%) reported on research performed on behavioral and mental health outcomes. Other areas studied included birth outcomes, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, and satisfaction with care. Most research has been conducted on African-American samples (70%), on adolescents and on older children, and without a uniformly standardized approach to measuring racism. Furthermore, many studies used measures that were created for adult populations. CONCLUSIONS: There are a limited number of studies evaluating the relationship between racism and child health. Most studies, to date, show relationships between perceived racism and behavioral and mental health. Future studies need to include more ethnically diverse minority groups and needs to consider studying the effects of racism in younger children. Instruments need to be developed that measure perceptions of racism in children and youth that take into account the unique contexts and developmental levels of children, as well as differences in the perception of racism in different ethnocultural groups. Furthermore, studies incorporating racism as a specific psychosocial stressor that can potentially have biophysiologic sequelae need to be conducted to understand the processes and mechanisms through which racism may contribute to child health disparities.
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    ‘‘It’s The Skin You’re In’’: African-American Women Talk About Their Experiences of Racism. An Exploratory Study to Develop Measures of Racism for Birth Outcome Studies
    (2008) Nuru-Jeter, Amani; Dominguez, Tyan Parker; Hammond, Wizdom Powell; Leu, Janxin; Skaff, Marilyn; Egerter, Susan; Jones, Camara P.; Braveman, Paula
    Objectives: Stress due to experiences of racism could contribute to African-American women’s adverse birth outcomes, but systematic efforts to measure relevant experiences among childbearing women have been limited. We explored the racism experiences of childbearing African-American women to inform subsequent development of improved measures for birth outcomes research. Methods: Six focus groups were conducted with a total of 40 socioeconomically diverse African-American women of childbearing age in four northern California cities. Results Women reported experiencing racism (1) throughout the lifecourse, with childhood experiences seeming particularly salient and to have especially enduring effects (2) directly and vicariously, particularly in relation to their children; (3) in interpersonal, institutional, and internalized forms; (4) across different life domains; (5) with active and passive responses; and (6) with pervasive vigilance, anticipating threats to themselves and their children. Conclusions This exploratory study’s findings support the need for measures reflecting the complexity of childbearing African-American women’s racism experiences. In addition to discrete, interpersonal experiences across multiple domains and active/passive responses, which have been measured, birth outcomes research should also measure women’s childhood experiences and their potentially enduring impact, perceptions of institutionalized racism and internalized negative stereotypes, vicarious experiences related to their children, vigilance in anticipating future racism events, as well as the pervasiveness and chronicity of racism exposure, all of which could be sources of ongoing stress with potentially serious implications for birth outcomes. Measures of racism addressing these issues should be developed and formally tested.
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    Race, Socioeconomic Status, and Health The Added Effects of Racism and Discrimination
    (1999) WILLIAMS, DAVID R.
    Higher disease rates for blacks (or African Americans) compared to whites are pervasive and persistent over time, with the racial gap in mortality widening in recent years for multiple causes of death. Other racial/ethnic minority populations also have elevated disease risk for some health conditions. This paper considers the complex ways in which race and socioeconomic status (SES) combine to affect health. SES accounts for much of the observed racial disparities in health. Nonetheless, racial differences often persist even at “equivalent” levels of SES. Racism is an added burden for nondominant populations. Individual and institutional discrimination, along with the stigma of inferiority, can adversely affect health by restricting socioeconomic opportunities and mobility. Racism can also directly affect health in multiple ways. Residence in poor neighborhoods, racial bias in medical care, the stress of experiences of discrimination and the acceptance of the societal stigma of inferiority can have deleterious consequences for health.