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Open Access 30-11-2023

Introduction to Special Issue on Advancing Health Equity Among Black Communities

Authors: Katrina J. Debnam, Caryn R. R. Rodgers, Paula Smith

Published in: Prevention Science | Issue 1/2024

Abstract

The current paper serves as an introduction to this special issue, Advancing Health Equity among Black Communities, in which we provide an overview of the papers included. Specifically, we summarize the papers covered in the special issue and highlight some of the common themes. The impetus for this special issue originated from a culmination of the COVID-19 pandemic, continued murders of Black people by police officers, and an unsettling political climate (e.g., Galea & Abdalla, 2020). While the impact of individual racism has been studied extensively, the insidious and pervasive impact of structural racism is less understood. Structural racism is a system in which embedded values, practices and policies facilitate and perpetrate the continued differential treatment of people based on race and becomes an almost hidden influence on the way an institution functions. For this special issue, prevention scientists were invited to submit conceptual and empirical research reflecting their understandings of structural racism as it operates in U.S. systems (e.g., education, justice, housing, workforce) and contributes to health inequities in the lives of Black Americans. The submissions also demonstrate how prevention scientists can leverage translational science to impact policies, practices, and procedures to promote equitable and sustainable change for Black communities.

Bailey, Z. D., Krieger, N., Agénor, M., Graves, J., Linos, N., & Bassett, M. T. (2017). Structural racism and health inequities in the USA: Evidence and interventions. The Lancet, 389(10077), 1453–1463. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)30569-XCrossRef

Barbarin, O. A., Copeland-Linder, N., & Wagner, M. (in press). Can you see what we see? African American parents’ views of the strengths and challenges of children and youth living with adversity. Prevention Science.

Berkel, C., Murry, V. M., Thomas, N. A., Bekele, B., Debreaux, M. L., Gonzalez, C., & Hanebutt, R. A. (in press). The strong African American families program: Disrupting the negative consequences of racial discrimination through culturally tailored, family-based prevention. Prevention Science.

Boyd, R. C., Castro, F. G., Finigan-Carr, N., Okamoto, S. K., Barlow, A., Kim, B. K. E., Lambert, S., Lloyd, J., Zhang, X., Barksdale, C. L., Crowley, D. M., Maldonado-Molina, M., Obasi, E. M., & Kenney, A. (2023). Strategic directions in preventive intervention research to advance health equity. Prevention Science, 24(4), 577–596.CrossRefPubMed

Braveman, P. A., Arkin, E., Proctor, D., Kauh, T., & Holm, N. (2022). Systemic and structural racism: Definitions, examples, health damages, and approaches to dismantling. Health Affairs, 41(2), 171–178. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2021.01394CrossRefPubMed

Bunn, C. (2022). Report: Black people are still killed by police at a higher rate than other groups. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/report-black-people-are-still-killed-police-higher-rate-groups-rcna17169

Dinizulu, S. M., Velez, G. M., Morency, M., Jacobson, K., Moore, K., Carter, N., & Frazier, S. L. (in press). Lift every voice: Engaging Black adolescents in social justice service-learning to promote mental health and educational equity. Prevention Science.

Galea, S., & Abdalla, S. M. (2020). COVID-19 pandemic, unemployment, and civil unrest: Underlying deep racial and socioeconomic divides. Journal of the American Medical Association, 324(3), 227–228.CrossRefPubMed

Hughes, D., Rodriguez, J., Smith, E. P., Johnson, D. J., Stevenson, H. C., & Spicer, P. (2006). Parents’ ethnic-racial socialization practices: A review of research and directions for future study. Developmental Psychology, 42(5), 747–770. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.42.5.747CrossRefPubMed

Keyes, S. E. (2022). Addressing educational inequity of Black students by demolishing the school-to-prison pipeline. Multicultural Learning and Teaching, 17(2), 123–141. https://doi.org/10.1515/mlt-2022-0016CrossRef

Lambert, S. F., Saleem, F. T., Liu, C., & Rose, T. (in press). Ethnic-racial socialization, teacher discrimination, and Black youth’s school engagement and achievement. Prevention Science.

Laurencin, C. T., & McClinton, A. (2020). The COVID-19 pandemic: A call to action to identify and address racial and ethnic disparities. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, 7, 398–402.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Lesane-Brown, C. L. (2006). A review of race socialization within Black families. Developmental Review, 26(4), 400–426.CrossRef

Maness, S. B., Merrell, L., Thompson, E. L., Griner, S. B., Kline, N., & Wheldon, C. (2021). Social determinants of health and health disparities: COVID-19 exposures and mortality among African American people in the United States. Public Health Reports, 136(1), 18–22.CrossRefPubMed

Murry, V. M., Bradley, C., Cruden, G., Brown, C. H., Howe, G. W., Sepùlveda, M. J., Beardslee, W., Hannah, N., & Warne, D. (in press). Re-envisioning, retooling, and rebuilding prevention science methods to address structural and systemic racism and promote health equity. Prevention Science.

Neblett Jr, E. W., Rivas-Drake, D., & Umaña-Taylor, A. J. (2012). The promise of racial and ethnic protective factors in promoting ethnic minority youth development. Child Development Perspectives, 6(3), 295–303.CrossRef

Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (n.d.). Health equity in healthy people 2030. Healthy People 2030. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://health.gov/healthypeople/priority-areas/health-equity-healthy-people-2030

Roman, C. G. (in press). A conceptual model of help-seeking by Black Americans after violent injury: Implications for reducing inequities in access to care. Prevention Science.

Rosa, W. E., Gray, T. F., Chambers, B., Sinclair, S., Knaul, F. M., Bhadelia, A., Lee E., Kamal A., Johnson K., & Smith, C. B. (2022). Palliative care in the face of racism: A call to transform clinical practice, research, policy, and leadership. Published online February 9, 2022. Available at: https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/forefront.20220207.574426

Salles, A., Arora, V. M., & Mitchell, K. (2021). Everyone must address anti-Black racism in health care: Steps for non-Black health care professionals to take. Journal of the American Medical Association, 326(7), 601–602. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2021.11650CrossRefPubMed

Sobo, E. J., Lambert, H., & Heath, C. D. (2020). More than a teachable moment: Black lives matter. Anthropology & Medicine, 27(3), 243–248. https://doi.org/10.1080/13648470.2020.1783054CrossRef

Summers-Gabr, N. M., Sato, M., Chilenski, S. M., Villarruel, F., Smith, P., Henderson, C., Newell, J., Wilson, H. & Craig, A. (in press). Discriminatory experiences among Black youth: How encounters and expectations explain emotional well-being. Prevention Science.

Temple, J. A., & Varshney, N. (in press). Using prevention research to reduce racial disparities in health through innovative funding strategies: The case of doula care. Prevention Science.

Umaña-Taylor, A. J., & Hill, N. E. (2020). Ethnic–racial socialization in the family: A decade’s advance on precursors and outcomes. Journal of Marriage and Family, 82(1), 244–271.CrossRef

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2022). Health equity and health disparities environmental scan. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. https://health.gov/sites/default/files/2022-04/HP2030-HealthEquityEnvironmentalScan.pdf

Woods-Jaeger, B., Jahangir, T., Lucas, D., Freeman, M., Renfro, T. L., Knutzen, K. E., Cave, N., Jackson, M., Chandler, C., Riggins, C., & Lightfoot, A. F. (in press). Youth empowered advocating for health (YEAH): Facilitating partnerships between prevention scientists and black youth to promote health equity. Prevention Science.

Title: Introduction to Special Issue on Advancing Health Equity Among Black Communities
Authors: Katrina J. Debnam
Caryn R. R. Rodgers
Paula Smith
Publication date: 30-11-2023
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Prevention Science / Issue 1/2024
Print ISSN: 1389-4986
Electronic ISSN: 1573-6695
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-023-01622-1

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Youth Empowered Advocating for Health (YEAH): Facilitating Partnerships Between Prevention Scientists and Black Youth to Promote Health Equity

Using Prevention Research to Reduce Racial Disparities in Health Through Innovative Funding Strategies: The Case of Doula Care

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Re-envisioning, Retooling, and Rebuilding Prevention Science Methods to Address Structural and Systemic Racism and Promote Health Equity

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