This essential collection presents a state-of-the-art framework for how workers in public health and related disciplines should conceptualize health disparities and how they should be addressed worldwide. The contributors, who are leading public health professionals, educators, and practitioners in complimentary fields advance new evidence-based models designed to mobilize and educate the next generation of research and practice. The resulting chapters articulate new theory, procedures, and policies; the legacy of racism; community-based participatory research; new internet technology; training community workers and educators; closing the education and health gap; and addressing the needs of special populations. Toward Equity in Health is an essential book for all who are working toward global health equity-whether in health education, health promotion, disease prevention, public health, the health care delivery system, or patient- and population level health.
In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.
Authored by highly respected nurse educators, leaders, and scholars, this text focuses on the power of nurses and how they can make substantial contributions to improve the health of all populations. It delivers an in-depth examination and analysis of current issues and determinants of health as outlined by Healthy People 2020 and addresses AACN’s Essentials of Doctoral Education for Advanced Nursing Practice. Along with principles, pathways, and imperatives pertinent to achieving health equity, thetext discusses the evolution of thinking from eliminating health disparities to achieving health equity, and examines population-based and population-specific inequities in health status and outcomes. Highlighting the importance of interprofessional collaboration, it surveys timely initiatives, programs, and professionals—within and outside of the health sciences—who are important partners in efforts toward achieving health equity. Chapters are highly templated to include objectives, key concepts, critical-thinking questions, discussion questions, and resources. Key Features: Focuses on the power of nursing to make substantive contributions to improving the health of all populations Examines principles, pathways, and imperatives pertinent to achieving health equity Discusses economic, environmental, personal, social, and structural factors that impact health status and outcomes Highlights the importance of interprofessional collaboration in achieving health equity Addresses AACN’s Essentials of Doctoral Education for Advanced Nursing Practice Demonstrates key concepts and stimulates reflection through critical-thinking and discussion questions Purchase includes digital access for use on most mobile devices or computers
To receive the greatest value for health care, it is important to focus on issues of quality and disparity, and the ability of individuals to make appropriate decisions based on basic health knowledge and services. The Forum on the Science of Health Care Quality Improvement and Implementation, the Roundtable on Health Disparities, and the Roundtable on Health Literacy jointly convened the workshop "Toward Health Equity and Patient-Centeredness: Integrating Health Literacy, Disparities Reduction, and Quality Improvement" to address these concerns. During this workshop, speakers and participants explored how equity in care delivered and a focus on patients could be improved.
The decade ahead will test the nation's nearly 4 million nurses in new and complex ways. Nurses live and work at the intersection of health, education, and communities. Nurses work in a wide array of settings and practice at a range of professional levels. They are often the first and most frequent line of contact with people of all backgrounds and experiences seeking care and they represent the largest of the health care professions. A nation cannot fully thrive until everyone - no matter who they are, where they live, or how much money they make - can live their healthiest possible life, and helping people live their healthiest life is and has always been the essential role of nurses. Nurses have a critical role to play in achieving the goal of health equity, but they need robust education, supportive work environments, and autonomy. Accordingly, at the request of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, on behalf of the National Academy of Medicine, an ad hoc committee under the auspices of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine conducted a study aimed at envisioning and charting a path forward for the nursing profession to help reduce inequities in people's ability to achieve their full health potential. The ultimate goal is the achievement of health equity in the United States built on strengthened nursing capacity and expertise. By leveraging these attributes, nursing will help to create and contribute comprehensively to equitable public health and health care systems that are designed to work for everyone. The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity explores how nurses can work to reduce health disparities and promote equity, while keeping costs at bay, utilizing technology, and maintaining patient and family-focused care into 2030. This work builds on the foundation set out by The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health (2011) report.
Health Equity: A Solutions-Focused Approach is a comprehensive textbook that illustrates existing conditions of health disparities across a range of populations in the United States, positions those disparities within the broader sociopolitical framework that leads to their existence, and most importantly, presents specific ways in which health equity solutions can be designed and implemented. Presenting current theoretical foundations, cultural context, and evidence-based models and interventions all in one, this textbook provides students with the basis to achieve greater health equity in their communities. Edited by award-winning authors and featuring contributions from diverse experts in public health, sociology, psychology, and medicine, this groundbreaking text goes beyond a traditional approach to risk factors and disparities and emphasizes the central role that health equity initiatives must play in public health research and practice. The book is divided into three sections, with Section I focusing on providing the context of health equity research and practice. Chapters are structured in such a way that both new and experienced students in the field will develop a deeper understanding of topics such as prejudice and discrimination; frameworks and theories; and research and collaboration approaches. Section II addresses the current knowledge of specific populations impacted by issues related to health equity, including African American, Latinx and Hispanic, Asian, American Indian and Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, LGBTQ, Veteran, People with Disabilities, and many more. Authored or co-authored by members of the community being discussed, each of these chapters summarizes how health disparities impact the group, ongoing population-specific models of disparities and equity, emerging programs for achieving health equity, coverage of the most relevant aspects of intersectionality, and concluding exercises such as case studies and current events. Section III then highlights the role of cultural humility in achieving health equity. With its solutions-focused and community-affirming approach, Health Equity provides graduate and undergraduate students of public health with evidence-based models to help advance health through diversity, inclusion, and social justice. Key Features: Origins and Theories – Discusses the sociocultural and political origins of health disparities and the major theories that underlie an understanding of health equity Solutions-Focused – Describes emerging models and gives best practices in designing new programs Diverse Population Coverage – Provides historical context, sociocultural dynamics, and population-specific evidence-based programs from the voices of the communities being discussed Intersectionality Perspective – Highlights the role that overlapping and interdependent identities play in promoting health equity and the interventions that build from this perspective Case Studies and Real-World Examples – Demonstrates how to apply health equity improvement approaches in different contexts eBook access –Included with print purchase for use on most mobile devices or computers Instructor’s Packet – With an Instructor’s Manual, PowerPoint slides, Test Bank, and a Sample Syllabus
Perhaps more than any other American city, Chicago has been a center for the study of both urban history and economic inequity. Community Health Equity assembles a century of research to show the range of effects that Chicago’s structural socioeconomic inequalities have had on patients and medical facilities alike. The work collected here makes clear that when a city is sharply divided by power, wealth, and race, the citizens who most need high-quality health care and social services have the greatest difficulty accessing them. Achieving good health is not simply a matter of making the right choices as an individual, the research demonstrates: it’s the product of large-scale political and economic forces. Understanding these forces, and what we can do to correct them, should be critical not only to doctors but to sociologists and students of the urban environment—and no city offers more inspiring examples for action to overcome social injustice in health than Chicago.
The second Edition of this forward-thinking text goes beyond the discussion of health disparities to highlight the importance of health equity. As the title suggests, Health Equity, Diversity and Inclusion: Contexts, Controversies, and Solutions helps the reader understand key social justice issues relevant to health disparities and/or health equity, taking the reader from the classroom to the real world to implement new solutions. The new Second Edition features: • Two new chapters: one on the impact of urban education on urban health and another covering the elderly and health equity •Updated and enhanced coverage on men’s health, demographic data, the importance of cultural proficiency, maternal mortality and Black women, and much more. • Current trends and movements, including the role of social media in the provision of health care information for improved health literacy; mass incarceration and criminal justice reform; and much more.
In a world beset by serious and unconscionable health disparities, by dangerous contagions that can circle our globalized planet in hours, and by a bewildering confusion of health actors and systems, humankind needs a new vision, a new architecture, new coordination among renewed systems to ensure central health capabilities for all. Global Health Justice and Governance lays out the critical problems facing the world today and offers a new theory of justice and governance as a way to resolve these seemingly intractable issues. A fundamental responsibility of society is to ensure human flourishing. The central role that health plays in flourishing places a unique claim on our public institutions and resources, to ensure central health capabilities to reduce premature death and avoid preventable morbidities. Faced with staggering inequalities, imperiling epidemics, and inadequate systems, the world desperately needs a new global health architecture. Global Health Justice and Governance lays out this vision.
