Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Exploring The Mechanisms Of Racial Disparity In Infant Mortality: A Grounded Theory Approach, Barry Chukwugekwu Eneh

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Infant mortality (IM) is a critical health-disparity problem in the United States. Of the 23000 infants who die each year, the highest number occurs among African Americans. Previous studies implicated a mix of health determinants and risk factors, but no study has explored the mechanisms by which IM predictably persists among African Americans. This study uncovers the complex network of risk factors that underlies racial death disparities in infants. Two theoretical lenses chosen for this study were social systems theory (SST) and critical race theory (CRT). SST explains human behavior as an intersection of interrelated systems. CRT interrogates inherent social …