Social Justice Commons^™

Racial Disparities In Palliative Care Utilization In The Covid-19 Pandemic, Margaret S. Bove, Benjamin Huber, Myles Hardeman, Daniel Harris, Areeba Jawed, Amber Comer

Medical Student Research Symposium

BACKGROUND

Palliative care is a vital resource for the critically or terminally ill. It has myriad benefits such as improved quality of life, reduced depressive symptoms, and decreased scarce resource utilization. Self-identified Black/African patients, however, are less likely to utilize advanced care directives or engage in hospice/comfort care measures and are more likely to prefer intensive treatment at the end of life. There is no research, however, on how the COVID-19 pandemic may have affected these trends.

METHODS

A retrospective cohort study of patients who experienced in hospital mortality or in hospital hospice due to COVID-19 between March 2020 – …

Creating An Interactive Guide To Support Health Disparities Competency, Lauren E. Robinson, Stephanie Henderson, Cayla M. Robinson, Rebecca J. Morgan, Beth Reeder

2024 R&I Day

Authors share their educational resource developed for the health sciences, that guides users in awareness of health disparities, vulnerable populations, and social determinants of health, directing them to specific guidance and resources available through the library.

The Federal Government Must Revise Public Housing Policies To Protect Vulnerable Populations From Evictions, Caroline Grabowski

Population Health Research Brief Series

Over 100,000 Americans are now dying from drug overdoses annually, signifying that the goal of the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act (ADAA) to end illicit drug use has not been achieved. What’s more, numerous statutes within the ADAA have created or worsened housing instability among people who use drugs and their families. This is because the ADAA allows public housing officials to use their own discretion when determining evictions and lease refusals and has disproportionately harmed individuals in public housing who did not participate in the drug-related activities that led to their eviction. This brief describes how the ADAA negatively affects …

The Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On The Well-Being Of People Incarcerated In United States Prisons, Kimberly Rivera

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the population as a whole. However, the incarcerated population (which also experiences a variety of health disparities) has been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Due to overcrowding, poor ventilation, and lack of resources, the incarcerated population already is at a heightened risk for negative health outcomes, made worse by the recent pandemic. To adapt to the rapidly changing conditions during the pandemic in 2020 and into 2022, new safety measures were implemented, but the unintended consequences associated with the implementation of these procedures have yet to be examined empirically. I conducted a qualitative content …

Progress Reimagined: A Generation Z Perspective On Belfast In Relation To The Unsdgs., Lucy Love Haman, Rebecca F. Macleod, Emilee E. Ernster, Camryn Moore, Erin Miller, Daron Baltazar, Ricardo Jackson

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

This research explores a contemporary outsider view of Belfast, through the eyes of Generation Z visiting college students, in relation to how three United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are carried out (Good Health and Well-Being, Climate Action, and Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions). To learn through firsthand accounts, the researchers utilized ethnographic and phenomenological methods, as interacting with locals to gather community inputs, surveying different groups in the city, Abstract: recording quotes said by citizens and displayed at billboards, and For Peer Review applying personal sensory experiences. It was found that a political deadlock plays a major role in the …

Powering Up: Examining Frameworks For Community Engagement And Collective Tenant Action Around Energy Efficiency In New Haven, Ct, Alixandra P. Rachman

Academic Articles

Energy is an essential household need to sustain health and wellbeing. Connecticut has one of the highest energy costs in the nation and leaves a majority of residents experiencing energy insecurity, where households are not able to meet their energy needs. Energy efficiency retrofits have been introduced as an effective solution to sustain thermal comfort indoors. Despite increased funding and resources for energy efficiency, federal and state programs continue to go widely unused by tenants for several reasons from health and safety barriers, tenant-landlord power imbalances, and administrative challenges to name a few. This thesis aims to describe Connecticut’s energy …

Gender And Financial Implications Of Parental Leave Utilization At A Major Us Academic Institution, Maurgan Lee, Lucki Word, Mayra Shafique, Julie Crego, Leah Robinson Phd, Anil Aranha Phd, Beena Sood

Medical Student Research Symposium

Background and Purpose: In the United States, women on average are paid $0.83 for every dollar earned by male counterparts. Creating a family can promote heightened obligations for both parents, however, women tend to take on amplified responsibility associated with childrearing. Studies show females are more likely to utilize parental leave (PL) compared to men. Our study aims to evaluate the impact of PL usage on financial and earning potential based on gender.

Methods: Analysis of retrospective human resources data of WSU employees was conducted. Data parameters included: demographics, length, usage, and number of parental leaves. Data was analyzed using …

The People’S Social Epi Project: Pdx With Ryan Petteway, Ryan J. Petteway

PDXPLORES Podcast

In this episode of PDXPLORES, Ryan J. Petteway, Associate Professor at the Oregon Health & Science University-Portland State University School of Public Health, discusses the research behind The People's Social Epi Project: PDX. Providing a counternarrative to the settler-colonial and racial capitalist practices of traditional epidemiological research on health inequities, Petteway's PSEP: PDX initiative is a portfolio of three projects centering around youth-led participatory research, music, and poetry. PSEP: PDX seeks to "center the margins'' to advance health and epistemic justice.

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Health Disparities Experienced By Hispanic Americans With Multiple Myeloma: A Systematic Review, Andrea Anampa-Guzmán, Sara Taveras Alam, Inas Abuali, Samer Al Hadidi

Journal Articles

Health disparities in multiple myeloma (MM) disproportionately affect minorities. Characterization of health disparities encountered by Hispanic Americans with MM is necessary to identify gaps and inform future strategies to eliminate them. We performed a systematic review of publications that described health disparities relevant to Hispanic Americans with MM through December 2021. We included all original studies which compared incidence, treatment, and/or outcomes of Hispanic Americans with other ethnic groups. Eight hundred and sixty-eight articles were identified of which 22 original study articles were included in our systematic review. The number of publications varied over time with the highest number of …

Protocol: New York State Race, Ethnicity, And Insurance Disparities In Follow-Up Prostate Cancer Screening, Seth Greenspan, Mansi Chandra, Hyun Woo Joo, Netanel Sapir, Jonathan Gorman, Jie Yang, Xiaoning Li, Barghav Cavale, Allegra Fierro, Annie Laurie Laurie Shroyer, John P. Fitzgerald

Department of Urology Faculty Publications

Using de-identified reports from the Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System (SPARCS) data, this descriptive study will identify the impact of socioeconomic status (SES) metrics on the follow-up prostate cancer screening care within 3 years of index prostate cancer screening test in NYS. The socioeconomic status metrics will be subclassified into race, insurance, and ethnicity and each of these sub-components will be evaluated for its impact on the follow-up cancer screening care. The exclusion criteria for this study includes patients records with unknown age, age <55 or >75, previous history of prostate cancer or radical prostatectomy, previous prostate biopsy, female sex, lives …

The U.S. Should Increase Access To Medication For Opioid Use Disorder Among Incarcerated Individuals, Cody Nagle

Population Health Research Brief Series

Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) is among the most common medical diagnoses for people in jails and prisons. Those leaving incarceration without substance use treatment are 40 times more likely than the general public to have a fatal overdose, making it the leading cause of death for people recently released. This brief describes the use of Medication for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) and Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) as realistic and legally protected approaches to reducing overdoses upon exiting incarceration. It also calls for federal regulation and guidance on the use of MOUD in prisons, jails, and drug courts to ensure each …

Thinly Rooted: Dobbs, Tradition, And Reproductive Justice, Darren L. Hutchinson

Faculty Articles

In Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey. These two cases held that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment encompassed a right of women to terminate a pregnancy. Roe reflected over 60 years of substantive due process precedent finding and reaffirming a constitutional right of privacy with several animating themes, including bodily integrity, equality, and dignity. The Court’s substantive due process doctrine had established that the analysis in such cases would involve multiple points of inquiry, such as tradition, contemporary practices, and …

Abortion Decisions As Humanizing Acts: The Application Of Ambivalent Sexism And Objectification To Women-Centered Anti-Abortion Rhetoric, Rachel L. Dyer, Olivia R. Checkalski, Sarah Gervais

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Women-centered anti-abortion rhetoric, grounded in ostensibly positive beliefs that pregnant people are precious objects who must be protected from having abortions, has proliferated anti-abortion activism and legislation. However, abortion stigma, marked by negative perceptions of people who terminate pregnancies, is the most widely used theoretical tool for understanding the social and psychological implications of abortion. In this article, we first integrate these two seemingly contradictory perspectives on abortion through the lens of ambivalent sexism theory. We then argue that ambivalent sexism paves the way for objectifying perceptions and treatment of pregnant people; specifically, our typology of reproductive objectification provides a …

Performance On Health Equity Module Suggests Continued Need For Educational Content, Alessandra Jimenez, Jodi Abbott

MEDI 9331 Scholarly Activities Clinical Years

Purpose- This study investigates the performance of practicing physicians and medical trainees on learning health equity material. The population was tested on basic terminology and concepts of health equity in a module called “Basics of Health Equity.”

Design- The American Medical Association published an e-learning module available to a diverse population that took the quiz for continuing medical education credit. The population includes physicians and medical professional from all states and territories in the United States. From this population, one sample included all identifiable practicing physician’s quiz data, 499. A second sample included undergraduate medical students and resident physicians, 1573. …

Revisiting The Rainbow: Culturally Responsive Updates To A Standard Clinical Resource, Angela M. Dietsch, Richard Mocarski, Debra A. Hope, Nathan Woodruff, Miechelle Mckelvey

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Purpose

Cultural responsivity is essential for efficacious and affirming clinical relationships. This may be especially important with historically marginalized clients, such as transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) people seeking behaviorally based affirming communication services. We recommend modifications to standard tools for diagnostics and training that otherwise might undermine our efforts to create an inclusive and affirming environment.

Method

Modifications to the Rainbow Passage, a standardized paragraph utilized for eliciting speech samples in clinical settings, focused on nongendered terminology and the elimination of content with religious connotations.

Results

The recommended edits to the Rainbow Passage maintain similar length, cadence, and phonetic balance …

Examining Neighborhood-Level Hot And Cold Spots Of Food Insecurity In Relation To Social Vulnerability In Houston, Texas, Ryan Ramphul, Linda Highfield, Shreela Sharma

Journal Articles

Food insecurity is prevalent and associated with poor health outcomes, but little is known about its geographical nature. The aim of this study is to utilize geospatial modeling of individual-level food insecurity screening data ascertained in health care settings to test for neighborhood hot and cold spots of food insecurity in a large metropolitan area, and then compare these hot spot neighborhoods to cold spot neighborhoods in terms of the CDC's Social Vulnerability Index. In this cross-sectional secondary data analysis, we geocoded the home addresses of 6,749 unique participants screened for food insecurity at health care locations participating in CMS's …

Affirmatively Furthering Health Equity, Mary Crossley

Articles

Pervasive health disparities in the United States undermine both public health and social cohesion. Because of the enormity of the health care sector, government action, standing alone, is limited in its power to remedy health disparities. This Article proposes a novel approach to distributing responsibility for promoting health equity broadly among public and private actors in the health care sector. Specifically, it recommends that the Department of Health and Human Services issue guidance articulating an obligation on the part of all recipients of federal health care funding to act affirmatively to advance health equity. The Fair Housing Act’s requirement that …

Racism In Healthcare: A Discussion, Ben George, Cabb Batson, Cabb Batson

Honors Colloquium

This is the flyer for Ben George, Cabb Batson, and Emily Greenwell's Honors Colloquium.

Flint Michigan Drinking Water Crisis, J. David Aiken

Cornhusker Economics

Briefly covers the Flint, Michigan drinking water crisis including providing some background, a timeline of events, and key takeaways from the perspective of public policy.

This article was originally prepared for distribution to students in Aiken's AECN 357 environmental and natural resources law course.

The Politics Of The Self: Psychedelic Assemblages, Psilocybin, And Subjectivity In The Anthropocene, Joshua Falcon

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines how psychedelic substances become drawn into particular sociohistorical and political arrangements, and how psychedelic experiences with psilocybin ‘magic mushrooms’ are used as tools of subjectivation. Guided by literatures in philosophy, critical theory, and the social sciences that focus on subjectivity, assemblage theory, and critical posthumanism, I argue that psychedelics are drawn into variegated assemblages, each of which conceptualizes the nature of psychedelics in highly specific ways that reflect implicit conceptions of the world and the self. In developing the concept of psychedelic assemblages, this research provides a window onto the politics of the self in the Anthropocene. …

The Evolution Of Strategies In Academia To Address Health Equity And Social Justice, Ethel Ulrich, Lorraine Emeghebo, Judith C. James-Borga, Angela Malone, Heather Reens

Faculty Works: NUR (2010-2023)

As a response to the 2020 global reaction to social injustice, the School of Nursing and Health Sciences (SON&HS) created a task force whose purpose was to develop an actionable Health Equity Statement that will serve as a framework and guide of our teaching learning processes in the area of diversity, equity, and inclusion. This statement articulates the SON & HS resolute stance against racism and all other forms of inequity and unjust treatment; its dedication to understanding, identifying, and actively advocating for changes in the deeply rooted structural inequalities in our healthcare system and society; and its endeavor to …

Awareness Of Racial Disparities In Healthcare: An Analysis Of Undergraduate Science Students’ Perceptions, Liz Bleyer

Honors Scholars Collaborative Projects

General and systemic racial inequalities, including slavery, mass incarceration, and health disparities, have existed throughout the history of the United States. Recent public health issues, specifically the COVID-19 pandemic, have shed light on enduring health disparities, including the disproportionate impact on black communities and other racial minorities. A crucial first step towards a more equitable healthcare system is increasing general awareness of the presence and effects of racial disparities. Previous research has quantified and described the awareness of racial disparities in healthcare practitioners, including medical students and practicing physicians, but little research has been dedicated to understanding the perspectives of …

Prevention Of Violence Against Women And Girls: A Cost-Effectiveness Study Across 6 Low- And Middle-Income Countries, Giulia Ferrari, Sergio Torres-Rueda, Esnat Chirwa, Andrew Gibbs, Stacey Orangi, Edwine Barasa, Theresa Tawiah, Rebecca Kyerewaa Dwommoh Prah, Rozina Karmaliani, Hussain Maqbool Ahmed Khuwaja

School of Nursing & Midwifery

Background: Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a human rights violation with social, economic, and health consequences for survivors, perpetrators, and society. Robust evidence on economic, social, and health impact, plus the cost of delivery of VAWG prevention, is critical to making the case for investment, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where health sector resources are highly constrained. We report on the costs and health impact of VAWG prevention in 6 countries.
Methods and findings: We conducted a trial-based cost-effectiveness analysis of VAWG prevention interventions using primary data from 5 randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in sub-Saharan Africa …

From Abortion Rights To Reproductive Justice: A Call To Action, Erica Goldblatt Hyatt, Judith L.M. Mccoyd, Mery Diaz

Publications and Research

As aggressive cultural and legislative attacks on abortion rights and access continue, we call upon social workers to pursue the liberatory aims of the reproductive justice (RJ) movement. We argue that the RJ framework, rooted in feminist theory, aligns with social work’s social justice ethos and goals, appropriately guiding advocacy and intervention. After outlining the central aims and tenets of the RJ movement, we consider policies that impair RJ and those that could promote RJ, focusing on enhancing body sovereignty, childbearing, and parenting. We conclude with concrete recommendations for how social workers can pursue RJ professionally and personally.

Diversity And Inclusion Or Tokens? A Qualitative Study Of Black Women Academic Nurse Leaders In The United States, Kechi Iheduru-Anderson, Florence O Okoro, Shawana S Moore

College of Nursing Faculty Papers & Presentations

Severe under-representation of Black women academic nurse leaders persists in United States higher education, and a major research gap still exists regarding experiences of these leaders, and facilitators of and barriers to their success. Our objective was to examine how race and gender influence how Black women academic nurse leaders’ function in their leadership positions, how they are perceived by their peers, and how their perception of race, gender, class, and power influences diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in the workplace. Critical race theory was used as a guiding theory, and the study design involved narrative inquiry followed by thematic …

Pain That Only She Must Bear: On The Invisibility Of Women In Judicial Abortion Rhetoric, Francesca Laguardia

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The graphic and bodily facts of a legal question of rights are relevant to the courts, particularly in questions that directly implicate physical bodies and pain, such as right to die cases, or what level of search may be allowable and when. However, in the case of abortion, or more specifically the bodily ramifications of pregnancy and childbirth, this detail is conspicuously absent. This article, relying on a content analysis of over 220 legal opinions on abortion rights, documents this absence of rhetoric. Particularly in the context of other discussions of pain and physical health risks in these very same …

Tools For Addressing Intimate Partner Violence And Suicide Risk: Lessons Learned From Oha’S Covid-19 Emergency Response For Suicide Prevention Grant, Karen Cellarius, Aliza Tuttle, Lea Sevey

Regional Research Institute for Human Services

In August 2020, the Oregon Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence (OCADSV), the Oregon Health Authority (OHA), and Portland State University’s Regional Research Institute for Human Services (PSU RRI) began an 18-month collaboration to strengthen support for domestic violence and mental health agencies during COVID-19. As part of this grant, six domestic violence advocacy organizations around Oregon were able to place co-located advocates with their mental health partner agencies for services and cross-training. The content of this booklet is another product of this collaboration.

Impact Of Forensic Medical Evaluations On Immigration Relief Grant Rates And Correlates Of Outcomes In The United States., Holly G. Atkinson, Katarzyna Wyka, Kathryn Hampton, Christian Seno, Elizabeth Yim, Deborah Ottenheimer, Nermeen Arastu

Publications and Research

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of forensic medical evaluations on grant rates for applicants seeking immigration relief in the United States (U.S.) and to identify significant correlates of grant success. We conducted a retrospective analysis of 2584 cases initiated by Physicians for Human Rights between 2008-2018 that included forensic medical evaluations, and found that 81.6% of applicants for various forms of immigration relief were granted relief, as compared to the national asylum grant rate of 42.4%. Among the study’s cohort, the majority (73.7%) of positive outcomes were grants of asylum. A multivariable regression analysis revealed …

Transforming Pete’S Initial Standards: Ensuring Social Justice For Black Students In Physical Education., Brian Culp

Faculty and Research Publications

Calls to transform the initial Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) standards to reflect social justice have garnered little attention. Recent events have magnified the racial injustices inflicted upon Black people in America and their ability to participate as full equals in a society influenced and characterized by white supremacy. Using critical race theory (CRT) as a framework, the authors examine the racial formulation of the historical and current installations of SHAPE America’s initial PETE Standards to illustrate the influence of white supremacy in PETE programs, the relationship to physical literacy, and the impact on Black students. After analysis, the authors …

Addressing Structural Racism In The Health Workforce, Randl B. Dent, Anushree Vichare, Jaileessa Casimir

Publications and Research

One of the greatest challenges facing the United States are health inequities among racial/ethnic and other marginalized populations. The deep-rooted structural racism embedded in our social systems, including our health care system and health workforce, is a core cause of racial health inequities. 1 Among many definitions of institutionalized or structural racism, Dr Jones 2 best defines it as: “Differential access to goods, services and opportunities of society by race ... It is structural, having been codified in our institutions of custom, practice, and law, so there need not be an identifiable perpetrator.” Dr Jones further explains that to set …