Health Equity: A Solutions-Focused Approach / Edition 1

by K. Bryant Smalley PhD, PsyD, Jacob C. Warren PhD, M. Isabel Fernandez PhD

Overview

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

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826177230
Publisher:	Springer Publishing Company
Publication date:	07/28/2020
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	390
Sales rank:	370,027
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Bryant Smalley, PhD, PsyD, MBA, is a licensed clinical psychologist and health equity researcher. He serves as the Associate Dean for Research in the Mercer University School of Medicine, where he is also Professor of Community Medicine and Psychiatry.

Jacob C. Warren, PhD, MBA, CRA, is a behavioral epidemiologist specializing in health equity research. He is the Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, the Rufus C. Harris Endowed Chair, the Director of the Center for Rural Health and Health Disparities, the Vice Chair for Research, and Professor of Community Medicine in the Mercer University School of Medicine.

Maria Isabel Fernandez, PhD is a community psychologist whose health equity work focuses on substance abuse and HIV prevention and treatment in African-American and Hispanic populations. She is the Director of the Behavioral Health Promotion Program in the Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine, where she also serves as the Associate Dean of Faculty Research, the Director of the Student Research Fellowship Program, and Professor of Public Health.

Table of Contents

Contributors

Preface

SECTION I: INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW

Chapter 1: Health Equity: Overview, History, and Key Concepts

Chapter 2: Prejudice, Discrimination, and Health

Chapter 3: Health Equity Frameworks and Theories

Chapter 4: Health Equity Research and Collaboration Approaches: CBPR, Mixed Methodologies, and Collective Impact

SECTION II: POPULATION PERSPECTIVES ON HEALTH EQUITY

Chapter 5: African American Health Equity

Chapter 6: Health Equity in U.S. Latinx Populations

Chapter 7: Asian American Health Equity

Chapter 8: American Indian and Alaska Native Health Equity

Chapter 9: Health Equity for Kānaka ‘Ōiwi, the Indigenous People of Hawai‘i

Chapter 10: Women’s Health Equity

Chapter 11: Achieving Men’s Health Equity

Chapter 12: LGBTQ Health Equity

Chapter 13: Rural, Frontier, and Appalachian Health Equity

Chapter 14: Health Equity in Immigrant and Refugee Populations

Chapter 15: Health Equity in Veteran Populations

Chapter 16: Health Equity in Populations With Disabilities

Chapter 17: Achieving Health Equity for Children

SECTION III: THE PATH FORWARD

Chapter 18: The Role of Cultural Competence and Cultural Humility in Achieving Health Equity

Chapter 19: The Future of Health Equity

Afterword: COVID-19 and Health Inequities

Index

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Andrew Youmans, MSN, CNM, RN (University of Michigan)
Description: This title provides an overview of health equity, addressing topics pertinent to this issue including racism, gender equality, veteran status, and other critical disparities. There is an afterword on COVID-19 and health equity, which is very timely. The online resources provide a digital version of the text and no significant additional content.
Purpose: The book provides content surrounding the topic of health disparities and health equity. It steps beyond the aims of many publications on this subject by focusing on solutions. It is a very timely book. As the editors mention, this topic, while not new, is "coming of age." The United States health system is not equitable. This inequity is complex, and this book provides a concise overview of many of areas of this inequity, which makes the book very much needed. I found the print and online content similar in presentation. The book meets its objective. It provides a very moderate approach to health equity, which may be better received by a broader audience.
Audience: This book would be an excellent core course text for a class on health disparities. It does not have a specific healthcare focus, such as nursing. It would be a great option for undergraduate or graduate students in social work, health administration, public health, nursing, medicine, pre-med, and even could extend into the non-clinical social sciences. The book meets the needs of these audiences. It takes a very moderate approach that may not be as progressive as some would like given the current socio-political climate. The book is edited, and the editors have lengthy publication histories on issues surrounding health disparities. Chapter contributors are from a wide variety of backgrounds. I would like to see more racial diversity in the editorial group on this publication for a second edition.
Features: This book dedicates chapters to groups that experience health disparities. This includes those with disabilities, rural populations, veterans, LGBTQ, children, and men. The book also addresses specifics for different racial/ethnic groups including American Indian/Alaskan Native and the Indigenous Hawaiian population. The book also includes conceptual frameworks for health equity. This book provides a moderate amount of detail on each subject, but it is not comprehensive. This fits with the book's aims and objectives and would be a great foundation for a course on this subject, but not as a definitive resource.
Assessment: The book is above average quality. It provides a good foundation or core text for an undergraduate or graduate course on health disparities or health equity and has a broad application to many different subject areas. It also uniquely focuses on the path forward, beyond identifying the disparities. Regarding nursing texts, Caring for the Vulnerable: Perspectives in Nursing Theory, Practice, and Research, 5th edition, de Chesnay and Anderson (Jones and Bartlett Learning, 2020) provides a nursing perspective on many of the issues covered in this text, which may be of more use to graduate nursing programs.

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