The Health Equity Action Research (HEART) framework offers a standardized, feasible approach to examine the impact of interventions that are intended to address the impact of structural racism, according to a study published in Systematic Reviews. Across identified studies, there remain unmet opportunities to integrate the voice of those with lived experience and more comprehensively address systemic and structural factors across socio-ecological levels.
Given the limited information on the impact of interventions intended to address racism, the researchers sought to characterize interventions implemented in the United States that address racism across social and structural determinants of health.
Based on 91 studies that were included in the analysis, the researchers found that
- Most interventions targeted African American or Black (n = 42) and Hispanic or Latino/a/x (n = 18) populations.
- The majority of interventions (89%) reported health outcomes concentrated on the individual level.
- Interventions largely were funded by a federal agency or department (51%) or private foundation (25%).
- Less than half of interventions (45%) reported community engagement or included perspectives of those with lived experience.
“While the academic literature recognizes the connection between health outcomes and racism through a myriad of systems and structural-level inequities, interventions mainly focus on short-term, individual-level outcomes without addressing systemic and structural factors,” explains lead author Brooke DiPetrillo, a research associate at the Georgia Health Policy Center. “Few interventions actually address upstream drivers of racial health inequities. Upstream interventions, including those impacting housing, food systems, the built and natural environment, and transportation, are the ones that hold the most promise for long-term change for racialized and ethnically minoritized groups.”
Study coauthors include Paris B. Adkins-Jackson, from Columbia University; Ruqaiijah Yearby, from Ohio State University; Crystal Dixon, from Wake Forest University; Terri D. Pigott, from Georgia State University; Ryan J. Petteway, from Portland State University; and Ana LaBoy, Aliza Petiwala, and Margaret Leonard, from GHPC.
Read the full study here.