Deliberation Technology

González

2022

IJERPH

The social determinants of health (SDH) have long been considered a core mechanism through which racial health inequities are (re)produced and incubated in the U.S. Moreover, scholars have expressly—and appropriately—named structural racism as a precursor to inequities associated with SDH. However, while research on racial health inequities—SDH-related or otherwise—continues to grow, communities of color remain grossly underrepresented as public health researchers and practitioners. Additionally, although SDH are experienced in a very local sense, much research and practice fails to more deeply and thoroughly engage and center local community knowledges. Thus, much work around SDH and racial health inequities presents, ironically, as structurally racist itself—being done/led mostly by White scholars and in ways that do not “center the margins”. Moreover, in the context of public health practice, youth perspective is seldom centered within local health department (LHD) community SDH assessment efforts. With these challenges in mind, this paper introduces and discusses the development of the youth health equity and action research training (yHEART) program as a model for public health researchers/practitioners to engage public health critical race praxis (PHCRP) to better understand and respond to local SDH in communities of color. Specifically, we highlight the significance of PHCRP principles of “voice” and “social construction of knowledge” in advancing antiracism in research and LHD practice related to local SDH. First, we articulate core conceptual and theoretical groundings that informed the yHEART program’s development and animate its ongoing training and research activities. Second, we outline the program’s core training components and overall process, and provide some brief illustrative examples of work completed during the program’s first iteration—yHEART PDX, Vol.I: Youth Participatory Research on Local Social Determinants of Health. We then close with a discussion that reflects on program strengths, challenges, and implications for SDH and racial health equity research/practice in light of growing calls for an antiracist public health.

Section: Yheart Pdx : Conceptual Roots and Theoretical Groundingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Engaging Public Health Critical Race Praxis in Local Social Determinants of Health Research: The Youth Health Equity and Action Research Training Program in Portland, OR—yHEARTPDX

González

2022

IJERPH

“…Of course, ICTs, regardless of the epistemological and procedural underpinnings guiding their design and application, even if anchored within a CBPR approach, are not a panacea for all of social epidemiology’s shortcomings in regard to inclusion, equity, and participation. The challenges and pitfalls of ICTs have been discussed elsewhere [78,79,80,86], not the least of which relate to concerns over data quality, validity, and accessibility [81,87], and concerns around power, privacy, over-surveillance, and potential exploitation/co-optation [81,88,89,90]. Here, it is not hard to imagine how collaborative research using ICTs has potential to lead to a sort of extractive, (re)colonization of residents lives and experiences if not attuned to concerns of power within data collection, narrative construction, and dissemination processes, as well as to communities’ histories and experiences with/within traditional research as epistemic violence.…”

Section: The Makings Of a People’s Social Epimentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a People’s Social Epidemiology: Envisioning a More Inclusive and Equitable Future for Social Epi Research and Practice in the 21st Century

Mujahid

Allen

et al. 2019

IJERPH

Social epidemiology has made critical contributions to understanding population health. However, translation of social epidemiology science into action remains a challenge, raising concerns about the impacts of the field beyond academia. With so much focus on issues related to social position, discrimination, racism, power, and privilege, there has been surprisingly little deliberation about the extent and value of social inclusion and equity within the field itself. Indeed, the challenge of translation/action might be more readily met through re-envisioning the role of the people within the research/practice enterprise—reimagining what “social” could, or even should, mean for the future of the field. A potential path forward rests at the nexus of social epidemiology, community-based participatory research (CBPR), and information and communication technology (ICT). Here, we draw from social epidemiology, CBPR, and ICT literatures to introduce A People’s Social Epi—a multi-tiered framework for guiding social epidemiology in becoming more inclusive, equitable, and actionable for 21st century practice. In presenting this framework, we suggest the value of taking participatory, collaborative approaches anchored in CBPR and ICT principles and technological affordances—especially within the context of place-based and environmental research. We believe that such approaches present opportunities to create a social epidemiology that is of, with, and by the people—not simply about them. In this spirit, we suggest 10 ICT tools to “socialize” social epidemiology and outline 10 ways to move towards A People’s Social Epi in practice.

“…The research presented here made use of a web-based multimedia-enabled community mapping platform, thus enabling participants' geographies of embodiment to be digitally mapped and readily shared and distributed. Such ICTs, appropriately designed and deployed (Avgerou, 2010;Burrell & Toyama, 2009;Dearden, 2012;D'Ignazio et al, 2014.;Diamond, 2010;Pfister and Godana, 2012), raise the prospect of population-wide assessment of place, embodiment, and health relationships in both research and practice, e.g. via crowdsourcing approaches (Kamel Boulos et al, 2011).…”

Section: Conclusion and Future Directionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The body language of place: A new method for mapping intergenerational “geographies of embodiment” in place-health research

Social Science & Medicine

Mujahid

Allen

et al. 2019

Research on place and health has grown rapidly in recent years, including examining the physiological embodiment of place-based exposures. While this research continues to improve understanding of why place matters, there is particular need for work capable of revealing: 1) which places matter, i.e. spatially-specific notions of "place"); 2) how these places matter-processes and mechanisms of the physiological embodiment of place; and 3) potential intergenerational and life stage differences in place-embodiment experiences/perceptions. The research presented here seeks to make contributions in each of these areas through developing the "geographies of embodiment" concept. Drawing from a multi-method intergenerational community-based participatory research project examining place and health, the research presented here specifically highlights X-Ray Mapping as a new methodology to elucidate subjective notions of place-embodiment within place-health research. Participants were recruited as parent-child dyads and trained in four participatory research methods, including X-Ray Mapping. Participants used X-Ray Mapping and a multimedia-enabled web-based mapping platform to map their "geographies of embodiment". X-Ray Mapping results revealed that 49% of youth place-embodiment locations were spatially outside of their residential census tract-with 75% of positive place-embodiment locations outside, and 66% of negative place-embodiment locations inside. Overall, 67% of youth and adult positive place-embodiment locations were outside of their residential census tract. Through mapping "geographies of embodiment" via participatory methods like X-Ray Mapping, we can gain greater insight into what is embodied (i.e. specific experiences/exposures), and where (i.e. spatially-specific). These gains could improve development of quantitative place-health metrics and enhance efforts to uncover/intervene on the "pathways of embodiment"-specifically, those elements of local social, political, economic, and environmental contexts that constitute expressions of social inequality.