Interventions to promote health equity: implications for implementation science in behavioral medicine

Abstract

Disparities in health persist despite the development of innovative and effective behavioral interventions. Both behavioral medicine and implementation science are vital to improving health care and health outcomes, and both can play a critical role in advancing health equity. However, to eliminate health disparities, more research in these areas is needed to ensure disparity-reducing behavioral interventions are continually developed and implemented. This special issue on interventions to promote health equity presents a diverse set of articles focused on implementing behavioral interventions to reduce health disparities. The current article summarizes the special issue and identifies key themes and future considerations. Articles in this special issue report on behavioral medicine intervention studies (including those examining aspects of implementation) as well as implementation science studies with implications for behavioral medicine. Articles discuss community-, provider-, and system-level interventions; implementation processes; and barriers and facilitators to implementation. Also included are commentaries calling for greater prioritization of behavioral medicine and implementation research. As evidenced in this special issue, behavioral medicine is primed to lead the implementation of behavioral interventions in historically marginalized and minoritized populations to advance health equity and improve overall population health.

The Use of Brief Mindfulness Interventions in the Context of Perioperative Care

“…36,37 Unfortunately, behavioral interventions are currently utilized less frequently among historically marginalized patients. 38 As such, the use of mindfulness among minoritized and marginalized populations is an important area of research within perioperative care space.…”

Neuroeducación y Medicina Conductual: Herramientas Indispensables para mejorar la Calidad de Vida en Hospitales y en Casa

“…Los campos científicos de la medicina conductual y de la neuroeducación, se definen como dos disciplinas limítrofes enfocadas en educar con pedagogías de punta a todas las poblaciones y velar por la generación de mecanismos de autocuidado, pues se nutren o alimentan de otras ciencias y subdisciplinas para sustentar su existencia. En el caso de la medicina conductual, esta disciplina nace en la década de 1970, con base en la psicología conductual, para proveerle de respaldo de técnicas de modificación de la conducta en contextos hospitalarios o sanitarios a los pacientes de diferentes enfermedades crónicas o con algún tipo de lesión, con el fin de brindar acompañamiento, asesoría y seguimiento a los pacientes desde herramientas muy propias del Análisis Funcional de la Conducta -AFC y del Análisis Experimental de la Conducta -AEC, para que dichos pacientes puedan emplear la psicología basada en la evidencia, con el propósito de mejorar su calidad de vida con relación a su condición y percepción de la enfermedad (Alcaraz & Yanez, 2022;Merz & Gholizadeh, 2022;Baker & Marco, 2024;Mattu, 2024;Thompson, Kaplan, Conway & Miles, 2023;Toor, Rastogi & Ajmani, 2024).…”

Healthy Parent Carers: Acceptability and practicability of online delivery and learning through implementation by delivery partner organisations

“…Interventions to promote health equity are urgently needed. 18 The Healthy Parent Carers (HPC) programme was developed specifically to promote the health and wellbeing of parent carers. It aims to improve health and wellbeing by engagement in behaviours associated with better health-Connect, Learn, be Active, take Notice, Give, Eat well, Relax, Sleep (CLANGERS).…”

“…Our consultations with parent carers suggest existing public health interventions are perceived as insensitive to the challenges that parent carers experience. Interventions to promote health equity are urgently needed 18 . The Healthy Parent Carers (HPC) programme was developed specifically to promote the health and wellbeing of parent carers.…”