Diversity in emergency management scholarship

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 148
Author(s):  
DeeDee M. Bennett, PhD

Women and racial/ethnic minorities have long been underrepresented in the field of emergency management. This is true for both practice and research. The lack of women and racial/ethnic minorities in the profession and their perceived absence in research or scholarly study may have impacts on the effectiveness of response and recovery efforts as well as the broader scientific knowledge within the field. Historically, women and racial/ethnic minority communities have disproportionately experienced negative impacts following disasters. Earlier related studies have pointed to the underrepresentation as a contributing factor in community vulnerability. The scarcity of women in practice and as students in this field has been particularly evident in the United States. Using data from a recent survey of emergency management programs nationwide, this article reviews the concerns in research with regards to women and ethnic minority communities during disasters, efforts to increase representation of these groups in the field, and discusses the implications for practice, policy, and future research. The findings show that women have a strong presence in emergency management programs nationwide, and while specific data on racial and ethnic minorities are lacking, the observed increases reported in this article encourages further study.

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 233372142092041 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Courtney Hughes ◽  
Erin Vernon

Background: Racial/ethnic minority populations in the United States are less likely to utilize hospice services nearing their end of life, potentially diminishing their quality of care while also increasing medical costs. Objective: Explore the minority hospice utilization gap from the hospice perspective by examining perceived barriers and facilitators as well as practices and policies. Method: Qualitative surveys were conducted with 41 hospices across the United States. Qualitative data analysis included performing a limited content analysis, including the identification of themes and representative quotations. Results: Commonly reported barriers to hospice care for racial/ethnic minorities included culture/beliefs, mistrust of the medical system, and language barriers. A major theme pertaining to successful minority hospice enrollment was an inclusive culture that provided language services, staff cultural training, and a diverse staff. Another major theme was the importance of community outreach activities that extended beyond the medical community and forming relationships with churches, racial/ethnic minority community leaders, and Native American reservations. Conclusion: The importance of incorporating a culture of inclusivity by forming committees, providing language services, and offering culturally competent care emerged in this qualitative study. Building strong external relationships with community groups such as churches is a strategy used to increase racial/ethnic minority utilization of hospice.


2016 ◽  
Vol 131 (4) ◽  
pp. 526-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donna Hubbard McCree ◽  
Linda Beer ◽  
Cynthia Prather ◽  
Zanetta Gant ◽  
Norma Harris ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Thomas E. Fuller-Rowell ◽  
David S. Curtis ◽  
Adrienne M. Duke

Conceptual frameworks for racial/ethnic health disparities are abundant, but many have received insufficient empirical attention. As a result, there are substantial gaps in scientific knowledge and a range of untested hypotheses. Particularly lacking is specificity in behavioral and biological mechanisms for such disparities and their underlying social determinants. Alongside lack of political will and public investment, insufficient clarity in mechanisms has stymied efforts to address racial health disparities. Capitalizing on emergent findings from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study and other longitudinal studies of aging, this chapter evaluates research on health disparities between black and white US adults. Attention is given to candidate behavioral and biological mechanisms as precursors to group differences in morbidity and mortality and to environmental and sociocultural factors that may underlie these mechanisms. Future research topics are discussed, emphasizing those that offer promise with respect to illuminating practical solutions to racial/ethnic health disparities.


2021 ◽  
pp. 088626052199083
Author(s):  
Aaron J. Kivisto ◽  
Samantha Mills ◽  
Lisa S. Elwood

Pregnancy-associated femicide accounts for a mortality burden at least as high as any of the leading specific obstetric causes of maternal mortality, and intimate partners are the most common perpetrators of these homicides. This study examined pregnancy-associated and non-pregnancy-associated intimate partner homicide (IPH) victimization among racial/ethnic minority women relative to their non-minority counterparts using several sources of state-level data from 2003 through 2017. Data regarding partner homicide victimization came from the National Violent Death Reporting System, natality data were obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics, and relevant sociodemographic information was obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau. Findings indicated that pregnancy and racial/ethnic minority status were each associated with increased risk for partner homicide victimization. Although rates of non-pregnancy-associated IPH victimization were similar between Black and White women, significant differences emerged when limited to pregnancy-associated IPH such that Black women evidenced pregnancy-associated IPH rates more than threefold higher than that observed among White and Hispanic women. Relatedly, the largest intraracial discrepancies between pregnant and non-pregnant women emerged among Black women, who experienced pregnancy-associated IPH victimization at a rate 8.1 times greater than their non-pregnant peers. These findings indicate that the racial disparities in IPH victimization in the United States observed in prior research might be driven primarily by the pronounced differences among the pregnant subset of these populations.


Author(s):  
Jay J. Xu ◽  
Jarvis T. Chen ◽  
Thomas R. Belin ◽  
Ronald S. Brookmeyer ◽  
Marc A. Suchard ◽  
...  

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic in the United States has disproportionately impacted communities of color across the country. Focusing on COVID-19-attributable mortality, we expand upon a national comparative analysis of years of potential life lost (YPLL) attributable to COVID-19 by race/ethnicity (Bassett et al., 2020), estimating percentages of total YPLL for non-Hispanic Whites, non-Hispanic Blacks, Hispanics, non-Hispanic Asians, and non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Natives, contrasting them with their respective percent population shares, as well as age-adjusted YPLL rate ratios—anchoring comparisons to non-Hispanic Whites—in each of 45 states and the District of Columbia using data from the National Center for Health Statistics as of 30 December 2020. Using a novel Monte Carlo simulation procedure to perform estimation, our results reveal substantial racial/ethnic disparities in COVID-19-attributable YPLL across states, with a prevailing pattern of non-Hispanic Blacks and Hispanics experiencing disproportionately high and non-Hispanic Whites experiencing disproportionately low COVID-19-attributable YPLL. Furthermore, estimated disparities are generally more pronounced when measuring mortality in terms of YPLL compared to death counts, reflecting the greater intensity of the disparities at younger ages. We also find substantial state-to-state variability in the magnitudes of the estimated racial/ethnic disparities, suggesting that they are driven in large part by social determinants of health whose degree of association with race/ethnicity varies by state.


Author(s):  
Ruban Dhaliwal ◽  
Rocio I Pereira ◽  
Alicia M Diaz-Thomas ◽  
Camille E Powe ◽  
Licy L Yanes Cardozo ◽  
...  

Abstract The Endocrine Society recognizes racism as a root cause of the health disparities that affect racial/ethnic minority communities in the United States and throughout the world. In this policy perspective, we review the sources and impact of racism on endocrine health disparities and propose interventions aimed at promoting an equitable, diverse, and just healthcare system. Racism in the healthcare system perpetuates health disparities through unequal access and quality of health services, inadequate representation of health professionals from racial/ethnic minority groups, and the propagation of the erroneous belief that socially constructed racial/ethnic groups constitute genetically and biologically distinct populations. Unequal care, particularly for common endocrine diseases such as diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis, and thyroid disease, results in high morbidity and mortality for individuals from racial/ethnic minority groups, leading to a high socioeconomic burden on minority communities and all members of our society. As health professionals, researchers, educators, and leaders, we have a responsibility to take action to eradicate racism from the healthcare system. Achieving this goal would result in high-quality health care services that are accessible to all, diverse workforces that are representative of the communities we serve, inclusive and equitable workplaces and educational settings that foster collaborative teamwork, and research systems that ensure that scientific advancements benefit all members of our society. The Endocrine Society will continue to prioritize and invest resources in a multifaceted approach to eradicate racism, focused on educating and engaging current and future health professionals, teachers, researchers, policy makers, and leaders.


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 325-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toben F. Nelson ◽  
Richard F. MacLehose ◽  
Cynthia Davey ◽  
Peter Rode ◽  
Marilyn S. Nanney

Background: Two Healthy People 2020 goals are to increase physical activity (PA) and to reduce disparities in PA. We explored whether PA at the school level changed over time in Minnesota schools and whether differences existed by demographic and socioeconomic factors. Methods: We examine self-reported PA (n = 276,089 students; N = 276 schools) for 2001–2010 from the Minnesota Student Survey linked to school demographic data from the National Center for Education Statistics and the Rural–Urban Commuting Area Codes. We conducted analyses at the school level using multivariable linear regression with cluster-robust recommendation errors. Results: Overall, students who met PA recommendations increased from 59.8% in 2001 to 66.3% in 2010 (P < .001). Large gains in PA occurred at schools with fewer racial/ethnic minority students (0%–60.1% in 2001 to 67.5% in 2010, P < .001), whereas gains in PA were comparatively small at schools with a high proportion of racial/ethnic minority students in 2001 (30%–59.2% in 2001 to 62.7% in 2010). Conclusions: We found increasing inequalities in school-level PA by racial/ethnic characteristics of their schools and communities among secondary school students. Future research should monitor patterns of PA over time and explore mechanisms for patterns of inequality.


Assessment ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 107319112110386
Author(s):  
Violeta J. Rodriguez ◽  
Dominique L. La Barrie ◽  
Miriam C. Zegarac ◽  
Anne Shaffer

The limited inclusion of racial/ethnic minorities in the development and validation of parenting measures limits our understanding of whether parenting constructs are valid in racial and ethnic minorities. Tests of measurement invariance/equivalence (MI/E) of parenting measures can help evaluate the validity of parenting constructs among racial/ethnic minorities. This systematic review summarized studies on MI/E of parenting constructs by race/ethnicity and evaluated the strength of the evidence. A literature search was conducted using various databases and references to retrieve studies from the United States. Indeed, 10 studies were identified that tested for MI/E of eight parenting scales by race/ethnicity. Only one scale showed moderate evidence of MI/E, five showed weak evidence of MI/E, and two showed no evidence of MI/E. Most studies (80%) used factor analytic methods to test for MI/E, but only two studies (20%) examined all levels of invariance. These findings show that differences exist in how racial/ethnic minorities perceive parenting constructs. Further research is needed to develop more inclusive parenting measures, to protect against the ways in which biased measures may pathologize or misrepresent parenting practices among racial/ethnic minorities.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fang Fang Zhang ◽  
Frederick Cudhea ◽  
Zhilei Shan ◽  
Dominique S Michaud ◽  
Fumiaki Imamura ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Diet is an important risk factor for cancer that is amenable to intervention. Estimating the cancer burden associated with diet informs evidence-based priorities for nutrition policies to reduce cancer burden in the United States. Methods Using a comparative risk assessment model that incorporated nationally representative data on dietary intake, national cancer incidence, and estimated associations of diet with cancer risk from meta-analyses of prospective cohort studies, we estimated the annual number and proportion of new cancer cases attributable to suboptimal intakes of seven dietary factors among US adults ages 20 years or older, and by population subgroups. Results An estimated 80 110 (95% uncertainty interval [UI] = 76 316 to 83 657) new cancer cases were attributable to suboptimal diet, accounting for 5.2% (95% UI = 5.0% to 5.5%) of all new cancer cases in 2015. Of these, 67 488 (95% UI = 63 583 to 70 978) and 4.4% (95% UI = 4.2% to 4.6%) were attributable to direct associations and 12 589 (95% UI = 12 156 to 13 038) and 0.82% (95% UI = 0.79% to 0.85%) to obesity-mediated associations. By cancer type, colorectal cancer had the highest number and proportion of diet-related cases (n = 52 225, 38.3%). By diet, low consumption of whole grains (n = 27 763, 1.8%) and dairy products (n = 17 692, 1.2%) and high intake of processed meats (n = 14 524, 1.0%) contributed to the highest burden. Men, middle-aged (45–64 years) and racial/ethnic minorities (non-Hispanic blacks, Hispanics, and others) had the highest proportion of diet-associated cancer burden than other age, sex, and race/ethnicity groups. Conclusions More than 80 000 new cancer cases are estimated to be associated with suboptimal diet among US adults in 2015, with middle-aged men and racial/ethnic minorities experiencing the largest proportion of diet-associated cancer burden in the United States.


2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 434-443
Author(s):  
Norma G. Cuellar ◽  
Elizabeth Aquino ◽  
Martha A. Dawson ◽  
Mary Joy Garcia-Dia ◽  
Eun-Ok Im ◽  
...  

Introduction: Race and ethnicity along with social determinants of health have been identified as risk factors for COVID-19. The purpose of this clinical paper is to provide an overview of the National Coalition of Ethnic Minority Nurse Associations (NCEMNA), present COVID-19 epidemiological data on five racial–ethnic groups, identify culturally congruent health care strategies for each group, and provide directions for practice and research. Method: NCEMNA collaborated to provide a clinical paper that addresses information about COVID-19 and culturally congruent health care in five racial–ethnic groups. Results: Every organization presented common themes across the different groups and unique perspectives that each group is faced with during this challenge. Discussion: This article provides an introduction to the issues that minority groups are facing. It is imperative that data are collected to determine the extent of the impact of COVID-19 in diverse communities in the country.


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