Healthcare and Health Disparities – HHD

Topics

• Studies where the primary aim is to address or reduce systematic factors related to health and health care disparities in access to and utilization of care across dimensions of social, economic, and place-based disadvantage by race, gender, class, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, immigrant status, and other disadvantaged groups.
• Health care-related research to assess multiple influences on health disparities at the healthcare systems level.
• Studies related to structural or systemic factors such as stigma and implicit or explicit bias that mediate the relationship between impact disadvantage and health care or service-related outcomes.
• Studies to investigate the role of technology, including mHealth designed specifically to address or ameliorate health disparities in access/utilization, particularly for rural and vulnerable groups.

Shared Interests and Overlaps

HHD and Social Sciences and Population Studies (SSPS) have shared interests in the study of determinants of health disparities and health outcomes at the population level. Applications that emphasize systematic underpinnings of health disparities as it relates to access to, use of, and effectiveness of health services are reviewed in HHD. Applications that emphasize population-level determinants of health disparities and relevant demographic outcomes, including morbidity, mortality or changes in population composition are reviewed in SSPS.

HHD and Organization and Delivery of Health Services (ODHS) have shared in health disparities as it relates to health care delivery processes. Applications that emphasize the delivery of care and healthcare systems to primarily address persistent inequities in access to care for minority and other vulnerable groups are reviewed in HHD. Applications that emphasize the impact of organization and delivery of healthcare on health outcomes at the systems level, including providers and healthcare organizations are reviewed in ODHS.

HHD and Health Services: Quality and Effectiveness (HSQE) have shared interests in health disparities as it relates to health service receipt. Applications that emphasize the systematic underpinnings of health disparities as it relates to access to, use of, and effectiveness of health services by minority and vulnerable patient groups are reviewed in HHD. Applications that emphasize measures of quality of care and provider outcomes as it relates to the receipt of health services by members of diverse patient groups are reviewed in HSQE.

HHD and Community Influences on Health Behavior (CIHB) have shared interests in health disparities and health outcomes. Applications that emphasize interventions and/or focus on the mechanisms and processes underlying health disparities in healthcare settings are reviewed in HHD. Applications that emphasize outcomes in minority populations where the focus of study is the community’s health or community-level environmental risks rather than a study of the systemic underpinnings of disparity are reviewed in CIHB.

HHD and Social Psychology, Personality and Interpersonal Processes (SPIP) have shared interests in determinants of health disparities. Applications that emphasize the relationship between stigma, health service utilization, and treatment-seeking as system-level contributors to health disparities are reviewed in HHD. Applications that emphasize social-psychological processes that mediate the relationship between stigma and individual-level health outcomes are reviewed in SPIP.

HHD and Health Promotion in Communities (HPC) have shared interests in addressing health disparities among vulnerable populations. Applications that emphasize healthcare access or utilization among a vulnerable group or examine healthcare service-related outcomes are reviewed in HHD. Applications that emphasize community-oriented approaches to mitigate risk behavior and/or prevent the onset of disease in the general population are reviewed in HPC.

HHD and Clinical Management in General Settings (CMGC) have shared interests in disparities in the access and utilization of health care in generalized care, including primary care, or home-based settings. Applications that emphasize systematic underpinnings health disparities as it relates to access to, use of, and effectiveness of health services are reviewed in HHD. Applications that emphasize the clinical management of members of diverse patient groups and/or their informal caregivers with the intent to guide care or inform the clinical practice of these groups are reviewed in CMGC.

HHD and Interdisciplinary Clinical Care in Specialty Care Settings (ICSC) have shared interests in disparate outcomes in vulnerable patients receiving care in the institutional setting. Applications that emphasize systematic underpinnings health disparities as it relates to access to, use of, and effectiveness of health services are reviewed in HHD. Applications that emphasize patient outcomes of members of diverse patient groups and/or their informal caregiving are reviewed in ICSC.

Applications focused on ethical issues in human subjects’ research, clinical issues, clinical trials, and recruitment are assigned to SEIR. Applications that address the design of or recruitment for clinical trials with a focus on exploring health disparities or disproportionate impact among vulnerable populations are assigned to HHD.