312P
The Language of Health Equity: A Transdisciplinary Approach to Increasing Equity in Population Health
The concept of addressing social determinants of health to achieve health equity is gaining grounds in the light of increased longevity across populations. Although a plethora of literature exists on social determinants of health, health disparities, health inequalities, and health equity, major gaps remain in terms of conceptual consistency and operationalization. These definitions can have important policy implications in terms of program design and determination of measurements to address health equity. Further, the term “health equity” is rarely encountered in the US compared to other countries. The purpose of our study then, is to address the paucity of research in health equity efforts to contribute towards the movement of framing the health equity discourse in the United States via a transdisciplinary approach. Based on the conceptual gaps in the literature, we explore how peer reviewed journal articles in the three distinct disciplines of nursing, social work, and public health conceptualize health equity, the frequency, and the consistency of the health equity language.
Methods
We conducted a systematic review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses to outline a set of objectives with replicable methodology; establish a systematic search that would identify studies that would meet the eligibility criteria; assess the eligibility of findings, and present findings into a systematic presentation of synergistic understanding. Inclusion criteria encompassed studies in three distinct fields of nursing, social work, and public health that were: published in peer-reviewed journals in the last five years; published in English; sampled populations in the US, and conducted using qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods approach. The topic criterion focused on the language of health equity. The initial search returned 823 potentially relevant studies. The resulting sample for this study was composed of 65 studies published between 2008 and 2013.
Results
Findings of our systematic review address little consensus about the language and meaning of health equity. The language of “health disparities”, “health inequalities”, or “health equity” are being used interchangeably throughout all three disciplines. Notably, the language of “health disparities” were more frequently used throughout all disciplines compared to the use of “health inequalities” or “health equity.” Findings also revealed that “health disparities” were used more in social work and nursing while the language of “health equity” was used more in public health.
Conclusion and Implications
We reiterate the need to pursue the language of health equity as a trandisciplinary approach to ameliorating health disparities. Public health social workers, researchers, and health policy analysts will continually be called upon to help eliminate the ongoing disparities in health. While health disparities or inequalities include differences between the most advanced group in a given category and all others, pursing equity means pursuing elimination of such health disparities/inequalities. Pursuing health equity highlights the importance of an action oriented approach to addressing inequalities and disparities in health. We provide implications to social work research, practice, and policy where the use of health equity language can generate dialogue and application of knowledge leading to greater equity in health and healthcare policies.