¿No Hay Racismo?: application of the levels of racism framework to Latinx perspectives on barriers to health and wellbeing.
Date
2024-08
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Citation Stats
Abstract
Background
The purpose of this study is to increase understanding of the forms of systemic racism experienced by Latinx communities in North Carolina during the COVID-19 pandemic as identified by Latinx community health workers (CHWs) and community-based organization (CBO) leaders.Methods
We held three focus groups in July 2022 (N = 16) with CHWs and CBO leaders in Spanish to discuss policy and community interventions that improved access to resources during the COVID-19 pandemic; policy or community interventions needed to improve care of Latinx communities; and lessons learned to improve the health of Latinx communities in the future. We performed directed and summative qualitative content analysis of the data in the original language using the Levels of Racism Framework by Dr. Camara Jones to identify examples of implicitly and explicitly discussed forms of systemic racism.Results
Latinx CHWs and CBO leaders implicitly discussed numerous examples of all levels of racism when seeking and receiving health services, such as lack of resources for undocumented individuals and negative interactions with non-Latinx individuals, but did not explicitly name racism. Themes related to institutionalized racism included: differential access to resources due to language barriers; uninsured or undocumented status; exclusionary policies not accounting for cultural or socioeconomic differences; lack of action despite need; and difficulties obtaining sustainable funding. Themes related to personally-mediated racism included: lack of cultural awareness or humility; fear-inciting misinformation targeting Latinx populations; and negative interactions with non-Latinx individuals, organizations, or institutions. Themes related to internalized racism included: fear of seeking information or medical care; resignation or hopelessness; and competition among Latinx CBOs. Similarly, CHWs and CBO leaders discussed several interventions with systems-level impact without explicitly mentioning policy or policy change.Conclusion
Our research demonstrates community-identified examples of racism and confirms that Latinx populations often do not name racism explicitly. Such language gaps limit the ability of CHWs and CBOs to highlight injustices and limit the ability of communities to advocate for themselves. Although generally COVID-19 focused, themes identified represent long-standing, systemic barriers affecting Latinx communities. It is therefore critical that public and private policymakers consider these language gaps and engage with Latinx communities to develop community-informed anti-racist policies to sustainably reduce forms of racism experienced by this unique population.Type
Department
Description
Provenance
Citation
Permalink
Published Version (Please cite this version)
Publication Info
Plasencia, Gabriela, Kamaria Kaalund, Rohan Gupta, Viviana Martinez-Bianchi, Rosa Gonzalez-Guarda, Jessica Sperling and Andrea Thoumi (2024). ¿No Hay Racismo?: application of the levels of racism framework to Latinx perspectives on barriers to health and wellbeing. BMC public health, 24(1). p. 2105. 10.1186/s12889-024-19587-3 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/31431.
This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
Collections
Scholars@Duke
![Plasencia](https://scholars.duke.edu/profile-images/thumbnail200/0972596.jpg)
Gabriela Plasencia
I am a family medicine physician scientist working to improve health equity among marginalized populations through research, policy, and clinical care with particular focus on systems changes affecting the LatinX community. I am currently a Post-doctoral fellow with the National Clinician Scholars Program and Clinical Associate Faculty at Duke Department of Family Medicine and Community Health. I have a Masters in Applied Science in Population Health Management and have used this training to lead community-engaged research to map systems, their assets, and evaluate the impact multi-sector coalitions have on improving community level outcomes (e.g., community capacity and coordination). More personally, I was born and raised in Miami, Florida, but most of my family lives in the Dominican Republic. I grew up visiting my family abroad every summer. The differences in the quality of and access to health care I observed between the two countries motivated me to pursue careers in medicine and research. I believe a person's health is as much affected by the people and environment around them as it is by the medications and treatments they receive. My goal is to use population health strategies to reduce health disparities in our community and beyond.
![Martinez-Bianchi](https://scholars.duke.edu/profile-images/thumbnail200/0409280.jpg)
Viviana Sandra Martinez-Bianchi
Health Disparities, Access to Health Care, Women's Health, Latino Health Care, Chronic Disease Management, Socioeconomic Determinants of Health. Population Health.
![Gonzalez-Guarda](https://scholars.duke.edu/profile-images/thumbnail200/0719306.jpg)
Rosa Gonzalez-Guarda
Rosa M. Gonzalez-Guarda, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN, is Associate Professor at Duke University School of Nursing and Assistant Dean of the PhD Program. Her research describes the intersection of intimate partner violence, substance abuse, HIV and mental health among Latinos in the U.S. and the development of multi-level interventions to address these. She uses a syndemic orientation, mixed methods, and community engaged strategies to influence practice and policy changes to promote health equity for Latinos, survivors of intimate partner violence, and other historically marginalized populations. Dr. Gonzalez-Guarda serves on local and national organizations influencing services and policies addressing violence, abuse, mental health, and health equity for Latinos, including serving as the Chair of the Board of Director of El Futuro, a community based mental service organization serving Spanish speaking and uninsured immigrants in North Carolina, a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Esperanza United, a National Technical Assistance provider for community based organization addressing Latino and immigrant families affected by violence, and a member of the executive team of LATIN-19 (Latinx Advocacy and Interdisciplinary Network for COVID-19), a local multisector coalition influencing systems change for Latinx inclusion. She also served as a previous Chair of the Violence Expert Panel of the American Academy of Nursing. Dr. Gonzalez-Guarda was a member of the National Academies of Medicine committee that produced the landmark Future of Nursing Report (2010) and has led various local and national initiatives to promote health equity research careers for populations systemically excluded from health professions. Dr. Gonzalez-Guarda has interdisciplinary training in nursing, public health, and psychology and is a fellow of the Substance Abuse Mental Health Service Administration Minority Fellowship Program and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nurse Faculty Scholars program.
Unless otherwise indicated, scholarly articles published by Duke faculty members are made available here with a CC-BY-NC (Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial) license, as enabled by the Duke Open Access Policy. If you wish to use the materials in ways not already permitted under CC-BY-NC, please consult the copyright owner. Other materials are made available here through the author’s grant of a non-exclusive license to make their work openly accessible.