Dixon, Fatimah
(2023)
Operationalizing Racial Equity to Improve Community Health: A Practical Application of the BET and R4P Framework to Conduct an Equity Evaluation of the REACH Coalition.
Master Essay, University of Pittsburgh.
Abstract
Background: The Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) Coalition, a CDC-funded initiative, was formed to help reduce chronic diseases among Black residents. Now in its fifth year, the REACH Coalition has committed to conducting an equity assessment of past and current work plans to gauge its achievement of equity and identify areas for improvement. This paper will focus on the coalition’s success in dismantling internal and environmental barriers from their programs.
Methods: First, we researched national REACH programs, interviewed partner organizations, and examined existing performance data. Next, we researched equity-related tools and frameworks that we could use as models to create our evaluation materials. We chose the R4P Framework (repair, restructure, remediate, remove, and provide) as the grounding theoretical tool for the evaluation. Using the R4P’s core themes around racial equity, as well as the Brooks Equity Typology’s (BET) reflective guide for practitioners, we developed corresponding questions for each domain of the framework. These questions were put into a Qualtrics survey to be distributed to the entire coalition body. The subsetted survey that will be discussed in this paper was divided into three barrier categories: internal, environmental, or internal and environmental (combined).
Results: The responses were divided into four color categories: green, yellow, orange, and red. Green indicates a strength of the coalition in a specific equity characteristic, red indicates a weakness, while yellows and oranges represent moderate achievement. Environmental barriers had the highest counts of greens and lowest reds, but the combined category had the lowest greens and the highest count of reds and oranges. Similarly, the coalition was rated worse in its efforts to dismantle internal barriers, while removing environmental barriers was ranked more favorably.
Discussion: This was a novel approach to applying a racial equity lens to an evaluation, specifically using the R4P. With these results, the REACH Coalition can develop a plan of action to improve its community programs for reducing chronic disease. Given the prevalence of racial inequities, it is of public health significance that programs intended to benefit marginalized communities actually produce a positive impact on their health outcomes and experiences.
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Details
| Item Type: |
Other Thesis, Dissertation, or Long Paper
(Master Essay)
|
| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
|
| Contributors: |
| Contribution | Contributors Name | Email | Pitt Username | ORCID  |
|---|
| Committee Chair | Gary-Webb, TL | tgary@pitt.edu | tgary | UNSPECIFIED | | Committee Member | Hardy, HE | hannah.hardy@alleghenycounty.us | UNSPECIFIED | UNSPECIFIED | | Committee Member | Elias, Thistle | elias@pitt.edu | elias | UNSPECIFIED |
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| Date: |
28 August 2023 |
| Date Type: |
Completion |
| Submission Date: |
11 August 2023 |
| Access Restriction: |
2 year -- Restrict access to University of Pittsburgh for a period of 2 years. |
| Number of Pages: |
93 |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
School of Public Health > Epidemiology |
| Degree: |
MPH - Master of Public Health |
| Thesis Type: |
Master Essay |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
equity, racial equity, evaluation, equity evaluation, REACH Coalition, chronic disease, essay, public health, racial disparities, Pittsburgh, equity frameworks, R4P Framework, BET |
| Date Deposited: |
28 Aug 2023 19:57 |
| Last Modified: |
28 Aug 2023 19:57 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/45323 |
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