Rebeccah Sokol1, Beth Moracco2, Sharon Nelson3, Jill Rushing3, Tish Singletary3, Karen Stanley3, Anna Stein3. 1. Department of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 135 Dauer Drive, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7440, USA. Electronic address: rwoodke@live.unc.edu. 2. Department of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 135 Dauer Drive, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7440, USA. 3. Division of Public Health, Chronic Disease and Injury Section, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, 5505 Six Forks Road, Raleigh, NC 27609, USA.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Health inequities are exacerbated when health promotion programs and resources do not reach selected populations. Local health departments (LHDs)1 have the potential to address health equity via engaging priority populations in their work. However, we do not have an understanding of what local agencies are doing on this front. METHODS: In the summer of 2016, we collaborated with informants from thirteen LHDs across North Carolina. Via semi-structured interviews, the research team asked informants about their LHD's understanding of health equity and engaging priority populations in program planning, implementation, and evaluation. FINDINGS: All informants discussed that a key function of their LHD was to improve the health of all residents. LHDs with a more comprehensive understanding of health equity engaged members of priority populations in their organizations' efforts to a greater extent than LHDs with a more limited understanding. Additionally, while all LHDs identified similar barriers to engaging priority populations, LHDs that identified facilitators more comprehensively engaged members of the priority population in program planning, implementation, and evaluation. CONCLUSIONS: LHDs are ideally situated between the research and practice worlds to address health equity locally. To promote this work, we should ensure LHDs hold an understanding of health equity, have the means to realize facilitators of health equity work, and recognize the complex context in which health equity work exists.
BACKGROUND: Health inequities are exacerbated when health promotion programs and resources do not reach selected populations. Local health departments (LHDs)1 have the potential to address health equity via engaging priority populations in their work. However, we do not have an understanding of what local agencies are doing on this front. METHODS: In the summer of 2016, we collaborated with informants from thirteen LHDs across North Carolina. Via semi-structured interviews, the research team asked informants about their LHD's understanding of health equity and engaging priority populations in program planning, implementation, and evaluation. FINDINGS: All informants discussed that a key function of their LHD was to improve the health of all residents. LHDs with a more comprehensive understanding of health equity engaged members of priority populations in their organizations' efforts to a greater extent than LHDs with a more limited understanding. Additionally, while all LHDs identified similar barriers to engaging priority populations, LHDs that identified facilitators more comprehensively engaged members of the priority population in program planning, implementation, and evaluation. CONCLUSIONS: LHDs are ideally situated between the research and practice worlds to address health equity locally. To promote this work, we should ensure LHDs hold an understanding of health equity, have the means to realize facilitators of health equity work, and recognize the complex context in which health equity work exists.
Authors: Thea van Roode; Bernadette M Pauly; Lenora Marcellus; Heather Wilson Strosher; Sana Shahram; Phuc Dang; Alex Kent; Marjorie MacDonald Journal: Int J Equity Health Date: 2020-09-15