1. Dr. Jessica Barnack-Tavlaris
Department of Psychology at TCNJ
PhD in Experimental Social/Health Psychology from University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee
MPH from San Diego State University
Experiences working with community based organizations (in San Diego) that serve Latino/a, Samoan, and Somali populations
Advanced CEL course (Health Psychology) – partnered with Urban Mental Health Alliance
Worked at Planned Parenthood (in Western NY)
Reproductive and Sexual Health Research Lab
Dr. Jessica Barnack-Tavlaris

2. Factors that influence health (individual and community level)
Health Disparities
How are you contributing to the health of our community?
Topics for today

3. What are some of the things you DO to stay healthy?
What are some of the barriers that get in the way of you doing these things regularly? Or at all?
What privileges do you have that help you stay healthy?
Reflecting on your own

4. Which haven’t we mentioned yet?
Conditions in the environments in which people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks.
What are some of the factors you have observed that are affecting the health of the Trenton community?
Both barriers and strengths/resources

5. What are Health Disparities?
“Preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury and violence, or opportunities to achieve optimal health experienced by socially disadvantaged racial, ethnic, and other populations, groups, and communities.”
~ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
What are Health Disparities?

6. Racial/Ethnic Health Disparities in Coronary Heart Disease (CHD)

7. Racial/Ethnic Health Disparities in Stroke

8. Racial/Ethnic Health Disparities in Diabetes
Diagnosed and Undiagnosed Cases among Aged 20 Years or Older
Non-Hispanic Whites: 15.7 million or 10.2% of all non- Hispanic Whites
Non-Hispanic Blacks: 4.9 million or 18.7% of all non- Hispanic Blacks
Diagnosed Cases Only
Hispanic/Latino Americans: 11.8% of all Hispanic/Latino Americans
Risk for Diabetes
77% Higher for Blacks than Whites
66% Higher for Hispanic/Latino Americans than Whites
Racial/Ethnic Health Disparities in Diabetes
American Diabetes Association, 2012

9. Conditions in the environments in which people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks

10. “a system of structuring opportunity and assigning value based on phenotypic properties (i.e., skin color and hair texture associated with “race” in the US) that unfairly disadvantages some individuals and communities, unfairly advantages other individuals and communities, and ultimately undermines the full potential of the whole society through the waste of human resources”
~ Jones, 2003
In what ways do you think racism and discrimination affect health?
Racism
Jones CP. Confronting institutionalized
racism. Phylon. 2003;50(1-2):7---22

11. Lived Experience of Race and Its Health Consequences (Smedley, 2012)
Lower quality of care even when controlling for access factors
Physicians’ biases, stereotypes, attitudes, and expectations
Cultural and linguistic barriers to care
Inequitable distribution of access to political power, resources, and social status
Discrimination in housing, employment and mortgage lending affects where people can live
Chronic stressor
Experiencing discrimination is associated with smoking, higher blood pressure (CVD), shorter telomere length (accelerated aging), higher rates of cancer, chronic pain
Internalized racism associated with psychological distress, alcohol use, poor cardiovascular health
Lived Experience of Race and Its Health Consequences (Smedley, 2012)

12. Small Group Discussion
How are the organizations you are working with connected to community health outcomes?
Discuss how your specific positions at your placements are tied to the social determinants of health? In other words, how can YOU play a role in addressing health disparities? Get creative! I want to see you think of ways that are maybe not so obvious. Put examples on the board.
Who’s responsibility is it to address health disparities? What types of interventions and/or policies need to be put in place?
Small Group Discussion

13. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1966)
“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.”
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1966)