{"id":192238,"date":"2021-02-24T21:01:55","date_gmt":"2021-02-25T02:01:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/?post_type=bu-article&#038;p=192238"},"modified":"2021-02-26T10:44:29","modified_gmt":"2021-02-26T15:44:29","slug":"alums-present-racial-equity-data-toolkit","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/articles\/2021\/alums-present-racial-equity-data-toolkit\/","title":{"rendered":"Alums Present Racial Equity Data Toolkit"},"content":{"rendered":"\t<div class=\"wp-block-editorial-leadin sphnews-block-editorial-leadin is-style-emphasis-on-text has-media has-media-focus-center-middle\">\n\t\t<div class=\"container-lockup\">\n\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-leadin-media\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<img width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" src=\"\/sph\/files\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-1085496566-scaled.jpg\" class=\"\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-1085496566-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-1085496566-636x424.jpg 636w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-1085496566-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-1085496566-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-1085496566-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-1085496566-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-1085496566-755x503.jpg 755w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-1085496566-1500x1000.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-1085496566-900x600.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-1085496566-450x300.jpg 450w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-1085496566-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-1085496566-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-1085496566-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-outer\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-inner\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"wp-prepress-tag\">alumni news<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"head\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t&#8216;Communicating Inequities in a Way That Goes Beyond Identification&#8217;\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h4 class=\"deck\">Sarah Lederberg Stone and Christine Silva, SPH alums and epidemiologists at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, helped develop a racial equity data toolkit that programs can use to eliminate structural racism by framing data with a racial equity lens.<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar js-block-editorial-metabar sphnews-prepress-layout-metabar\">\n\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-date\">February 24, 2021<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-credits\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul data-credit-type=\"By\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/authors\/jillian-mckoy\/\">Jillian McKoy<\/a><\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-share js-bu-prepress-share-tools\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-twitter\"><span>Twitter<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-facebook\"><span>Facebook<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-action\"><\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-bu-buniverse sphnews-block-bu-buniverse wp-block-global-buniverse\"><div class=\"wp-block-global-buniverse-wrapper\"><iframe src=\"\/\/www.bu.edu\/buniverse\/interface\/embed\/embed.html?v=YVsya0&amp;jsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The dual crises of COVID-19 and racial reckoning in the United States have challenged individuals and organizations alike to confront the history of structural racism that has perpetuated health inequities and racial disparities throughout the country for people of color.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even before these crises converged, the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mass.gov\/orgs\/department-of-public-health\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Massachusetts Department of Public Health<\/a>&nbsp;(DPH) had begun carving a path to achieve racial equity in the Commonwealth by using racialized data\u2014stratified data that acknowledges how people of certain races are impacted by systems of privilege and oppression\u2014to inform policies and programs that can close these racial gaps in health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On Wednesday, February 17, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/practice\/activist-lab\/\">SPH Activist Lab<\/a> hosted an event featuring two DPH epidemiologists and School of Public Health alums who presented a toolkit they created as part of this process, to guide programs and organizations interested in using racialized data to improve racial equity work in their practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/sarah-lederberg-stone-97167611\/\">Sarah Lederberg Stone<\/a>&nbsp;(SPH\u201905, \u201814) and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/christine-silva-57543896\/\">Christine Silva<\/a>&nbsp;(CAS\u201911, SPH\u201913) are part of DPH\u2019s Racial Equity Strategic Pathway Implementation Team (RESPIT) that developed the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mass.gov\/doc\/racial-equity-data-road-map-pdf\/download\">Racial Equity Data Road Map<\/a>, a comprehensive&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mass.gov\/doc\/racial-equity-data-road-map-overview-pdf\/download\">summary<\/a>&nbsp;of guiding questions, tools, and resources to enable users to improve how they collect and implement data to eliminate structural racism and promote racial equity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAddressing structural racism can feel like a daunting task for both small and large programs,\u201d says Silva, who is the director of the Massachusetts Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program and who received her MPH in biostatistics and maternal and child health. \u201cThe purpose of this project is to improve the process by which data are used to identify, contextualize, and address racial inequities in health, and help programs prioritize strategies that they can put in place to address these inequities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The tool was initially conceptualized to meet the needs of epidemiologists and data analysts, but through its development over the past few years, the team expanded the guide to be applicable to anyone who is working in a program that collects data, from large datasets to small Excel spreadsheets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u201c<\/strong>We have been presenting data stratified by race and ethnicity for decades, yet the outcomes haven\u2019t improved,\u201d says Stone, a senior epidemiologist in the Division of MCH Research and Analysis within the Bureau of Family Health and Nutrition, and who received her MPH and PhD in epidemiology at SPH. She now leads data collection, analysis, and interpretation for the Massachusetts WIC Program, the Growth and Nutrition Program, and state breastfeeding initiatives. \u201cFor some inequities, such as in maternal and infant mortality, the gaps between health outcomes among Black women and Black infants compared to Whites is even larger now than 20 years ago\u2014even as the overall outcomes improve for both.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Until the root causes of inequities are understood, \u201cwe will not be able to eliminate the inequities themselves,\u201d she says. \u201cThis requires reframing, to acknowledge that structural racism is playing a huge role in perpetuating these outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With this approach in mind, the RESPIT members designed a road map that is divided into seven sections that detail how programs, organizations, institutions can collect, analyze, and use data through a racial equity lens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"567\" src=\"\/sph\/files\/2021\/02\/road-map-1024x567-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-192244\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2021\/02\/road-map-1024x567-1.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2021\/02\/road-map-1024x567-1-636x352.png 636w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2021\/02\/road-map-1024x567-1-768x425.png 768w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2021\/02\/road-map-1024x567-1-755x418.png 755w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2021\/02\/road-map-1024x567-1-900x498.png 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>Credit: Massachusetts Department of Public Health<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The seven steps include reframing how data is interpreted; completing a data readiness assessment; disaggregating and analyzing data; contextualizing data; prioritizing data; communicating findings to stakeholders; and implementing interventions and assessing the effectiveness of addressing the root causes of the inequality. The segments are arranged in no set order, so users can utilize the document in a way that makes the most sense for the structure of their program or issue being addressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first section of the toolkit includes a Racial Equity Reframing Tool, which explains how users can reframe how they view certain health outcomes, with a goal to better understand how disparities are unjust and preventable. For example, the problem and cause of diabetes through a traditional approach would be&nbsp;<em>high rate of diabetes<\/em>&nbsp;<em>due to poor nutrition and exercise<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But by using a racial equity lens to address diabetes, the problem and cause could be reframed as&nbsp;<em>persistent racial inequities in diabetes rates for low-income Caribbean Latino seniors due to food deserts, income inequity, and racial redlining.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe tools and resources already exist, but we\u2019re bringing them together in a way that is designed to be accessible to everyone and can be applied to the needs of an individual program,\u201d says Silva. The toolkit places a particular emphasis on community engagement, she says. \u201cWe wanted to make sure we\u2019re communicating inequities in a way that goes beyond identification, so we really emphasize disaggregating the data and sharing it with stakeholders and communities to think through solutions to addressing these inequities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The epidemiologists say the toolkit is a living document that will be updated regularly as the practice of using racial equity to inform data evolves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLike any tool, the Road Map relies on knowledge to make the most of it,\u201d says Stone. \u201cAcademic institutions are in an excellent position to present it as a tool to improve public health programs and systems, and to reinforce its use as a tool to reveal racial inequities and structural racism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As students become fluent with the Road Map\u2019s concepts and sections, they will be more likely to use it throughout their careers, she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBy understanding the data at a deeper level, students can go on to create more effective health communications, recommend programmatic changes, and improve policy and legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The dual crises of COVID-19 and racial reckoning in the United States have challenged individuals and organizations alike to confront the history of structural racism that has perpetuated health inequities and racial disparities throughout the country for people of color. Even before these crises converged, the&nbsp;Massachusetts Department of Public Health&nbsp;(DPH) had begun carving a path [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15205,"featured_media":191506,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"alumni news","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[2043,1750,2013,2662,2385,2070,2178,2022],"bu-publication":[3516],"sphnews-article-category":[3517,3520,3541],"sphnews-topic":[],"bu_edition":[],"media_type":[],"profile_tax":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/192238"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15205"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192238"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/192238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":192382,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/192238\/revisions\/192382"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192238"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=192238"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-article-category?post=192238"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-topic?post=192238"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=192238"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=192238"},{"taxonomy":"profile_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile_tax?post=192238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}