TY - JOUR
T1 - Addressing Racial Equity in Health Psychology Research
T2 - An Application of the Multicultural Orientation Framework
AU - Raque, Trisha L.
AU - Mitchell, Amanda M.
AU - Coleman, M. Nicole
AU - Coleman, Jeremy J.
AU - Owen, Jesse
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 American Psychological Association
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Health psychology research emphasizes biological and positivist methods, giving less attention to the multifaceted sociocultural and political forces at play in health processes and outcomes. In this article, we present a new sociostructural approach for working toward racial equity in health psychology research, consistent with public psychology goals. This new approach uses the multicultural orientation framework (MCO) to guide health psychologists to consider the sociocultural and political history of their work, systems of oppression and privilege embedded in health research, and a path toward using research to achieve social change, antiracism, and health equity. We identify MCO as a tool for health psychology researchers to engage in ongoing self-reflection, cultivate cultural humility, and act upon opportunities to examine cultural factors at each step of the research process. After describing the MCO’s components of cultural humility, cultural opportunities, and cultural comfort, we introduce questions that researchers can use to guide self-reflexivity and the implementation of MCO into health psychology research focused on racial equity. Specifically, we present the issue of Black women’s perinatal health to embody the importance of applying MCO to health disparities research. We then walk through how to apply MCO in health research study development, data collection, and data dissemination. As we outline how to apply MCO to promote antiracist health research, we aim to enact social change consistent with the public psychology goals of building and fostering strong community relationships that inform social policy
AB - Health psychology research emphasizes biological and positivist methods, giving less attention to the multifaceted sociocultural and political forces at play in health processes and outcomes. In this article, we present a new sociostructural approach for working toward racial equity in health psychology research, consistent with public psychology goals. This new approach uses the multicultural orientation framework (MCO) to guide health psychologists to consider the sociocultural and political history of their work, systems of oppression and privilege embedded in health research, and a path toward using research to achieve social change, antiracism, and health equity. We identify MCO as a tool for health psychology researchers to engage in ongoing self-reflection, cultivate cultural humility, and act upon opportunities to examine cultural factors at each step of the research process. After describing the MCO’s components of cultural humility, cultural opportunities, and cultural comfort, we introduce questions that researchers can use to guide self-reflexivity and the implementation of MCO into health psychology research focused on racial equity. Specifically, we present the issue of Black women’s perinatal health to embody the importance of applying MCO to health disparities research. We then walk through how to apply MCO in health research study development, data collection, and data dissemination. As we outline how to apply MCO to promote antiracist health research, we aim to enact social change consistent with the public psychology goals of building and fostering strong community relationships that inform social policy
KW - Antiracism
KW - Health inequities
KW - Multicultural orientation
KW - Public psychology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85123974701&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85123974701&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1037/amp0000888
DO - 10.1037/amp0000888
M3 - Article
C2 - 35113592
AN - SCOPUS:85123974701
VL - 76
SP - 1266
EP - 1279
JO - American Psychologist
JF - American Psychologist
SN - 0003-066X
IS - 8
ER -