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Dismantling institutional racism: theory and action
Author(s) -
Griffith Derek M.,
Mason Mondi,
Yonas Michael,
Eng Eugenia,
Jeffries Vanessa,
Plihcik Suzanne,
Parks Barton
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
american journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.113
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1573-2770
pISSN - 0091-0562
DOI - 10.1007/s10464-007-9117-0
Subject(s) - racism , oppression , health care , sociology , health psychology , public relations , intervention (counseling) , social psychology , medicine , public health , psychology , political science , gender studies , nursing , law , politics
Despite a strong commitment to promoting social change and liberation, there are few community psychology models for creating systems change to address oppression. Given how embedded racism is in institutions such as healthcare, a significant shift in the system's policies, practices, and procedures is required to address institutional racism and create organizational and institutional change. This paper describes a systemic intervention to address racial inequities in healthcare quality called dismantling racism . The dismantling racism approach assumes healthcare disparities are the result of the intersection of a complex system (healthcare) and a complex problem (racism). Thus, dismantling racism is a systemic and systematic intervention designed to illuminate where and how to intervene in a given healthcare system to address proximal and distal factors associated with healthcare disparities. This paper describes the theory behind dismantling racism, the elements of the intervention strategy, and the strengths and limitations of this systems change approach.