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Mapping the distribution of health equity research and practice across a university: a network analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2023

Reza Yousefi Nooraie*
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USAClinical and Translational Science Institute, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY, USA
Porooshat Dadgostar
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA
Gretchen Roman
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USADepartment of Family Medicine, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA
John P. Cullen
Affiliation:
Clinical and Translational Science Institute, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY, USASusan B. Anthony Center, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA
Nancy M. Bennett
Affiliation:
Clinical and Translational Science Institute, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY, USACenter for Community Health and Prevention, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA
*
Corresponding author: R. Yousefi Nooraie; Email: Reza_Yousefi-nooraie@URMC.Rochester.edu
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Abstract

Introduction:

Health equity research spans various disciplines, crossing formal organizational and departmental barriers and forming invisible communities. This study aimed to map the nomination network of scholars at the University of Rochester Medical Center who were active in racial and ethnic health equity research, education, and social/administrative activities, to identify the predictors of peer recognition.

Methods:

We conducted a snowball survey of faculty members with experience and/or interest in racial and ethnic health equity, nominating peers with relevant expertise.

Results:

Data from a total of 121 individuals (64% doing research on extent and outcomes of racial/ethnic disparities and racism, 48% research on interventions, 55% education, and 50% social/administrative activities) were gathered in six rounds of survey. The overlap between expertise categories was small with coincidence observed between education and social/administrative activities (kappa: 0.27; p < 0.001). Respondents were more likely to nominate someone if both were involved in research (OR: 3.1), if both were involved in education (OR: 1.7), and if both were affiliated with the same department (OR: 3.7). Being involved in health equity research significantly predicted the centrality of an individual in the nomination network, and the most central actors were involved in multiple expertise categories.

Conclusions:

Compared with equity researchers, those involved in racial equity social/administrative activities were less likely to be recognized by peers as equity experts.

Information

Type
Research Article
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Association for Clinical and Translational Science
Figure 0

Table 1.The areas of expertise of participants related to racial/ethnic equity

Figure 1

Table 2.The overlap between pairs of health equity expertise categories

Figure 2

Figure 1.Nomination network analysis of health equity research, education, and social/administrative activities across the different categories. the pink nodes represent respondents who indicated involvement in research on extent and mechanisms (a), research on interventions (b), social/admin activities (c), and education (d).

Figure 3

Table 3.The quadratic assignment procedure (QAP) regression to predict the likelihood of nominations based on shared expertise categories and shared department affiliations

Figure 4

Table 4.Regressing actors’ centrality by their expertise categories

Figure 5

Figure 2.Thematic analysis of research, education, and social/administrative activities related to racial and ethnic health equity.

Supplementary material: File

Yousefi Nooraie et al. supplementary material

Appendices 1-2

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