The broadly defined Health Sciences include areas such as medical sciences, health care, and health education. Sentences that come directly from the article are in quotation marks. CSUN students, faculty, and staff can access most articles through the University Library using CSUN credentials. Please use the library’s interlibrary loan services if an article of interest is not available.

 

Acheampong, C., Davis, C., Holder, D., Averett, P., Savitt, T., & Campbell, K. (2019). An exploratory study of stress coping and resiliency of Black men at one medical school: A critical race theory perspective. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, 6(1), 214–219. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-018-0516-8

• Guided by CRT, the authors examined the survey responses of 16 Black men who matriculated at one medical school to assess perceptions of medical school stress. They identified several themes: “(1) perceived academic inequities created tension between Black and non-Black medical students but provided bonding opportunities among Black male medical students, (2) stress negatively impacted academic performance and personal health, and (3) use of social support and spirituality contributed to coping and resiliency.”

 

Benjamin, R. (2017). Cultura obscura: Race, power, and "culture talk" in the health sciences. American Journal of Law & Medicine, 43(2-3), 225–238. https://doi.org/10.1177/0098858817723661

• This article “advances a critical race approach to the health sciences by examining ‘culture talk’ as a discursive repertoire that attributes distinct beliefs, behaviors, and dispositions to ethno-racialized groups. Culture talk entails a twofold process of obfuscation – concealing the social reality of the people it describes and hiding the positionality of those who employ cultural generalizations.” After tracing how culture talk circulates and reproduces racist narratives in and beyond the health sciences, Benjamin examines how cultural competency training in medical schools and diversity initiatives in stem cell research use the idiom of culture to manage and manufacture group differences.

 

Braun, L. (2017). Theorizing race and racism: Preliminary reflections on the medical curriculum. American Journal of Law & Medicine, 43(2-3), 239–256. https://doi.org/10.1177/0098858817723662

• This article “examines the contemporary resurgence in explicit forms of white supremacy in light of growing student activism and research that privileges notions of innate differences between races.” It calls for a theoretical framework that draws on CRT and the Black Radical Tradition to interrogate epistemological practices and advocacy initiatives in medical education.

 

Bridges, K. M., Keel, T., & Obasogie, O. K. (2017). Introduction: Critical race theory and the health sciences. The American Journal of Law & Medicine, 43(2-3), 179–182. https://doi.org/10.1177/0098858817723657

• This symposium volume maintains that race and racism are central to the development of medicine and the health sciences. The authors in this volume “provide a framework for identifying the latent racism within the health sciences and in turn propose new directions for conceptualizing human difference and group disparities.”

 

Bullock, J. L., Lockspeiser, T., del Pino-Jones, A., Richards, R., Teherani, A., & Hauer, K. E. (2020). They don’t see a lot of people my color: A mixed methods study of racial/ethnic stereotype threat among medical students on core clerkships. Academic Medicine, 95(11S), S58–S66. https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0000000000003628

• This study examines the prevalence of racial/ethnic stereotype threat amongst fourth-year medical students and explores its impact on students’ clinical experience. This was an explanatory sequential mixed methods study at two institutions in 2019. “Collectively, 28% of students had high vulnerability to stereotype threat: 82% of Black, 45% of Asian, 43% of Latinx, and 4% of White students.” Immediate and deferred interventions from allies reduced stereotype threat.

 

Collins, P. H. (2015). Science, critical race theory and colour-blindness. The British Journal of Sociology, 66(1), 46–52. http://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12117_3

• Collins places critical analyses of science in dialogue with CRT. Collins believes that “CRT's neglect of biology and science means that it can approach questions of race, science and color‐blindness with fresh eyes.”

 

Cooper, H. (2004). Medical theories of opiate addiction’s aetiology and their relationship to addicts’ perceived social position in the United States: An historical analysis. International Journal of Drug Policy, 15(5-6), 435–445. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2004.05.006

• This paper explores the relationship between U.S. health professionals’ theories of opiate addiction's aetiology in the U.S. during 1880–1920 and 1955–1975, and contemporaneous perceptions of opiate addicts’ race/ethnicity, social class and gender. The analysis indicates that “during both periods health professionals typically attributed opiate addiction's causes to individual pathology when they believed that addicts were working class, poor and/or non-white women and men and to factors largely external to the individual when they believed that addicts were affluent, white women and men.”

 

Craddock, N., Dlova, N., & Diedrichs, P. C. (2018). Colourism: A global adolescent health concern. Current Opinion in Pediatrics, 30(4), 472–477. https://doi.org/10.1097/MOP.0000000000000638

• The authors describe how the skin lightening industry can be harmful to adolescent health. They draw upon body image literature “to explore possible venues to disrupt sociocultural pressures experienced by adolescents to aspire to lighter colored skin and engage in skin lightening practices.”

 

Doll, K. M. (2018). Investigating Black-White disparities in gynecologic oncology: Theories, conceptual models, and applications. Gynecologic Oncology, 149(1), 78–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ygyno.2017.10.002

• Within gynecologic oncology are two of the top five widest Black-White mortality gaps among all cancer diagnoses in the U.S.: cervical and endometrial cancer. This essay discusses three current frameworks of studying racial inequity: The Ecosocial Theory of Disease Distribution, The Fundamental Cause Theory, and The Public Health Critical Race Praxis.

 

Doll, K. M., Snyder, C. R., & Ford, C. L. (2018). Endometrial cancer disparities: A race-conscious critique of the literature. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 218(5), 474–482.e2. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2017.09.016

• This review “critiques how race has been conceptualized to explain the causes of endometrial cancer disparities, assesses gaps in knowledge production, and proposes new research priorities.” Using The Public Health Critical Race Praxis, the authors reviewed the endometrial cancer disparities literature from 1995 through 2016 and found that “a narrow definition of race as a purely biological construct is common throughout the literature.”

 

Eberly, L. A., Richterman, A., Beckett, A. G., Wispelwey, B., Marsh, R. H., Cleveland Manchanda, E. C., Chang, C. Y., Glynn, R. J., Brooks, K. C., Boxer, R., Kakoza, R., Goldsmith, J., Loscalzo, J., Morse, M., & Lewis, E. F. (2019). Identification of racial inequities in access to specialized inpatient heart failure care at an academic medical center. Circulation: Heart Failure, 12(11), Article e006214. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCHEARTFAILURE.119.006214

• This study examines the relationship between race and admission service and its effect on 30-day readmission and mortality. The authors performed “a retrospective cohort study from September 2008 to November 2017 at a single large urban academic referral center of all patients self-referred to the emergency department and admitted to either the cardiology or general medicine service” with a principal diagnosis of heart failure (HF). Findings show that “Black and Latinx patients were less likely to be admitted to cardiology for HF care.” This inequity may, in part, drive racial inequities in HF outcomes.

 

Freeman, R., Gwadz, M. V., Silverman, E., Kutnick, A., Leonard, N. R., Ritchie, A. S., Reed, J., & Martinez, B. Y. (2017). Critical race theory as a tool for understanding poor engagement along the HIV care continuum among African American/Black and Hispanic persons living with HIV in the United States: A qualitative exploration. International Journal for Equity in Health, 16(1), Article 54. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-017-0549-3

• This qualitative study uses CRT and intersectionality theory to understand the perspectives of African American/Black and Hispanic persons living with HIV (N = 37) in New York City on how structural racism reinforces inequities among racial/ethnic groups and influences health decisions and behaviors. Findings show that the participants experienced HIV care and medication decisions through a historical and cultural lens that incorporate knowledge of structural racism.

 

Hansen, H. (2019). Substance‐induced psychosis: Clinical‐racial subjectivities and capital in diagnostic apartheid. Ethos, 47(1), 73–88. https://doi.org/10.1111/etho.12223

• This article “examines the ways in which psychiatrists differentially deploy schizophrenia and addiction diagnoses among white, privately insured patients in comparison with black and Latino patients in a public psychiatric unit.” Drawing on CRT and the anthropology of moral agency, the article “tracks the ways in which the overlapping and competing diagnostic frames of schizophrenia and addiction are structured by, and structure, the personhood and political position of those who are subjected to them.”

 

Hardeman, R. R., Karbeah, J., & Kozhimannil, K. B. (2020). Applying a critical race lens to relationship‐centered care in pregnancy and childbirth: An antidote to structural racism. Birth: Issues in Perinatal Care, 47(1), 3–7. https://doi.org/10.1111/birt.12462

• This paper describes Mary Catherine Beach and colleague's (2006) “four principles of relationship‐centered care through a critical race lens in the context of pregnancy and childbirth care.” Taken together, the two concepts—relationship‐centered care and CRT—“have the potential to powerfully reduce racism's impact on childbirth outcomes for Black birthing individuals, infants, and families.”

 

LeLacheur, S. F., Bester, V., Oxendine, L. H., Guidry, C. B., Ryujin, D., Samuels, K., Maldonado, A., Bowen, D., & Himmerick, K. (2019). Minority physician assistant faculty: A phenomenological assessment of factors leading to retention in the faculty role. The Journal of Physician Assistant Education, 30(2), 79–85. https://doi.org/10.1097/JPA.0000000000000257

• This study describes the experience of minority physician assistant (PA) faculty through a CRT lens. The authors interviewed 13 PA faculty who represented a variety of underrepresented minorities, geographic regions, types of schools, and stages of their careers. Major themes that emerged include “opportunities for success in the form of both internal and external support systems and mentorship.” The authors also discuss barriers to the retention of minority PA faculty.

 

Mitchell, F. M., Sangalang, C., Lechuga-Peña, S., Lopez, K., & Beccera, D. (2020). Health inequities in historical context: A critical race theory analysis of diabetes among African Americans and American Indians. Race and Social Problems, 12(4), 289–299. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-020-09301-4

• This study’s analytical framework is informed by both CRT and Tribal Critical Race Theory. Using data from the California Health Interview Survey, the authors “conducted a secondary data analysis of multilevel factors contributing to Type 2 diabetes mellitus among African American and American Indian adults residing in California.” Findings indicate that “both individual- and structural-level factors are linked to diabetes diagnosis and management.”

 

Mpalirwa, J., Lofters, A., Nnorom, O., & Hanson, M. (2020). Patients, pride, and prejudice: Exploring Black Ontarian physicians' experiences of racism and discrimination. Academic Medicine, 95(11S), S51–S57. https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0000000000003648

• Using an anonymous online survey, data collected from Black Ontarian physicians and trainees (N = 46) show that “participants reported race as a major factor in their selection of practice location, more so than selection of career.” Negative discrimination experiences included differential treatment and racism from peers, superiors, and patients. The authors challenge the purported rarity of racism in Canadian health care.

 

Rikard, R. V., Hall, J. K., & Bullock, K. (2015). Health literacy and cultural competence: A model for addressing diversity and unequal access to trauma-related health care. Traumatology, 21(3), 227–236. https://doi.org/10.1037/trm0000044

• To show the impact of diversity attributes on health care literacy, the authors conducted statistical data analysis on a nationally representative sample of 15,309 respondents. The study reveals “significant differences between ethnic/racial minorities as well as between men and women, and between different social, economic, and educational conditions.” Drawing on CRT, the authors discuss “why it is important to look beyond the typical attributes of race and ethnicity to rethink cultural competence” in identifying factors (e.g., health literacy) that influence unequal access to trauma-related health care interventions.

 

Thomas, E. V. (2018). “You know if you quit, that’s failure, right?”: Barriers to professional lactation certification. Journal of Human Lactation, 34(3), 454–466. https://doi.org/10.1177/0890334418775062

• Using CRT, Thomas describes the barriers that International Board Certified Lactation Consultants (N = 36) experience during the course of their certification. Findings show that existing healthcare providers “experienced advantages in the certification process because of their connection to social networks and resources in their hospital or place of employment.” Cost and racial discrimination were identified as primary barriers for certification.

 

Tsai, J., Ucik, L., Baldwin, N., Hasslinger, C., & George, P. (2016). Race matters? Examining and rethinking race portrayal in preclinical medical education. Academic Medicine, 91(7), 916–920. https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0000000000001232

• The authors opine that “current preclinical medical curricula inaccurately employ race as a definitive medical category without context, which may perpetuate misunderstanding of race as a bioscientific datum, increase bias among student–doctors, and ultimately contribute to worse patient outcomes.” At the authors’ institution, “students approached the medical school administration with a letter addressing the current use of race, urging reform. The administration was receptive to proposals for further analysis of race in medical education and created a taskforce to examine curricular reform. Curricular changes were made as part of the construction of a longitudinal race-in-medicine curriculum.”

 

Whelan, M., Ridgeway, M., & Yerrick, R. K. (2018). Pushing past clichés: Latina and Black women’s perceptions of the dietetics major and profession during career exploration. Journal of Latinos and Education, 17(2), 164–178. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348431.2017.1303772

• The authors examine how Latina and Black women, enrolled in a university outreach program, make sense of a critical media literacy program during career introduction to dietetics. Findings reveal that “the women did not identify with the dietetics major and profession due to stereotypical images. Cliché messages were used as a discourse method. The need to explore public discourse to understand identity formation and barriers to entry into health profession careers is discussed.”

 

Williams, J. N., Ford, C. L., Morse, M., & Feldman, C. H. (2020). Racial disparities in rheumatology through the lens of critical race theory. Rheumatic Disease Clinics of North America, 46(4), 605–612. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rdc.2020.07.001

• This article discusses the application of CRT and The Public Health Critical Race Praxis “to 3 race-related misconceptions in rheumatology: (1) giant cell arteritis is rare in non-White populations; (2) Black patients are less likely to undergo knee replacement because of patient preference; and (3) HLA-B*5801 screening should only be performed for patients of Asian descent.”

 

Williams-Gray, B., & Senreich, E. (2015). Challenges and resilience in the lives of adults with sickle cell disease. Social Work in Public Health, 30(1), 88–105. https://doi.org/10.1080/19371918.2014.938396

• This qualitative study examines whether appropriate health care for individuals with sickle cell disease (SCD), based on years of research, has been implemented. Individuals (N = 23) in the New York City area participated in one of three focus groups. Findings show that “best practices in the treatment of SCD are often not followed by medical personnel.” CRT provides a framework to understand the 10 emergent themes.