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Community-based Teaching about Health Disparities: Combining Education, Scholarship, and Community Service

  • Innovations in Education
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Abstract

The Institute of Medicine recommends that clinicians receive training to better understand and address disparities. While disparities in health status are primarily due to inequities in social determinants of health, current curricula largely focus on how to teach about disparities within the health care setting. Learners may more fully understand and appreciate how social contextual factors contribute to disparities through instruction about disparities in community settings. Community-based teaching about health disparities may be advantageous for learners, medical institutions, and participating communities. This manuscript aims to guide medical educators in teaching students and residents about health disparities through community-based activities, including service learning and research.

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Acknowledgements

Dr. Cené is supported by the National Center for Research Resources (KL2RR025746). Dr. Peek is supported by the Robert Wood Johnson (RWJF) Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development program and the Mentored Patient-Oriented Career Development Award of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (K23 DK075006). Dr. Jacobs is supported by the Russell Sage Foundation, The California Endowment, The California Health Care Foundation, the National Institutes on Aging (R01 AG033172-01), and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (1R21HD057473-01A1). Dr. Horowitz is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s REACH US Program (U58DP001010-01) and the National Center for Research Resources (UL1RR029887). None of the funding sources had any role in the preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript for publication. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the funders. The authors would like to thank the members of the Society of General Internal Medicine Disparities Task Force and the Disparities Task Force Education Subcommittee for their contribution to reviewing this material prior to the pre-course presentation at the 31st Annual Meeting and the three anonymous manuscript reviewers who provided us with useful feedback.

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None disclosed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of General Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Crystal W. Cené MD, MPH

  2. Section of General Internal Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Monica E. Peek MD, MPH

  3. John H. Stroger, Jr., Hospital of Cook County and Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA

    Elizabeth Jacobs MD, MPP

  4. Department of Health Policy, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA

    Carol R. Horowitz MD, MPH

Authors
  1. Crystal W. Cené MD, MPH
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  2. Monica E. Peek MD, MPH
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  3. Elizabeth Jacobs MD, MPP
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  4. Carol R. Horowitz MD, MPH
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Crystal W. Cené MD, MPH.

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Cené, C.W., Peek, M.E., Jacobs, E. et al. Community-based Teaching about Health Disparities: Combining Education, Scholarship, and Community Service. J GEN INTERN MED 25 (Suppl 2), 130–135 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-009-1214-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-009-1214-3

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