Communities in Action


Book Description

In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.




Health Communication for Social Justice


Book Description

This textbook combines whole person and social justice perspectives to educate students on the role of communication in promoting inclusive and person-centered healthcare practices. This book explores health inequities experienced by disadvantaged and marginalized populations and outlines the actions students can take to address these challenges. The book demonstrates how physical, mental, and emotional health is connected to equitable understandings of individual, community, and environmental health. It considers how social, interpersonal, and systemic factors such as personal relationships, language, literacy, religion, technology, and the environment affect health equity. To present strategies and invite action to support the goals of the whole person, social justice activist approach, the book provides contemporary examples, interviews with communication scholars, and case studies that examine local communities and the everyday contexts of health meaning making. This textbook serves as a core or supplemental text for graduate and upper-level undergraduate courses in health communication. Online resources include PowerPoint slides and an instructor manual containing sample syllabi, assignments, and test questions. They are available online at www.routledge.com/9781032081038.




Social Work and Health Care Practice with Transgender and Nonbinary Individuals and Communities


Book Description

This book examines issues across the lifespan of transgender and nonbinary individuals whilst synthesizing conceptual work, empirical evidence, pedagogical content, educational experiences, and the voices of transgender and nonbinary individuals. It highlights the resilience and resistance of transgender and nonbinary individuals and communities to challenge narratives relying on one-dimensional perspectives of risk and tragic lives. While there is currently unprecedented visibility and increasing support, members of these communities still face shockingly high rates of violence, victimization, unemployment, discrimination, and family rejection. Significant need for services and support coupled with social, clinical, and medical service systems ill-equipped to provide culturally responsive care illustrates the critical need for quality education and training of educators, practitioners, and service providers in best practices of working with members of the transgender and nonbinary community. Organized into six sections: Health Areas of Practice Coming Out and Family Relationships and Sexuality Communities Multiply Marginalized Identities and Populations, this book offers a current, comprehensive, and intersectional guide for students, practitioners, and researchers across a variety of professions, including social work, psychology, public policy, and health care.




Research Anthology on Public Health Services, Policies, and Education


Book Description

Public health has become an essential area of focus in terms of the way it operates, the services offered, policies, and more. Maintaining an effective public health system and infrastructure, updated and useful policies, and health literacy are primary concerns. A critical analysis of public healthcare policy and services is critical to accommodate the changing health demands of the global population. Through a deeper understanding of the way public health services are offered, a look into policymaking and current policies in healthcare, and the way health literacy and health education are promoted, the current state and future of public health are acknowledged. The Research Anthology on Public Health Services, Policies, and Education presents a view of public health through an analysis of healthcare services and delivery; policies in terms of policymaking, ethics, and governance; as well as the way society is educated on public health affairs. The chapters will cover a wide range of issues such as healthcare policy, health literacy, healthcare reform, accessibility, public welfare, and more. This book is essential for public health officials, government officials, policymakers, teachers, medical professionals, health agencies and organizations, professionals, researchers, academics, practitioners, and students interested in the current state of public health and the improvement of public health services and policies for the future.




Quantitative Research Methods in Communication


Book Description

This textbook is an advanced introduction to quantitative methods for students in communication and allied social science disciplines that focuses on why and how to conduct research that contributes to social justice. Today’s researchers are inspired by the potential for scholarship to make a difference for society, to push toward more just and equitable ends, and to engage in dialogue with members of the public so that they can make decisions about how to navigate the social, cultural, and political world equipped with accurate, fair, and up-to-date knowledge. This book illustrates the mechanics and the meaning behind quantitative research methods by illustrating each step in the research design process with research addressing questions of social justice. It provides practical guidance for researchers who wish to engage in the transformation of structures, practices, and understandings in society through community and civic engagement and policy formation. It contains step-by-step guidance in quantitative methods—from conceptualization through all the stages of execution of a study, including providing a detailed guide for statistical analysis—and demonstrates how researchers can engage with social justice issues in systematic, rigorous, ethical, and meaningful ways. This text serves as a core or supplementary textbook for graduate and advanced undergraduate courses in research methods for communication and social sciences and fills a gap for a methods text that is responsive to the desire of scholars to conduct socially impactful research.




Social Justice and Putting Theory Into Practice in Schools and Communities


Book Description

Educators in the K-12 and adult education milieu, including pre- and in-service educators, are expected to address, in and outside of the classroom, significant political and social issues including increased homelessness, food insecurity, poverty, gender dysphoria, school bullying, and marginalization of the LGBTQ population. Educators seek swift solutions to the situations at hand that will benefit K-12 students. Social Justice and Putting Theory Into Practice in Schools and Communities is an essential research publication that provides detailed research on the creation and implementation of social justice strategies in educational settings. Highlighting a wide range of topics such as gender equality, academic standards, and special education, this book is ideal for educators, sociologists, academicians, researchers, and curriculum designers.




Handbook of Communication and Development


Book Description

This incisive Handbook critically examines the role and place of media and communication in development and social change, reflecting a vision for change anchored in values of social justice. Outlining the genealogy and history of the field, it then investigates the possible new directions and objectives in the area. Key conclusions include an enhanced role for development communication in participatory development, active agency of stakeholders of development programs, and the operationalization of social justice in development.




DEI and Intersectional Social Identities at Work


Book Description

This book equips readers—both students and communication practitioners—with the theoretical understanding and practical skills they need to support nonprofit and for-profit organizations to create and assess their diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI), and social identity intersectionality goals. Through applied examples of the insider activist role that the communication function plays, the book helps future and current professional communicators navigate organizations toward authentic relationship-building with internal and external audiences. It teaches that embracing DEI includes acknowledging social identity intersectionalities—recognizing that people possess multiple social identity dimensions of age, culture, ethnicity/race, faith/spirituality, gender, physical/psychological ability, sexual orientation, social class, and more. In order to illuminate the theory discussed in the book, each chapter includes thought-provoking situation-opportunity sidebars, discussion questions for drilling deeper into the issues at hand, and case studies with applied lessons about DEI issues. This is an ideal text for advanced undergraduates and graduate courses in organizational communication, strategic communication, marketing communication, human resources, and public relations, as well as for communication practitioners working in these subdisciplines.




Communicating Intimate Health


Book Description

Communicating Intimate Health presents an edited collection of original, empirical research, personal essays, autoethnography, critical reviews, and theoretical work showcasing advances in intimate health research from the field of communication studies. Intimate health includes sexual and reproductive health, sexual activity, sexuality, gender, and reproductive justice. The contributors vulnerably engage subjects including: parent-child, partner, patient-provider, and larger societal discourse and communication about sexuality education, HIV, family planning, purity pledges, (in)fertility, breastfeeding, and Black maternal health, sexting, boundary setting, consent, border justice, trauma, contraception, and menstruation, among others. Featuring both new research and vulnerable reflections on the research process, Communicating Intimate Health showcases the potential of communication scholarship to engage intimately with intimate topics.