Seven African-American scholars from Washington University and Saint Louis University are teaming up to produce a multi-disciplinary study on the health and well-being of African Americans in St. Louis with a $200,000 grant from the Missouri Foundation for Health.
The Institute for Public Health and the Brown School of Social Work’s Policy Forum at Washington University and The St. Louis American are also partners in the study, which will culminate in a community conference in 2014 to coincide with the 60th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education and the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
“We are going to focus on the social determinants of health and educational outcomes and how that impacts health in St. Louis city and county,” said Jason Q. Purnell, assistant professor at the Brown School and lead researcher on the project.
Purnell is joined on the research team by four colleagues at Washington University: Bettina F. Drake and Melody S. Goodman, both assistant professors of surgery in Public Health Sciences at the School of Medicine; Darrell L. Hudson, assistant professor at the Brown School; and William F. Tate, the Edward Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor in Arts & Sciences and chair of the Department of Education.
Saint Louis University scholars participating in the study are Keith Elder, associate professor and chair, Department of Health Management & Policy for the College for Public Health & Social Justice; and Keon Gilbert, assistant professor at the College for Public Health & Social Justice.
“All of the scholars are African-American, and most of us are junior, except for Bill Tate,” Purnell said.
As the study progresses, the team will release policy briefs – all pertaining to African Americans in St. Louis – in five areas: health disparities, educational attainment and health, mental health’s impact on education, employment and physical health, the association between health and the region’s racial composition, and addressing risk factors for chronic disease.
The study will be prescriptive as well as descriptive. “We will lay out the way things are but also suggest a model for how things should be,” Purnell said.
The study’s intent to prescribe changes is one reason the research team is multi-disciplinary. Purnell said, “Change is going to require a multi-sector approach – business, education, government, and non-profit organizations.”
The scholars’ previously published work deals with socioeconomic factors that influence health behaviors in minority populations, the interactions between behavioral and biologic determinants of adverse cancer outcomes, chronic disease management, African-American men’s health, mental health and the social determinants of educational attainment.
The study is local in focus because interventions for change would have to be local.
“Region-specific, targeted responses (i.e., policy and interventions) are needed, as public health research continues to show the substantial impact of place on health outcomes,” the team writes in a study proposal.
There are some local initiatives already doing the work that needs to be done, the study will attest. “Remarkable stuff already is taking place,” Purnell told The Beacon, citing the Wyman Teen Outreach Program, the Fathers’ Support Center, Better Family Life and Beyond Housing.
A Community Partner Group with representatives from key sectors in the region is being formed to advise the scholars on the policy briefs and the final report.
Purnell said this will not be yet another gloomy report on health disparities. “This will not be just another study that says black people have poor health outcomes,” Purnell said.
And he hopes it will not be yet another grant-funded flash in the pan that dies down with the grant funding.
“I know now we will give the recommendation that a standing coalition be formed around these issues,” Purnell said. “I don’t think we have a coordinated regional response to African-American health.”
