67 - Health Equity in Research, Evaluation and Other Data-gathering Activities – Key Findings from a Local Health Equity Initiative

Background:  Guided by the rich qualitative data collected from key informants, our Department of Public Health (DPH) IRB will describe its continuing efforts to develop a departmental standard that enables internal and community-based researchers to measure and address health equity.

Methods:  Based on data gleaned from interviews with a select group of local research and evaluation experts, our IRB staff created a survey to assess general attitudes, beliefs, and practices regarding health equity in research. Survey questions addressed organizational support for health equity in research, types of resources provided in support of health equity, types of metrics/indicators and community engagement strategies utilized in current/prior research, desired training topics, and demographics including race/ethnicity, education, sexual orientation and gender identity. Survey participants were identified using a combination of purposive and snowball sampling, with the goal of obtaining contact information for current and former health researchers from Governmental, Academic, Non-Profit, and Independent organizations in our county. Follow-up emails/phone calls were made to verify contact information. The survey was administered electronically utilizing a Survey Monkey link sent via email. 155 surveys were collected from a total sample of 632, and participants represented a variety of sectors and roles. Univariate and bivariate analyses of survey data were conducted using Microsoft Excel in addition to content analysis of open-ended survey questions.

Results:  Data from the survey reinforce themes identified during the key informant interviews, such as a reported lack of guidance and resources provided by organizations to address and measure health equity in research projects. According to survey respondents, the three most important barriers to addressing health equity in research are 1) the availability of funding; 2) a lack of trust between the community and the research field; and 3) a lack of organizational support. Furthermore, while 72% of respondents reported that their organization “Definitely” values health equity, only 36% of survey respondents reported that their organization has written guidelines/policies for addressing health equity in research. While a lack of funding in health equity research continues to pose a significant barrier, other barriers such as a lack of trust between community members and researchers, and a lack of support from organizations, must also be addressed.

Limitations: Data collection was limited to researchers who conduct research, evaluation, and other data-gathering activities in our county. In addition, despite efforts to confirm interest and verify contact information, the survey response rate was approximately 25%. In future iterations of the health equity survey, a monetary incentive will be provided in the hope that compensating survey participants for their time will improve the response rate.

Discussion:  Our findings suggest that the IRB can play a role in promoting health equity by offering guidance on how to incorporate principles of health equity in research, such as providing a checklist of health equity considerations to help researchers ensure that principles of health equity have been successfully incorporated in their projects. Future efforts will include 1) developing a standard of practice that will help the DPH researchers incorporate health equity into their research and other data-gathering activities; and 2) collecting health equity metrics as part of the IRB review process to ensure accountability in addressing health equity in research.