Social & Cultural Disparities

We study disparities faced by underserved and minority populations.

Disparities are differences between one group of people – often a social or cultural minority – versus the population at large.

Some disparities are gaps in service quality or access, such as in health care or education. Others result from those gaps, such as the disparities in health outcomes or educational attainment.

Kent State nursing researchers are investigating the social and cultural influences of inequity on health care and education, as well as the effectiveness of interventions such as cultural competency education for healthcare providers.

Affiliated Faculty

• Jo A. Dowell, Ph.D., APRN, CNP, PNP, FNP-BC
  Focus: Cultural characteristics of Head Start staff who care for chronically ill children.
• Tracey Motter, DNP, RN
  Focus: Diversity of the nursing student population and transition-to-practice for new graduates.
• Ya-Fen Wang, Ph.D., RN
  Focus: Eating styles among children and their families and how they relate to overweight and obese children in order to make appropriate inferences to address health disparities.

Recent Publications & Presentations

Dowell, J., & Ruiz, Z. (2020). Visto, pero no escuchado: A qualitative arm of a mixed-methods study of Puerto Rican children with asthma. Hispanic Health Care International, 18(3), 150-157.

Manns-James, L., Anthony, M. K., & Neal-Barnett, A. (2020). Racial discrimination, racial identity and obesity in collegiate African American women. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-020-00880-x

Wang, Y., Ha, S., Watkins, T., Kan, K., & Zauszniewski, J. A. (2020). Enrollment challenges: Recruiting children from diverse racial and ethnic communities to a study of physical activity and perceived stress. Journal of Transcultural Nursing. doi.org/10.1177/104365962095256.

Cleveland, K. A., Motter, T., & Smith, Y. M. (2019). Affordable care: Harnessing the power of nursing. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 24(2).

Warner Stidham, A., & Schoenewald, C. (2019, March). The experiences of posttraumatic growth among foster care alumni. Poster presented at the 43rd Annual Research Conference of the Midwest Nursing Research Society, Kansas City, MO.

Wang, Y., Verlezza, B., & Kan, K. (2019, March). Key challenges and lessons learned from creative interventions for promoting self-control skills in children from disadvantaged populations. Poster presented at the 43rd Annual Research Conference of the Midwest Nursing Research Society, Kansas City, MO.

Schoenewald, C., & Warner Stidham, A. (2019, March). Exploring the experience of foster care alumni attending college with photo elicitation. Poster presented at the 43rd Annual Research Conference of the Midwest Nursing Research Society, Kansas City, MO.

Dowell, J., & Gula, R. (2018). Decreasing health disparities for children with asthma and their families: Conceptualizing cultural weaving & identifying the cultural characteristics of a Head Start organization in the United States. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 28(8), 1033-1047. doi.10.1080/10911359.2018.1491368

Hritz, S., Wang, Y., & Akkarawongvisit, C. (2018). Exploring cultural health practices at a midwestern university. Holistic Nursing Practice, 32(5), 268-274. doi.10.1097/HNP.0000000000000287

Stephenson, P. S., & Hebeshy, M. (2018). The delivery of end-of-life spiritual care to Muslim patients by non-Muslim providers. MEDSURG Nursing, 27(5)

Stidham, A. W. (2018, April). Examination of social determinants of health in very low resource persons with HIV/AIDS: A mixed methods study. Poster presented at the 42nd Annual Research Conference of the Midwest Nursing Research Society, Cleveland, OH.