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III. Literature

Scholarly articles, literary works and works of journalism that provide evidence for the argument developed in the policy. These articles can be used for readings attached to a course.

Resources are organized by topic as follows:

B. Interpersonal Racism Literature

1. Implicit Bias
2. Health Effects of Interpersonal Racism and Discrimination

1. Implicit Bias

Understanding and Addressing Racial Disparities in Health Care

This article discusses health disparities and societal actions that must be taken, but a major focus of this article is the way that structural racism leads to discrimination and differential treatment by health care providers

David R. Williams, Ph.D., M.P.H. and Toni D. Rucker, Ph.D., Health Care Financ Rev. 2000 Summer; 21(4): 75–90. Health Care Financ Rev. 2000 Summer; 21(4): 75–90.

Reducing Implicit Bias Through Curricular Interventions 

A brief editorial accompanying the Burgess et. Al. article on reducing racial bias that proposes some basic strategies for reducing implicit bias in curricula directed at medical students. Also listed under curriculum addressing structural racism.

Boscardin C. Reducing implicit bias through curricular interventions. J GEN INTERN MED. 2015;30(12):1726-1728. doi: 10.1007/s11606-015-3496-y. 

Reducing Racial Bias Among Health Care Providers

 The paper sets forth a set of evidence-based recommendations for interventions to combat unintentional bias among health care providers, drawing upon theory and research in social cognitive psychology. Our primary aim is to provide a framework that outlines strategies and skills, which can be taught to medical trainees and practicing physicians, to prevent unconscious racial attitudes and stereotypes from negatively influencing the course and outcomes of clinical encounters.

Burgess D, Ryn M, Dovidio J, Saha S. Reducing racial bias among health care providers: Lessons from social-cognitive psychology. J Gen Intern Med. 2007;22(6):882-887 

Medical School Experiences Associated With Change In Implicit Racial Bias Among 3547 Students Experiences

 A large study that shows that taking the implicit bias test can reduce implicit bias among medical students. Also listed under curriculum addressing structural racism. 

van Ryn M, Hardeman R, Phelan S, et al. Medical school experiences associated with change in implicit racial bias among 3547 students: A medical student CHANGES study report. J GEN INTERN MED. 2015;30(12):1748-1756. doi: 10.1007/s11606-015-3447-7.. accessed 2/20/2018

Implicit Bias: Scientific Foundations 

This article provides the scientific background that is used in various forms of the implicit bias test, which shows humans are often unconscious of the biases (against specific racial groups but also on other groups) that affect their judgment and behavior.

Greenwald, Anthony G., and Linda Hamilton Krieger. “Implicit Bias: Scientific Foundations”. California Law Review 94.4 (2006): 945–967.

2. Interpersonal Racism: Health Effects

A Cure of Racial Inequality in American Health Car

 A lawyer’s perspective on health disparities and the role of implicit bias by physicians in contributing to them. The book reviews what can be done about implicit bias both by individuals and by institutions. The author presents an argument for the promulgation of anti-implicit bas discrimination laws as a remedy for the failures of educational, administrative and self-regulatory approaches to end the effects of implicit bias in health care.

Matthew, Dayna Bowen, Just Medicine: A Cure of Racial Inequality in American Health Care, New York University Press, New York: 2015

Racism is Harmful to Your Mental Health 

 An article that states racism is a determinant of health outcomes similar to smoking, unprotected sex, fatty foods, and environmental pollutants. However, initiatives to eliminate the impacts of racism are scarce. The slow progress has caused people of color to develop stresses associated with discrimination. 

Race, Race-Based Discrimination, & Health Outcomes Among African Americans

 This article presents scientific evidence that links societal racism and the experience of discrimination to the biological processes that lead to health inequities. Although it touches on the role of structural racism, the focus in on the mechanism by which individual experiences of racism find their way into biological outcomes.

Vickie M. Mays, Susan D. Cochran, and Namdi W. Barnes. Race, Race-Based Discrimination, and Health Outcomes Among African Americans. Annu Rev Psychol. 2007; 58: 201–225.

Physiological Responses to Racism & Discrimination

 This article presents an overview of the literature documenting negative physiological responses to racism and discrimination

Jules P. Harrell, Sadiki Hall, and James Taliaferro. Physiological Responses to Racism and Discrimination: An Assessment of the Evidence. American Journal of Public Health: February 2003, Vol. 93, No. 2, pp. 243-248.

Role of Maternal Exposure to Interpersonal Racial Discrimination

 A case control trial demonstrating that African American women who deliver low birthweight infants are significantly more likely to have been exposed to high levels of lifetime racial discrimination than those not similarly exposed.

James W. Collins, Jr, Richard J. David, Arden Handler, Stephen Wall, and Steven Andes. Very Low Birthweight in African American Infants: The Role of Maternal Exposure to Interpersonal Racial Discrimination. American Journal of Public Health: December 2004, Vol. 94, No. 12, pp. 2132-2138.

Coping with Racism: A Selective Literature Review 

This article describes how the experience of racism as a stressor affects health, and provides a framework for understanding coping mechanisms for addressing racism as a stressor. The article presents an overview of what is known about the role these coping mechanisms have in ameliorating the health effects of racism.

Elizabeth Brondolo , Nisha Brady ver Halen, Melissa Pencille, Danielle Beatty, Richard J. Contrada, Coping with racism: a selective review of the literature and a theoretical and methodological critique. Journal of Behavioral Medicine: February 2009, Volume 32, Issue 1, pp 64-88