Inequities in health care and African-American women: Intersectional applications of research and policy

This chapter will address why intersectional research is an important tool for addressing inequities in health care for African-American women and how intersectional research can be used to influence health care policy to address health care inequities for this population. To this end, the goal of this study is to propose alternative, more appropriate mechanisms to address health care inequities for African-American women through innovative applications of research and policy that are specifically geared to their needs. The objectives of this chapter involve providing data on the context of Black women's lives as it relates to health care access, quality of care, and deficiencies within health care inequities frameworks for addressing the needs of African-American women. Intersectional theories are presented to construct a conceptualization of research practice, particularly in regard to research methodologies, that can be utilized to establish health care equities. Concrete examples of how research conducted from an intersectional perspective are provided and demonstrate a positive influence on policy analysis, policy implementation and program implementation. The data for this study are collected from peer reviewed articles, key reports, newsletters, web-sites, magazines, newsletters and newspaper articles. The constant comparative method of data analysis is utilized.