The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #61534

Dinah Phillips Welch, MSN, ARNP and Shawn M. Kneipp, PhD, ARNP. College of Nursing, University of Florida, PO Box 100187, Gainesville, FL 32610-0187, 352-378-9624, dwelc@ufl.edu

SES-related disparities of chronic diseases with some of the highest morbidity, and mortality rates among women have widened over the past several years despite efforts to close the gap. Many social and economic issues such as poverty, economic inequalities, lack of affordable housing, and deteriorating neighborhoods, significantly influence the health of millions. Critical Social Theory (CST) in nursing inquiry is a logical philosophical standpoint from which to address health disparities in women with the goal of eliminating oppressive socioeconomic conditions.

The utilization of a socio-biological frame work incorporating multi-level analyses allows for establishing stronger relationships regarding posited aggregate level influences on individual level variables, including altered physiologic processes believed to play a role in chronic disease. For example, McEwen’s allostatic load model is based on the premise that chronic physical and psychological stressors occur within a social and economic context, and that accumulation of allostatic load (an index of wear and tear on the body over time) plays a role in the pathogenesis of select chronic diseases,

The purpose of this paper is to advocate for the use of CST as a philosophic basis that guides public health nursing research and practice. The use of combined research methodologies grounded in CST that incorporate sociobiological frameworks and multilevel analyses to better understand how oppressive social and economic circumstances affect health is valuable to health disparities work. This approach may require shifting paradigms that guide public health nursing praxis, and a willingness to explore new avenues and less familiar philosophical territory.

Learning Objectives:

• List 5 socioeconomic related factors that affect the health status of women.
• Discuss how individual and community level socioeconomic status plays a role in health disparities among women.
• Describe the basic premises of critical social theory.
• Identify way in which critical social theory can be utilized in public health nursing research and practice.
• Articulate how the use of critical social theory in public health nursing research and practice can improve health outcomes among women.

Keywords: Health Disparities, Public Health Nursing

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.