Stacy Cantu completed both her BS & MPH at Texas A&M University (gig ‘em!), and is passionate about all things public health. She curates content on Healthy Food and Healthy Minds.
We already know that implicit bias harms quality of life for Latinos and other minorities. Implicit bias is the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions unconsciously. This bias can affect relationships from the doctor's office to the workplace. The good news? Many companies and organizations are making an effort to create change with implicit bias training! But what exactly does this training entail? Does it work?
What is Implicit Bias Training?
Implicit bias training, also called unconscious bias training, is gaining popularity in business world. This training teaches employees to be aware of their ingrained biases as well as strategies for blunting the effects of those biases, reports The Washington Post. “I think this is the ...
Implicit bias, also known as unconscious bias, occurs when stereotypes influence automatic brain processing. We can be susceptible to inherent bias and not even know it. Fortunately, you can find out if you have such leanings.
Implicit Bias Testing
Harvard’s Project Implicit developed The Implicit Association Test (IAT). The test, created 20 years ago, measures social attitudes and beliefs that people may be unwilling or unable to realize. The various implicit bias assessments focus on gender, race, skin color, weight, and more. There is no Hispanic/Latino-focused test, though. Bias tests can expose one's implicit attitudes, of which they are unaware. For example, you may believe women and men should be equally associated with careers in scientific fields. Yet, your ...
Most people think they have no bias toward other people. But we all have preconceived notions or stereotypes that—beyond our control—affect our understanding, actions, and decisions about others. This is what experts call "implicit bias." Implicit bias can be good or bad. Either way, preference has enormous implications for the health of Latinos and all communities in our society.
What Is Implicit Bias?
Implicit bias is defined as the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions unconsciously, according to the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at Ohio State University. This kind of bias happens when stereotypes influence your brain processing. Studies show that your mind decides up to 10 seconds before you realize ...
In medical school, physicians are trained to exclude their own personal upbringings, and that of their patients, from clinical decisions. That doesn't always happen in reality. In fact, doctors are often susceptible to their unconscious bias, research shows. Unconscious bias, also known as "implicit bias," happens when automatic processing is influenced by stereotypes. These stereotypes then impact your actions and judgments.
Doctors & Implicit Bias
Many studies have shown that physicians—especially white physicians—have implicit preferences for white patients. Implicit bias can lead to false assumptions and adverse health outcomes. For example: Implicit bias is a major reason why Latino men are much less likely to receive optimal treatment for high-risk ...
Latinos and other minorities are frequently subject to negative stereotypes. In fact, 78% of Latinos in the United States said they face discrimination. That number is even worse for blacks at 92%. A new Stanford University study shows the problem bleeds into the treatment minorities receive from law enforcement. The Open Policing Project (OPP) found that police stopped and searched black and Latino drivers with less basis of evidence than used in stopping white drivers, who are searched less often but are more likely to be found with illegal items. "Because of this analysis, we're able to get to that anecdotal story to say this is really happening," Sharad Goel, an assistant professor in management science and engineering at Stanford and a co-author of the study, told NBC ...
We already know that nearly a million SNAP participants could be affected by the Trump Administration’s proposed rule to tighten SNAP work requirements. However, there’s more bad news. The vast majority of those potentially impacted reside in deep poverty and live alone, according to a new analysis released by Mathematica, which is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “No one in America should go hungry or live in poverty,” said Giridhar Mallya, senior program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, in a press release. “The findings of this analysis show that USDA’s proposed rule would disproportionately affect some of the most vulnerable SNAP participants. USDA should carefully consider whether this change promotes the ultimate goal of the SNAP ...
Good nutrition is linked to positive health outcomes. On the other hand, unhealthy eating is the leading risk factor for death, causing more than 500,000 U.S. deaths in 2016. This is bad news for Latinos who lack access to healthy foods and nutrition education. Join #SaludTues on Tuesday, March 19, 2019, to spread the word about what can be done to promote better nutrition and chronic disease prevention in Latino and all communities. WHAT: #SaludTues Tweetchat: Celebrating National Nutrition Month
TIME / DATE: 1-2 p.m. ET (Noon-1 p.m. CT), Tuesday, 3/19/19
WHERE: On Twitter with hashtag #SaludTues
HOST: @SaludAmerica
CO-HOSTS: Alliance For a Healthier Generation (@HealthierGen), MomsRising (@MomsRising) & ChapCare (ChapCareOrg).
OPTIONAL HASHTAG: ...
Nearly one-third of children ages 10-12 screened positive for suicide risk during an emergency room visit, some even if they came in for a physical health issue, according to a new study by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Typically, suicidal thoughts and behaviors are seen in older teens. "It was troubling to see that so many preteens screened positive for suicide risk, and we were alarmed to find that many of them had acted on their suicidal thoughts in the past,” Dr. Lisa Horowitz, a clinical scientist with NIMH, part of the National Institutes of Health, said in a press release. “This study shows that children as young as 10 who show up in the emergency department may be thinking about suicide."
Study Examined Preteens in ER Visits
Researchers studied 79 ...
Latinas who live on the U.S. Southwest border have more surgical infant delivery rates than their peers in the rest of the country. Not only do those who reside on the border experience cesarean section, or C-section, more often, but Latinas have overall higher rates than white women, according to a New Mexico State University study. This was not the case six years ago. Jill McDonald, who serves as the director of the Southwest Institute for Health Disparities Research in the College of Health and Social Services at NMSU, told the Santa Fe New Mexican before 2013, Latinas had lower numbers than white women. “Now, Hispanic women are more likely to have a cesarean birth than non-Hispanic white women,” McDonald said. Maternal Disparities Latinas already suffer from ...
