Confrontation’s health outcomes and promotion of egalitarianism (C-HOPE) framework.

Abstract

Negative physical and psychological health outcomes have been frequently associated with discrimination for stigmatized group members including racial minorities, women, and sexual minorities. The current review presents a framework for the dual functions of confronting discrimination as a health promotion behavior. The Confrontation’s Health Outcomes and Promotion of Egalitarianism (C-HOPE) framework considers confronting discrimination as an active coping strategy that buffers against negative health outcomes while simultaneously serving as a prejudice reduction strategy that may prevent discrimination recurrence. The C-HOPE framework integrates the documented positive and negative physical health, psychological health, and interpersonal outcomes associated with confronting discrimination for stigmatized group members. This framework further identifies potential moderating and mediating processes to help advance current theorizing on this largely underutilized, and underinvestigated strategy of coping in the stigma and health literature. Challenges to confronting (and ways to overcome them) are discussed, and translational applications of this framework are highlighted.