Definition Of Equity Research Articles

A Narrative Study of Equity in Clinical Assessment Through the Antideficit Lens.

Efforts to address inequities in medical education are centered on a dialogue of deficits that highlight negative underrepresented in medicine (UIM) learner experiences and lower performance outcomes. An alternative narrative explores perspectives on achievement and equity in assessment. This study sought to understand UIM learner perceptions of successes and equitable assessment practices. Using narrative research, investigators selected a purposeful sample of self-identified UIM fourth-year medical students and senior-level residents and conducted semistructured interviews. Questions elicited personal stories of achievement during clinical training, clinical assessment practices that captured achievement, and equity in clinical assessment. Using re-storying and thematic analysis, investigators coded transcripts and synthesized data into themes and representative stories. Twenty UIM learners (6 medical students and 14 residents) were interviewed. Learners often thought about equity during clinical training and provided personal definitions of equity in assessment. Learners shared stories that reflected their achievements in patient care, favorable assessment outcomes, and growth throughout clinical training. Sound assessments that captured achievements included frequent observations with real-time feedback on predefined expectations by supportive, longitudinal clinical supervisors. Finally, equitable assessment systems were characterized as sound assessment systems that also avoided comparison to peers, used narrative assessment, assessed patient care and growth, trained supervisors to avoid bias, and acknowledged learner identity. UIM learners characterized equitable and sound assessment systems that captured achievements during clinical training. These findings guide future efforts to create an inclusive, fair, and equitable clinical assessment experience.

Engaging Equity Pedagogies in Computer Science Learning Environments.

In this position paper, we advocate for the use of equity-focused teaching and learning as an essential practice within computer science classrooms. We provide an overview of the theoretical underpinnings of various equity pedagogies (Banks & Banks, 1995), such as culturally relevant pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 1995, 2006) and share how they have been utilized in CS classrooms. First, we provide a brief history of CS education and issues of equity within public schools in the United States. In sharing our definition of equity, along with our rationale for how and why these strategies can be taken up in computer science (CS) learning environments, we demonstrate how researchers and educators can shift the focus from access and achievement to social justice. After explaining the differences between the relevant theoretical frameworks, we provide practical examples from research of how both practitioners and researchers might use and/or examine equity-focused teaching practices. Resources for further learning are also included.

Using a Health Equity Lens to Evaluate Short-Term Experiences in Global Health (STEGH).

Background:The growing popularity of short-term experiences in global health (STEGH) has given rise to increasing criticism around their purported benefits and outcomes. With the global health and development community’s growing focus on improving population health and equity worldwide as outlined in the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, there is a growing opportunity to examine and optimize the conduct of STEGH using an outcomes and equity focused lens.Objectives:This viewpoint aims to develop a framework that can be used to plan and evaluate STEGH on outcomes underpinned by a health equity focus.Methods:Drawing on logic model theory, the analysis first identifies extant issues and their drivers around the planning, implementation, and evaluation of tradition STEGH (focused on clinical service provision.) The analysis then explores various definitions of health equity, settling on a broad definition around context that promotes health for all as opposed to equity of access to healthcare services. With that definition as the ultimate benchmark of success, the analysis then proposes questions that can be used to determine how and when a STEGH might best be deployed to meet that goal.Findings:Traditional reliance on process outputs from service-based approaches have historically limited an understanding of if and how STEGH might advance health equity. Using an outcomes-focused approach identifies critical questions around the value of such experiences, when weighed against a broad definition of equity and other key global health themes such as sustainability, cultural humility, and impact. Measuring STEGH against the goal of improving population health status and equity worldwide allows careful consideration of the appropriateness and effectiveness of such efforts on their own and in concert with other interventions.Conclusions:The extent to which health equity is advanced should be the ultimate metric used to evaluate not only STEGH, but any global health endeavours.

A protocol for a scoping review of equity measurement in mental health care for children and youth

BackgroundMental health (MH) problems are among the most important causes of morbidity and mortality for children and youth. Problems of lack of equity in child and youth MH services (CYMHS)—including, but not limited to, problems in inaccessibility and quality of services—are widespread. Characterizing the nature of equity in CYMHS is an ongoing challenge because the field lacks a consistent approach to conceptualizing equity. We will conduct a scoping review of how equity in MH services for children and youth has been defined, operationalized, and measured. Our objectives are to discover: (1) What conceptual definitions of equity are used by observational studies of CYMHS?; (2) What service characteristics of CYMHS care do indices of equity cover?; (3) What population dimensions have been used to operationalize equity?; (4) What statistical constructs have been used in indices that measure CYMHS equity?; and (5) What were the numerical values of those indices?MethodsThe following databases will be searched: Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, Cochrane Controlled Register of Trials, CINAHL, EconLit, and Sociological s. Searches will be conducted from the date of inception to the end of the last full calendar year (December 2019). Studies will be included if they include an evaluation of a mental health service for children or youth (defined as those under 19 years of age) and which quantify variation in some aspect of child or youth mental health services (e.g., accessibility, volume, duration, or quality) as a function of socio-demographic and/or geographic variables. Study selection will occur over two stages. Stage one will select articles based on title and abstract using the liberal-accelerated method. Stage two will review the full texts of selected titles. Two reviewers will work independently on full-text reviewing, with each study screened twice using pre-specified eligibility criteria. One reviewer will chart study characteristics and indices to be verified by a second reviewer. Reviewers will resolve full-text screening and data extraction disagreements through discussion. Synthesis of the collected data will focus on compiling and mapping the types and characteristics of the indices used to evaluate MH services equity.DiscussionThe planned, systematic scoping review will survey the literature regarding how equity in MH services for children and youth has been operationalized and help inform future studies of equity in CYMHS.Systematic review registrationOpen Science Foundation ID SYSR-D-19-00371, https://osf.io/58srv/.

Electing Economics: Election Law's Efficiency-Convergence Dilemma

We are facing a moment of unique reflection in American democracy. Data suggests that marginalized communities feel persistently ignored by political actors—on a bipartisan basis. The scale of wealth inequality is soaring to unprecedented heights. Domestic indifference to foreign interference in our elections has poisoned public confidence in the political process. Mass reckonings with institutionalized racism and police violence have rocked major cities, facing deep and violent resistance from the President and the federal government. A global pandemic disproportionately devastated Black and Brown communities, and the federal government’s response prioritized economic liberty over health and safety. Americans are reconsidering the nature of our relationship to the federal government, and the pressure for reform may now exceed any moment since the New Deal. In this setting, Iowa’s dramatic failure to efficiently administer the Democratic Presidential Caucus hardly seems worthy of a footnote in the history of 2020. Yet, at the time, it became a national story. Iowa’s failure to administer an efficient election was new—but election law’s marriage to economic efficiency is much older. Understanding the depth of efficiency’s roots in the law of democracy requires turning back to that same New Deal era. The conflict between the American Legal Realists and the laissez faire Lochnerism of the Supreme Court laid the groundwork for efficiency’s lasting role in law—and for the century of criticism that sprung up to contest it. Efficiency—and specifically, the conceptions of efficiency proffered by Chicago School Law and Economics and Virginia School Public Choice Theory—emerged victorious from those contests. But, we are facing a moment of unique reflection, and in such a moment, an opportunity arises. By looking back through efficiency’s rise, we can chart a course forward. This article offers a framework with which to do so: the efficiency-convergence dilemma. Part I builds the efficiency-convergence, outlining the intellectual history of efficiency’s role in election law. Part II builds the dilemma, highlighting critical legal theory and heterodox economics traditions that contour the normative concerns with the efficiency-convergence. Part III presents the framework. I develop a typology of efficiency arguments within election law, derived from novel primary source analysis of the legislative history for the Voting Rights Act and the National Voter Registration Act, along with case law and scholarship across election law. I theorize that this typology demonstrates an efficiency-convergence dilemma, functioning to institutionalize racial subordination as a neutral principle undergirding legal thought in the law of democracy. I offer a series of critiques for this efficiency-convergence, built from the critical theories discussed. Finally, Part IV offers two normative implications of the efficiency convergence. The first is to look outside the law, developing an operationalized definition of equity based on similar research in public health and public policy. The second is to highlight election law scholarship that bucks the efficiency convergence, charting a path forward. I present one such path: reimagining the right to vote as a constructive right implemented through constitutional conventions and norms and protected as an instrumental right.

Rethinking the Concept of Equity in Accounting: Origin and Attribution of Business Profit

Abstract In this paper I reconsider the concept of equity in corporate accounting from the perspective of the origin and attribution of business profit. In both Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (FASB’s) and International Accounting Standards Board’s (IASB’s) Conceptual Frameworks, shareholders’ equity is synonymous with a firm’s net assets. However, it is not the sole definition of equity. We may regard equity as the interest in the corporate capital itself. From this viewpoint, shareholders’ equity consists of retained earnings attributable to shareholders’ as well as invested capital provided by them. We should note that, under the current corporate accounting system, shareholders are assumed to be the sole residual claimants. However, the existence of implicit contracts in corporate activities implies other residual claimants in addition to shareholders. If shareholders are not the sole residual claimants, it is necessary to revisit the proprietary theory under which equity is identical to shareholders’ equity. In this paper I reconsider the significance of the entity theory, which emphasizes an entity as an organization comprising various stakeholders and attributes business profit above shareholders’ expectations to an entity itself. The ownership interest cannot generate the excess profit by itself. Without firm-specific investments by employees and/or entrepreneurial activities by managers, the excess profit would never emerge. We should critically examine the foundation of the current corporate accounting in order to design a more equitable and efficient corporate accounting in which business profit is attributable not only to shareholders but also to other stakeholders who contribute to its generation.

Underlying Equity Discourses of the World Health Organization

Background: Globally, increasing attention has been paid to the concept of equity in the context of health, largely stemming from the work of the World Health Organization (WHO) beginning in the late 1970s with the Declaration of Alma-Ata (WHO, 1978) and more recently following the Commission on the Social Determinants of Health (CSDH, 2008) and their final report in 2008. Despite increasing attention to this issue, there is global ambiguity on the true definition of “health inequity”, “health inequalities”, or “health disparities” (Braveman, 2006, p. 167; Braveman & Gruskin, 2003).
 Methods/Design: This original scoping review clarifies how the WHO conceptualizes equity. It also identifies the theoretical underpinnings guiding the WHO’s approach to equity and its broader implications. This protocol followed the PRISMA guidelines for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) (Tricco et al., 2018), with details discussed in the full protocol.
 Discussion: To date, much of the research on health equity globally has been restricted to chronological discussions over time or specific research fields (Borde & Hernández, 2018, p. 3). Therefore, researching the WHO’s approach to equity in terms of alignment with theory and broader normative standpoint(s) becomes increasingly important in addressing a gap in the literature. In addition, because the definition of equity in the context of health has practical implications for its operationalization (Guerra, Borde, & Salgado De Snyder, 2016), this work seeks to clarify in the concept of equity used by the WHO in hopes of moving towards a shared understanding to bridge action [e.g. in measurement and accountability (Braveman & Gruskin, 2003)].

How can the spatial equity of health services be defined and measured? A systematic review of spatial equity definitions and methods

Background Spatial equity analysis has been carried out in a variety of contexts and on a range of health services. However, there is no clear consensus on spatial equity definitions or measures. This review seeks to summarize spatial equity definitions and methods of analysis. Methods We systematically searched two electronic databases and six journals for papers providing a definition of spatial equity or performing a spatial equity analysis on health services. Studies were classified according to four definition themes: (1) distributional fairness; (2) needs-based distribution; (3) focus on outcomes or causes and (4) none provided. Results Seventy-five studies met our inclusion criteria. Sixty-one papers provided a definition of spatial equity, while a further 14 papers analysed the spatial equity of health services without providing a definition. Most authors used a needs-based definition of spatial equity, while the Gini coefficient was the most commonly used equity measure. However, analysis approaches varied according to the definition provided by each paper. Among the needs-based definitions, spatial autocorrelation was the most common spatial equity measure. Conclusions To our knowledge, this is the first systematic review summarizing spatial equity definitions and analysis methods. A lack of consensus on definitions and measures persists. The classification of measures according to definition themes makes this review a useful tool for planning and interpreting spatial equity investigations. Future research should examine the impact different measures of accessibility and need have on the results of spatial equity research.

Rethinking equity: standpoints emerging from a community project with victims of violence and abuse in Argentina

This article contributes to expand the definition of equity in education and science education through the consideration of the challenges and opportunities for addressing social justice issues in a particular community in Argentina. We discuss (a) the relationship between equity and culture and personal histories and heritage in education and (b) how research and education could respond to the needs and interests of communities, particularly marginalized and underrepresented ones. The community we describe experiences inequality at multiple levels. The case study presents a group of children, victims of family abuse and poverty, through the eyes of those working more closely with them. The research, initiated by some of the community participants uses participatory ethnography and narrative analysis but also draws from feminist standpoint theory to move beyond descriptive situated-knowledge accounts to foreground the transformative objectives. The research explores some of the necessary conditions for research and a science education that would meet objectives of equity and social justice. We argue that to expand the goals of science education toward equity, we need to understand the opportunities and challenges that marginalized and underrepresented communities provide.

How do we know whether the glass is half full? Reflections on equity, hope, and cycles of violence

How should we define equity and justice when it comes to communities and countries with historical, political, and economic trajectories different than ours? In the article “Rethinking equity: standpoints emerging from a community project with victims of violence and abuse in Argentina,” Castano Rodriguez, Barraza, and Martin argue that it is crucial to define and implement situated views of equity and justice, especially ones that build on Freire’s Pedagogy of Hope. Leveraging feminist standpoint theory, Castano Rodriguez and her colleagues described how a sanctuary for non-human animals in rural Argentina tried to support the socioemotional growth of a group of youths who faced domestic violence. The analyses led the authors to propose a “glass half-full” definition of equity that recognizes and builds on the resources, resilience, and positive outlook on difficult situations of the oppressed. On first approach, I agreed with Castano Rodriguez, Barraza, and Martin’s call for the need to remain vigilant about how we define equity and operationalize it when working with historically marginalized communities. However, as I detail in this forum piece, my endorsement of the authors’ “glass half-full” situated vision of equity was undermined by tensions I experienced related to: (1) the article’s theoretical underpinnings; (2) its methodological approaches, particularly inhabiting a kind of “view from nowhere”; and (3) (unintended) implications of their conclusions about hope in the face of cycles of violence. While the work calls our attention to key ideas and methods, such as situated definitions of equity and the role of feminist standpoint theory, I conclude the authors’ “glass half-full” definition of equity sidestepped the structures that undergirded the violence youths and their community experienced and, therefore, did not realize its full potential.

There is no equity in a vacuum: on the importance of historical, political, and moral considerations in science education

As a response to Fortney and Atwood’s “Teaching with understanding while teaching for understanding” (this issue), this paper challenges definitions of equity that do not explicitly deal with oppression and injustice. I argue that in order to address the problem of inequity at its roots, we must re-center the historical, political, and moral dimensions of equity to disrupt dominant assumptions about the goals of science education. The justice-centered approach I advocate requires understanding inequity as one component of social injustice and necessitates that science education be linked with larger movements for social change.

Unsettling equity frames in Australian universities to embrace people seeking asylum

ABSTRACTTransnational migration, especially the growth of forced migration is unsettling the literature on widening access to university education. Equity definitions and understandings that frame social inclusion have presumed stable domestic populations within nations and targeted redressing historic internal social inequalities. Refugees and people seeking asylum have high aspirations to access to university education to gain recognition or update qualifications. University access for refugees and people seeking asylum is hampered by restricted funding entitlements that privilege citizens and admissions criteria that position them in the international student market and favour language and cultural requirements that reflect the dominant national culture. A qualitative narrative-based case-study of the admissions practices in one university in Australia explored the opportunities and blockages experienced by those seeking access and the dilemmas recognised by the admissions’ gatekeepers. Employing organisational theory and Scott’s three pillars of a neo-institutional framework, the regulative, the normative and the cultural-cognitive pillars, the article argues that homogenised institutional policies and practices to assess applications construct norms of access and equity, which create new exclusions for forced migrants. In revealing how some gatekeepers sought to ‘workaround’ these practices of exclusion, the article provides hope that informal learning within organisations can lead to organisational change.

Framework for examining the spatial equity and sustainability of general practitioner services.

To propose a framework for examining both the spatial equity and sustainability of GP services. A conceptual discussion based on a systematic literature review of spatial equity definitions and methods. Improving the spatial equity of health services is a key step in achieving health equity. Health systems should contribute to achieving health equity and maintain equitable services into the future. The GP services are a key component of primary health care, which often aims to promote health equity. Despite the importance of spatially equitable and sustainable GP services, a framework for analysis has not yet been established. Examples of how the proposed framework could be implemented are provided from the New Zealand health care context. The framework entails three steps: (i) defining spatial equity and sustainability; (ii) estimating current and future distributions of health services and needs; and (iii) quantifying spatial equity and sustainability. In step (i), a needs-based distribution is the most common definition of spatial equity, while sustainability is the ability to provide ongoing equitable access. Step (ii) depends on current and future estimates of access and need within a well-defined geographical area. In step (iii), spatial equity and sustainability should be quantified through measures, such as the Gini coefficient. Current and future levels of spatial equity should then be compared to assess the sustainability of equitable GP services. This article outlines a novel conceptual framework for examining the spatial equitability and sustainability of GP services.

Implications of link-based equity objectives on transportation network design problem

The objective of this study is to propose a novel definition of equity from the perspective of link performance with energy consumption and incorporate equity into the transportation network design problem (NDP). First, we introduce an aggregated equity measure and present the theoretical framework for the equity considering link travel time and energy consumption along with free flow traffic conditions. We demonstrate that a Braess paradox situation exists with regards to the proposed equity measure. Second, we formulate a bi-level modelling framework for the Link-based Equitable NDP ( $$LE$$ -NDP). The model is a multiobjective optimization program, where the upper level aims to minimize the total system travel time and optimize equity levels with respect to both travel time and energy consumption. The lower level then represents the flow response under user equilibrium conditions. To quantify the performance loss incurred relative to the equity criterion, we formulate the function of the price of fairness within the $$LE$$ -NDP. Third, to solve the $$LE$$ -NDP model, we develop a tailored heuristic solution method, which simulates the interaction between planners and travellers. The solution approach uses an $$\varepsilon$$ -constraint method to identify Pareto-efficient solutions, and constraint optimization formulations are presented to solve the resulting single-objective program. Finally, the efficacy of the model and the solution algorithm is validated via case studies on three traffic networks. The results demonstrate that the proposed modelling device is capable of achieving more balanced solutions when the equity metrics are accounted for, and the developed solution method is efficient as a reference method in practice. The results also show the trade-offs between travel time and link-based equity, and indicate that equity metrics in terms of different travel costs, i.e. travel time and energy consumption, are shown to be conflicting design objectives for certain scenarios.

The Promise of Equity: A Review of Health Equity Research in High-Impact Quality Improvement Journals.

Equity is a core domain of health care quality. This study characterizes equity research in the quality improvement (QI) literature. The data sources were all review articles, methodology articles, original research, and research letters/abstracts published in 5 high-impact QI journals in 2015. Using the Institute of Medicine definition of equity, 2 reviewers assessed the abstracts to identify equity-focused articles. The number of Google Scholar citations and study site were recorded for each abstract. For equity-focused studies, the equity topic was recorded. Of 684 abstracts, 63 (9.2%) investigated equity topics. A weighted average of 7.4% of abstracts examined equity. The most commonly studied equity topics were health care resource scarcity, race/ethnicity, and mental health. Equity-focused articles received equal citations and were more likely to be conducted in low-/middle-income countries when compared with articles unrelated to equity. Few articles published in 5 leading QI journals addressed topics related to equity.

Promoting equity in water access: the limits of fairness of a rural water programme in semi‐arid Mozambique

Bridging the water infrastructure gap has become a major policy concern. In rural areas of Africa, access to water is as much constrained by territorial coverage as it is by the poor conditions of water points due to the difficulty in mobilizing communities for repairs. This paper examines the equity considerations of a rural water and sanitation programme in a district of Mozambique, and their impacts on the achievement of the programme's objectives. Our analysis underlines the contradictions in the conceptualization of equity in the design, planning and implementation of the programme. Even an explicitly pro‐poor strategy can fall short of delivering equity. Our findings stress the fact that overlooking local perception of equity can have a direct impact on the ability of a community to ensure the maintenance of their water points. They call for a careful definition of equity in the design of water programmes, as well as closer attention to this criterion as a precondition to achieving the long‐term objective of the programme.

Assessing Equity in Protected Area Governance: Approaches to Promote Just and Effective Conservation

AbstractWith the inclusion of equity concerns in Aichi Target 11 of the Convention on Biological Diversity, equitable management has become an important objective for the world's protected areas. The way equity is defined and operationalized influences whether this strategic shift can help identify pathways commensurate with conservation effectiveness. We examined equity around a protected area in Laos, combining quantitative and qualitative methods to explore the three dimensions of procedure, recognition, and distribution. Local understandings of equity depended on discrete, evolving issues, with attention to informal decision making and dynamic values required to uncover suitable solutions. We show that equity definitions focused on material distribution and assessments reliant on standardized indicators may result in inadequate responses that sustain local perceptions of inequitable management and miss opportunities for effective conservation. Equity should be considered a management goal to continually adapt toward, informed by stakeholder dialogue.

An initial exploration of a community-based framework for educational equity with explicated exemplars

Educational equity dominates discussions of US schooling. However, what ‘educational equity’ means is much contested in the scholarly literature and in public discourses. We follow the lead of scholars of color who have problematized the definition of educational equity. They have shown that the dominant, taken-for-granted definitions of equity which disguises the accumulation of societal and educational exclusions of and prejudices toward historically marginalized students, their families, and their communities. In response to this critique, we offer a new definitional framework for ‘educational equity’ that is community-based and, in our specific case, urban community-based. And, then, we will apply this new equity framework to three examples or ‘exemplars’ of education reform to explicate how they do and do not illustrate our framework. We will finish with a brief discussion, recommendations for future scholarship, and some concluding remarks.

Equity Within Mathematics Education Research as a Political Act: Moving From Choice to Intentional Collective Professional Responsibility

In 2005, the NCTM Research Committee devoted its commentary to exploring how mathematics education research might contribute to a better understanding of equity in school mathematics education (Gutstein et al., 2005). In that commentary, the concept of equity included both conditions and outcomes of learning. Although multiple definitions of equity exist, the authors of that commentary expressed it this way: “The main issue for us is how mathematics education research can contribute to understanding the causes and effects of inequity, as well as the strategies that effectively reduce undesirable inequities of experience and achievement in mathematics education” (p. 94). That research commentary brought to the foreground important questions one might ask about equity in school mathematics and some of the complexities associated with doing that work. It also addressed how mathematics education researchers (MERs) could bring a “critical equity lens” (p. 95, hereafter referred to as an “equity lens”) to the research they do. Fast forward 10 years to now: Where is the mathematics education researcher (MER) community in terms of including an equity lens in mathematics education research? Gutiérrez (2010/2013) argued that a sociopolitical turn in mathematics education enables us to ask and answer harder, more complex questions that include issues of identity, agency, power, and sociocultural and political contexts of mathematics, learning, and teaching. A sociopolitical approach allows us to see the historical legacy of mathematics as a tool of oppression as well as a product of our humanity.

Mission-Driven Adaptability in a Changing National Training System

This case study of an adult and community education provider based in far north Queensland describes its capacity to balance various iterations of public policy against its vision for the future of Aboriginal and Torres Straits Islanders. Community-controlled organisations wanting to contribute to economic and social development in regional/remote Australia through the use of formally recognised vocational education and training have adjusted to at least three major sociopolitical changes at the national policy level since the early 1990s. These include redefining equity, marketising the delivery of public services and increased centralisation. The contemporary orientation of vocational education and training as part of the Indigenous Advancement Strategy has become a highly prescriptive and heavily centralised mechanism for the establishment of employment outcomes. This has been framed as an obligation and right of Australian citizenship as opposed to the other wellbeing and personal development benefits of education. This registered training organisation has navigated four burdensome (re)definitions of equity that have made planning and delivery of true lifelong training objectives difficult. The provider has embraced the marketisation of the sector and navigated other policy changes in order to provide the services and knowledge set out in the college mission statement.