Understanding Of Inequalities Research Articles

Critical Reflection on Inequality and Precariousness in Contemporary Society: Reconstructing Connections from Social Intervention

This article, oriented towards good practices in social action, is nourished by reflection on the marked inequalities and precariousness that characterise contemporary reality, focusing on how these dynamics undermine the equitable distribution of opportunities that are fundamental for a dignified existence. From this perspective, we seek to reflect on the dimensions of precariousness and inequality, allowing for the re-evaluation of interventions in different environments and critically addressing the possibility of new modalities of action. The proposed approach implies an ethical commitment to overcoming the dilemma between adhering to the logic of the market and adopting a more humane and supportive stance, challenging conventions and promoting socially responsible practices. In short, the aim is to analyse intervention, enabling the (re)understanding of inequality in the social context and questioning the social structures that generate suffering, with a view to reconstructing the essential concepts of solidarity and community in contemporary society, in a critical understanding of socio-educational action in society.

American versus East Asian norms and labor market institutions affecting socioeconomic inequality

We review research on social stratification and labor market institutions with a focus on typical East Asian practices versus common American perspectives about income inequalities. In contrast to American concerns about discrimination, equality of opportunity and individualism, the understanding of inequalities in East Asian societies is more influenced by a Confucian cultural tradition. East Asian norms and labor market institutions play an important role in reducing their level of household income inequality relative to the U.S. where the Gini coefficient has been increasing for decades and shows no signs of decreasing despite declining levels of discrimination.

Key elements and contextual factors that influence successful implementation of large-system transformation initiatives in the New Zealand health system: a realist evaluation

BackgroundDespite three decades of policy initiatives to improve integration of health care, delivery of health care in New Zealand remains fragmented, and health inequities persist for Māori and other high priority populations. An evidence base is needed to increase the chances of success with implementation of large-system transformation (LST) initiatives in a complex adaptive system.MethodsThis research aimed to identify key elements that support implementation of LST initiatives, and to investigate contextual factors that influence these initiatives. The realist logic of enquiry, nested within the macro framing of complex adaptive systems, formed the overall methodology for this research and involved five phases: theory gleaning from a local LST initiative, literature review, interviews, workshop, and online survey. NVivo software programme was used for thematic analysis of the interview, workshop, and the survey data. We identified key elements and explained variations in success (outcomes) by identifying mechanisms triggered by various contexts in which LST initiatives are implemented.ResultsThe research found that a set of 10 key elements need to be present in the New Zealand health system to increase chances of success with implementation of LST initiatives. These are: (i) an alliancing way of working; (ii) a commitment to te Tiriti o Waitangi; (iii) an understanding of equity; (iv) clinical leadership and involvement; (v) involved people, whānau, and community; (vi) intelligent commissioning; (vii) continuous improvement; (viii) integrated health information; (ix) analytic capability; and (x) dedicated resources and time. The research identified five contextual factors that influenced implementation of LST initiatives: a history of working together, distributed leadership from funders, the maturity of Alliances, capacity and capability for improvement, and a continuous improvement culture. The research found that the key mechanism of trust is built and nurtured over time through sharing of power by senior health leaders by practising distributed leadership, which then creates a positive history of working together and increases the maturity of Alliances.DiscussionTwo authors (KMS and PBJ) led the development and implementation of the local LST initiative. This prior knowledge and experience provided a unique perspective to the research but also created a conflict of interest and introduced potential bias, these were managed through a wide range of data collection methods and informed consent from participants. The evidence-base for successful implementation of LST initiatives produced in this research contains knowledge and experience of senior system leaders who are often in charge of leading these initiatives. This evidence base enables decision makers to make sense of complex processes involved in the successful implementation of LST initiatives.ConclusionsUse of informal trust-based networks provided a critical platform for successful implementation of LST initiatives in the New Zealand health system. Maturity of these networks relies on building and sustaining high-trust relationships among the network members. The role of local and central agencies and the government is to provide the policy settings and conditions in which trust-based networks can flourish.OtherThis study was approved by the Victoria University of Wellington Human Ethics Committee (Ethics Approval Number 27,356). The research was supported by the Victoria University of Wellington research grant (222,809) and from the University of Auckland Department of Medicine research fund (H10779).

Using I-MAIHDA to extend understanding of engagement in early years interventions: an example using the Born in Bradford's Better Start (BiBBS) birth cohort data

BackgroundIntervention in the early years is essential for reducing health and social inequalities across the lifespan. The success of pregnancy and early years programmes depends on engagement from target parents and families, yet there is no consensus on which factors predict engagement. This could be due to differences between interventions at the local level, or due to unexplored interactions between factors in their relationships with engagement. This study highlights the value of the intersectional application of the multilevel analysis of individual heterogeneity and discriminatory accuracy (I-MAIHDA) approach for adding nuance to our understanding of inequalities in engagement in interventions. MethodA context-driven, programme-specific analysis exploring factors relating to participation across the Better Start Bradford early years interventions acted as an applied example of the utility of I-MAIHDA. Two analyses were performed using data from the Born in Bradford's Better Start (BiBBS) birth cohort dataset to explore the effects of combinations of ethnicity, migrant status, spoken English ability and social support on participation in the interventions. Predicted prevalence of participation was obtained from the models. ResultsCombinations of English language ability, migrant status, social support, and ethnicity were found to be related to differential prevalence of participation in the interventions, with inequalities in participation between strata. Discriminatory accuracy of the models was low but not negligible (∼5%), suggesting some of the variation in outcomes was due to the combined effect at the strata level. ConclusionsThe I-MAIHDA approach showed promise for extending knowledge of engagement in interventions through context-driven analyses which incorporates complex relationships between multiple covariates. This approach will be of interest to anyone working to increase participation in interventions, especially in under-represented or marginalised groups.

THE ROLE OF PERSON- AND FAMILY-ORIENTED LONG-TERM SERVICES AND SUPPORTS

Abstract Long-term services and supports (LTSS) in the United States are defined by its patchwork and unequal nature. Data constraints obscure our understanding of inequities in LTSS care experiences and factors that may attenuate them. We advance a conceptual framework of LTSS-relevant environmental domains. We then link measures from public use datasets to person-reported care experiences from the 2015 National Health and Aging Trends Study. We assess relationships between domains of LTSS-relevant environmental characteristics and three LTSS care experiences: 1) adverse consequences due to unmet need, 2) participation restrictions in valued activities, and 3) subjective well-being. We examine 2,411 older adults with disabilities, and key subgroups by race, dementia, and Medicaid enrollment status. We find that for the roughly 10.4 million older adults with disabilities in the community, the LTSS environment is associated with care experiences, but the direction of the relationship varies by domain. Measures of neighborhood social and economic deprivation (e.g., poverty, social cohesion) are associated with experiencing adverse consequences due to unmet needs. Measures of the health care and social services delivery environment (e.g., Medicaid Home and Community-Based Service Generosity, average direct care worker wage, paid family leave) are inversely associated with experiencing participation restrictions. Select measures of the built and natural environment (e.g., housing affordability) are associated with participation restrictions and low subjective well-being. Relationships between measures of LTSS-relevant environmental characteristics and care experiences generally held in directionality but were attenuated for key subpopulations. Results reinforce the importance of strengthening environmental policies that support aging in place.

Learning to expand our communities to support coaching for equity: a collaboration of seven university-based teacher preparation programs

Purpose There is an urgent need for teacher preparation programs to equip teachers to teach in innovative and transformative ways, meeting the needs of diverse learners. Coaching is an instrumental tool for supporting change and development, especially in contexts with decentralized teacher preparation guidelines.Design/methodology/approach This multicase study examines cross-institutional programmatic innovations for coaching teacher candidates (TCs) and centering equity using improvement science and equity coaching. The authors explore the networked improvement community’s (NIC’s) examination of problems of practice through plan–do–study–act cycles in three coaching contexts within and across seven institutions.Findings Qualitative methods revealed that adapting coaching protocols can center equity and build equity-focused practices. This work highlights revisions to coaching within and across teacher preparation programs (TPPs), which the authors hope inspires extending equity-centered coaching and improvement science to new contexts. This cross-case analysis revealed program innovations for coaches, digital technologies and alignment.Practical implications This study addresses ongoing challenges faced by TPPs in the United States, including TCs' understandings of equity in teaching and decentralized teacher preparation that results in varied and incongruent understandings about quality teaching. This study builds on previous scholarship that examines shifts in coaching practices by disrupting silos in TPPs as examined innovations.Originality/value The paper offers a unique view of cross-institutional collaboration in coaching to improve transformative teaching experiences in teacher preparation field experiences.

Spatiotemporal gender differences in urban vibrancy

Urban vibrancy is the dynamic activity of humans in urban locations. It can vary with urban features and the opportunities for human interactions, but it might also differ according to the underlying social conditions of city inhabitants across and within social surroundings. Such heterogeneity in how different demographic groups may experience cities has the potential to cause gender segregation because of differences in the preferences of inhabitants, their accessibility and opportunities, and large-scale mobility behaviours. However, traditional studies have failed to capture fully a high-frequency understanding of how urban vibrancy is linked to urban features, how this might differ for different genders, and how this might affect segregation in cities. Our results show that (1) there are differences between males and females in terms of urban vibrancy, (2) the differences relate to ‘Points of Interest’ as well as transportation networks, and (3) there are both positive and negative ‘spatial spillovers’ existing across each city. To do this, we use a quantitative approach using Call Detail Record data – taking advantage of the near-ubiquitous use of mobile phones – to gain high-frequency observations of spatial behaviours across Italy’s seven most prominent cities. We use a spatial model comparison approach of the direct and ‘spillover’ effects from urban features on male-female differences. Our results increase our understanding of inequality in cities and how we can make future cities fairer.

Sociodemographic decomposition of inequality in self-rated health: A cross-sectional study in Hubei, China

Objectives: Health inequality is associated with profound social, health and economic costs. Despite extensive studies about inequality in health outcomes, our understanding of inequality in self-rated health is quite limited. This study aimed to determine the inequality in self-rated health and its associated factors in Hubei populations, China. Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted on the community residents purposively selected from six municipalities in Hubei province, China. Participants were asked to rate their health on a five-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 to 5. A total of 1336 valid questionnaires were collected. Inequality in self-rated health was assessed using concentration index and further decomposed to measure sociodemographic inequality in the health of residents. Results: Two thirds (66%) of respondents rated their health as “excellent/very good/good”, while 34% rated it as fair or poor. The income-related concentration index was 0.0321 (95% CI, 0.0229 to 0.0413), indicating a concentration of poor self-rated health in the low-income groups. The CI of SRH in urban areas was 0.0239, which was lower than that in rural areas (0.0379). Age (17.5%) made the biggest contribution to the inequality in SRH, which was followed by employment (15.7%), income (8.5%), education (4.5%) and physical exercise (3.0%). Conclusions: There exist socioeconomic inequalities in self-rated health in Hubei, China. Policy priorities should be given to rural area, the older people and those with low economic participation.

The Role of Place in Person- and Family-Oriented Long-Term Services and Supports.

Long-term services and supports (LTSS) in the United States are characterized by their patchwork and unequal nature. The lack of generalizable person-reported information on LTSS care experiences connected to place of community residence has obscured our understanding of inequities and factors that may attenuate them. We advance a conceptual framework of LTSS-relevant environmental domains, drawing on newly available data linkages from the 2015 National Health and Aging Trends Study to connect person-reported care experiences with public use spatial data. We assess relationships between LTSS-relevant environmental characteristic domains and person-reported care adverse consequences due to unmet need, participation restrictions, and subjective well-being for 2,411 older adults with disabilities and for key population subgroups by race, dementia, and Medicaid enrollment status. We find the LTSS environment is highly associated with person-reported care experiences, but the direction of the relationship varies by domain. Measures of neighborhood social and economic deprivation (e.g., poverty, public assistance, social cohesion) are highly associated with experiencing adverse consequences due to unmet care needs. Measures of the health care and social services delivery environment (e.g., Medicaid Home and Community-Based Service Generosity, managed LTSS [MLTSS] presence, average direct care worker wage, availability of paid family leave) are inversely associated with experiencing participation restrictions in valued activities. Select measures of the built and natural environment (e.g., housing affordability) are associated with participation restrictions and lower subjective well-being. Observed relationships between measures of LTSS-relevant environmental characteristics and care experiences were generally held in directionality but were attenuated for key subpopulations. We present a framework and analyses describing the variable relationships between LTSS-relevant environmental factors and person-reported care experiences. LTSS-relevant environmental characteristics are differentially relevant to the care experiences of older adults with disabilities. Greater attention should be devoted to strengthening state- and community-based policies and practices that support aging in place.

Identifying Key Features of Equity-Centered Professional Learning

To address the inequities within the educational system, there are calls for teachers to have an intentional focus on equity. Unfortunately, teachers often do not receive enough preparation within their certification programs or during in-service trainings to center equity- driven practices. This study provided insight into the features that one group of teacher leaders relied upon and found essential when working to enact high-quality, equity-centered professional learning for teachers, and researchers utilized these findings to develop a framework for equity-centered professional learning. The context for this research was teacher leader-led professional learning within the context of a job-embedded professional learning experience for teacher leaders. Data collection included professional learning lesson plans, written reflections by teacher leaders after the professional learning sessions, and field notes. Findings point to five features of professional learning focused on equity that teacher leaders utilized. These include: (1), Safe, trusting community grounded in relationships, (2) Dialogue to explore and critically reflect upon biases, beliefs, and experiences, (3) Active learning opportunities that promote dissonance, (4) Authentic connections to equity within the local context through inquiry, and (5) Responsiveness to participants’ varied experiences and understanding of equity. The findings have implications for routines of practice that can be utilized to enact these essential features and how an equity lens can permeate the design of professional learning.

Sport club dropout under COVID-19 in the Netherlands: do characteristics of the neighbourhood matter?

Sport is considered important to mitigate social and health problems related to the COVID-19 pandemic and thus contributes to a resilient society. Because of poverty, caring responsibilities, social isolation and/or health issues, caused or reinforced by the COVID-19 pandemic, (too) high thresholds may be experienced lowering sports club participation. In this article, we study dropout from sports club membership among the Dutch population in COVID times and relate it to neighbourhood characteristics to determine whether inequality in sports behaviour is increasing or decreasing. Specifically, we analyse changes in the association to sport clubs by utilizing membership register data of the National Sport Federation in the Netherlands (NOC*NSF). This longitudinal information on 3.6 million club members in 2019 within Dutch sport federations was used to analyse developments at the individual level between 2019 (pre-COVID) and 2021. Based on register information on the area of residence of sporters, neighbourhood characteristics were added to these individual membership data. Our results display that the socioeconomic status of a member's neighbourhood and the sport infrastructure in this neighbourhood impacts the likelihood of dropping out of a sport club of both youths and adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dropout among members is lower in higher socioeconomic status neighbourhoods and in neighbourhoods with abundant sport facilities. Remarkably, the impact of these living environment features seems higher for youth than for adults. To conclude, our study enhances a further understanding of inequalities in sport club membership dropout during COVID-19. First, it may inform policy makers to intensify sport promotion policies and to especially support sport clubs in lower status neighbourhoods. Second, given the relatively high dropout rates during the COVID-19 pandemic particular attention for retention seems necessary.

Representations of girls and women in a Saudi Arabian family education curriculum: a content analysis

This paper reports on a content analysis of Saudi Arabian high school Family Education curriculum, examining how girls and women are represented. The textbooks were published after the launch of the Saudi Vision 2030 reform initiatives. Considering previous research on school textbooks’ contributions to youth self-image formation and confidence development, the Family Education curriculum was optimal for examining contemporary representations of Saudi girls and women. Content analysis was conducted on the Vision 2030 documents to discern specific principles of women’s empowerment. This study presents a framework highlighting significant elements that provide a better understanding of inequalities in the textbooks portrayals of women that guided the recommendations for future changes. Four themes were constructed: Awareness of Women’s Rights and Responsibilities, Exclusion, Stereotypes, and Lack of Female Role Models. Together, these themes indicate inklings of positive change, as well as enduring inequality. They suggest a gap between the 2030 Vision goal to empower Saudi women and high school textbooks which effectively underrepresented women as equal partners in the country’s development. Revision of textbooks is required in light of the country’s new vision.

Enabling action: Re-envisaging education of health professionals in Aotearoa New Zealand

Healthcare in Aotearoa New Zealand is changing with the aim of becoming truly universal. Development of a new curriculum model in the education of health professionals can aid this goal through increased focus on community needs and flexibility for multiple health professional registrations. Universal healthcare and disability support are promoted as a defining feature of Aotearoa New Zealand, yet inequities are blatantly evident, with increasing calls for equity. Complexity of the issue and the multitude of stakeholders favour action research founded on Vision Matāuranga, a problem-solving philosophy which embraces the potential for innovation of Māori – people, knowledge and resources. Action research embraces collaboration with stakeholders to identify and implement solutions. Government ministries determine policy, with Responsible Authorities accrediting educational institutions, which in turn provide educational programs. Changing what and how students learn can increase their understanding of equity and community needs when they become practitioners, with the voice of service users being paramount.

"Dark under the lamp": ecological equity of urban agglomeration from the perspective of natural capital in China.

Although equity is an important aspect of sustainable development, equity research has mainly focused on income and economics while paying insufficient attention to ecological equity. Therefore, aiming to improve our understanding of equity and promote environmental protection, this study introduced natural capital to measure regional ecological equity and analyze its driving factors. Based on ecological footprint (EF) and ecosystem service value (ESV), we constructed evaluation indexes and drew an "ecological Lorentz curve bundle" to analyze ecological equity in the Jing-Jin-Ji urban agglomeration (JUA) from 2009 to 2020. The results showed that economic development in JUA resulted in the severe depletion of natural capital, especially biological and energy resources, and the supply and demand of natural capital was in a low-level equilibrium state. Based on JUA's population base, natural capital utilization in the region had exceeded ecological equity, and the Gini coefficient of EF based on population was close to the international warning value of 0.4. Although economic development in JUA has promoted economic equity, it has also led to environmental inequity. Large cities such as Beijing and Tianjin, as well as industrial cities such as Tangshan and Handan, have had the greatest effects on ecological equity. Moreover, the excessive consumption of natural capital stock and energy-dependent industrial structures threaten ecological equity.

Marginalising household users in smart grids

Unless just and inclusive, transitions to low carbon-energy systems are unlikely to receive sufficient legitimacy and broad public support. While research on inequalities and injustices in energy transitions is growing, these issues remain less explored in the case of the digitalisation of the energy systems through smart grids and smart homes. This paper aims to synthetise our understandings of inequality, exclusion and vulnerability in energy transitions by systemically analysing different dimensions of marginalisation in the transition to a digitalised electricity infrastructure in Sweden. To synthetise understandings of marginalisation and exclusion, conceptualisations of these processes in different social science approaches to energy studies are reviewed. Moreover, an empirical analysis of interviews with a range of Swedish actors such as energy utilities, social housing developers or pensioner organisations is carried out and enriched by previous research on smart grid users. The empirical analysis demonstrates what specific forms that diverse categories of marginalisation, as already identified generally in different social science approaches to energy studies, may take in smart grids. We argue that marginalisation of household users in smart grids may take place along multiple dimensions, relating to matters of literacy, participation, infrastructure, and the economy. The analysis suggests that bundles of marginalisation aspects concerning household users in sustainable energy transitions should be recognised and addressed simultaneously.

Implementing Equity and Equality at the Frontline in Two Contrasting Welfare-To-Work (WTW) Organizations in California

ABSTRACT This study provides a comparative qualitative case study on two welfare-to-work (WTW) offices with a different understanding of equity and equality. By analyzing organizational documents (n = 27), manager interviews (n = 10), observations of worker-client interactions (n = 13) and worker interviews (n = 13), we find cross-case and within-case variation on frontline worker practices. In the equality-oriented organization, workers acknowledge structural differences, but their practices are more focused on gender- and color-blind equality in treatment. In the equity-oriented organization, we find that more workers implement equity practices. Our findings suggest that organizational context interplays with the practices and beliefs of frontline workers; hence, shaping the fairness of client treatment.

Identifying Critical "Soft Skills" for an Academic Career

This study examines the soft skills required for work as a faculty member, doctoral supervisor, and academic administrator. Nine faculty members working in the area of school libraries were interviewed to better identify gaps and ways to improve doctoral degree programs. Participants shared the following soft skills: advocacy skills, active listening, advising skills, understanding of equity, diversity and inclusion, leadership skills, time management skills, social justice stance, work life balance, building and maintaining relationships with colleagues, networking skills, and presentation skills. The participants noted that their doctoral programs prepared them for some of their work in the Academy with graduate research and teaching experiences, mentoring, networking support, and formal coursework. Participants developed some of these soft skills from work as teachers and school librarians/teacher-librarians.

Identity Work, Racialized Emotions, and Equity in Mathematics Education

This Research Commentary draws on the articles in the March 2022 issue of JRME, engaging with the notion of labor as a key concept to push the field toward novel understandings of equity in mathematics education. We introduce the concepts of identity work and racialized emotions to provide an alternative reading of the articles in that issue, arguing that attention to the interplay of these two concepts is vital to consider issues of equity because mathematics identity intersects with race, gender, class, and sexuality, among other social identities historically marginalized in the classroom. We argue that a focus on such interplay could help to revitalize the discourse on equity in mathematics education across the globe.

Equity and Equality Perspectives to Promoting Digital inclusion in Higher Education

Given the continuing pandemic context, examining the issue of digital inclusion is both timely and significant. Using equity and equality perspectives, we examine the extent to which digital inclusion policies have improved students’ access to digital technologies and promoted digital inclusion in an Australian university. Grounded in Adams’ Equity Theory and Espinoza’s, Equality and Equity Conceptual Model, we share our findings from a mixed methods study of a survey of 284 undergraduate students and interviews with 15 staff members and 9 students. While students shared their experiences of undertaking an undergraduate university degree, teaching and support staff shared their views on the design, development and support experience of undergraduate students’ digital literacy. The findings suggest the critical need to promote a better understanding of equity and equality perspectives across key stakeholders in higher education institutions during policymaking, particularly on resource allocation to promote digital inclusion.

Inequalities in recovery or methodological artefact? A comparison of models across physical and mental health functioning

Considerable attention has been paid to inequalities in health. More recently, focus has also turned to inequalities in ‘recovery’; with research, for example, suggesting that lower grade of employment is strongly associated with slower recovery from both poor physical and poor mental health. However, this research has tended to operationalise recovery as ‘return to baseline’, and we know less about patterns and predictors when recovery is situated as a ‘process’. This paper seeks to address this gap. Drawing on data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study, we operationalise recovery as both an ‘outcome’ and as a ‘process’ and compare patterns and predictors across the two models. Our analysis demonstrates that the determinants of recovery from poor health, measured by the SF-12, are robust, regardless of whether recovery is operationalised as an outcome or as a process. For example, being employed and having a higher degree were found to increase the odds of recovery both from poor physical and mental health functioning, when recovery was operationalised as an outcome. These variables were also important in distinguishing health functioning trajectories following a poor health episode. At one and the same time, our analysis does suggest that understandings of inequalities in recovery will depend in part on how we define it. When recovery is operationalised as a simple transition from poor health state to good, it loses sight of the fact that there may be inequalities (i) within a ‘poor health’ state, (ii) in how individuals are able to step into the path of recovery, and (iii) in whether health states are maintained over time. We therefore need to remain alert to the additional nuance in understanding which comes from situating recovery as a process; as well as possible methodological artefacts in population research which come from how recovery is operationalised.