Organizational Measures
Practices to Enhance Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Health Services Research Workforce: An Environmental Scan of Academic Institutions and US Department of Veterans Affairs Research Centers
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session D Keith Mc Innes
This study systematically identifies diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices being implemented across academic institutions and US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) research centers conducting health services research (HSR), and learn about the factors that impact implementation and sustainment of these practices. We collected data from three settings: top 10 U.S. schools of public health, top 10 U.S. schools of medicine, and a sample of VA centers conducting HSR. Study. We aimed to learn about DEI practices relating to hiring, retention, and promotion of researchers and staff from underrepresented groups. Two methods were used to gather information about DEI practices: 1) Website searches of VA research center and academic institution websites, and 2) semi-structured interviews with institutional representatives. Directed content and rapid qualitative analyses were used to analyze data. Across academic institutions and VA research centers, there were several DEI practices improved the hiring, retention, and promotion of individuals from underrepresented groups. However, it was reported that measures have not yet clearly demonstrated effectiveness. Key to supporting DEI initiatives are adequate funding, protected time for DEI leaders, leadership/institutional support, burnout prevention, and relationships with internal and external partners. Enhancing diversity in the HSR workforce is an area of focus for academic institutions and VA research centers alike and has potential for continued growth. There are steps that HSR institutions can take to improve DEI in their workforces including implementing potentially promising practices and ensuring adequate resources and support.
Talking About Race in Multi-Ethnic Evangelical Churches: The Role of Church Leadership
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Liesl Haas, Richard Haesly
The multi-ethnic church (MEC) movement attempts to confront a long history of racism and segregation within American Evangelicalism and to forge a new Evangelicalism that transcends racial divisions. Attempts to promote “racial reconciliation” among MEC members have revealed stark divisions in the way white Evangelicals and Evangelicals of color view racial justice issues, divisions that touch on theological and political differences with deep historical roots. This paper uses a content analysis of online sermons in the months following George Floyd’s murder to analyze the ways that the race/ethnicity of church leaders impacts whether, and how, issues of racism and racial justice are discussed within multi-ethnic Evangelical congregations. Given the highly salient context of Summer 2020, how often was racism or racial justice addressed in the Sunday sermon? How was the issue framed—as a matter of individual sin, as a structural or political problem, or in another way? What obligations were placed on listeners to respond to racial injustice, within the church and in society at large? This paper is part of a larger research project that evaluates the efforts of multi-ethnic Evangelical churches to pursue racial justice and racial reconciliation among their members and considers the political consequences of such work.
Contact, Empathy, Uptake, and Power in Multi-Ethnic Evangelical Church Attempts at Racial Justice
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Richard Haesly
Many in the multi-ethnic Evangelical Christian (MEC) movement implicitly embrace the Contact Hypothesis. People in these spaces assume that the act of bringing people together across racial and ethnic divides will foster understanding and a sense of kinship. While MECs view themselves as sites for engaging in meaningful dialogue which center on individual experiences of racial injustice, there are barriers that limit their effectiveness and may delegitimize the process in the eyes of key members of the congregation. While prejudice reduction is an admirable goal, it is but one step in a true reckoning with the web of oppression and racial inequalities that influence intergroup behavior. Another dimension of group dynamics that influence the outcomes of the fraught conversations about race and racial (in)justice is not only what is said. What often matters—but is often overlooked in theoretical work on democratic deliberation—is the role of listening. Political theorist Mary Scudder (2020) argues that empathy may be a potential obstacle rather than a mechanism for racial and ethnic inclusion in diverse societies. She argues that inclusion requires conscious “uptake”—clear signals that members of a polity are respected enough to have their voices heard even by those who disagree with them. For many BIPOC members of MECs uptake is not sufficient since they demand concrete action to alleviate racial injustice. Thus, I turn to Chantal Mouffe (1999) and Danielle Allen (2023), who remind us that such concerns must take seriously the underlying power dynamics in the MEC and in the larger society.
