Interventions addressing systemic racism in the US: A scoping review

• Published in: Social science & medicine (1982) 2024-12, Vol.362, p.117403, Article 117403
• Main Authors: Matos, Lisvel, Jaynes, Shewit, VanRiel, Yolanda M., Barrett, Nadine J., Ledbetter, Leila, Cadavero, Allen A., Grant, Ernest A., Webb, Michelle A., Gonzalez-Guarda, Rosa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Health equity; Humans; Public health; Racial/ethnic minorities; Racism; Scoping review; Systemic Racism; United States
• ISSN: 0277-9536; 1873-5347; 1873-5347
• DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117403

Previous studies have reported on the health impact of systemic racism among historically oppressed populations. In fact, there is an emerging body of literature, including systematic reviews, which describe the negative health consequences of systemic racism among racial/ethnic minoritized groups in the US. Less is known, however, about effective intervention strategies to address systemic racism and the resulting health inequities. This scoping review was conducted to synthesize the published literature on U.S.-based interventions designed to improve health equity by addressing systemic racism. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses extension for scoping review (PRISMA-ScR) checklist was used to report this review. We searched six databases (MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Sociological Abstracts, Web of Science Core Collection, and Scopus) to examine the intervention studies. A total of 172 articles were included in review. These interventions were classified by typology which included healing-centered approaches, community-based interventions targeting health disparities, diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI) efforts, anti-racism training interventions, and policy interventions. The findings from this review have important implications for the development, testing, and scaling of interventions designed to addressed systemic racism. •Systemic racism has gained attention in public health, but interventions lack robust design.•Most interventions focus on individual change, lacking structural solutions to systemic racism.•Effective interventions need nuanced, population-specific solutions to systemic racism.