Centering Wellness: Using Black Feminist Literature as a Public Health Pedagogical Tool for Personal Healing, Community Health, and Social Justice

MPH Foundational Competencies (CEPH)

Upon successful completion of this discussion, you should be able to:

• Discuss the
  means by which structural bias, social inequities, and racism undermine
  health and create challenges to achieving health equity at
  organizational, community, and societal levels [CEPH.06]

MPH Foundational Public Health
Knowledge (FKO)

Upon successful completion of this discussion, you should be able to:

• Explain
  effects of environmental factors on a population’s health [FKO.07]

Key Resources

Textbook: Master of
Public Health Competencies: A Case Study Approach, Chapter 6

Webpage: Communication Theory: Intersectionality

This resource outlines the paradigm of intersectionality and how it relates
to Black feminism.

Video: What Is
Health Equity? (3:24) (CC)

(You first viewed this video in Module Three, but you might want to review it
before completing this module’s discussion.)

Website: Health in All Policies (HiAP)

As a future practitioner, you will find these CDC resources useful. Refer to
them as needed. Specific sections of the website are not assigned as
readings.

Promoting Health Equity: A Resource
to Help Communities Address Social Determinants of Health PDF

Read Chapter 1; skip Tables 1.1 and 1.2; study Figure 1.1; skip Figure 1.2.

Prompt

For this discussion, you will
analyze a case study in public health from the textbook, Master of
Public Health Competencies: A Case Study Approach, edited by Santella.
Please review the following case study from this text:

Chapter 6:
“Centering Wellness: Using Black Feminist Literature as a Public Health
Pedagogical Tool for Personal Healing, Community Health, and Social
Justice”

This case study was based on real
public health initiatives. Therefore, your engagement in this discussion will
help you hone workforce-related skills for public health practice.

For your initial/main post, please
address all of the following:

• How does
  Black Feminist theory and praxis apply to combating health inequities?
• We tend to
  center “illness” in public health, rather than focusing on
  “wellness.” How does the concept of wellness relate to health
  inequity for Black communities? Provide an example.
• In relation
  to health status, provide an example of structural discrimination
  (racism, specifically) at the (1) organizational; (2) community; and (3)
  societal levels. Please explain each factor and its impact on health
  status.