Translational research to reduce health disparities and promote health equity.

Abstract

Eliminating health disparities and achieving health equity are central to realizing the vision of Healthy People 2020, which is to "have a society in which all people live long, healthy lives." Hence, the focus on health disparities for this special issue of Translational Issues in Psychological Science (TPS) is a timely and important one. This editorial highlights the importance of translational research in ameliorating the disparities that burden marginalized communities while taking into consideration the social determinants of health. Additionally, this editorial discusses 2 existing examples of multidirectional and multidisciplinary intervention approaches for reducing health disparities: the patient-centered medical home and community-based participatory research. It also highlights the broad array of topics that are covered in the articles comprising this special issue. Lastly, this editorial emphasizes a notable aspect of this special issue of TPS-the empowerment of student trainees in psychology and other health fields by having them not only be the primary authors on the included articles but also conduct its editorial and journal review processes. Having students assume these important roles have resulted in markedly conscientious reviews of the submitted articles and ultimately lead to the inclusion of very high-quality articles in this special journal issue.

Mapping the distribution of health equity research and practice across a university: a network analysis

“…Health equity research is multidisciplinary and translational, as it recognizes the multilevel and embedded nature of context and unique needs and characteristics of populations [12]. To effectively tackle this complexity, translational, and transdisciplinary research is needed to meaningfully engage and activate various partners [13][14][15][16][17]. Researchers from various disciplines, administrators, and implementers of interventions and policies, and community members facing health inequities should be engaged to make sure the questions, data, methods, and findings are relevant and useful to real-world settings [13].…”

Closing the gap in research training: The first years of Translational issues in psychological science.

“…Perhaps the value of translational research was most apparent when trying to understand and intervene with current, high-profile issues that are concerning our country and the world. These include concerns about our legal and justice systems (Edkins et al, 2017; Grisso et al, 2019), the elderly (Boomhower et al, 2017), health disparities (Tucker et al, 2019), immigrants and refugees (Okazaki et al, 2019), and economic (Bullock et al, 2018) and political issues (Conway et al, 2017), as well as the devastating impacts of prejudice, discrimination (Monteith et al, 2015), and minority status (Grzanka et al, 2020). Psychological science has much to contribute to the discussions of, and interventions with, these issues.…”