Hybrid Resiliency-Stressor Conceptual Framework for Informing Decision Support Tools and Addressing Environmental Injustice and Health Inequities

Kristen Burwell-Naney, Sacoby M. Wilson, Siobhan T. Whitlock and Robin Puett
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Kristen Burwell-Naney: Center for Outreach in Alzheimer’s, Aging and Community Health, North Carolina A&T State University, 2105 Yanceyville Street, Greensboro, NC 27405, USA
Sacoby M. Wilson: Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health, School of Public Heath, University of Maryland, 255 Valley Drive, College Park, MD 20742, USA
Siobhan T. Whitlock: Office of Environmental Justice and Sustainability, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 61 Forsyth Street SW, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA
Robin Puett: Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health, School of Public Heath, University of Maryland, 255 Valley Drive, College Park, MD 20742, USA

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 8, 1-19

Abstract: While structural factors may drive health inequities, certain health-promoting attributes of one’s “place” known as salutogens may further moderate the cumulative impacts of exposures to socio-environmental stressors that behave as pathogens. Understanding the synergistic relationship between socio-environmental stressors and resilience factors is a critical component in reducing health inequities; however, the catalyst for this concept relies on community-engaged research approaches to ultimately strengthen resiliency and promote health. Furthermore, this concept has not been fully integrated into environmental justice and cumulative risk assessment screening tools designed to identify geospatial variability in environmental factors that may be associated with health inequities. As a result, we propose a hybrid resiliency-stressor conceptual framework to inform the development of environmental justice and cumulative risk assessment screening tools that can detect environmental inequities and opportunities for resilience in vulnerable populations. We explore the relationship between actual exposures to socio-environmental stressors, perceptions of stressors, and one’s physiological and psychological stress response to environmental stimuli, which collectively may perpetuate health inequities by increasing allostatic load and initiating disease onset. This comprehensive framework expands the scope of existing screening tools to inform action-based solutions that rely on community-engaged research efforts to increase resiliency and promote positive health outcomes.

Keywords: conceptual framework; resilience buffers; socio-environmental stressors; health inequities; screening tools; community-engaged research; cumulative risk assessment; allostatic load; salutogens; pathogens; environmental justice (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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