A Holistic Approach to Early Relational Health: Cultivating Culture, Diversity, and Equity

Dominique Charlot-Swilley (), Kandace Thomas, Christina F. Mondi, David W. Willis and Marie-Celeste Condon ()
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Dominique Charlot-Swilley: Department of Pediatrics, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, DC 20007, USA
Kandace Thomas: First 8 Memphis, Memphis, TN 38104, USA
Christina F. Mondi: Brazelton Touchpoints Center, Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
David W. Willis: Center for the Study of Social Policy, Washington, DC 20005, USA
Marie-Celeste Condon: Independent Consultant and Researcher, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98105, USA

IJERPH, 2024, vol. 21, issue 5, 1-19

Abstract: Early Relational Health (ERH) is the foundation for infant and child emotional and social wellbeing. ERH is a quality of relationships co-created by infants, caregivers, and other members of their families and communities from pregnancy through childhood. Relationships themselves are not ERH; rather, ERH can be a feature of relationships. Those that are characterized by positive, shared emotionality become contexts within which members co-develop mutual capacities that enable them to prevail and flourish. This essay offers a synthesis of current knowledge about ERH in the US and begins to integrate Indigenous and non-Indigenous research and knowledge about ERH in the hope that readers will embrace “ Etuaptmumk ”—“ Two-Eyed Seeing ”. The authors maintain that systems of care for infants, families, and their communities must first and foremost attend to revitalization, cultural context, diversity, equity, and inclusion. Authors discuss key concepts in ERH; Indigenous and non-Indigenous research that inform ERH; structural and systemic factors in the US that affect ERH ecosystems; the critical intersections of culture, diversity, equity; the broader concept of village support for fostering ERH; and efforts to revitalize ERH discourse, practices, and policies. The authors advocate for a holistic approach to ERH and suggest future directions for research and advocacy.

Keywords: relational health; infancy; Indigenous; cultural contexts; diversity; equity; village wellbeing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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