Six of our MPH students attended the 2020 CityMatCH Maternal and Child Health Leadership Conference, held September 16-18, online. What follows is a post from one of these attendees.
By Margaret Major, BA
In a year rife with a pandemic, natural disasters, and amplified demands to grapple with racial injustice and police brutality, our nation’s persistent health inequities and inequalities have been on full display. It is fitting, then, to have this year’s CityMatCH conference entitled “Examining the Roots: Upstream Approaches to Data, Programs and Policies in Maternal and Child Health.” In line with this theme of looking “upstream,” the conference centered racism as a core barrier to improving the health of MCH populations. Of particular interest to me was a talk I attended titled “Data and Racism: How can we do better?”
In their talk on data and racism, Dr. Ndidiamaka Amutah-Onukagha and Dr. Yvette Cozier broke down some of the ways that researchers and practitioners are measuring systemic and interpersonal racism and challenged us to think about how and why we collect the data we do when doing epidemiological research. Throughout their talk was an emphasis on historical and current context, as well as the importance of centering community voice, needs, priorities and ideas.
Dr. Cozier rightly challenged us, “What is a convenience sample? Does that mean it’s convenient for you?” As a student, and I can imagine as a researcher or department of health employee, it is all-too easy to be caught up in our end goal, ravenously plugging away to get to the Truth. Unfortunately, no matter how genuine our intention to answer tough questions or provide innovative programs, with such an approach we miss the mark entirely. If we are really motivated by a belief in justice and health equity, our research process from beginning to end should honor that. Tangible strategies discussed included taking the time to get to know the community members you serve and prioritizing hiring members of your target population to collect data. Other strategies that we talked about were critically evaluating (and reevaluating) your assumptions about constructs, pathways, possible confounders and context, and not chasing grant money at the cost of pursuing questions that are not relevant to the populations you seek to serve.
This semester I am knee-deep in coursework around research and data analysis methods. I found it helpful to step back and think critically about the problematic assumptions that go into each level of the research process, particularly when trying to measure social and behavioral constructs like racism. I walked away from this talk and the entire conference with a greater appreciation for the complexity and art of not just the data itself, but the value-ridden process of gathering, analyzing, translating and interpreting it.
Margaret is a second year MPH student in the Maternal and Child Health Program. She recently moved to Atlanta where she enjoys playing soccer, eating her husband’s Senegalese cooking, and running along the Chattahoochee River. She hopes to find work in maternal and child health epidemiology after graduating.
