Promoting Maternal Health Equity: A Panel Discussion

Health equity research aims to eliminate inequities in health by ensuring everyone has a fair and just opportunity to attain their optimal level of health. Inequities in health exist across all dimensions of society including wealth attainment, housing, mass incarceration, education, health, and result in higher rates of illness, disease, and premature death. Health inequities, describing disparities that are unfair and reflect injustice, often include maldistribution of the opportunities and resources necessary to attain optimal health. April is National Minority Health Month, which is an opportunity to illuminate health inequities, and innovative health equity research efforts to eliminate gaps in health. This webinar will feature three researchers at the University of Kentucky working to eliminate maternal health disparities in the commonwealth.

Dr. Amanda Fallin-Bennett, Assistant Professor of Nursing, will discuss preliminary findings from her CHET funded pilot project, “Get Fit and Quit: Tobacco Treatment for Women Living in Residential Substance Use Disorder Treatment”, an eight-week tobacco treatment intervention that incorporates smoking cessation education, group social support and group physical activity, tailored for women in residential substance use disorder (SUD) treatment.

Dr. Danelle Stevens-Watkins, Assistant Vice President for Research at UK and Associate Professor of Counseling Psychology, will discuss preliminary findings from her CHET funded pilot project, “SPEAK (Support Peers for Breastfeeding Expansion among African American Kentuckians).” Her project involves interviewing African American women in Kentucky about breastfeeding messages and myths they have been exposed to and training breastfeeding peer support counselors known as “Community Transformers.”

Anna Hansen, MD/Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Sociology will discuss her doctoral dissertation, focused on analyzing risk factors for maternal morbidity and mortality among rural, underserved women, with specific focus on rural Appalachian women. She is using both a database of linked hospitalization and emergency department encounters, as well as qualitative interviews with healthcare providers, patients, and EMS professionals to explore the factors contributing to women's risk.

Please join the Center for Health Equity Transformation as we observe National Minority Health Month by highlighting research at the University of Kentucky to address maternal health disparities.

Moderator

Corrine Williams, ScM, ScD
Associate Profesor
Department of Health, Behavior & Society
College of Public Health

Panelists

Amanda Fallin-Bennett Ph.D., RN
Assistant Professor
College of Nursing

Danelle Stevens-Watkins, Ph.D.

Assistant Vice President for Research (D&I)
Associate Professor
Department of Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology
College of Education

Anna Hansen

MD/Ph.D. Candidate
Department of Sociology
College of Arts and Sciences