Justice at the interface: advancing community and health system resilience through intersectionality theory

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Sociology
• Health Systems Research

Background:

• Current health system resilience frameworks prioritize system functionality over social processes and power dynamics.
• Integrating community resilience under health system resilience without contextual analysis can lead to fragmented or maladaptive outcomes.
• There is a need for methodologies that analyze power structures and context within resilience approaches.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose intersectionality theory as a methodological lens for examining community and health system resilience interactions.
• To investigate the social processes and power dynamics shaping resilience.
• To identify how community actors' intersecting social identities and lived experiences influence resilience capacity.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing intersectionality theory to analyze power structures and social dynamics.
• Examining the interplay between community actors and health systems.
• Focusing on the unique intersecting social identities and lived experiences of community members.

Main Results:

• Intersectionality highlights how resilience capacity is built through community involvement and diverse social identities.
• This approach identifies practical constraints at the intersection of communities and health systems.
• It draws attention to the specific burdens experienced by community actors.

Conclusions:

• Intersectionality theory offers a valuable framework for understanding the complexities of community and health system resilience.
• Incorporating an intersectional lens can lead to more equitable and effective resilience strategies.
• Future research should leverage intersectionality to address power imbalances and contextual factors in health resilience.