Thinking Habits Determine Possibilities for Equity: Results of a Critically Reflective Dialogue Study

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Social Epidemiology
• Health Equity Research

Background:

• Persistent gaps exist between knowledge and action in addressing health inequities.
• Previous work highlighted incoherencies between evidence and practice aimed at reducing health inequities.
• The Commission on Social Determinants of Health identified power, resource, and money distribution as root causes of health inequities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore practices for overcoming the gap between health equity knowledge and action.
• To identify key strategies for translating evidence into practice and policy.
• To foster coherence between research findings and equity-focused interventions.

Main Methods:

• Critically reflective inquiry informed by prior research.
• Series of dialogues with seventeen thought leaders in knowledge translation and health equity.
• Exploration of promising practices for enhancing health equity action.

Main Results:

• Cultivating 'equity attunement' emerged as a central promising practice.
• Four intentional thinking habits enable equity attunement: relational, reflexive, responsive, and tenacious thinking.
• These habits are pivotal, mutually reinforcing, learned, and intentional practices.
• Thinking habits are crucial determinants of equity action in global and public health.

Conclusions:

• Intentional thinking habits are essential for aligning evidence with practice and policy in health equity.
• These habits have direct implications for capacity building, education, research, and policy development.
• The findings offer an invitation to embrace agency in shaping equitable futures, particularly in a challenging political climate.