The UMass Center for Health Equity Intervention Research (CHEIR) is sponsoring a national conference on eliminating health disparities June 11 and 12 at UMass Medical School.
The Synthesis Engagement and Elevation to Eliminate Disparities (SEED) Symposium will use cutting-edge approaches to generate new findings and resources to eliminate health disparities. The themes for the symposium are rooted in CHEIR’s overall approach to achieving health equity: multidisciplinary focus, multiple levels of intervention, culturally-responsive practices and the use of storytelling as a research tool.
The goal of the day-and-a-half-long symposium is to create dialogue on the conceptual areas related to the health equity research agenda:
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- Exploring narrative-based interventions that target health behavior change for prevention and management of chronic conditions;
- Engaging researchers, patients and communities in changing the conditions that impede health; and
- Engaging patients and communities to participate in research to identify evidence-based practices that improve health outcomes.
In 2012, CHEIR was established with a five-year grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. CHEIR’s overarching mission is to develop interventions and strategies that incorporate research, community collaboration and health equity approaches to improve the health of populations and communities most impacted by disparities. CHEIR focuses on narrative-based interventions. Central to the work is the use of storytelling as a tool to build research literacy and promote behavior change.
For more information, visit the event website at: http://www.cheir.org/seed-symposium.
