The Racial-Ethnic Strengths in Pediatrics for Equitable Care and Treatment (RESPECT) Laboratory is grounded in deep respect for the unique sociocultural contexts experienced by minoritized families seeking pediatric care. While these contexts are marked by challenges like racism and racial discrimination, they also exhibit the adaptive culture described in Garcia Coll and colleagues’ model of developmental competencies in minority children. Adaptive culture gives rise to the practice of racial and ethnic socialization (RES) that can translate racial and ethnic strengths into improved child health and school readiness.
We especially focus on the kind of RES that boosts cultural pride in early childhood, as this critical developmental period is the time when racial identity begins to unfold. A significant evidence base supports the association of reinforcement of cultural pride with mental and behavioral health, as well as with school outcomes.
Positive investments in a life-course perspective that enlists the support and expertise of families and other child caregivers, including pediatricians, can build racial and ethnic strengths to counter the toxic stress of racism. This way, systems of care can be key partners in mitigating racism at all levels: structural, interpersonal, and internalized. The RESPECT laboratory also studies quality improvement to systematize equitable care and treatment in the pediatric clinical setting and beyond.
Funding
Racial and Ethnic Socialization:
Lift Every Voice and Read
Lift Every Voice and Read is a clinical trial designed to detect whether book-sharing in pediatric well child checks lead to improved behavior and early reading skills in young African American children.
Quality Improvement in Pediatric Sickle Cell Disease
The UNIQUE Care Study (UNited to Improve Quality, Understanding, and Equity in the Care of Children with Sickle Cell Disease) examined insurance claims in California and Georgia to determine performance rates on two quality measures in children with sickle cell disease: antibiotic use to protect against infection and annual ultrasound screens to assess stroke risk.
Clinical Trials
Lift Every Voice and Read is a clinical trial designed to detect whether book-sharing in pediatric well-child checks leads to improved behavior and early reading skills in young African American children.
The Lift Every Voice and Read clinical trial is available for community participation. For more information on possible participation in the trial, please email the Principal Investigator, Ashaunta Anderson, MD, MPH, MSHS at: asanderson@chla.usc.edu.
