Examining Anti-Racist Healing in Nature to Protect Telomeres of Transitional Age BIPOC for Health Equity.

San Francisco State University, San Francisco CA

Investigators

Abstract

Summary: The overall goal of this diversity supplement to the NIEHS U01 Reclaiming Nature parent grant is to provide Dr. Ekland Abdiwahab, an African-American social epidemiologist, with training in biobehavioral research methods, career development, and mentorship to support her transition into an independent research career focusing on stress mechanisms underlying health disparities. Although there is a growing body of evidence that Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) Transitional Age Youth (TAY) may use critical consciousness to cope with racism-related stress and that critical consciousness is associated with civic engagement and social-emotional well-being, there is very little understanding of the embodiment of critical consciousness. We propose to investigate the relationships between discrimination-everyday discrimination and major experiences of discrimination-critical consciousness, and telomere length among BIPOC TAY (ages 18-26). Attainment of this research goal is expected to provide insight into racism-related mechanisms that contribute to accelerated cellular aging and later-life chronic conditions among BIPOC populations and to investigate the development of critical consciousness as a potential early-life intervention. As such it may be leveraged to reduce health disparities in BIPOC populations. Taken together, the research experiences and career development activities have been designed to cultivate Dr. Abdiwahab’s development into a transdisciplinary epidemiologist with mixed methods training. Her training plan in year one focuses on coursework and directed readings on social psychology and the embodiment of stress; biobehavioral research methods; strengthening her publication record; participation in Reclaiming Nature group meetings; and attendance at national meetings and workshops. In year two, she will develop a K-award proposal to build on the research accomplished in this work for career advancement.