Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

Public health strives to improve health equity among the Canadian population. With emphasis on such a lofty and difficult goal, it is important to use available theoretical tools to establish direction for policies and programs towards achieving 'health justice' (I suggest this concept as more useful than 'health equity'). There are two broad categories of objectives: (1) Health equity practice ("health justice"): apply social justice theories to health promotion strategies; offer ideas of how public health can move forward in achieving 'health justice'; understand and deconstruct the concept of health equity. (2) Method/methodology: Show social scientific methods' usefulness and importance to public health research. The physical cultural studies method of autoethnography invites reflexivity, depth, and embodiment to the research process. Incorporating current social justice and health promotion research (literature review) to narrative experience (ethnography), the presenter will draw conclusions about the experience of high calorie food when in poverty. The meaning of high calorie food is an illustrative example of the complexity of health justice. There are many useful ways to think about health justice, and many considerations for public health practitioners in producing equitable policy and practice. This presentation offers ideas and opens discussion on: (1) using theory to define justice goals; (2) re-envisioning 'health equity' as 'health justice'; (3) exploring the epidemiology of health justice. Autoethnography and other physical cultural studies methods are an important piece of public health research, and particularly promising to the pursuit of health justice. The ideas presented can directly contribute to the formation of just public health policy and programs. The importance of applying theory to improving health equity will be demonstrated. Innovative methods, new to the field of public health, will help create 'health justice' research.