Health Equity Action Training (HEAT): Achieving social justice in public health

The Hispanic Health Council, Inc. in partnership with the Hartford Department of Health and Human Services and the New Haven Health Department developed the Health Equity Action Training curriculum and delivered it to over 200 staff members. The training was the workforce development component of multifaceted health equity initiatives of the two cities. The purpose of this training was to prepare the public health workforce to more fully address the social determinants of health affecting their communities. The training goals were to expose health department staff to the departments' health equity initiatives, promote understanding of the social determinants of health, establish common language for health equity, and engage staff in developing strategies to address health inequities through the course of their current work.

The twelve-hour training consisted of three modules, including Social & Health Equity, Undoing Racism, and Stereotyping & Bias. Each module utilized a participatory approach to learning and contained didactic content and experiential exercises. Topics included social inequities, social justice, institutional, interpersonal, and internalized racism, stereotyping, bias, and oppression. Participants brainstormed ways that their department could better address the social determinants of health, and completed individualized Health Equity Action Plans that included personal commitments to address specific health equity goals.

Evaluation methods included: pre/post assessments to measure changes in participant knowledge, satisfaction surveys, and documentation of suggestions for improving community health. Preliminary results indicate high levels of satisfaction and perceived usefulness of the training to participants' public health work. Full results and lessons learned will be presented.