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In this article, we examine progress and challenges in designing, implementing, and evaluating culturally sensitive behavioral interventions by tailoring health communication to groups or individuals. After defining common tailoring constructs (i.e., culture, race, and ethnicity), cultural sensitivity, and cultural tailoring, we examine when it is useful to culturally tailor and address cultural sensitivity in health communication by group tailoring or individual tailoring and when tailoring health communication may not be necessary or appropriate for achieving behavior change. After reviewing selected approaches to cultural tailoring, we critique the quality of research in this domain with a focus on the internal validity of empirical findings. Then we explore the ways in which cultural sensitivity, group targeting, and individual tailoring have incorporated culture in health promotion and health communication. We conclude by articulating yet unanswered questions and suggesting future directions to move the field forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Confronting whiteness could complement and amplify the study of Critical Race Theory and enhance psychologists' capacity to effectively study and address health and social issues. Whiteness is a racialized social system and a set of beliefs that uphold White American social supremacy and the oppression of populations of color. We discuss how prior scholarship has addressed whiteness and we illustrate how whiteness can harm health and well‐being among White Americans and broader society. By documenting the negative effects of whiteness, we encourage divestment from the construction of reality that inequitably produces power and privilege, and ultimately, threatens society. Understanding how whiteness operates will aid the development of interventions and policies that reduce the inequity that results from whiteness and the enduring nature of racism. Finally, we call on psychologists to actively divest from systems of whiteness within our field; otherwise, we are complicit in how whiteness hurts society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Racism is a critical determinant of health that affects outcomes; shapes practice, policy, research, and interventions; and disproportionately burdens nondominant racial populations. The racial justice challenges of today, combined with persistent health inequities exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, have intensified the need for racial equity–minded public health professionals. Because training programs play a key role in developing professionals, they must center teaching about racism and promoting antiracism within their curricula. The critical race theory–grounded strategy Public Health Critical Race Praxis (PHCRP) provides a useful framework, calling for examination of how racism operates within individuals and the systems, such as public health, in which they work. Foundational public health courses provide a vital opportunity to launch such an examination and lay the groundwork for antiracism praxis. This article offers a curricular model that integrates PCHRP with a creative approach to facilitate exploration of racial identity among public health students. Students in our course use photography and written reflections to create dual portraits, one depicting how they see themselves and the other imagining how they might be seen by others in our racialized society. Our pedagogical process prompts critical self-reflection about racial identity, a crucial foundation for addressing the health consequences of structural racism. Spurred by creative inquiry, students of all racial and ethnic backgrounds tell us that our course boosts their racial consciousness, enhances their understanding and ability to engage diverse communities, equips them to see and name racism in the public health context, and galvanizes them to work toward dismantling it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Known as the "Black-White mental health paradox," Black Americans typically report better mental health than White Americans, despite chronic exposure to the psychologically harmful effects of racism and discrimination. Yet, researchers rarely examine how mental health is experienced across racial groups in economically distressed rural regions where all residents have disproportionately less access to mental healthcare resources. The purpose of this study was to explore how the racialized social system potentially contributes to the mental health beliefs and attitudes of racially majoritized and minoritized rural residents. We conducted a secondary analysis of 29 health-focused oral history interviews from Black American (n = 16) and White American (n = 13) adults in rural North Carolina. Through critical discourse analysis, we found nuanced discourses linked to three mental-health-related topics: mental illness, stressors, and coping. White rural residents' condemning discourses illustrated how their beliefs about mental illnesses were rooted in meritocratic notions of individual choice and personal responsibility. Conversely, Black rural residents offered compassionate discourses toward those who experience mental illness, and they described how macro-level mechanisms can affect individual well-being. Stressors also differed along racial lines, such that White residents were primarily concerned about perceived social changes, and Black residents referenced experiences of interpersonal and structural racism. Related to coping, Black and White rural residents characterized the mental health benefits of social support from involvement in their respective religious organizations. Only Black residents signified that a personal relationship with a higher power was an essential positive coping mechanism. Our findings suggest that belief (or disbelief) in meritocratic ideology and specific religious components could be important factors to probe with Black-White patterning in mental health outcomes. This research also suggests that sociocultural factors can disparately contribute to mental health beliefs and attitudes among diverse rural populations. • Black and White rural adults received social support from religious organizations • Black rural adults articulated compassion for people who experience mental illness • White adults' beliefs about mental illness were rooted in meritocratic ideology • Perceived sociocultural changes were a source of stress for White rural adults • A relationship with a higher power was a positive coping mechanism for Black adults [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elucidating how the racialized social system of whiteness affects the health of white Americans is critically important given current trends. Mirroring the nation, whites in rural North Carolina are currently experiencing increases in early mortality at greater levels than any other racial group in the state. Health focused oral history interviews conducted with whites (n = 13) in an economically distressed, rural community provide insight into potential determinants of this trend. Interview transcripts were coded and analyzed using a modified grounded theory approach. Analysis was guided by the whiteness and health framework, which considers how structural racism is both health promoting and health harmful for whites. Analysis highlighted three key themes: color-blind ideology, belief in the American Creed, and resistance to change. Whiteness influenced these rural whites' beliefs such that they were blind to the experiences of people of color in their community. Their explicit and figurative nostalgia for The Andy Griffith Show 's idyllic town of Mayberry (a fictional Southern community devoid of Black American characters and racial tension during the 1960s) exposed color-blind expectations of what it means to have a healthy community. Additionally, interviewees attributed health status to individual effort and health behaviors, rather than considering how macro-level social determinants impact health. Individual level blame and resistance to change influenced interviewees' political views and suspicion of some social programs that could benefit the health of their community. These meritocratic beliefs about hard-work and self-sufficiency have implications for individual and community level health outcomes. • Whiteness shapes health beliefs of white Americans in a rural Southern community. • Color-blind idealization of the past disregards the experiences of people of color. • Self-sufficiency and color-blind ideology influence resistance to change. • Meritocratic ideology obscures how structural factors impact health. • Color-blind nostalgia influences perceptions of health and healthcare programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]