PROJECT SUMMARY
Our proposal requests support for a series of conference roundtables over a three-year project
period to Address systemic and STructurAl Racism to Improve Safety, Quality (ASTARISQ) in
Health Delivery Systems (HDS) to support Research Training, Infrastructure and Career
Development in response to PA-22-238. ASTARISQ will be convened each year in an
innovative, collaborative, and structured approach to achieve three aims: (1) Identify, prioritize,
and co-design with impacted community members trainings on anti-racist strategies, policies,
and practices to address structural racism in HDS to improve patient safety, quality of care, and
trustworthiness in HDS; (2) Convene an interactive series of roundtables to train and prepare
diverse stakeholder groups to address structural racism in HDS and health services research
(HSR); and (3) Produce and disseminate guidance documents to equip participants and broader
audiences with resources and skills in evidence-based, anti-racism-informed strategies to
strengthen anti-racist policies and practices.
We co-developed and delivered the 2023 Summer Roundtable Series with health systems
administrators and stakeholders on five key topics, including race and racism in digital health
and information technology, achieving equity, diversity, and inclusion through decentralized
clinical trials, overcoming systemic racism and bias in providing quality care, addressing equity
in health care access and affordability, and health literacy as liberation and suppression. This
proposal uses three innovative methodologies to support the Cycle of Change theoretical
framework: (1) addressing racism through individual and organizational change in parallel and in
real time to improve safety, quality, and trustworthiness in HDS; (2) engaging and including
persons from priority populations in the roundtable planning, presenting, disseminating, and
evaluation; and (3) mutual learning to shift current research and clinical practice paradigms.
We plan to amplify the impact of each roundtable and to distribute conference evidence and
materials broadly, with an emphasis on reaching out to stakeholders identified in AHRQ’s
Priority Populations. The roundtable series will present opportunities for all stakeholders to
disseminate evidence, implement anti-racist strategies and resources, and establish
relationships and improve awareness and implementation of anti-racist approaches to address
structural racism and provide examples of best practices, which have the potential to change
concepts, methods, and technologies among health delivery systems and stakeholders.
