Social and Behavioral Interventions to Improve Health and Reduce Disparities in Health

Large racial and socioeconomic status (SES) differences in health persist in the United States. In this chapter, we summarize empirical evidence that suggests that promising interventions exist to address the prominent features of these social inequalities in health in the United States. Research indicates that conditions of life linked to SES and geographic location are important drivers of social inequalities in health. We review research showing that policies and procedures that seek to enhance access to economic resources and improve neighborhood and housing conditions can have positive effects on the SES and health of disadvantaged populations. Also, effectively addressing health inequalities among adults requires a life course approach and efforts to address the accumulation of adversity over one’s lifetime. Studies suggest that investing in early childhood interventions can lead to striking improvements in both socioeconomic and health indicators in adulthood. Given that there are racial differences in SES at every level of economic status, we also discuss the need for interventions to address the residual effects of race. We consider values affirmation interventions as an example of a race-targeted intervention that is seeking to identify aspects of racial disadvantage that may be missed by interventions that target an overall population. The challenges and opportunities of successfully reducing SES and racial/ethnic disparities are discussed.