The Health Equity Discourse of Immigrant Public Health Leaders: A Critical Application of the IDEA Model

ABSTRACT

During the COVID-19 pandemic, health experts emerged to deliver crisis messaging to a public that needed information to understand the nature of the mega-crisis and to know how to mitigate the risk of infection. Some of the public health experts were immigrants who drew attention to healthcare disparities in the U.S. and called for systemic reform of healthcare delivery. This study critically examines the health equity discourse of immigrant public health leaders (IPHLs). Employing a critical application of the IDEA Model of crisis messaging, the study interrogates how three IPHLs navigated and disrupted their stereotyped identities as “model minorities” who were medical experts and advocates of equitable healthcare.

KEYWORDS:

• IDEA model
• immigrant
• model minority; health equity discourse

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alberto González

Alberto González is Distinguished University Professor and Acting Director of the School of Media & Communication.

Eun Young Lee

Eun Young Lee is Assistant Professor at Central Washington University and teaches courses in intercultural communication and rhetorics of place.

SangHee Park

SangHee Park is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication. She teaches courses in public relations and social media and publishes research on health campaign messages in social media.

Sung-Yeon Park

Sung Yeon Park is Professor and Chair of the Department of Health Behavior, Policy, and Administrative Services. She studies the content of health-related media messages and their effects on audiences.