Racial and ethnic disparities are widespread in the US health care system. A 2007 report from the Veterans Affairs (VA) Health Services Research & Development Service (HSR&D) Evidence-based Synthesis Program (ESP) found disparities were prevalent in a variety of clinical arenas within the Veterans Affairs health care system. The report identified several promising avenues for future interventions designed to reduce racial and ethnic disparities.
The objectives of this review are to describe the state of disparities intervention research within the VA, glean lessons from systematic reviews of intervention research not limited to VA settings, and develop an organizing framework to describe studies in this field of research. This report is also intended to inform future disparities intervention research in the VA, as well as VA policies and programs to reduce disparities.