Application of the Weathering Framework: Intersection of Racism, Stigma, and COVID-19 as a Stressful Life Event among African Americans

Fathima Wakeel; Anuli Njoku

doi:10.3390/healthcare9020145

Application of the Weathering Framework: Intersection of Racism, Stigma, and COVID-19 as a Stressful Life Event among African Americans

Healthcare (Basel). 2021 Feb 2;9(2):145. doi: 10.3390/healthcare9020145.

Authors

Fathima Wakeel¹, Anuli Njoku²

Affiliations

¹ College of Health, Lehigh University, 1 W. Packer Ave., STEPS Building, Room 366, Bethlehem, PA 18015, USA.
² Department of Public Health, College of Health and Human Services, Southern Connecticut State University, 144 Farnham Avenue, New Haven, CT 06515, USA.

Abstract

The disproportionate impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on African American communities necessitates an increased focus on the intersectional roles of racism, stigma, and other social determinants of health in influencing disease and mortality risk. The Weathering Framework is applied to demonstrate the dynamic interrelationships between these factors and to conceptualize COVID-19 as a stressful life event that will have profound health implications over the life course for African Americans. Recommendations for population health research, interventions and policies aimed at reducing COVID-19 incidence and mortality, and mitigation of the long-term impacts of the pandemic on communities of color are discussed.

Keywords: Blacks/African Americans; COVID-19/coronavirus; health disparities; race/ethnicity; racism; social determinants of health; stigma; systemic racism.