Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: In 2019, the Doña Ana Wellness Institute (DAWI), Doña Ana County, New Mexico’s health council, sponsored two trainings in structural competency by the Structural Competency Working Group. One focused on health care professionals and learners; the other focused on government, non-profit organisations, and elected officials. DAWI and New Mexico Human Services Department (HSD) representatives attended the trainings and identified the structural competency model as useful for the health equity work both groups were already engaging. These trainings provided the foundation for DAWI and HSD to develop additional trainings, programmes, and curricula founded on structural competency and focused on supporting health equity work. This article describes how DAWI and HSD used the structural competency framework to deepen our work, including how we have expanded the concept beyond its original orientation to support strategic planning, improve communication, and build structurally competent communities. We illustrate how the framework strengthened our existing community and state work and how we adapted the model to better fit our work. Adaptations included changes in language, the use of the lived experiences of organisation members as a foundation for structural competency education, and a recognition that policy work happens at multiple levels and in multiple ways for organisations.
DOI: 10.17615/0weg-4575
Authors: Smith T, Castillo Smith A, Michael J, Scott M.A, Andazola J, de la Rosa I
Institution: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Language: English
Subfield: General Health Professions
Field: Health Professions
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4414384197
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