The Manifestation of Health Equity Tourism in Psychological Science and Research

Health equity tourism (HET) represents yet another example of how structural racism may manifest in our discipline. While not a new phenomenon, HET was coined recently in the context of medicine and is defined as investigators without the requisite experience or commitment to health equity work "parachuting into the field in response to timely and often temporary increases in public interest and resources" (Lett et al., 2022, p. 2). To determine how HET manifests in psychological science, we interviewed 18 health equity experts. Data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results revealed that HET manifests as a passing interest in health equity research, minimal engagement with communities under study or with health equity experts, and a failure to appreciate health equity scholarship as a specialty area of psychological science. Consequences of HET include poor quality research, harm to communities under study, funneling of resources away from health equity experts, frustration with and disengagement from the field and academia (leading to slow career advancements and attrition), and a maintenance of structural racism in psychological science. We provide recommendations for preventing the further manifestation of HET in psychology and for reducing the associated harms. These recommendations include education and training regarding the construct of HET, engagement in reflective practice, and a reconsideration of how research with minoritized populations is approached and evaluated.