Ethical Considerations and Recommendations for Humanizing Immigrant Language in Health Equity Data Collection, Reporting, and Measurement

Abstract

Collecting accurate and consistent sociodemographic data is needed to improve health measurement and public health interventions. Missing or inaccurate data hinders the adequate assessment of the state of access, quality, and coverage in the overall population and communities experiencing social marginalization. Health measurement requires data labels that humanize all populations living, working, and residing across the United States and territories. Humanization is fundamentally grounded in the concepts of human dignity and ethical identity integrity. An often-overlooked form of exclusion in health care is the long-standing use of dehumanizing language, including its use in health measurement and data collection efforts, to refer to immigrant populations. In this perspective, we delineate ethical concerns regarding the use of dehumanizing language when referring to immigrant populations. We provide recommendations for health providers, researchers, and policy makers in improving humanizing language in health equity data collection and reporting through engagement of community experts, use of alternative language, implementation, and monitoring.