Reducing health care disparities through improving trust: An identity safety cues intervention for stigmatized groups.

A vast literature examines the role of contextual cues in signaling identity safety for stigmatized group members in potentially threatening contexts. Yet, to date, a striking lack of research has utilized this literature to improve stigmatized populations’ experiences in health care settings. This review discusses how identity cues embedded in medical contexts may signal safety or potential threat to varied stigmatized group members, including those with visible or concealable stigmas. We propose that identity safety cues have the potential to improve patient−provider communication and comfort and, moreover, rates of health care utilization and adherence to medical suggestions. We discuss factors that may promote or hinder the efficacy of such cues and the relative power of different identity safety cues in past research. Finally, we review limitations of the cue implementation approach and describe suggestions for implementation within medical contexts. What is the significance of this article for the general public?—Varied stigmatized group members, for example, people who are overweight, those with chronic illnesses, and racial and sexual minorities, utilize health care services at lower rates and often have poorer physical and mental health than do their majority counterparts. Extending the psychological literature on identity safety cues to the medical context may improve stigmatized group members’ health care utilization, visit satisfaction, adherence, and subsequent health.