“Woke” Nomenclature in Health Research: A Descriptive Study of Terms Used in Titles and Abstracts of Articles Indexed in PubMed
Dr. Nuzzo's Research
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Psychreg Journal of Psychology
Abstract: “Woke” is a colloquial term that refers to a raised consciousness or awareness of purported social injustices that are believed to be caused by unjust power dynamics in society. “Woke” ideas, which originated in the humanities, have been criticised by many commentators. “Woke” ideas now appear in health research, but their proliferation has not been formally documented. Here, the aim was to describe the proliferation of “Woke” ideas (or related ideas) in the health sciences by quantifying use of “Woke” nomenclature in biomedical research articles. A total of 156 “Woke” terms, representing concepts (e.g., equity, social justice) or names of relevant people (e.g., Foucault, George Floyd), were searched in titles and abstracts of articles indexed in PubMed. Use of “Woke” terms was common and has increased exponentially in the past 15 years. The most frequently used “Woke” terms were: disparit* (94,667 articles), equalit*/inequalit* (53,672), climate change (50,822), equit*/inequit* (47,705), underserv* (14,062), social determinant* (13,103), marginaliz* (11,457), global warming (10,990), transgender* (10,192), health equit*/inequit* (8,730), health equalit*/inequalit* (8,257), racial parity/disparit* (7,732), feminis* (5,349), social equalit*/inequalit* (5,102), cultural competenc* (4,902), gendered (4,869), built environment (4,813), social justice/injustice (3,933), gender equalit*/inequalit* (3,724), intersectional (3,082), underrepresentation (2,989), gender parity/disparit* (2,800), and gender bias (2,552). The results suggest increased uptake of “Woke” ideas in health research. Irrespective of intentions, the possibility that “Woke” ideas might harm patients through misallocating research funds or misinforming patients about health causes warrants discussion. At minimum, the results document the rise of “Woke medicine.”
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