Veronica Derricks
Biographic Data
| ID | 1563904 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Veronica Derricks |
| GIVEN NAMES | Veronica |
| FAMILY NAME | Derricks |
| SIGNATURE | DERRICKS V |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Colorado Boulder |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8142-0597 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 18 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 12 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2019 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Stay Healthy for Your (Our) Community
Many communications during the pandemic emphasized COVID-19’s disproportionate impact on Black Americans. Articles highlighting such racial health disparities can act as a form of health information targeting , which can be threatening when aimed at marginalized identities. In Study 1, Black participants indicated a greater level of anger and distrust when reading a targeted article from a White male doctor, focusing on racial health disparities …
Considering the role of allyship in healthcare
The majority of the article will be dedicated to explaining (a) strategies that clinicians use that more (vs. less) effectively convey allyship during clinical encounters, (b) interventions implemented at the practice level that can effectively signal allyship, as well as the limitations of these approaches, and (c) policies established by national medical organizations and governmental agencies to dismantle disparity‐producing practices. Therefo…
You May Be an Ally, But Can I Trust You? Exploring the Consequences of Source and Message Cultural Targeting Among Black Women
Black women experience unique stressors and mental health challenges that intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic, raising critical questions such as who acts as a trustworthy therapist for Black women and what messaging is most effective for encouraging self-care and therapy. Four experiments with Black U.S. women ( N = 1,961) aimed to answer these questions. Receiving messages from Black (vs. White) sources/therapists led to consistently posit…
We Are (Not) All in This Together
Black women feel connected to leaders whom they view as having shared adversity. Examining this phenomenon in the U.S. during the COVID‐19 pandemic, Study 1 found that when a Black (but not White) female leader expressed her personal struggles, Black women participants identified with her, viewed her as having a shared reality about the pandemic, and anticipated more identity‐safety in her company. Participants with relatively higher awareness of…
Examining the Context and Content of Organizational Solidarity Statements on Black Americans’ Expectations of Identity Safety
Despite the increasing use of organizational solidarity statements following instances of social injustice, little-to-no research has examined whether these statements signal inclusion for minoritized groups. The present work investigates how different types of solidarity statements affect Black Americans’ sense of identity safety and assesses mechanisms underlying their responses. Across three online experiments, Black Americans recruited from P…
Understanding the Benefits and Drawbacks of Harnessing Identity‐Targeted Interventions in Health Contexts
Persistent health disparities within the U.S. indicate that members of minoritized groups experience disproportionately worse physical and mental health outcomes than their majority counterparts. One proposed approach to mitigate these disparities is employing identity‐targeted interventions —interventions that are subtly or more explicitly directed toward a particular social group and aim to encourage healthcare engagement and increase feelings …
Signaling Allyship Via Ears
Low-quality patient-provider interactions contribute to and further exacerbate Black women's poor maternal health outcomes. Perceiving one's provider as an ally, or someone that acknowledges and addresses racial inequities can potentially transform the quality of patient-provider encounters; yet little research has investigated how to effectively convey racial allyship among Black women. In the present investigation we examined the utility of a n…
Too close for comfort
Communicators frequently make adjustments to accommodate receivers’ characteristics. One strategy for accommodation is to enhance the relevance of communication for receivers. The current work uses information targeting—a communication strategy where information is disseminated to audiences believed to experience heightened risk for a health condition—to test whether and why targeting health information based on marginalized racial identities bac…
Black (patients') lives matter
Two online experiments investigated whether hypothetical physicians' use of an identity-safety cue acknowledging systemic injustice (a Black Lives Matter pin) improves Black Americans' evaluations of the physician and feelings of identity-safety. Across studies, findings showed that when a White physician employed the identity-safety cue, Black Americans reported stronger perceptions of physician allyship and increased identity-safety (e.g. trust…
Real and Perceived Discordance in Physicians and U.S. Adults’ Beliefs Regarding the Causes and Controllability of Type 2 Diabetes
of patient beliefs, despite the importance of perceptions in shaping communication. In the current work, we examine instances of actual and perceived discordance between physicians and U.S. adults' beliefs regarding the causes and controllability of type 2 diabetes. 229 family physicians completed an online survey measuring their health beliefs and perceptions of their patients' beliefs. Physicians' responses were contrasted against beliefs from …
They’re Comparing Me to Her
Belonging and academic engagement are important predictors of women’s retention in STEM. To better understand the processes influencing these outcomes, we investigate how numerical underrepresentation (i.e., token status) triggers social comparison perceptions—concerns that others are comparing oneself to another person—that can undermine women’s STEM outcomes. Across four experiments, female college students recruited via subject pool (Study 1a)…
Information Targeting Increases the Weight of Stigma
Black (patients') lives matter
Two online experiments investigated whether hypothetical physicians' use of an identity-safety cue acknowledging systemic injustice (a Black Lives Matter pin) improves Black Americans' evaluations of the physician and feelings of identity-safety. Across studies, findings showed that when a White physician employed the identity-safety cue, Black Americans reported stronger perceptions of physician allyship and increased identity-safety (e.g. trust…
Information Targeting Increases the Weight of Stigma
They’re Comparing Me to Her
Belonging and academic engagement are important predictors of women’s retention in STEM. To better understand the processes influencing these outcomes, we investigate how numerical underrepresentation (i.e., token status) triggers social comparison perceptions—concerns that others are comparing oneself to another person—that can undermine women’s STEM outcomes. Across four experiments, female college students recruited via subject pool (Study 1a)…
Information Targeting Increases the Weight of Stigma
They’re Comparing Me to Her
Belonging and academic engagement are important predictors of women’s retention in STEM. To better understand the processes influencing these outcomes, we investigate how numerical underrepresentation (i.e., token status) triggers social comparison perceptions—concerns that others are comparing oneself to another person—that can undermine women’s STEM outcomes. Across four experiments, female college students recruited via subject pool (Study 1a)…
Real and Perceived Discordance in Physicians and U.S. Adults’ Beliefs Regarding the Causes and Controllability of Type 2 Diabetes
of patient beliefs, despite the importance of perceptions in shaping communication. In the current work, we examine instances of actual and perceived discordance between physicians and U.S. adults' beliefs regarding the causes and controllability of type 2 diabetes. 229 family physicians completed an online survey measuring their health beliefs and perceptions of their patients' beliefs. Physicians' responses were contrasted against beliefs from …
Too close for comfort
Communicators frequently make adjustments to accommodate receivers’ characteristics. One strategy for accommodation is to enhance the relevance of communication for receivers. The current work uses information targeting—a communication strategy where information is disseminated to audiences believed to experience heightened risk for a health condition—to test whether and why targeting health information based on marginalized racial identities bac…
Black (patients') lives matter
Two online experiments investigated whether hypothetical physicians' use of an identity-safety cue acknowledging systemic injustice (a Black Lives Matter pin) improves Black Americans' evaluations of the physician and feelings of identity-safety. Across studies, findings showed that when a White physician employed the identity-safety cue, Black Americans reported stronger perceptions of physician allyship and increased identity-safety (e.g. trust…
Examining the Context and Content of Organizational Solidarity Statements on Black Americans’ Expectations of Identity Safety
Despite the increasing use of organizational solidarity statements following instances of social injustice, little-to-no research has examined whether these statements signal inclusion for minoritized groups. The present work investigates how different types of solidarity statements affect Black Americans’ sense of identity safety and assesses mechanisms underlying their responses. Across three online experiments, Black Americans recruited from P…
Understanding the Benefits and Drawbacks of Harnessing Identity‐Targeted Interventions in Health Contexts
Persistent health disparities within the U.S. indicate that members of minoritized groups experience disproportionately worse physical and mental health outcomes than their majority counterparts. One proposed approach to mitigate these disparities is employing identity‐targeted interventions —interventions that are subtly or more explicitly directed toward a particular social group and aim to encourage healthcare engagement and increase feelings …
Signaling Allyship Via Ears
Low-quality patient-provider interactions contribute to and further exacerbate Black women's poor maternal health outcomes. Perceiving one's provider as an ally, or someone that acknowledges and addresses racial inequities can potentially transform the quality of patient-provider encounters; yet little research has investigated how to effectively convey racial allyship among Black women. In the present investigation we examined the utility of a n…
Stay Healthy for Your (Our) Community
Many communications during the pandemic emphasized COVID-19’s disproportionate impact on Black Americans. Articles highlighting such racial health disparities can act as a form of health information targeting , which can be threatening when aimed at marginalized identities. In Study 1, Black participants indicated a greater level of anger and distrust when reading a targeted article from a White male doctor, focusing on racial health disparities …
Considering the role of allyship in healthcare
The majority of the article will be dedicated to explaining (a) strategies that clinicians use that more (vs. less) effectively convey allyship during clinical encounters, (b) interventions implemented at the practice level that can effectively signal allyship, as well as the limitations of these approaches, and (c) policies established by national medical organizations and governmental agencies to dismantle disparity‐producing practices. Therefo…
You May Be an Ally, But Can I Trust You? Exploring the Consequences of Source and Message Cultural Targeting Among Black Women
Black women experience unique stressors and mental health challenges that intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic, raising critical questions such as who acts as a trustworthy therapist for Black women and what messaging is most effective for encouraging self-care and therapy. Four experiments with Black U.S. women ( N = 1,961) aimed to answer these questions. Receiving messages from Black (vs. White) sources/therapists led to consistently posit…
We Are (Not) All in This Together
Black women feel connected to leaders whom they view as having shared adversity. Examining this phenomenon in the U.S. during the COVID‐19 pandemic, Study 1 found that when a Black (but not White) female leader expressed her personal struggles, Black women participants identified with her, viewed her as having a shared reality about the pandemic, and anticipated more identity‐safety in her company. Participants with relatively higher awareness of…
Psychology (7 works) · Social and Intergroup Psychology (7 works) · Social Psychology (6 works) · Medicine (5 works) · Health care (4 works) · Perception (4 works) · Social identity theory (4 works) · White (mutation) (4 works) · Behavioral Health and Interventions (3 works) · Feeling (3 works)