Behavioral Health Differences

Behavioral healthcare has morphed its face over the last century from one that was focused on inpatient psychiatric hospitals to community-based behavioral health centers. From the beginning, “notions that people with mental illness are sometimes unpredictable and perhaps dangerous to know”, has caused a large stigma associated with behavioral health (Lawrie, 2015). With these changing facets also come challenges. There are challenges of consumer expectations and the treatment of behavioral health disorders from primary care providers. Insurance access also raises another challenge, that has slowly changed, as well as the retention of staffing. The financial stability of a facility is also an important factor for healthcare and for the behavioral healthcare system.

In the “Marmot Review: Fair Society Healthy Lives” written by “Professor Michael Marmot” himself, he proposes the most effective evidence-based strategies for reducing health inequalities in England. Inequality is unjust and unfair and therefore it is a matter of social justice in cases where everyone has an equal,social, political and economical rights and opportunities.He simply stated that to reduce the steepness of the gradient sufficiently “actions must be universal, but with a scale and intensity that is proportionate to the level of disadvantage” Even though resources may be scarce and it is tempting to focus these limited resources on the most needy, we are eliminating some parts of the society and therefore only tackling a small part of the overall problem. Part of his solution was to “implement an evidence-based programme of ill health preventive interventions that are effective across the social gradient such as Increasing and improving the scale and quality of treatment programmes and focusing on public health interventions such as smoking cessation programmes on reducing the social gradient” Michael Marmot also raises the benefits to which reducing health inequalities will help the economy as well as socially. “It is estimated that inequality in illness accounts for productivity losses of £31-33 billion per year, lost taxes and higher welfare payments in the range of £20-32 billion per

There are some challenges, as well, in implementing health promotion programs that use the social ecological framework. One main challenge is that programs are expensive and complex to implement in certain community settings. Also, there needs to be close coordination and collaboration between individuals and groups. In the article by Wagemakers et al., the authors developed a framework that links the domains of social environment and health, with key health predicting mediators, and operational variables of participation and collaboration (6). They based this framework on experience in case studies, audits of community health programs in the Netherlands, and ideas found in the literature. The authors offer four key guidelines on how to apply the framework that can help increase community participation and collaboration. These guidelines are: use the variables as a menu, set specific aims for social change processes, use an action research approach and triangulate data. This framework can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of community health promotion designs and address the challenges faced in implementing new programs.

Duke currently has seventeen coal fired plants located and operating in the United States. Over the course of time two coal plants have been bought by Dynegy in 2014, and one has been retired. They also currently operate seven oil or natural gas fired plants in the Carolinas and operate a total of thirty coal fired plants in the United States. Buck Steam Station is a coal fired plant located on the Yadkin River in Rowan County. It was the first large capacity coal fired station built by Duke. Over the course of time the turbines were slowly shut down and in 2011 modifications were completed. The plant officially turned into the Buck Combined Cycle Plant (Power Plants). The plant now operates using coal and natural gas fired turbines. This

I assume that in today’s world, there is a lot of information and scholarly research available that shows factors such as economic status, income, social situations, education, ethnicity, employment, availability of affordable housing and geographical (place where one was born and lives) conditions have a tremendous impact on the health and well-being of individuals, countries and communities (Amaro, 2014). Inequalities in health and well-being are created by social determinants and economic conditions for many in our community (Brannigan &Boss). The people that are affected the most are people with low income and minority groups here in the United States. This creates health disparities and unequal care (Brannigan &Boss). In many developing and under-developed countries, the situation is dire: lack of modern health services, illiteracy, poor economic conditions has created a cultural situation of desperation and unhealthy behaviors. Corruption by African governments is rampant. To improve the health and wellbeing of communities, we need to start thinking of how we can create a culture of health.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO, 1978), health can be defined not only in terms of absence of disease, injury or infirmity, but also, as a state of mental, physical and social well-being. Over the last decades, many studies have emphasized the role of social circumstances on health status. The tight link between health and a wide range of socioeconomic, environmental and demographics factors have been increasingly recognized and proffer an alternative perspective on how to consider public health, social justice and even restructuring of the health care system (Daniels et. al., 2004). The increasingly acknowledgement that health is also a result of cumulative experience of social conditions and exposure to environmental

Healthy People 2020 define health equality as “the attainment of the highest level of health for all people.” Comprehension of this ideal brings forth the conclusion that everyone should receive equal amount of attention to prevent inequalities, injustices, and to remove health and health care disparities. According to the National Institute of Health, health disparities are resulted from multiple factors defined by race/ethnicity, sex, education, geographic location, income, and disability status. These disparities can stem from many elements like increase risk for disease, which may originate genetically, by ethnicity, or familial factors, occupational exposure, and if access to health care is available. Health inequality has

“Among all the known contributors to health, access to health care plays a minor role. Until the United States definitively addresses inequities in those social and economic domains that are key to health, such as behaviors, education, income, and environment, inequalities in health will persist” (Lyon, et. al, 2014).

The difference in health outcomes and the determinants between parts of a population caused by social, demographic, environmental and geographic characteristics is defined as health disparities (Dore & Eisenhardt,2015). Societal, economic, and political forces impact social determinants. (Dore & Eisenhardt, 2015) have indicated that health inequities are avoidable and preventable when appropriate actions are taken to lower the risk of illness.

Health inequalities are preventable and unjust differences in health status experienced by certain population groups. People in lower socio-economic groups are more likely to experience health inequalities than people in higher socio-economic classes. Health inequalities are not only found between people of different

“Health is a state of complete physical, mental, spiritual and social wellbeing, and not just the absence of disease” (WHO, 1974). Health inequalities are the differences in health or healthcare opportunities in different societies this may be due to income,

Health has been influenced by many factors such as poor health status, disease risk factors, and limited access to healthcare. All these factors are due to social, economic and environmental disadvantages. According to the World Organization (WHO) (2015), “the social determinants of health are mostly responsible for health inequities, which is the unfair and avoidable differences in health status seen within and between countries”

This paper discusses the ideas presented by Richard Wilkinson, in the video How economic inequality harms societies (2011). Three compelling concepts arise from the video which are that there was no longer a correlation between gross national income and health and social problems; it is also possible to attain greater equality as evidenced by what some countries are doing to reduce the income gap; and inequalities vary based on their health impact across the social gradient but nonetheless is present from top to bottom. In order to tackle the health problems and improve the health of individuals within societies, social justice actions geared at the inequalities seen in the healthcare system and other institutions are crucial. This paper also

The sociological approach to health and illness focuses on the social determinants of health and how this affects the health of society. It explores where we are on the socio-economic ladder and how this determines access to healthy food, a healthy lifestyle, education, income, accommodation, healthcare, transportation and good working conditions. This approach considers culture, the behaviour of individuals and the social structures we live in, with a belief that when treating health and illness if all these areas are considered and changes are made in conjunction with modern medicine then the health of society will be improved. “If the major determinants of health are social, so must be the remedies. Treating existing disease is urgent and will always receive high priority but should not be to the exclusion of taking action on the underlying social determinants of health” (Marmot, 2005: 1103).

If given opportunity I would grant the freedom to medical or recreational marijuana, effectively legalizing and decriminalizing it, as it is scientifically shown to have little to no adverse side effects, and even health benefits, as well as providing a new profitable industry to our economy. I would also give everyone the freedom to alter, amend, or replace their birth certificate in order to accommodate their gender identity, as well as the freedom to use the bathroom of their choice according their gender identity, and the creation of gender neutral bathrooms for those who were either born or identify with neither the male of female gender. I would do this because my philosophy is that we as humans should be free to do whatever we please