Health Determinant Analysis

Communities are sometimes largely unaware that social factors rather than medical ones, such as income, and employment status, shape our health. Our health is also determined by the health and social services we receive, and our ability to attain high education levels, food and safe housing, among other factors.

The determinants of health are economic and social conditions that affect people’s health status. These influence the living and working conditions that impacts people’s everyday living condition. Factors such as the place and the environment we live in, genetics, educational level or work status and income, as well as friends and family are some of the aspects that affects our health condition. On the other hand, the people that have an access to good health care and have financial stability are less susceptible and are often less affected. (NANB, 2009)

“The social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, and the wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life” (World Health Organisation (WHO), 2009). The social determinants of health can be divided into 5 categories, age, sex and hereditary factors, individual lifestyle factors, social and community networks, living and working conditions and general socioeconomic, cultural and

Culture is a very important aspect for health care professionals to examine when interacting with their clients. By having an understanding of different cultural practices, a clinician can more effectively treat a patient. Kagawa-Singer, M. & Kassim-Lakha, S. (2003) theorizes that patients resist lifestyle changes, and culture forms lifestyle. Therefore, if physicians attend to the influence of culture on health behavior, outcomes of medical care might well be improved.

Health determinants are the factors that can have a positive or negative impact on a person’s health. Many things can affect how healthy we are, from a complex interplay between macro to molecular influence to influences from society (for example, the prevalence of drug and alcohol use), to individual factors such as genetic make-up. Education, employment, income, lifestyle, psychosocial and physiological factors can also influence a person’s health and wellbeing. Health can also be significantly affected, and modified to some extent, by the quality and timeliness of the health care services we receive, including preventative health care such as education, screening and immunization.

Social Determinants of Health are conditions such as living conditions or environments one has experienced while living their life and how that affects one’s health (Mikkonen, J., & Raphael, D., 2010). In this case study of Norma James presented above, the three Social Determinants of Health (DOH) relevant to this case study are Income and Income Distribution, Health Services and Social Safety Net. The following of the paper will discuss the three DOH’s relevant to Mrs. James and how they are affecting her.

The social determinants of health have been said to be causes of a variety of mental and physical illnesses. There are five main social determinants of health, in agreement with the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, and they include: "education, economic stability, health and health care, neighborhood and built environment, and social and community context." These five identified factors shape and influence everyone within a community and assist with understanding health across various levels of the socioecological background.1-2

A person’s health can be affected by many factors such as housing, income and environment. This essay will define and explain the term ‘social determinants of health’, discuss why housing, income and environment are considered social determinants of health and how these determinants can have a negative affect on one’s health.

Below are my top four social determinants of health ranked 1 to 4 in order of significance.

The determinants of health consist on three levels. The determinants of health levels are the individual lifestyle factors, the social and community networks, and the general socio-economic, cultural and environmental conditions. The determinants of health consist on our daily lives from the moment we are born, where we live, work and our age.

do to maintain their health status, how they will care for themselves, and others who become ill,

Interestingly there is a large number of people that are not in the proper state of health. The purpose of using social determinants is to create the optimal social/physical environment that will contribute and allow individuals to enjoy a healthier lifestyle, and thus become healthier. ("Social Determinants of Health - Healthy People", n.d., p. 01) The Five key areas that are addressed in the social determinants of health are: Economic Stability, Education, Social and Community Context, Health and Health Care, and Neighborhood and Built Environment. Even though these five determinants of health are different, they are all oriented towards the common objective to better the environment and living conditions so people are empowered and supported in making healthier lifestyle choices and develop the habits that will support these choices. ("Social Determinants of Health - Healthy People", n.d., p. 3)

Health is a broad topic that branches out into medicine and public health. Health promotion is an essential stage for health care providers to help raise awareness and prevent disease and illness. The social determinants of health are guidelines to relate illness and prevention. They are differences in health care status of population based on certain criteria’s such as income, education, housing, etc. both nationwide and worldwide (Kozier et al, 2014).

The social determinants of health are factors that can affect a person’s physical or mental health, A few examples of these factors are; Unemployment, Housing, Education, Lifestyle factors, Transport, Access to health services etc. These types of social factors can lead to insecurity, stress, anxiety, isolation and lack of control of home life, work and health status. These factors contribute to the development

An array of factors like personal, social, economic, and environment issues influence and determines the health of individual and population, acting in various combination (Knickman & Kovner, 2015). These determinants of health, known as population health determinants generally include genetics, access to health care, individual behavior, social determinant, physical environment (Knickman & Kovner, 2015).