Question Two: Health and health care
A. List five factors that influence health? Explain how each factor influences health and identify these factors as either upstream or downstream determinants of health.
Downstream determinants of health are actions at an individual level and can include one's genetics and inclination to chronic disease and impact their quality of life (i.e. health behavior of smoking.) By smoking or using alcohol, the individual is spending part of their income, so they would be at a disadvantage, and it is contributing to ill-health. Another downstream factor that influences individual health is poor nutrition/low physical activity. This is a behavior that can affect health. If the person does not walk, bicycle, or swim and gets no exercise they are contributing to an unhealthy lifestyle. If they choose to eat (cheap) take away they are not getting the best nutrient value. This under nutrition and low physical activity will contribute to a higher susceptibility of disease. Their health status is immediately impacted and their life expectancy would be reduced. Upstream factors are the fundamental causes that lead to downstream effects on health. An upstream factor in living conditions is education. If the individual is illiterate, the chances are they cannot find a well-paying stable job which would lead to them being in poverty because they have less income. This would have a negative impact on their health. There are parts of the physical environment
The overall health of the population can be due impart to the living conditions in which they experience, rather than traditional risk factors of health we first think of. The umbrella term social determinants of health (SDH) can be defined as: 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.
Health as a whole is determined by the quality of life, as well as an individuals’ ability to create personal positive social and physical environments. These environments include homes, schools, workplaces and the community as a whole. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO, 2003), the social determinants of health are conditions in which people live, work, and grow, where these factors are influenced by money, power and available resources. There are five main aspects of social determinants: economic stability, social/community health, general health, education, and the surrounding built environment, where each determinant refers to multiple key issues. These determinants commonly affect health, the functioning of people, their quality of life, as well as social, economic and physical risks. Examples of social determinants include:
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 circumstances that impact and surround people, since are born, grow, work, live, and age, education, income, race and gender, and the broader set of powers and systems that shaping the circumstances of daily life. It is important because it impacts all aspect of daily life of people, and it caused direct and indirect health problems.
Part B: How might each of the following concepts affect the results of the study?
Determinants of health, which includes, income and social status, social support networks, education, employment and working conditions, physical health practices and coping skills, healthy child development and health services determine the status of our health (Government of PEI, 1996, pp.15-17).
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.
c. Identify three primary health outcomes of interest. These are based on your perceptions of the conditions affecting your population. As your needs assessment
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.
Key Historical, Key political and Key socio-cultural influence that have shaped healthcare access in contemporary Australian society.
Determinants of health are the personal, social, economic, and environmental factors that determine the overall health status of individuals and populations. For some populations these determinants cannot be controlled or obtained leading to a decrease in good overall health.
Acting in different levels, from micro to macro, those determinants have effect in a complex interplay of a multidirectional flow between the individual and the social scope. They are normally and roughly grouped into categories, such as individual factors interpersonal factors, institutional and community environments, broader social, economic and political influences. That concept allows explain why some people and groups are at higher risk for develop some diseases instead of others, and that is a very important key for a better understanding of its prevalence and to design more effective prevention strategies.
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).
People’s health is a result of internal and external factors. Describe two factors and explain their effect on people’s health