Social Determinants Of Health

We’ve come to an understanding that the traditional approaches to tackling health issues aren’t very effective due to the varying factors that are embedded in social and economic barriers that certain communities and populations may experience because their sex, gender, race, disabilities etc. A prevention strategy that is focused at the macro/societal level, would be through taking a social determinants of health approach to reducing health inequalities. The social determinants of health influence the health of populations and acknowledges the factors that shape health is by the living conditions they experience. These influencing factors include, income and social status; social support networks; education; employment/working conditions;

Assessing communities by Wards have been articulated through a set of constructs, referred to as social determinants of health. Social determinants of health consider how neighborhood and social conditions collectively impact outcomes on individual and community levels. Access to health protective resources like clean air and water, healthy food, recreational areas, high quality education, employment wages, and decent housing have an impact on the health of individuals living in the community. Therefore, if good health is not shared equally in Ward 2 by Jacksonians, then understanding these factors that contribute to health and differences in health status is essential to identifying and implementing solutions to this challenge. Disparities

My definition of social determinants are the aspects of life that we as individuals often have no control over including where we are born and our upbringing which affects our controllable choices later in life such as living conditions, aging and our work environments ("About social determinants of health", n.d.). It’s not till I really consider this definition my understanding stays neutral but my perception begins to realise how these determinants encompass and affect every aspect of your life with regards to access to resources including transport to and from work or health care or, growing up in Brisbane, affluent areas had beautiful fresh produce unlike low socioeconomic areas. An interesting analogy when you consider it’s multifaceted,

higher of survival rate than those born to women with no education at all (Sally Murray, 2006). Also, Canadians in the lowest income groups are 50 per cent less likely than those in the highest income group to see a medical specialist, and 40 per cent more likely to wait more than five days for a doctor's appointment. Individuals who live in low-income situations are also twice as likely as those in the highest income group to visit the emergency department for treatment. Researchers have reported that Canadians in the lowest income groups are three times less likely to fill prescriptions and 60 per cent less able to get needed tests because of costs (Carolyn Shimmin, 2015). Education is also an important social determinant of health. People

Mrs Samira Azizi, a 56 year old with an Afghan cultural background living in the community require a nursing care, particularly post-operative dressing change following bowel cancer surgery. She was living with her family in an old farmhouse, 45 minutes away from town, unable to drive and with limited English language understanding that puts her at risk client living in the community (Henderson and Kendall, 2011). The community nurse will visit her for the first time. The social determinants of health most likely had an impact on the life expectancy of the vulnerable populations (Gupta, 2004). Applying the primary health care principles such as equity, cultural competence, community participation and maximum self-reliance, health promotion and disease prevention, access to health services and resource, use of acceptable technology and involvement of government departments to Mrs Azizi’s care will reduce the prevalence of health inequities amongst vulnerable individual (Kralik and Van Loon, 2011;Talbot and Verrinder, 2005). The importance of undertaking safety and risk management issues to the client’s home environment, client itself, nurse and wider community before and after the home visit aims to promote safety and potential hazards within a community that can be prevented from happening.

This research paper will focus on the social determinant of health involving access to clean water. We have focused our research on the accessibility of safe water intake on First Nations Reserves in Canada, we all know of the issues with limited access to safe water in other countries but we often forget about our own issues at home here. Over a billion people in the world lack safe drinking water, something that many of us in the Canada take for granted on a daily basis. As pointed out by Peter Gleick, “nearly three billion people live without access to adequate sanitation systems necessary for reducing exposure to water-related diseases”5. Throughout this paper we will explore different solution options in order to prevent the spread of dangerous diseases through unsanitary water conditions. Our research is going to express the importance of focusing on the issue we have at hand here in Canada and increasing awareness for the issues here before worrying about other countries over seas. Outbreaks of water-borne infections include but are not limited to; E’coli, Salmonella, Schistosoma, Cholera vibrios and Hepatitis A. Thousands of people die every day worldwide from water-related diseases; these deaths include mostly children and elderly, with some of these incidents taking place in Canada.

The higher the socioeconomic status an individual is equivalent to the goal of reaching the goal of excellent health, whereas, those who are at the bottom of the socioeconomic status ladder are more likely to have poorer health. The article on Social Determinants of Health status states that “socioeconomic status has been a fundamental cause of disease, and poverty and therefore, has a powerful effect on health.” People who cannot afford nutritious food are more than likely to buy more processed or cheap junk food.  An excerpt of an autobiography Hillbilly Elegy explains this predicament as the author watched people buy groceries as a cashier, “Some folks purchased a lot of canned and frozen food, while others consistently arrived at the checkout

Education has a significant correlation on health outcomes. The following presented case study will demonstrate how the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) directly impacts health. As described in Appendix A, Mrs. Smith is a 68-year-old female who was diagnosed with type I diabetes mellitus 37 years ago. She presented in hospital with a pressure ulcer on her left foot, which has increasingly worsened and become necrotic in certain areas. This pressure ulcer has also impacted her ability to ambulate properly. She has had uncontrolled blood glucose levels for many years and often does not follow to her medication schedule “because it doesn’t really work anyways.” She has a long history of neuropathy resulting from her poorly controlled diabetes

For the past two decades a shifting pattern of diseases and health care service has been observed globally as population increase. Epidemiological transition also known as demographic transition, is a model that is used to explain how population growth rates increase and decrease with respect to time and different factors that account into it such as infectious disease, chronic disease and industrialization. “Conceptually, the theory of epidemiologic transition focuses on the complex change in patterns of health and disease and on the interactions between these patterns and their demographic, economic and sociologic determinants and consequences” (Omran, 2005). This model describes the changing patterns of population distributions in four stages: Age of pestile and famine, age of declining pandemic, age of degenerative and man-made diseases, and postindustrial age.

In this research, the effect of social determinants of health on the prevalence of depression and treatment access was examined. Community survey and administrative data on mental health service users in the Calgary Health (CHR) were used to collect the data. the same as Canadian national statistics, depression was strongly associated with female gender, younger age, and health risk factors such as smoking, hypertension, and obesity. Severe depression which changes the daily functioning was significantly related to community-level indicators of single-parent status, low-income families, and low educational achievement. Accessing professional mental health services was found a barrier in some region seek treatment (Currie, Fiest,& Guyn, 2013).

As I embarked on a medical mission trip to Peru, I hoped to increase my cultural sensitivity and global awareness, but I gained much more. In a remote, underserved community, we saw dozens of impoverished children daily. Despite being riddled with lice and having cavities in their teeth, they never ceased to have a smile on their faces. It was eye opening to see these children content and blissful with so little. Reflecting on the social determinants of health, I knew I couldn’t treat their physical illnesses, but there was one critical determinant I could affect – education. I spoke to them about the importance of physical exercise and a healthy diet. It was enlightening being exposed to a culture so different from our own, but more importantly,

With 42.2% of residents living below poverty line, 29.4% with no high school diploma, and a per capita income of only $11,993, kids living in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago are not exactly set up for success. I jumped at the opportunity to shadow a pediatrician working in Englewood as a participant in the Diversity and Mentorship Program for my Introduction to Patient Care course because I refused to remain blind to the disparities in the Chicago community. It is one thing to learn about social determinants of health in school, but seeing them up close is astonishing. It can be easy to take for granted even the smallest of luxuries that I was so accustomed to growing up. I saw how difficult it was to counsel a kid struggling with obesity

Population health is a new term that has evolved within the realm of healthcare. There are several definitions of population health, but in many ways, the descriptions are very similar. Several definitions of population health state that it is as a term used to analyze health outcomes, influence individuals, and to improve the health of the population by assessing social determinants. The present-day definitions state that population health as the health outcomes of a group of individuals, including the distribution of health outcomes within the group (Esterhay, Nesbitt, Taylor, & Bohn, 2014, p.6). For example, treatment and outcomes compared in low-income communities and the wealthiest cities can be entirely different. Traditional healthcare differs from population health because with population health the focus is not only the

Additionally, the significant influence on tuberculosis development has the social health determinants. Social determinants of health are the terms in the surrounding settings in which people are born, live, learn, work, play, and age that impact health, capabilities, quality of life outputs and health risks. Thus, the age, global inequalities in social and economic fields, living and environmental conditions, lack of access to healthy and nutritious food, low financial status, geographic and cultural burdens to health care access contribute to tuberculosis incidents within the international communities (Hargreaves et al., 2011).

The social determinants of health are social, political, cultural and environmental factors which greatly influence one’s well-being (Mikkonen & Raphael, 2010). One of the key social determinants of health, healthy child development, plays an essential role in an individual’s physical, psychological and social well-being throughout their lives (Community Health Nurses of Canada, 2011). However, if a child is maltreated, their opportunity for healthy development can be disrupted (Molnar, Beatriz & Beardslee, 2016). Child maltreatment refers to when a child receives any form of physical, emotional, sexual abuse and/or neglect, which results in the actual or potential harm to the child’s health (Health Canada, 2004). Despite this, each year, numerous Canadian children are being abused and neglected (Health Canada, 2004). According to the Statistics Canada (2014), one-third (33%) of Canadians over the age of 15 have experienced some form of child maltreatment. In particular, Rothwell & Boer (2013) acknowledges how incidence rates of maltreatment of children double when they derive from low socioeconomic status (SES) family. These families often experience economic hardship which places an immense amount of stress on them, subsequently increasing their risk of harsh or physically aggressive parenting behaviour (Merrick & Latzman, 2014). As well, low-income parents may find it financially challenging to provide the basic necessities for their children,