Social Determinants Of Mental Health

Another U.S. study found that low availability of emotional support and low social participation were associated with all-cause mortality.

“Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people have a greater amount of disadvantage and significantly more health problems than the non-Aboriginal & Torres strait Islander population in Australia”

Today, protecting and strengthening our ‘mental health’ could not be more important. With our quick pace, 24/7 culture, we face more stress from our daily lives than before. Many of us work extended hours or multiple jobs, and take fewer vacations. In fact, one in three American employees is chronically overworked. The line between work and home life is often blurred so home is no longer a place of rest. Sleep and exercise feel like luxuries. We are eating poorly more often. We are constantly bombarded with information. We are also more disconnected from family, friends, and neighbors, and less engaged in our communities than we use to be. Trusting in one another has steadily declined over the last 30 years. Children aren’t immune either; many are racing from on activity to another without any downtime.(2007 Mental Health America.)

This essay will explore housing as a social determinant of health and the effects it has on the physical and mental health and wellbeing of families, communities and individuals. Poor housing and poverty may be a result of overcrowding, dampness, mould, insufficient heating and poor ventilation. It can have detrimental effects on the behaviour of individuals, how families cooperate and friendliness within communities. Poor housing can cause anything from colds and flus to cardiovascular disease but also may affect mental health. This may lead to individuals experiencing depression and anxiety. It is also common for children’s development to be disrupted due to poor housing and poverty. Different housing-related conditions results in different physical and mental health illnesses for different age groups, for example, overcrowding affecting the respiratory system is more common in childhood whereas insufficient heating having a negative affect and causing excess winter deaths is prone to those age 65 and over.

There is growing research into what has become known as the social determinants of health; the central claim arising from this research is that “various social factors have a strong influence on population health and on inequalities in health outcomes across social groups”. (Preda & Voigt, 2015) Social determinants of health are conditions in the environments in which people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality of life outcomes and risks. Conditions such as social, economic, and physical in various environments and settings such as school, church, work, or neighborhood have been referred to as “place”. (HP 2020) According to Healthy People 2020 (2016) understanding the relationship between how population groups experience “place” and the impact of “place” on health is fundamental to the social determinants of health. Healthy People 2020 (2016) have developed an approach to social determinants by organizing a “place-based” framework, reflecting five key areas of social determinants of health. Each of these five determinant areas, economic stability, education, social and community context, health and healthcare, neighborhood and built environment; reflects a number of critical components that make up the underlying factors in the arena of social determinants of health. Differences in social, economic, and environmental circumstances lead to health inequalities that are socially produced and therefore

emphasis was on relationships to family, group and country rather than the development of an

Depending on their nature, social relationships can influence behavioral health, psychological health, physical health, and mortality in a myriad of ways (Umberson and Montez, 2010). In general, healthy and high-quality social relationships are those characterized by support and mutual respect; whereas unhealthy and low-quality social relationships are those deemed toxic through stress and disrespect.

This essay will use the Johnson family. The Johnson household includes a 35 year old single mother of a 15 year old son. Mother, Yvonne, completed a bachelor degree in the marketing field. Yvonne after graduation was unable to find a marketing job locally instead she works full-time as an administrative assistant for a larger company. Yvonne is currently unsatisfied with her position as she feels overworked, over qualified, and underappreciated at her current company. Yvonne’s 15 year old son, Randall is a grade 10 athletic, who had been accepted as a starting position on the high school baseball team. In-between school and extracurricular activities, has a part-time job. Randal’s have regular contact and visits with his father and step-mother as they live in a neighbourhood nearby. The health and well-being of the Johnson family has to do with economic and social conditions known as social determinants of health (Kozier et al., 2014, p. 132-133). This paper will discuss three major social determinants of health that has affected the Johnson family which includes stress, and illness; employment and working conditions, and Health Services.

Education has an imperative correlation to health outcomes. The following presented case study will demonstrate an example of how the social determinants of health have a direct impact on health status. Mrs. Smith is a 68-year-old female who was bad a diagnosis of type I diabetes for 37 years. She has developed a pressure ulcer on her left foot, which has increasingly worsened and become necrotic in certain areas. She has had uncontrolled diabetes for many years and often does not prescribe to her medication regiment “because those things don’t really work anyways.” She often has difficulties self-administering her insulin doses or understanding which dosage she should take of the short-acting insulin. Additionally, she has had a poor

Social determinants of health are social, economic and physical factors that affect the health of individuals in any given population. There are fourteen social determinants of health but Income is perhaps the most important of these because it shapes living conditions, influences health related behaviors, and determines food security. In Canada, people with lower incomes are more susceptible to disease/ conditions, higher mortality rate, decreased life expectancy and poorer perceived health than people with high incomes. In numerous Canadian studies and reports, there has been more emphasis on health being based on an individual’s characteristics, choices and behaviours, rather than the role that income plays as a social determinant of health. Although Canada has one of the highest income economies in the world and is comprised of a free health care system, many low income families are a burden on the system because of the physical and mental health issues influenced by income insecurity. Low income individuals are heavier users of health care services because they have lower levels of health and more health problems than do people with higher incomes. This essay will address income as a social determinant of health in three key sections: what is known on the issue, why the issue is important and how can health and public policies address the issue. The main theme that runs through the essay is the income related health inequalities among low income groups compared to

A communicable disease chain is the mechanism by which an infective agent or pathogen is transmitted. The chain requires an infective agent, a source of infection, a mode of transmission and a host. An example of an infective agent could be bacteria, a virus, fungus, protozoan or helminth. The source of infective agents can be transmission from host to host, an infected human or animal, insects, soil or livestock. The mode of transmission is how the infective agent is carried from host to host. Transmission can be by air, ingestion or physical contact. To complete a life cycle or to replicate, the infective agent requires a host.

Mental health is defined as an individual’s optimal care in managing the stress of everyday life, through their own unique approach and can efficiently and successfully make vital contribution within the community they live in (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, 2013). Since a break in a person’s optimal mental state affects not only the individual but society, it is important to understand what it means to have a break in one’s state of mental health and the different categories that is associated with mental illness. Focus will also be paid to why there is a need for the reformation of the mental health act in Canada; the social determinants that is associated with mental health and their contribution to society’s health’s. Finally, focus also need to be placed on how mental health is being promoted to society the stigma generally associated with it.

In the last few years, nurses and other healthcare professionals (HCPs) are under the spotlight of the media and the public due to issues addressed in documents such as The Francis Report (2010). This is good in a sense though as it gives us the opportunity to better ourselves as HCPs and improve the standard of care for everyone. It is now a widely known idea that there are many different factors that affect our health and wellbeing not just biological factors as believed to be the case not very long ago when a biological view was taken when addressing a person's health. However, this has all changed for the better where now healthcare is individualised, holistic and takes in to account the individuals own circumstances i.e. the social determinants of health and wellbeing (social determinants), not a simple one size fits all approach. This essay is going to discuss some of these factors so that we can learn to reduce these inequalities in healthcare and make great healthcare more accessible to everyone. The factors that will be discussed are individual lifestyle choices, housing conditions and .

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.

Following on, it is highly important to understand the limits of promoting positive mental health can achieve. Positive mental health can be seen as protection and an advantage, especially among those with equal levels of resources. In other words, among poor children, those with higher levels of emotional wellbeing have better educational outcomes than their equally poor peers. Nonetheless, richer children tend to achieve more in education and employment regardless their emotional or cognitive