Socioecological Framework Case Study

There are several factors, however, that can increase a person's risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Primary concern and cause of type 2 diabetes is obesity or overweight, people over the normal weight baseline of the BMI spectrum. America has always been known as the country that is two/thirds obese and many of American habits contribute to the following daily bad decisions that seem related to type 2 diabetes. Poor eating habits are the number one cause of obesity and type 2 diabetes, choosing to eat bad food and lots of soda can have tremendous effects on your weight and glucose intake. Watching too much television (T.V.) is another related issue towards diabetes, most likely eating snacks while watching your favorite show or movies. Physical inactivity causes the body to have a high blood glucose causing diabetes; muscles use the glucose through physical activity by helping the hormone insulin absorb glucose into all your body cells. Your muscles use glucose better than it uses fat. Sleeping habits such as sleeping less than 5 hours or more than 9 hours a night can affect the body’s balance of insulin and increase the demand on the pancreas to make it. Lastly, genetics has played a big role in determining if a person is at risk for type 2 diabetes. Your risk is higher if your brother, sister, or parent have type 2 diabetes. Genetics is a factor that is out of our control and it is

In simple terms, an individual’s health very much depends on factors which are out of their control. While these factors are highly numbered, I will discuss the most influential aspects which affect our overall health. Various studies have documented the certain relationship between these social determinants of health and it has been evaluated and continuously studied over the years.

“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

Many studies have examined the link between poverty and diabetes. The CDC (2015b) have identified the following as primary factors that lead an individual to have an increased risk of developing diabetes: being overweight or obese; having a parent or sibling with diabetes; having African American, American Indian, Asian American, Pacific Islander, or Hispanic American/Latino heritage; having a history of gestational diabetes; having blood pressure measuring 140/90 or higher; abnormal cholesterol; and being physically inactive.

Lifestyle choices and behaviours are amongst the factors that are most easily controlled by the individual themselves. It is our choice to smoke, eat foods that are high in sugar and fat and not exercise. These are three of the leading factors that can cause coronary heart disease (N.Gledhill, personal communication, 2004) and yet thousands of people continue to do it because they are not aware, nor have they been informed, of the negative effects simple lifestyle behaviours can have on ones body. If one is not educated about certain facts and insights, how are they expected to make an informed, or even a wise, decision? Therefore, a lack of education has a strong influence on the health of an individual for the reason that they are unable to make proper and healthy lifestyle choices. A study conducted on the association between educational attainment and other determinants of health on the elderly yielded results that showed:

Type II diabetes is a disease that affects millions of people in the United States and is also a disease that is continually growing in numbers. The cost of the individual and national health care systems is also a number that is growing. Policy for prevention of diabetes and pre-diabetes is something that while has changed some in the past, has been basically the same for the past 20-25 yeas. This disease affects many throughout the country, but effects those in the middle and lower classes due to the cost of eating healthier being greater than the alternative and also due to the fact that these groups are less likely to go for routine health care.

Diabetes is a metabolic disease and caused by high blood sugar level over a long period of time. It generally occurs when pancreas fail to produce enough insulin. Symptoms of diabetes include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased hunger. There are three forms of Diabetes. Type I Diabetes Mellitus, Type II Diabetes Mellitus and gestational diabetes. It is a growing epidemic and apart from the economic burden, diabetes inflicts severe societal costs in terms of decreased quality of life of people afflicted with diabetes. Social determinants of health are defined as surroundings in which people are born, live, spend their life and grow old (Healthy People 2020). The association of social determinants with disparities is important

Environmental barriers, such as, not having access to healthy food can have an adverse impact on a person health, especially if their lives are further complicated by a chronic illness. For instant, diabetes which is a disease that affects at least 16 million Americans; African Americans and Latinos are the groups that are affected the most, as compared to the White population (Horowitz, Colson, Hebert & Lancaster, 2004). African Americans and Latinos are more likely to have more complications due to diabetes as well as a higher mortality rate (Horowitz et al., 2004). Some populations of people are prone to having a high prevalent rate of diabetes; therefore, research done at a community level is necessary to help figure out why

In the assigned reading article, researchers propose that minority populaces are at higher risk for diabetes than the social majority. This risk is directly linked to a decreased sense of educational attainment and high levels of

Most of the individuals living with Type 2 Diabetes in these low income areas know they have to eat healthier foods in order to control the illness and reduce the risk of getting worse, but they are often confounded by the distance they had to travel in order to buy the healthier foods from the health market, unaffordable prices of buying a healthier nutritious food, and the means of travel to get to the market. Chaufan, Davis, & Constantino (2011), noted that disproportionate risk is caused by living conditions, because living conditions are not natural facts but rather the product of policy decision distributing societal benefits and burdens. The prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes health and lifestyle education programs can be useful in

The entire concept of diabetes is about living on the edge of trouble. While Type 1 Diabetes is a biological condition associated with a fundamental flaw in the way one's body produces or reacts to insulin a substance that controls and monitors sugar in the blood and cells Type 2 Diabetes is a social and cultural condition. Those most likely groups of people to have to live with it are persons of non-white nationalities (increasingly Hispanics and Asians) who live at or below the US poverty level and/or who have not achieved a very high level of educational advancement (California Department of Public Health, 2010). And in places like San Diego County, California, this puts a major number of people, young and old, quite literally on the border of health and wellness disasters.

According to the article African American men “, bears a greater burden of type 2 diabetes,” (325). Diabetes is known to have an effect on the individual’s socially, economic and culturally. These factors may include reason as to why diabetes is more prevalent in the males of the African American communities. The article details three main points in which African American men are effected. “ males seek medical care less frequently and at a later point in the course of illness; males generally pay less attention to their diet; and males more often engage in risky behaviors including smoking, alcohol abuse , violence and unsafe driving,”(324). These factors may also include the lack of education and awareness about such disease but also the

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

Studies have shown that the social and built environment can play an important role in the development of type 2 diabetes and self-care behaviors (Christine et al., 2015; Gebreab et al., 2017; Pasala, Rao, & Sridhar, 2010; Sidawi & Al-Hariri, 2012; Smalls, Gregory, Zoller, & Egede, 2014; Winkleby & Cubbin, 2003). Social environment includes factors such as safety, violence, social disorder, social cohesion, and collective efficacy of the neighborhood (National Research Council (US) et al., 2013). Whereas, the built environment can be defined as “environments that are modified by humans, including homes, schools, workplaces, highways, urban sprawls, accessibility to amenities, leisure, and pollution” (Pasala et al., 2010, p. 63). Studies

Shifting the focus primarily to type 2 diabetes (also known as adult onset diabetes) studies shows that this type of diabetes accounts for 90% to 95% of all diagnosed cases of diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in Americans. In general the African American race with diabetes is 77% higher compared to Caucasians. (Edelman, p. 256). Some risk factors for type 2 diabetes but not limited to are being overweight or obese, not exercising regular and poor nutritional factors which are all modifiable. Diabetes Type 2 correlates with African American lifestyle primarily from poor nutrition.