Unnatural Causes: In Sickness And In Health

In the movie Unnatural Causes: In Sickness and in Wealth, it compared the lives of four individuals, Taylor, Young, Anderson, and Turner, in different locations, race, and socioeconomic background. The scale of difference between this group of people is that it goes from financially stable and healthy individuals to individuals with lower income and poorer health. This wealth-health gradient reflects that those who have easier access to healthier lifestyles (i.e. running outside without the concern of safety) are more likely to have a higher life expectancy than those who are in living environments that are not as developed and lack healthier options of nutrition. The difference of the average life expectancy scaled down from Jim Taylor whose neighborhood had an average life expectancy of 80 years, Young’s 75.3 years,

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 geographic-level aspects involve a range of dimensions, ranging from physical characteristics of the area – such as location and climate (Bloom and Sachs 1998, APUD Wagstaff, 2001), to the infrastructure offered (Macintyre et. al., 2002) such as health services (quantity and quality), sanitation, water supply, roads, and so forth. One interesting hypothesis is that the presence of favorable aspects, like low crime rates, street cleanness and lightening, recreation places, among other “amenities” in the region under analysis mitigate the effects of unfavorable individual circumstances over health; whereas the adverse ones, such as pollution, lack of sanitation or low accessibility to urban facilities, amplify the already perverse influence of deprived individual characteristics on health status (Macintyre et. al., 2002; Kennedy et al., 1998). In California, for instance, Haan, Kaplan and Camacho (1987) found that people from poor areas experienced higher mortality rates (after controlling proper age, race and sex) than the population from non-poverty areas. Such risk of death persisted even after socioeconomic and behavioral adjustments. Similar findings have been reported by Humphries and Carr-Hill (1991); Jones and Duncan (1995) and Duncan et.al. (1993), supporting the hypothesis of the social environment´s influence over health, independently of the individual-level.

Image: Index of health and social factors – life expectancy; maths and literacy; infant mortality; homicides; imprisonment; teenage births; trust; obesity; mental illness, including drug and alcohol addiction; and social mobility – relative to income inequality. (Wilkinson and Pickett, 2009).

The starting point of violence takes place in communities and at home--not at school. Youth take what they hear and see at home and in their communities to school. The environment in some communities and households are positive and the presences of protective factors outweigh the high risk factors. However, there are communities and households where there is a lack of informal social control and high risk factors exist more than protective factors--, which affect youth in a negative manner.

This video made a lot of sense to me because not having a job can stress out you all types of ways. If a person has no source of income, no provide food, have shelter, and pay bills this causes stress. The health disparities in this video are from the employees being laid off, more ER visit was made from the stress which causes chronic diseases to form. The employees had to watch their expenses and buy cheaper food or find another way to work but for lower income. What is the job status of all employees that got laid off? Did the employees find other work? Did they have to settle for a lower income job? Some of their programs consist of employment fairs now, the unemployment checks, and in the video if they were going to school they received more money.

Health care professional, patients, families, and policy makers all struggle to understand how health is affected by behavior, economic and social structure and provided the knowledge to improve the health status of individuals and populations. Our health is affected by behaviors, economics, and social structure. Many behaviors and lifestyle patterns affect our health, such as: exposure to violence, vehicular accidents, alcohol, drugs, and infectious agents (Williams/Torrens). According to our textbook (Williams/Torrens), alcohol, tobacco and illicit drug use creates several of problems that affect our health and society.

neighborhood segregation, and other environmental factors within communities. The World Health Organization defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”.

The difference in health outcomes and the determinants between parts of a population caused by social, demographic, environmental and geographic characteristics is defined as health disparities (Dore & Eisenhardt,2015). Societal, economic, and political forces impact social determinants. (Dore & Eisenhardt, 2015) have indicated that health inequities are avoidable and preventable when appropriate actions are taken to lower the risk of illness.

Contrary to what many people believe, America’s health status is not quite “up-to-par,” to say the least. Over forty-seven million people in the United States lack health insurance; that is more than 15% of our nation’s population! At first this disturbing truth seems impossible to believe, being as America is one of the most technologically advanced and economically developed countries in the world. “We spend trillions of dollars per year on medical care. That’s nearly half of all the health dollars spent in the world. But we’ve seen our statistics. We live shorter, often sicker lives than almost every other industrialized nation. “We rank 30th in [global] life expectancy” (Adelman 2008). Knowing this brings rise to the question: why are

Racial and ethnic health disparities plays a significant role when it comes to those living in a what is considered a low- economic community because people are more susceptible to poor air quality, high blood pressure related to stress, and violence. Inaccessibility to healthy foods forces people to have to eat unhealthy and struggle with the risk that can lead to obesity or high cholesterol down the road (Noonan, A et al ,2016). Also social racism with having limited income, and education can cause people to act out in a negative way due to being frustrated and can cause one to act out in a violent way which can cause a spike in crime. So much can be done to strengthen low economic communities such as re-opening schools in the neighborhood,

Social locations and societal makeup of neighborhoods and communities undoubtedly influences local incidence and perception of health and illness. The many ramifications of “social location” such as education level, poverty, and targeted institutional and social prejudice construct the fabric of the morbidity and mortality that we see in minority populations (the heterogeneous amalgam of race/ethnic, gender, sexual orientation, political, and economic minorities). Factors such as access to healthcare, health education, community cleanliness and pollution, willingness to seek care, and fear of discrimination can partially explain health care disparities as they relate to such populations. I think a good way to approach the topic of vulnerability

A major influence on health in a community is the availability of services and opportunities within the neighborhood. Public health can be further influenced by the social environments. Accessibility to health care along with education and employment opportunities are fundamental factors to be considered (Riegelman & Kirkwood, 2015). These elements create both advantages and disadvantages for those living within the neighborhood. If we want to improve public health outcomes, we must consider and evaluate these along with many other contributing factors.

According to Nies & McEwen, many of today’s health challenges are different from those of the past and include behaviors and risks linked to the leading causes of death such as heart disease, injuries, and cancer. In the suburb that I live in there has been no violence reported by students in the school system that my daughter is a fifth grade teacher. I think the locale of the school system can increase potential risk for violence. In the school system that my daughter is a teacher she says that they deal more with behavior problems and lack of parental involvement in the child’s progress. There are more students that are being treated with mental illness at such an early age. She had one child that was diagnoses as a bipolar. There have been several cases of child abuse that she has had to report. She feels a

This essay will discuss ways in which a person’s socioeconomic class and his/her social situation can have an impact on his/her health, using examples. We believe that there is a direct link between socioeconomic/social class and health (Adler et al. 1994). I will be defining the key terms: socioeconomic and health, social class then proceed to discuss about how poverty, income, employability, environment and housing can impact on a person’s social situation and their health.