Case Study Of Social Determinants Of Health

Introduction The social determinants of health are the life conditions of individuals that influence their overall health status. In ideal circumstance the determinants will positively impact an individual’s health, but if the social determinants occur in unfavorable variations they will serve as barriers instead. This paper will draw reference on this subject matter from the case study of Ann and Madie, a lesbian couple from rural Nova Scotia. The aim of this paper is to explore the ways in which the social determinants of health act as both reinforcements and deterrents in the health care system, as well as explore the ways in which the indicated deterrents can be mitigated.

Reinforcements

The social determinants of health are often viewed

This element in their lives involves many of the determinants of health including, gender identity, sexual orientation, culture, biology and genetic endowment, social environments, and social support. On its own gender identity issues are a major deterrent within the health care system, as many transgendered individuals feel like their identity is not included in the health care they receive. This is largely due to the heteronormative categorization tendencies used in health care, as evidenced by the fact that “rarely do health questionnaires or interviews contain questions that would identify people along a transgender continuum” (Eliason, 2014), instead the options provided are generally female or male. This causes problems for transgendered individuals, like Madie, who are not able to express their identity, or feel their identity is unwelcomed and unsupported, in a health care setting. Transgender identity issues in health care also involve the determinant of biology and genetic endowment. Biology and genetic endowment described as one’s predisposition to certain diseases (Waldron, 2017a), which includes predispositions related to the sex of an individual. This can be problematic for transgendered individuals as the conditions they are at risk for due to their birth gender are in conflict with how they identify themselves, making it a difficult

This issue can be solved by shifting the way diseases are categorized in health care. Placing gender identities on a continuum, rather than grouping them, will promote a more inclusive health care environment. An example of this would be to remove the male or female check boxes off medical surveys and questionnaires, and instead leave a spot for individual’s to write in what best describes their gender identity. In addition to that, to relieve the stress on individuals whose genetic endowment does not match their identity, it would be beneficial to cease categorizing illnesses as male or female, but rather associate them simply with the organ involved rather than a