The Social Determinants of Health encompasses how one relates our current health care system to an individual’s health needs. These are measured through looking at different factors within an individual’s life. By first excessing ones age, sex and constitutional factors, a broader picture can be created expanding upon individual lifestyle factors, social and community networks, and finally general socio-economic, cultural and environment conditions (Cukier, 2014). Just a short glance is needed to see how numerous outside influences can have powerful effects on the level of health status an individual can attain. Universally Canada is known for its free health care, with the assumption that everyone is entitled to such a privilege. …show more content…
Income is one of the many influences, and quiet one of the most important social determinants of health (Mikkonen, Raphael, 2008, p.3). Effecting things such overall living conditions, psychological functioning, and influences health-related behaviours such as quality of diet, extent of physical activity, tobacco use, and excessive alcohol use, proving how critical income is when determining health status, especially when the individual has a disability . With research also showing how poor health is linked with having low literacy and little education, one can see how both income and education go hand in hand in an individual’s health (Cukier, 2014). This causes great concern for those persons with disabilities who fall into these unfortunate circumstances, creating even more of gap in health care inequality. Canada, outside of Korea, provides the lowest compensations and benefits to its citizens with disabilities (Mikkonen, Raphael, 2008, p.16). Material and social deprivation is often another secondary influence from poor income and education. It was found that the greater the deprivation, the less likely individuals and families are able to afford the basic requirements of health, or in this case care for their loved ones with disabilities (Mikkonen, Raphael, 2008, p.17). To better understand disabilities and there effect …show more content…
High quality health care is a basic human right, yet it was found that one third of individuals with a disability assessed their health status as fair to poor, compared to the three-fourths of individuals without disabilities assessing their health as excellent or very good (Berslin et al., 2009). Adding to the already tremendous obstacles to health care services, it was found that most health care providers did not have appropriate training and awareness, causing incorrect assumptions and stereotypes about people with disabilities, which can affect the quality of care resulting in inadequate and inappropriate care (Berslin et al., 2009). Examples of this could be as simple as the health care provider not providing reproductive care and counselling because they see individuals with disabilities as sexually inactive, to something as serious as not providing anesthesia due to assuming people with developmental disabilities do not feel pain (Berslin et al., 2009). This can cause extreme awkwardness, frustration and discomfort for individuals who experience this, damaging trust and making them less likely to seek out appropriate health care next time (Berslin et al., 2009). Limited transportation and accessibility can also prove to be a barrier to health care services. With facilities and a world in general not built for those with disabilities, it can be
Social determinants of health (SDOH) are increasingly becoming a major problem of Public Health around the World. The impact of resources and material deprivation among people and populations has resulted in an increase in mortality rate on a planetary scale. Social determinants of health are defined as the personal, social, economic and the environmental conditions which determines the health status of an individual or population (Gardner, 2013). Today’s society is characterized by inequalities in health, education, income and many other factors which as a result is becoming a burden for Public Health around the world. Research studies have shown that the conditions in which people live and work strongly influenced their health. Individuals with high levels of education and fall within the high income bracket turn to have stable jobs, live in the best neighborhood and have access to quality health care system than individuals who have low education and fall with the low income bracket. This paper is to explain different social determinants of health and how they play ...
Raphael, Dennis. Poverty in Canada: implications for health and quality of life. 2nd ed. Toronto: Canadian Scholars' Press Inc., 2011. Print.
...an, P., Egerter, S., & Williams, D. R. (2011). The social determinants of health: coming
Individuals experience different access to health-care depending on their social location. “A lack of access is illustrated by a person who has had an unmet health-care need for which he or she felt he or she had needed, but had not received, a health-care service in the past year” (Ives, Denov, & Sussman, 2015, p. 170). Health-care access in Canada is often unequally distributed, leaving vulnerable individuals unable to secure sufficient assistance. Changes in health-care delivery in Canada have affected individuals’ access to services. Vulnerable groups such as low-income, rural, and immigrant families experience pronounced difficulty adjusting to Canada’s health-care system.
Raphael, D. D. (2002). Poverty, Income Inequality and Health in Canada. CSJ Foundation for Research and Education, 1-32.
Pierre, N., Pollack, N., & Fafard, P. (2007). Health Policies and Trends for Selected Target Groups in Canada.
Disparities in cancer are caused by the complex interaction of low economic status, culture, and social injustice, with poverty playing the dominant role (Freeman, 2004). So I ask the question: Does socioeconomics impact a man’s prostate health?
According to the World Health Organisation (2017) the social determinants of health are defined as the conditions where people are born, grown, work and live, which also includes the health system. The social determinants of health determined populations health’s outcomes and therefore linked with health inequalities (WHO, 2017)
"Disability the facts." New Internationalist Nov. 2013: 20+. Advanced Placement Government and Social Studies Collection. Web. 27 May 2014.
Socio-economic class or socio-economic status (SES) may refer to mixture of various factors such as poverty, occupation and environment. It is a way of measuring the standard and quality of life of individuals and families in society using social and economic factors that affect health and wellbeing ( Giddens and Sutton, 2013). Cockerham (2007 p75) argues: ‘Social class or socioeconomic status (SES) is the strongest predictor of health, disease causation and longevity in medical sociology.’ Research in the 1990s, (Drever and Whitehead, 1997) found out that people in higher SES are generally healthier, and live longer than those in lower SES.
Social Determinants of health is the “conditions in which people are born, live, work and age that affect their health” Healthypeople.gov. (2017). Social Determinants of Health | Healthy People 2020. [online] Available at: https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/social-determinants-of-health [Accessed 22 Sep. 2017]. The determinants of health are important because it helps create policies to make changes, as well as improving public health conditions by addressing the different health outcomes an individual can face and improving the need for healthier conditions. Healthy People 2020 organizes the determinants of health in both a social and physical determinant which has an impact on health.
Gavin Turrell, B. F. (1999). Socioeconomic Determinants of Health:Towards a National Research Program and a Policy and Intervention Agenda. Brisbane: Queensland University of Technology.
Social determinants of health has been a large topic for many years and can have a positive and negative effect on individuals, families and communities. (World Health Organisation, 2009) The social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age, including the health system. These circumstances are shaped by the distribution of money, power and resources at global, national and local levels, which are themselves influenced by policy choices. Social determinants have many factors and in this essay education will be the main social determinant of health discussed and how this could have an impact on the physical and mental sides of health.
The health of an individual and their communities is affected by several elements which combine together. Whether an individual is healthy or not, is determined by their circumstances and environment.1 To a greater extent, factors such as where an individual lives, their relationships with family and friends, the state of their environment, income, genetics and level of education all have significant impacts on health, however the more frequently considered factors such as access and use of health care facilities regularly have less of an impact.6 Determinants of health is a term which was introduced in the 1970s as part of a broader analysis of research and policy on public health. Researchers argued that there was a lot of attention and too much expenditure on health being dedicated to individuals and their illnesses, and little or no investment in populations and their health. It was decided that public health should be more concerned with social policies and social determinants than with health facilities and the outcomes of diseases.7 The determinants of health include social and economic environment, physical environment and an individual’s behaviour and characteristics. The environment of an individual determines their health, holding responsible an individual for having poor health or acknowledging them for good health is inappropriate. Individuals are not likely to be able to control several of the determinants of health. These determinants that make individuals healthy or not include the factors above, and numerous others.6
Because of the ambiguity of the definition, there is a requirement to have the social model to help to provide the answers. As the social model illustrates how the social institutions, labels, and stereotypes impact the perceived abilities of a disabled person, it is shown that the definitions of what is “normal”, “good”, and “functional” all come from the current society in which the person lives. Additionally, as culture and these definitions change with time and new ideologies and technological advances, what defines a disabled person will also change with time. This is also true across cultures as there may be different requirements to be considered “functional” or in good health in other cultures. For instance, a man unable to walk may not be as hindered in his freedom of movement if he is only required to stay in a small local area, such as a village, in comparison to a large city. However, it is also important to point out that the social model requires the medical model as well because the social model fails to focus on the individual at a more micro level. A person may see others in a similar circumstance and react in a different