1 - Health and Improvement Flashcards
What is health improvement?
Action aimed at improving the health of the population.
Action to prevent the development of clinical conditions to maintain good health
Action to mitigate the impact of existing conditions and improve quality of life
Emphasis on reducing inequalities in health
Action on the modifiable causes of disease
Action upstream of the problem before people become unwell
What are the key concepts of health improvement?
The wider determinants of health, especially what is meant by the social determinants of health.
Inequalities in health and inequities in health/access to healthcare.
Frameworks to understand actions to improve health – ladder of interventions; levels of prevention; behaviour change techniques.
Health improvement is about taking a step back and thinking – not how can I treat this person but why did this person become ill in the first place and how can I stop others like them getting to this point
Idea of health improvement: myocardial infarction
Immediate cause: an interruption to the oxygenated blood supply to the heart muscle
BUT
Cause of this interruption?
–> Could be rupture of cholesterol plaques that have deposited on artery walls
Cause of deposition of cholesterol plaques? –> high cholesterol, high-fat diet, smoking, lack of exercise
What causes someone to taken in a high fat diet?
What are the risk factors for heart attack?
Age Family history Smoking High blood pressure High blood cholesterol or triglyceride levels Obesity Diabetes Sedentary lifestyle Stress
A lot of these are modifiable risk factors
Wider determinants of health:
a) individual factors
b) social and community factors
c) general socioeconomic, cultural and environmental factors
a) eat too much of wrong type of food and don’t move very much
b) isolated and lonely so eats for comfort or cultural expectations of particular type of diet
c) also means has less money and prioritises high calorie filling and cheap food. May live in an area where no access to good quality fruit and veg (food desert). May not have the facilities or the knowledge to cook from scratch. The area may not be conducive to exercise (no green space, dangerous…)
How has life expectancy changed over the years?
As a population, we are living longer
Gap in life expectancy between men and women slowly decreasing – mortality is falling faster in men than women thought to be due to decreases in smoking and mortality from cardiovascular disease.
How does deprivation affect life expectancy?
More deprived –> lower life expectancy
N.B. not only do you not live as long, you spend more of a percentage of that life in ill health.
What are health inequalities?
Systematic differences in health status, life expectancy, mortality and morbidity between different groups
What can cause health inequalities?
Socio-economic status – e.g. income
Geography – e.g. region
Specific characteristics – e.g sex, ethnicity or disability
Socially excluded groups – e.g. people experiencing homelessness or those seeking asylum
What is the ‘Ladder of Interventions’?
Can be used to promote positive lifestyle changes.
Ranges fro ‘Do nothing’ to ‘restrict/eliminate choice’ (e.g. making smoking illegal)
