Frameworks and Key Themes of SDOH Flashcards
What is the definition of health according to the World Health Organization?
Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity
What are the three key aspects of health as defined by the text?
- Individual right
- Social justice issue
- Public good
What is health equity?
The absence of unfair and avoidable or remediable differences in health among population groups defined socially, economically, demographically or geographically
Why is the notion of ‘equity’ in health important?
- Not blaming low-income individuals for poor health
- Supplying clean water for everyone
- Improving health for everyone and reducing inequalities
- Emphasizing health as a topic of social justice
What are the main drivers of health inequities?
- Health care
- Social circumstances & environmental exposure
- Health behaviour patterns
- Socioeconomic factors
- Genetics
What percentage of health status is impacted by social circumstances and environmental exposure?
45%
What are the five factors explaining the gap in health status?
- Income Security & Social Protection
- Social and Human Capital
- Health Service
- Employment & Working Conditions
- Living Conditions
What are the social determinants of health?
The conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age, shaped by the distribution of money, power and resources at various levels
What is the life course perspective in health?
It explicitly recognizes the importance of time and timing in understanding causal links between exposures and outcomes within an individual life course
What does the ‘critical periods’ model suggest?
An exposure in a critical period results in permanent and irreversible damage or disease
What does the ‘accumulation of risk’ model imply?
Disadvantages and risks accumulate over time
What is the psychosocial theory (non-material conditions)
Perception and experience of personal status in unequal societies leads to stress and poor health
Similar to minority stress as the observed deprivation, relative deprivation perceptions.
What is the materialist (neo-materialist) model?
Social production of disease/political economy approach - “fundamental causes”.
Economic and political determinants - context - are key and income and health inequalities begin with structural causes. Both a lack of resources at the individual and infrastructure level.
What is the ecosocial (multi-level) approach?
Integration of social and biological, historical, and ecological perspectives to look at the distribution of disease. Synergy and interrelatedness.
What are the three components of the ecological approaches to health?
Host - personal behaviours, traits, genetic dispositions influencing the likelihood of disease.
Agents - biological, physical, and chemical causes of disease.
Environment - physical and social conditions that contribute to the development of disease.
How does “social position” explain health inequalities?
- Social contexts create stratification and assigns different positions.
- Social stratification engenders differential exposure to health damaging conditions and differential vulnerability.
- Differential consequences of ill health for more or less advantaged groups.
