Health Inequalities Flashcards
What are health inequalities?
Unfair and unavoidable differences in health across a population and between different age groups
Arise because of conditions in which we are born, grow, live work and age
Influence opportunities for good health and how we think and act
Shapes mental and physical health
What are the 2 ways to measure inequality?
Socio-economic status index: individual/ household level
Geographical residential area
Health index: life expectancy, infant mortality, level of diagnosed illness (Cambridge multimorbidity score), rates of disease (especially preventable)
What is the National Statistics Socio-economic Classification?
Measures individual inequality
Classifies job roles into 8 categories based on levels of training/ education, responsibilities
Allows measurement of employment relations and conditions according to job type, used to describe class
What is the index of multiple deprivation?
Measures inequality geographically
Calculated from census data, at a small fixed scale
Uses 7 domains, income, employment, health/ disability, education/ training, barriers to housing/services, living environment and crime
1st decile= most deprived etc
Describe the role of homelessness in health inequality
Trimorbidity: physical and mental ill-health and substance abuse
Difficulty accessing GP / ongoing treatment
More exposure-based illness
Poorer outcomes after treatment
Describe the Artefact explanation of the black report
Trends in health inequality are an artefact of the measurement systems used
Misleading conclusions
Describe the social selection explanation of the black report
People with ill health decrease in social status and vice versa
People with ill health cluster in lower socioeconomic groups
Misleading conclusions
Describe the behavioural-cultural explanation of the black report
Health inequalities result from clustering of health-compromising behaviours in lower socioeconomic groups
Largely down to choice, knowledge and long-term goals
Some merit, still misleading
Describe the material explanation of the black report
Health inequalities are inevitable consequences of inequalities in social structure and wealth distribution
Most plausible, still a bit simplistic
Describe the psychosocial explanation
Psychosocial factors affect outcomes
“Social gradient” of psychosocial factors
What is the inverse care law?
Healthcare is least available in areas with the highest need
Due to higher needs in disadvantaged populations, lack of GPS and lower CQC ratings
Describe the income distribution explanation
Relative income affects health
Communities with greater income inequalities have greater health inequalities
Reducing inequality improves health
