Module 3: Identifying Determinants of Determinants of PopHlth Flashcards
What is socio-economic position (SEP)
The social and economic factors that influence what positions individuals or groups hold within the structure of a society
Socio-economic position aka…
Socioeconomic status
Social class
Social stratification
All have diff theoretical bases and interpretations
Socio-economic determinants must be…
Objective
Measurable
Meaningful
Purpose of measuring SEP
Quantify level of inequality within or between societies
Highlight changes to pop structures over time, e.g. between Census periods and generations
Help understand relationship between health and other social variables
Types of SEP measurements for individuals
Education Income Occupation Housing Assets and wealth
Types of SEP measurements for populations
Area measures:
- Deprivation
- Access
Population measures:
- Income inequality
- Literacy rates
- Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita
SEP: Dahlgren & Whitehead Model - Individual lifestyle factors
YOUR education, occupation, income You and the decisions you make influence your opportunities: Education --> knowledge Income --> material goods Occupation --> status, power
SEP: Dahlgren & Whitehead Model - Social and community influences
Your parents’ education, occupation, income etc
Commonly used to measure SEP in studies of children and adolescents
Some evidence that parents’ SEP is associated with individuals’ SEP
SEP: Dahlgren & Whitehead Model - Living and working conditions
Area-based measures of SEP:
- NZ Index of Deprivation (NZDep) - most common in NZ
- Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) - allows you to explore drivers of area deprivation
Other measures e.g. social fragmentation and accessibility indices:
- difference between potential and realised access
Define deprivation
A state of observable and demonstrable disadvantage relative to the local community, wider society or nation to which an individual, family or group belongs
Area-level deprivation measurement
Measures people’s relative position in society, but reports this based on where they live, not who the people are themselves
Focuses on material deprivation - refers to what residents living in particular areas don’t have (deficit model – easier to ask than what people have)
What should deprivation be applied to
Conditions and quality of life that are of a lower standard than is ‘ordinary’ in a particular society
Deprivation – poverty
Living in poverty refers to a lack of income and resources to obtain the normative standard of living
Variables included in NZDep2013
Communication - people aged <65 with no access to internet at home
Income - people aged 18-64 receiving a means tested benefit
Income - people living in equivalised households with income below an income threshold
Employment - people aged 18-64 unemployed
Qualifications - people aged 18-64 without any qualifications
Owned home - people not living in own home
Support - people aged <65 living in a single parent family
Living space - people living in equivalised households below a bedroom occupancy threshold
Transport - people with no access to a car
Equivalisation
Methods used to control for household composition
A form of standardisation
Deciles and quintiles
Deciles: 10 groups
Quintiles: 5 groups
Least deprived of pop = 1, most deprived = 10
SEP: Dahlgren & Whitehead Model - General socio-economic, cultural and environmental conditions
Group populations with similar SEP levels together
Cross sectional or longitudinal studies
NZ Census mortality study
Integrated Data Infrastructure
SEP: Dahlgren & Whitehead Model - Global determinants
Income inequality
National income - GDP
Literacy rates
Free trade agreements – how well our economy is veering between diff markets and how that relates to health outcomes
Causes of causes: access to health care
Belonging to a marginalised group --> Discrimination --> Access to education --> Educational attainment --> Employment status --> Income --> Access to health care
Equivalised households
Demonstrates differences between a 2 person and 20 person household
Population data - measures (trends in)…
Births
Mortality/deaths (all-cause, cause-specific)
Morbidity/illness (general, specific condition)
Migration
Population data - can be applied to…
Unemployment/benefit claimants/pensions
Crime (broad and detailed classes of offence)
Health service utilisation (where to provide and who uses them)
Voter turnout, political party voted for
Education pathways
Main pop data sources for epidemiology
The Census Estimated Resident Populations (ERP) Vital events Health service utilisation and outcomes (HSU) Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI) Nationally representative surveys Ad hoc surveys
Data source - Census
Traditionally, people were employed as ‘enumeration officers’ to contact individual households to ensure census data collection:
- deliver and collect census form
- check fully completed
- country divided into small areas (meshblocks) with ~100 people on average - designed to be manageable for enumeration officers
2018: went online