Unit 1 Flashcards
What are the social determinants of health?
- Neighborhood and built environment
- Health and Health care
- Social and community context
- Education
- Economic stability
What are the variables that lead to disease? (Conventional model of health and disease)
Internal factors x External factors = disease
What are internal factors?
innate characteristics of an individual, typically unmodifiable such as age, sex, genetics
What are external factors?
Environmental factors and non-innate individuals characteristics and often modifiable.
What are some environmental factors that are usually not controlled by individuals
- lead in drinking water
- air pollution
- seatbelt law
What are some lifestyle factors that are determined by individual choice?
- physical activity
- sleep
- cancer screening behavior
What are medical care and personal care influenced by?
upstream determinants - they do not occur in a vacuum
Upstream
What has a direct effect on behaviors, morbidity and mortality
- macro level and include global forces and government policies
Social gradients in health provide clues to understanding what?
SDOH
What are some examples of neighborhood conditions
- access to healthy foods
- quality housing
- crime and violence
- environmental conditions
What are some examples of employment conditions
- heavy lifting
- unsafe conditions
- sedentary positions
- high stress/high demand/low control
- lack of workplace opportunities, resources and benefits
What are some examples of how education influences health
- high school graduation, enrollment in higher graduation and language/literacy –> higher health
- more education > more personal control
- more education > better employment
- more education > increased social support
what are some examples of economic stability
- poverty
- employment
- food security
- housing stability
What are some examples of social and community context
- social cohesion
- civic participation
- discrimination
- incarceration
Social factors are more likely to predict disease rather than what?
medical care
Midstream
v
Downstream
g
Health inequality
Differences in the health of individuals or groups without concern about moral judgement on whether observed differences are fair or just
Health inequity (health disparity)
A health inequality that denotes an unjust difference in health
- systematic differences in health that could be avoided by reasonable means
- unfair distribution of health risks and resources
What are 4 motives for studying health inequalities
- Striking differences in health still exists among (and within) countries today
- The persistence of health differences based on nationality, race/ethnicity, or other social factors raises moral concerns
- “Health as a Human Right” 1948
- UN’s Millennium Development Goals
What is the Utilitarian standpoint on health disparities
Between 2003-2006 alone, the direct economic cost of health inequalities based on race or ethnicity in the US was estimated at 230$ billion
- when direct costs (worker productivity) were factors into the calculations, the economic burden increase to 1.24 trillion
Where does health tend to be poorer?
in less equal societies, especially when inequality is measured at large geographic scales
How is social class measured?
as a gradient
What are the measures of social class?
- education attainment
- inequalities in the distribution of power or wealth
- ownership of assets
- social capital
Describe the framework for understanding health inequalities
- Cause pathways and conditional health effects
- Selection
- people have a tendency to sort themselves into groups - Context vs. composition
- contextual effect
- compositional effect - Life course perspective
Contextual effect
the influence a neighborhood or other type of unit has on people (schools, classrooms, hospitals)
Compositional effect
reflective of the characteristics of individuals that comprise the neighborhood
Why is the relationship between income and health hard to measure?
Is the observed effect a relationship between income and health OR a relationship between the things that income represents? (education, political stability, better diet, improved living conditions, etc.)
The relationship is between these variables is the problem collinearity
- which variable is actually creating the most impact?
- very difficult to measure
- is there plenty of money - or just not distributed equitably?
What is the Preston’s curve?
An empirical cross-sectional relationship that shows individuals born in richer countries can expect to live longer than those born in poor countries
At what point does the Preston curve flatten out?
The relationship flattens out at approximately 10,000 GDP per capita - at high levels of income, increased income has little associated change in life expectancy
What is Wilkinson’s theoretical synthesis
Income distribution is a marker of how unequal a society is
- income inequality measures the differences in social standing or social status
According to Wilkinson’s theoretical synthesis, those in lower income bracket will suffer from what?
stress, envy, inferiority, lack of self-esteem, etc.
According to Wilkinson’s theoretical synthesis, those with higher income have access to what?
Education, better housing, health care, employment, etc.
How does available income shape someones life?
Available income shapes a person’s opportunities, sense of their capabilities, diet, living conditions, etc.
What does the amount of disposable income a person has depend on?
Taxes and transfers
- tax credits, allowances, pensions, etc. (many of them based on household size)
- income taxes may be proportional (flat tax) or based on income (progressive tax)
How do government programs benefit the less well-off
Government programs that target the poor or disadvantaged disproportionately benefit the less well-off, narrowing the (income?) gap
Where are the distribution of benefits of public programs more progressive? Least progressive?
Most: Australia
Least: US
Public spending paid to people in the lowest income quintile, the bottom ___ of the income distribution
20% (Australia = 41.5%; US = 24.8%)
What is the life expectancy in Australia and US
Australia: 82.9
US: 78.5
Gini Coefficient
Most commonly used measure on income inequality
What does the scoring of the Gini Coefficient mean if the score is 0? 1?
A score of 0 would mean income is perfectly, evenly distributed
A score of 1 means that a single person has all the income in that society
Differences in health status have mostly to do with what?
Differences in health status have mostly to do with differences in the resources available to, and the related capacities of individuals
What is the single most powerful measure of resources and capabilities
income
Describe the gap between the rich and the poor
is continues to broaden
What is the connection between income inequality and health
Casual connection between income inequality and health
How society organizes its taxation system, programs, and services has a dramatic effect on what?
the income, inequality, and the number of children and adults in poverty
Which of the 5 domains of the SDOH does food insecurity fit into?
Economic stability
What are other topics that fall into the economic stability domain of SDOH
employment, food insecurity, housing stability, and poverty
High food security
no reported indications of food-access problems or limitations
Marginal food security
one or two reported indications (anxiety over food sufficiency and/or shortage of food in the house). Little or no indication of changes in diets or food intake
Low food security
reports of reduces quality, variety, or desirability of diet. Little or no indication of reduced food intake
Very low food security
Reports of multiple indication of disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake
How does the USDAs food and nutrition assistance program increase food security?
By providing low-income households access to food for a healthful diet and nutrition education
The USDA monitors efforts through a national, representative survey, what does it monitor through these surveys?
Household food insecurity, food expenditures, use of federal food and nutrition assistance programs (SNAP, National School Lunch Programs, and WIC)
What was the percentage of those who reported to be food insecure and food secure in 2017 through HOUSEHOLD reports
- 2% food secure
11. 8% food insecure
What is the percent of children who face food insecurity?
7.7% (in 2016 is was 8%)
Episodes of food insecurity are recurrent, not ___
Chronic
Explain the occurrence of food insecurity for about one-fourth of US households with very low food security
About one-fourth of US households with very low food security at any time during the year experienced the associated conditions rarely or occasionally - in only 1 or 2 months of the year
Explain the occurrence of food insecurity for about three-fourths of US households with very low food security
The conditions were recurrent, experienced in 3 or more months of the year
What were some rates in which food insecurity tended to be higher for?
a. households with incomes are or below the federal poverty line
b. all households with children particularly households with children headed by a single parent
c. women and men living alone
d. black and hispanic headed households
e. households in principal cities and nonmetropolitan areas
What is the prevalence of food insecurity among the lowest and highest state?
lowest - Hawaii (7.4%)
highest - New Mexico (17.9%)
Approximately 58% of food-insecure households reported that, in the previous month, they has participated in one or more of the three largest federal assistance programs; what were some of these programs?
- SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs)
- WIC (Nutrition program for Women, Infants and Children
- National School and Lunch Program
How much did the typical average food secure household spend for food compared to the typical food insecure household of the same size and composition
23% more for food
What are some examples of Food Assistance Programs?
- Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
- National School Lunch Program
- Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC)
- Office of Head Start
- Food Banks, Food Pantries
- Meal from the Heartland, Feeding America food network
What are three policies that ensure young children have reliable access to food
- increasing SNAP benefits by using alternative calculation method
- Increasing WIC age-eligibility from age 5 years to 6 years
- Expanding participation in school meal program by increasing the Community Eligibility Program (CEP) criteria