Week 11: Health status and inequalities Flashcards
What is the world health organisations definition of health?
Health is a state of physical, mental and social well-being. It involves more than just the absence of disease or infirm
How can we assess individual health status?
Subjective health
Daily physical symptoms
Chronic health conditions - ‘in the past 12 months has a dr diagnosed you with any chronic conditions?’
Are all self-report based
What forms of cancer screening is there?
Breast cancer
Cervical cancer
Bowel cancer
What procedures are used for breast cancer screening?
There are free, 2 yearly screening mammograms for women aged 40 and over
What procedures are used for cervical cancer screening?
National Cervical Screening Program, pap smear for women aged 20-69
What procedures are used for bowel cancer screening?
2-yearly screening to all Australians aged 50-74
Are there any gender differences in seeing a medical professional?
Men tend to not be willing to see a medical professional - women are more willing
What is a limitation to these government-based screening procedures?
Although they are given opportunities, not everyone uses them.
What does ‘health doesn’t happen in a bubble’ mean?
There are things outside of our control - eg. living in a poor country and experiencing famine - it is not relevant to ask if they consume a balanced diet
Explain the flint water crisis in michigan?
There was a change in their local pipe system in order to safe money, however caused high levels of lead to contaminate the water. The government assured them that this was safe.
50% of people are still too scared to use unfiltered water after 5 years - remnants of this will be around for years
What does the Flint water crisis tell us about intergenerational affects?
Children may have drunk this water, doesn’t leave the body - may cause distrust in government
What health impact does this flint water crisis have?
Lead is toxic and stays in the body
What is the diabetes belt?
Refers to geographical location in united states - individuals who live in this belt are more likely to have type 2 diabetes than people who live in other parts of the untied states.
- However a limitation to this is that diabetes may be under-reported in poorer states (might not be able to afford medical attention and diagnosis)
Disadvantaged location and breast feeding babies?
People in disadvantaged regions are less likely to breastfeed their babies
Are there any infant gender differences in breast feeding rates?
Female babies are less likely to be breastfed
Does disadvantage have anything to do with likeliness to smoke?
If you’re poorer, you are more likely to be a regular smoker
And the gaps between groups seems to be widening as well
Are there any gender-based differences in smoking rates? why?
Yes. There is an identifiable reduction in female smokers - may be because campaigns work better for females
What trends are seen in geographical location and obesity?
There is an overall increase in obesity regardless of location, however, poorer people are more likely to be obese
As people get older, what do we see?
A stabilisation or improvement in subjective well being
There is an increase in subjective wellbeing with age in richer countries - is this the same for poorer countries?
No - unfortunately in poorer countries, subjective wellbeing seems to decline with age
What does inequality do?
Weakens the social fabric, damages health and increases crime rates
What are the differences between the direct and indirect influences we have on our health?
Direct - how we take care of our body (eg. smoke, drink, eat well)
Indirect - influences that are not directly under our control (eg. gender, socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, wealth)
Explain chronic condition onset in different classes
For poor and working class - chronic conditions are typically greater at an earlier age
What causes early onset of conditions in the poor or working class?
Poor nutrition, housing and healthcare access
How can education stop the early onset of conditions of poor or working class individuals?
When better education, more likely to eat better and have better health care as well as being less likely to smoke
Tobacco taxes have been implemented to discourage smoking - this doesn’t work as it was planned to. Explain
Government claims it will encourage people to quit due to being unable to afford it anymore. Instead, it adds to the hardship that they and their children experience.
3 out of 4 people on income support are spending a seventh of their income on cigarettes
What are higher levels of discrimination associated with?
A broad range of diseases - black people are likely to die prematurely, discrimination in medical care, as well as residential segregation impacting on access to healthcare
Which racial group have the highest mortality rate?
African Americans - young african americans are 2x more likely to die
Also 20x more likely to have high blood pressure and 7x more likely to be victims of homicide
What are the health problems among differing races and ethnicities related to?
Poverty
Low levels of education
Cultural differences
Less likely to have health insurance
What percentage of Australians population were born overseas?
29.7% - a diverse, multicultual range of people living in Aus
What is the definition for socioeconomic status?
A person’s position “in a system of social stratification that differentially allocates the major resources enabling people to achieve health and other desired goals
Explain how education is at the start of the socioeconomic positioning process
Education leads to employment or occupational possibilities, which determines income - determining wealth
What is income really?
It is related to a person’s ability to generate wealth (assets etc)
What are the affects of acculturation?
Less acculturation makes one more likely yo have physical and mental health problems
Why are minorities commonly diagnoses at later stages of conditions?
May be due to less access to high-quality health care and health insurance
Explain cumulative disadvantages
Living in unfavourable conditions (poverty, polluted areas) early in life has very likely consequences for health in later life
Disadvantages accrue overtime leading to increasingly poorer health - early investment in health pays off
What are the effects of stress?
More stress makes someone more likely to get ill
What are some causes of stress for older adults?
Death of spouse/close family member
Moving to assisted living
Finance
Retirement (if not wealthy to begin with, retirement may cause a lot of stress)
This is potentially why the health gap widens over a persons life time
How many Australian’s have a disability?
1 in 5 - yet isn’t a priority in the health system
What basic essentials do those with a disability struggle to obtain?
Somewhere to live
Work
Health care
What are the 4 main types of disability?
Physical
Sensory
Psychological
Intellectual
Disability is complex - what is something that people can be disabled by that isn’t thought of?
Society can disable people
Those with disabilities have a high level os psychological distress - how much?
25% - compared to 5% in the general population
What interferes with adequate health care access for those with disabilities?
Lack of transport, poor communication and discrimination
What percentage of homeless people are disabled and why might this be the case?
64% - commonly fall out of home ownership due to the costs of disability
What percentage of women with intellectual disabilities have been sexually abused?
90%
How much more likely are those with disabilities to experience violence?
1.5x more likely
What is something that disabled parent experience?
Discrimination in the child protection system - much higher risk of having children removed even if there is no evidence of inadequate parenting
Income and disability?
Generally have lower incomes with 45% living on or near the poverty line even if they have the same levels of education - because of discrimination and lack of social connection
