One Page Reflection Social Determinant Of Health
ANSWERS
Social determinants of health are important in understanding how people’s health patterns are shaped by their way of life and environment. These are linked to the population’s social and economic conditions and how they influence individual and group differences in health status (Saunders, Watanabe, & Wong, 2015). Because people have different social classes, they face other life challenges when dealing with issues that affect them. People are constrained by their living conditions because they shape how they afford health care and their health-seeking behavior. This essay reflects on the content of PUBH630 in terms of social determinants of health, how they relate to existing knowledge, and how they inform future practice.
I learned from the class content that social determinants of health could be applied globally because health issues exist worldwide. As a result of my research, I discovered that people’s responses to health are influenced by their surroundings in various ways. I learned from the habitation concept that the environment shapes people’s and communities health and well-being by promoting harmony and how Melbourne is organized (Frimpong, 2014). Every aspect of our environment impacts our health in some way. The housing approach is a safety indicator because it presents or reduces risks and hazards to which people are exposed.
According to my findings, income is the mother of all social determinants of health because it determines an individual’s ability to choose a safer environment that is less likely to expose them to hazards (Brcic, Ebert, & Kaczorowski, 2011). For example, those who can afford their own homes live in better conditions than those who rent. According to Zangerle (2016), people with higher incomes have greater control over the environment, resulting in better conditions that reduce any hazards that they may face within the environment in which they live. On the other hand, those who live in rented houses have fewer options because it is difficult for them to shape the environment the way they want. They face overcrowding, which increases mortality, noise pollution, and other hazards.
Furthermore, from a life course perspective, social determinants of health can be used to predict disease onset patterns because the social determinants in which people live add up to increase the likelihood of developing certain diseases. This is evident in WHO and CDC strategies for developing mechanisms to address specific health challenges (McNeil, Guirguis-Younger, Dilley, Turnbull, & Hwang, 2013). Heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and stroke are such diseases. Environmental studies and childhood antecedents of disease onset can be used to determine the prevalence of certain health diseases in some populations.
Because income influences the living conditions of people, I discovered that sensitivity to health issues increases with the individual’s status. People from low-income families are less sensitive to health-related issues because they have many problems to deal with. Furthermore, environmental factors such as shared toilets and other resources make it difficult for them to live a healthy lifestyle. As a result, the factors affecting this population differ from those affecting higher-income households. The higher one’s income, the better one’s living conditions, and the fewer health-related challenges.
The social determinants of health exist within our communities and vary by location; practitioners must understand the mechanisms that can be put in place to address these challenges. Because governments are limited in resources, I believe they cannot implement enough measures to alleviate people’s problems. On the other hand, public health structures can be put in place to ensure that people understand how to address the issues that revolve around the social determinants of health they face. Practitioners can reduce their workload by learning to address issues in their work environments.
As practitioners, social determinants of health inform future healthcare practice because they aid in understanding the challenges people face in life, how the environment shapes people’s health conditions, and how they respond to them. When addressing health concerns, it is critical to examine the most difficult determinants people face (Simandan, 2018). This is true for public health campaigns as well as individual healthcare interventions. Individuals, families, and communities are all affected by the determinants. This is also an important aspect of planning because, as a practitioner, I need to understand the conditions people live in to tailor interventions to the conditions that affect their health patterns.
Policies can be used as a mitigation measure for mitigating environmental challenges that affect the community’s health when addressing the social determinants of health. According to Andermann (2016), policies in the areas of housing, hazards, and community safety can be used to improve health outcomes within the environment that people live in by ensuring that proper conditions are put in place to improve the environment that people live in and reduce risks. The role of social determinants of health is thus to understand intervention areas that require priority to minimize environmental influences on health outcomes.
This course has helped me understand the issues that affect healthcare, how social determinants of health influence individuals’ health patterns and the approaches practitioners take. As a professional, understanding how each factor influences an individual’s health outcome informs the care process and ensures that the mechanisms in place meet the conditions in which the population thrives (England, 2012). Working on the risks that the environment creates can lead to a better community by improving their healthcare needs. This course is thus beneficial in understanding how social-economic conditions interact with the environment to affect community health.
QUESTIONS
One Page Reflection Social Determinant Of Health
One page reflection social determinant of health, healthy people 2030