Health Outreach Partners https://outreach-partners.org/2013/01/the-social-determinants-of-health-explained-what-outreach-programs-can-do-to-help-achieve-health-equity/ Export date: Sat May 11 7:56:03 2024 / +0000 GMT |
The Social Determinants of Health Explained: What Outreach Programs can do to help Achieve Health EquityA large part of our health has to do with how our society is organized and where we fit in that organization.[i] 11 1 Imagine a patient (or client, or participant) you know. Think of the things in this person’s life that contribute to her health. Imagine the place where she lives, the food she eats. Imagine her relationships with family and her relationship to the community around her. Is it healthy and supportive? Think about the type of work she does. If she does not work, why is that? Based only on what she looks like, what do others think about this person? How does that impact her day-to-day experience? Where people live, the amount of money they make, and the type of work they do affects their health. These factors or “determinants” are often called the social determinants of health. This article discusses the social determinants of health including why those of us who work in community health outreach need to be thinking about them and what we can do to improve them.
What are the Social Determinants of Health? According to the World Health Organization, “the social determinants of health are the circumstances in which people are born, grow up, live, work and age, and the systems put in place to deal with illness. These circumstances are in turn shaped by a wider set of forces: economics, social policies, and politics.”[ii] 12 2 Social determinants decide how long and how well we live. Examples of social determinants include:
Our social, economic, and environmental settings shape our health outcomes. Social setting includes our social networks, friendships, relationships, and families. Economic setting includes (un)employment, income, debt, and wealth. Environmental setting includes level of violence and crime, access to healthy food, prevalence of alcohol and substance abuse, and exposure to toxins. These settings all shape our health even more than our individual behaviors and genes. In fact, individual behaviors are determined, in part, by our settings. For example, many of our individual behaviors depend on our income, type of work, transportation access, and other social determinants of health. A person may want to exercise regularly, but live in a neighborhood where there are no safe places to exercise. In this case, this person’s individual behavior is shaped by the social, economic, and environmental setting. Still, individual behavior explains only part of health status. Social determinants have a large impact on the health of individuals and communities. But the social determinants of health—our social, economic, and environmental settings—are unequally distributed between various populations. This situation results in health inequity. Health inequity refers to differences in health status (also called health disparities) that result from systemic, avoidable, and unjust policies and practices in a society.[iii] 13 3
What can health outreach programs do? General examples of activities to address the social determinants of health include: improving access to healthy foods, working to change or enforce policies to promote equitable conditions, and development of healthy and affordable housing. Outreach programs alone cannot address all social determinants of health. However, outreach programs must go beyond changing individual behaviors. Outreach programs are poised to address social determinants of health for underserved populations because they are trusted within the community and understand the socioeconomic and cultural context in which people are living. Three ways that health outreach programs, specifically, can contribute to this effort are:
Outreach programs often achieve this by helping patients become equal partners in their care. Outreach plays a critical role in ensuring that patients realize that they can have an impact on their own health and know about and seek out services and resources available to them. Outreach programs often also educate fellow staff and providers about the importance of empowerment, thus ensuring it is practiced throughout the care team to maximize the impact on patients. Other common strategies include designing programs to use popular education techniques and implementing peer-based programs such as promotor(a) programs or Community Health Workers programs.
Medical-Legal Partnerships is one way community health organizations are addressing the social determinants of health. A medical-legal partnership is when a health organization partners with legal-aid, pro-bono lawyers, or a law school to offer legal services in a health care setting. These partnerships offer legal assistance related to many social determinants of health such as housing, working conditions, and domestic violence. Legal services can help patients address their unmet legal needs, which can often adversely affect their health.[iv] 14 4
Addressing the Social Determinants of Health and Achieving Health Equity Health equity is an important concept for addressing the social determinants of health. Based on the idea that everyone has the right to health, health equity is when everyone can “attain their full health potential” and no one is “disadvantaged from achieving this potential because of their social position or other socially determined circumstance.”[v] 15 5 The health equity approach requires the improvement of the social determinants of health so that all groups experience equal potential for health. There is now a growing recognition of the social determinants of health and the need for health equity. National attention has turned to addressing these important topics. For example, two national frameworks that provide direction in this effort are Healthy People 2020 and the National Prevention Council Action Plan.
Conclusion The social determinants of health deeply impact the underserved populations served by community health organizations and outreach programs. Outreach programs are in a position to tap into national health equity strategies and help address the social determinants of health. Access to quality healthcare for underserved populations is an important piece of the puzzle. We also need to improve the social determinants of health in order to improve the quality of life and health outcomes for underserved populations. Outreach programs not only facilitate access to services, but can also play an important role in improving the social determinants of health for underserved populations.
Additional Resources For additional information and tools regarding the Social Determinants of Health, check-out these resources:
[i] 11 1 California News Reel. Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making us Sick?. “In Sickness and in Wealth” [Video] [ii] 12 2 World Health Organization. Social Determinants of Health: Key Concepts. www.who.int/social_determinants/thecommission/finalreport/key_concepts/en/index.html. [iii] 13 3 Virginia Department of Health. What is Health Inequity? www.vdh.virginia.gov/healthpolicy/healthequity/unnaturalcauses/healthequity.htm. [iv] 14 4 Zuckerman, B., Sandel, M., Lawton, E, & Morton, S.. (2008). Medical-legal partnerships: Transforming health care. The Lancet. 372(9650): 1615-1617. [v] 15 5 Promoting Health Equity: A Resource to Help Communities Address Social Determinants of Health. www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dach/chhep/pdf/sdohworkbook.pdf. [vii] 17 National Prevention Council Action Plan: Implementing the National Prevention Strategy. June 2012. www.surgeongeneral.gov/initiatives/prevention/2012-npc-action-plan.pdf. |
Links:
|
Post date: 2013-01-01 15:47:19 Post date GMT: 2013-01-01 15:47:19 Post modified date: 2022-12-08 09:17:25 Post modified date GMT: 2022-12-08 17:17:25 |
Export date: Sat May 11 7:56:03 2024 / +0000 GMT This page was exported from Health Outreach Partners [ https://outreach-partners.org ] Export of Post and Page has been powered by [ Universal Post Manager ] plugin from www.ProfProjects.com |