The Unnatural Causes: Place Matters video, explains how environmental factors impact the health and lifespan of an individual. Additionally, the video also gives some history on how disadvantaged neighborhoods were created through government policies that favored Caucasian families. Also, the video focuses on Richmond, a disadvantaged city in California, and the detrimental health of its community members. Lastly, the video focuses on an improved and former disadvantaged neighborhood called High Point located in Seattle, Washington.
For example, according to the racial-genetic model health disparities are explained in terms of the individual’s genetics. Hence, African American women are at higher risk for breast cancer. However, even though through primary prevention efforts such as breast cancer awareness campaigns and other forms of education, women living below the poverty line are still at high risk. Primary prevention is the best approach in order to increase quality of life and prolong life.
One last component includes socioeconomic status of Black individuals. Those with lower income and educational levels have poorer lifestyle choices than those of higher levels (Walker, 2012). A huge problem that contributes to negative overall health in Black Americans is a lack of adequate insurance. Those of lower economic status are less likely to have insurance, and therefore less likely to receive treatment for medical problems. Even when an individual has insurance, many private insurance plans have very high out-of-pocket expenses that may deter individuals from seeing a doctor or from following up a new prescription medication (Walker, 2012).
(Healthy People 2020, n.d). As humans, we constantly interact with our surroundings, thus where we live, learn, work and play greatly influences our health outcome, therefore efforts aimed at improving this issue of disparity requires an understanding of the complex conditions in the social system that contribute to the illness in the first place. I chose this topic because as a Public Health student with a concentration of Health Promotion and Education I constantly think about the ways the social determinants of health and health disparities at large contribute to the wide variety of illnesses and diseases and the economic burden caused by these inequalities. In this essay, I hope to explore how the social determinates of health influences an individual’s health outcome, their ability to access healthcare services and the efforts/ interventions that aim at reducing these disparities among minorities. Hence, members of minority racial/ethnic groups suffer a proportionally higher burden of disease and death due to the conditions in which they live
Society is influenced by everything. Whether it be the place people live, crime and law, family structure, famous people, social stratification and the biggest problem race. The movie A Time To Kill is a perfect example of all of these things. All of these items shape people and shape how they will live their lives. Sociology is the development, structure, and functioning of human society.
Social Determinants of Health Shelly Clavis Rutgers University School of Nursing Social Determinants of Health Defined Health concerns is an issue that most organizations have formed a pact to safely deal with the challenge. The main agenda focuses on the eradication of health inequalities that may exist in most countries. It is best suited that social determinants are accorded the much-needed attention since they affect a number of people. In assessing the factors that affect one’s health, genetic disposition, personal behaviors, ability to obtain healthcare and the overall environment in which an individual resides are to be considered. Social determinants of Health are issues that deals with the conditions that people have found constructed in a society and acts as a parcel in their lives, such as; growth, age and some of the more complex systems that construct a society which include economic policies and their systems that include social norms, development goals and the basic political system that they are indulged under (World Health Organization, 2008).
Born onto a Canvas with Already Dried Paint We like to think that we are all unique and that we have full control of the forces that affect our lives. Many aspects of one’s personality and life can be explained by larger social forces such as socioeconomic status, race and gender roles. It was not until I started this sociology class that I began thinking of my life in a larger sociological sense. I realize now that my life has been influenced by a variety of social forces that I did not have control of.
To exemplify this fact, imagine a time before preventative health screenings were available; SES could not be tied to access to care, because these did not exist. For conditions where medical advances have been made that now provide treatment and prevention, overall mortality decreased while SES and race gradients shifted toward greater mortality for less fortunate groups (Phelan, Link, & Tehranifar, 2010). The Fundamental Cause Theory’s basic principle described by Phelan (2010) states, “a superior collection of flexible resources held by higher SES individuals and the collectivities to which they belong allow those of higher SES to avoid disease and death in widely divergent circumstances”. This theory argues that those with more resources, whether it is money, knowledge, power, etc., have better access to healthcare, and will die less often from preventable disease. Lower SES individuals experience several ways in which their social class impacts their health: less access to healthcare, poor behavior and lifestyle habits, and exposure to harmful environmental toxins.
Socioeconomic Status Related To Heart Disease The heart is the hardest working muscle in the body, pumping approximately two ounces every day for a lifetime. To keep this small but efficient muscle working, one must understand the importance of heart health. Unfortunately this lack of understanding causes millions of Americans to suffer from heart disease.
Social model often ensures physical and mental health and broader sphere of participating in active life. The model permits most understated discrimination of people that succeed to lead productive lives irrespective of physical damage. The disadvantage of social model is the approach that runs the threat of excessive breadth and to incorporate all life. Therefore, they do not differentiate among the state to become healthy the concerns of being healthy neither do they differentiate among “health” and “health determinants”.
Social construction means the authenticity of something or it’s meaning in general depending on ethics, customs and attitude of the society where that “something” is and the setting of the situation for example winking is socially constructed, for it varies from society to society. The meaning changes with societies thus it can also have different interpretations. It can be... A sexual invitation (Latin America) A signal for someone to leave the room (Nigeria)
These factors are known as the Social Determinants of health. “The social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age, including the health system” (WHO). Dalgren & Whitehead (1991) image of the social determinants of health aims to show the relationship between the person, their environment and their health. The modifiable factors, people’s age, gender and race lie in the centre surrounded by non modifiable factors like profession, housing, education and public policy. There is a direct relationship between people’s environment and their health, e.g. people who live in damp housing have a higher incidence of respiratory health problems (Farell et al.
Importance of sociological perspective in healthcare professions Sociology is the study of human society, culture and relationships on a group level, It covers a range of diverse subjects on a micro and macro level. it 's purpose is understanding why humans behave in a certain way and how they perceive their surroundings. Using and understanding Sociology as a healthcare proffessional can be very useful, it leads to better understanding of the sector. It will change the way you look at the healthcare sector and provide you with new insights. There are three major sociological prespectives on healthcare, one which cover the micro level of anaylsis and two cover the macro level of analysis.
Health inequalities are preventable and unjust differences in health status experienced by certain population groups. People in lower socio-economic groups are more likely to experience chronic ill-health and die earlier than those who are more advantaged. Health inequalities are not only apparent between people of different socio-economic groups – they exist between different genders and different ethnic groups (“Health inequalities,” n.d.). The situation in which people are born, grow, develop, work and age are affected by social, economic, environmental and most importantly political factors.
Q2 What affects people’s health condition?It is no doubt that health concept influencing personal health .There are social factors such as gender roles and class result in health inequality and the reason of why healthcare professional should be sensitive in it. According to definition written by The World Health Organization ,health includes physical ,mental ,social well-being. To begin with ,the gender roles cause health inequality by stereotype.
