Determinants of Health

Initial Discussion Questions:
- What does health mean to you?
- What does it mean to be healthy?
- What are the things in your life that make you feel healthier?
- What are things that make you feel less healthy?

Understanding Determinants of Health

Determinants of Health (DoH):
- A wide range of factors, including personal, economic, environmental, and social aspects, that significantly impact health.
- They encompass elements that enable individuals to feel and be healthier in their daily lives.
- Influenced by the distribution of
- Money
- Power
- Resources
- At local, provincial, and federal/national levels across Canada.

Definition:
- Conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age.
- Influenced by broader societal factors, including social norms and economic policies.
Characteristics:
- Non-medical factors; typically the root of social injustice and inequities.

Examples:
- Income
- Education
- Employment
- Physical environment
- Childhood experiences
- Access to healthcare
- Culture
- Age
- Sex Assigned at Birth (Gender)
- Race
- Genetic conditions

Health Inequality:
- Differences in the health status of individuals or populations.
Types of Differences:
- Disparity: A general difference between two groups.
- Inequality: A difference between two groups, often quantifiable.
- Inequity: An unfair or unjust difference between groups.

Framework:
- A structured way to conceptualize a topic, consisting of values, beliefs, or rules that provide perspective on the issue.
A framework helps examine the determinants of health, highlighting advantages and disadvantages.

Levels of Cause:
- A framework comprising three levels of determinants: distal, intermediate, and proximal.

Distal Level:
- Encompasses broader circumstances that influence health, like cultural values, political forces, and laws.
- Factors here are considered less directly related to individual health, establishing a wider context.
Intermediate Level:
- Involves community, workplace, school, or familial influences that shape immediate environments.
Proximal Level:
- Consists of individual-based factors affecting health, including biology, behaviors, capabilities, or personal attitudes.

Very similar to previous frameworks discussed pertaining to determinants of health.
This categorization emphasizes the proximity of determinants to an individual's control over their health.

Screen for depression and provide counseling referrals.
Assess home safety and recommend assistive devices.
Connect individuals with senior centers, group activities, and volunteer visitors.
Collaborate with Occupational Therapy (OT), Physical Therapy (PT), and social work for holistic care.

Presenting Symptom: Poorly controlled type 2 diabetes with hyperglycemia.
Root Cause: Limited income and access to healthy foods; reliance on inexpensive processed foods.

Monitor blood glucose levels and administer insulin as needed.
Refer patients to dietitians for low-cost meal planning.
Facilitate connections with food banks, community kitchens, and subsidies.
Educate on affordable healthy food options, such as frozen vegetables and bulk grains.

Discuss practical actions to address health inequities.
In-Class Activity Structure:
1. Form groups of 2-3.
2. Brainstorm potential individual and group actions to combat health inequities.
- Record and share ideas using Menti.com or a linked Google document.