Social determinants of health is a body of research for which strongly suggests that wealthier individuals prosper more and poorer individuals will tend to suffer more. There are no constructs to define in this theory but plenty of determinants that can be described. The first one is the social gradient which states that life expectancy is shorter and most diseases are more common further down the social ladder in each society. An example of this is someone from a third world country dying from small pox because they could not afford the vaccination. The second is stress which are circumstances like making people feel worried, anxious and unable to cope, are damaging to health and may lead to premature death. This example is a football coach dying at the age of 50 because of too much stress on a daily basis. The third determinant is early life and is defined as the health impact of early development and education lasts a lifetime. An example could be a nurturing mother being there for their child from the moment they are born to give them love and affection. Social exclusion, the fourth determinant, is when life is short where its quality is poor and by causing hardship and resentment, poverty, social exclusion and discrimination cost lives. An example is someone growing up in a bad neighborhood, getting evicted out of houses, being discriminated against for their skin color becoming involved I drug dealing or using them during their life span. The fifth one is work and used to say people who have more control over their work have better health. This example is a CEO of a company living a healthier life than an intern for their company. The next determinant is unemployment, this states that job security increases health, well-being and job satisfaction. Higher rates of unemployment cause more illness and premature death. An example would be someone who is unemployed becoming depressed, weakening their immune system, and dying from a common cold at a relatively young age. The seventh determinant is social support. This is when friendship, good social relations and strong supportive networks improve health at home, at work and in the community. This example could be someone using their position of power to try and improve the community they are from. The eight determinant of health is addiction and is when individuals turn to alcohol, drugs and tobacco and suffer from their use, but use is influenced by the wider social setting. An example of this is all the people from a block or street abusing drugs because everyone else around them is doing it as well. The next determinant is food and is limited to certain areas because global market forces control the food supply, healthy food is a political issue. This is a country not buying bananas anymore because they are at war with their supplier of bananas. The last determinant of health is transport, and healthy transport means less driving and more walking and cycling, backed up by better public transport. This example is a whole town agreeing to walk or bike to work at least one day a week to cut back on gas use.
The determinants I feel are most important are social gradient, stress, and social exclusion. I choose social gradient as my first one because I believe everyone should have a chance to live life to its full potential no matter what circumstances they were born into. If someone is not able to afford the necessary medicine, food etc. then I feel their government should provide them with adequate living necessities. I picked stress because I understand that life can be stressful, but I believe the individual has completely control over the stress in their life. I know life can take unexpected and harsh turns, but it is all about how you react to it. If you have a positive attitude about whatever comes your way, I guarantee that your life will change for the better and stress will decrease as well. Lastly I put social exclusion on here because I know what it is like to go through this. I know it can be fixed if people would just think about how much their actions can hurt someone else, whether it is from a landlord not budging on his rent, someone being racist, or a parent not helping their child in life because they do not like the parent. If people were more conscientious towards others, the world would be a much better place.
For my intervention I would like to gather as many people as I could from a really wealthy community to come and listen to me speak in a poor neighborhoods community center. I would sit them down and have a stage that I would be on with a slide show explaining what social determinants are and the effect that they all have on them. The three determinants I would focus most on would be social gradient, stress, and social exclusion. I would explain to them that they have the power because of their wealth to save thousands of lives every year. I would tell them they could do this by donating some of their money to organizations that really need it to give healthcare to those who need it and other services as well. I would also help them control their stress with little exercises throughout the day to get their mind off of whatever is stressing them out. I would tell them to master this because they must learn to control the stress in their life to help others. Also I would use a video I had just recently seen on the internet that showed two young kids who were basically exiled from their peers at school because of the turbans they wore to class and the two kids ended up trying to kill themselves because they felt excluded from the world. I would explain to them that everyone is a human being and needs to be treated like one, and you never know how deep your actions can have on someone else.
In my intervention, by having the people understand what donating their money could do showing them the effects of social gradient. When I gave them ways to deal with their stress, I provided a way for them to extend their own lives as well, so for the selfish people that may have showed up could at least have found some benefits from going. Lastly I would show the video so they would be kind to everyone they meet because you never know what they are going through.
