Poor Quality Environment
1. The environment has both physical/built and social (relationship between people) components. Describe how poor quality environment is a pathway to poor health. Cite studies supporting this linkage.
The study conducted by Gee and Payne-Sturges (2004) reveal that environment has both physical and social factors that plays a crucial role in the development of diseases. Psychological stress is considered the vulnerability factor that associates social conditions to environmental hazards. Consequently, this will result to acute and chronic changes in the functioning of body systems that will eventually cause an illness.
The authors presented a significant conceptual framework in this study that is the stress-exposure disease framework that demonstrates how neighborhood stressors and pollution sources create averse health conditions that are counterbalanced by neighborhood resources. However, when the community stressors and pollution sources outweigh neighborhood resources, the levels of community stress intensify which will ultimately lead to individual stress making people more vulnerable to disease when they are exposed to environmental hazards.
In another study by Kwate (2008), the article demonstrates how segregation acts as a major determinant of fast food density in Black neighborhood as it emphasizes the relevance of structural factors in changing behavior. The research also presents four pathways such as population characteristics, economic characteristics, physical infrastructure and social process, which segregation shapes fast food density.
In a recent study by Northridge et al. (2010) entitled “The Role of Housing Type and Housing Quality in Urban Children with Asthma,” the authors evaluated the relationship between the type and quality of housing and children with asthma in an urban community with various racial, ethnic, socioeconomic and housing characteristics. A questionnaire report was disseminated among parents in randomly selected New
The study conducted by Gee and Payne-Sturges (2004) reveal that environment has both physical and social factors that plays a crucial role in the development of diseases. Psychological stress is considered the vulnerability factor that associates social conditions to environmental hazards. Consequently, this will result to acute and chronic changes in the functioning of body systems that will eventually cause an illness.
The authors presented a significant conceptual framework in this study that is the stress-exposure disease framework that demonstrates how neighborhood stressors and pollution sources create averse health conditions that are counterbalanced by neighborhood resources. However, when the community stressors and pollution sources outweigh neighborhood resources, the levels of community stress intensify which will ultimately lead to individual stress making people more vulnerable to disease when they are exposed to environmental hazards.
In another study by Kwate (2008), the article demonstrates how segregation acts as a major determinant of fast food density in Black neighborhood as it emphasizes the relevance of structural factors in changing behavior. The research also presents four pathways such as population characteristics, economic characteristics, physical infrastructure and social process, which segregation shapes fast food density.
In a recent study by Northridge et al. (2010) entitled “The Role of Housing Type and Housing Quality in Urban Children with Asthma,” the authors evaluated the relationship between the type and quality of housing and children with asthma in an urban community with various racial, ethnic, socioeconomic and housing characteristics. A questionnaire report was disseminated among parents in randomly selected New
References: Gee, G. C., & Payne-Sturges, D. C. (2004). Environmental health disparities: a framework integrating psychosocial and environmental concepts. Environmental Health Perspectives, 1645-1653. Jacobs, D. E. (2011). Environmental health disparities in housing. Journal Information, 101(S1). Kwate, N. O. A. (2008). Fried chicken and fresh apples: racial segregation as a fundamental cause of fast food density in black neighborhoods. Health & place,14(1), 32-44. Leventhal, T., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (2003). Moving to opportunity: an experimental study of neighborhood effects on mental health. American Journal of Public Health, 93(9), 1576-1582. Northridge, J., Ramirez, O. F., Stingone, J. A., & Claudio, L. (2010). The role of housing type and housing quality in urban children with asthma. Journal of Urban Health, 87(2), 211-224.