Social Determinants Of Health Analysis

Social determinants of health are factors that influence the health of all people. There are 14 factors influencing health. Some of these factors include income, stress, education, employment, early childhood development, food insecurity, race, gender, etc. This paper focuses on housing and the impacts of housing on health based on a reading called Social determinants of health: The Canadian facts by J. Mikkonen and D. Raphael (2010). This paper will also analyze a current newspaper article about housing and how it affects health. Finally, this paper will compare how the two articles relate to housing, health, and social policy. From the reading, Social determinants of health: The Canadian facts by J. Mikkonen and D. Raphael (2010), I came
This relates to other social determinants of health because as Canadians decided how to spend their income, factors such as food insecurity, housing, and health services come into play. With this idea, it’s a matter of which is more important - paying for housing or paying for the other basic needs. It all becomes too expensive for Canadians, and in the long run, the stress of coping with theses decisions and the stress on their bodies can cause a decline on their health. “…stressful and poor living conditions can cause continuing feelings of shame, insecurity and worthlessness. In adverse living conditions, everyday life often appears as unpredictable, uncontrollable, and meaningless. Uncertainty about the future raises anxiety and hopelessness that increases the level of exhaustion and makes everyday coping even more difficult.” (Mikkonen and Raphael, 2010, p. 10). Job insecurity also affects housing because without a stable job, individuals can pay for rent, “Canada has one of the highest levels of low-paying jobs at 23 percent and among the highest family poverty rates among Western nations.” (Mikkonen and Raphael, 2010, p.
Whenever I walked down the street and see a homeless individual, I do nothing. I can’t really spare change because I use the money I have getting to and paying for school. But I also feel like there’s a bystander effect I think that someone will eventually help, mostly the government. I also feel like homelessness is a really big issue for me to tackle alone. So to answer this question, well I don’t really have an answer, but in my opinion the first step would be to have the willingness to take that first step which is to recognize the homelessness and housing is a problem, I also need to become more educated especially since I never really thought about homelessness and poor quality