Health Disparities and the Social Determinants of Health: Ethical and Social Justice Issues

2019 ◽  
pp. 265-276
Author(s):  
Sridhar Venkatapuram
Keyword(s):  
Health Disparities ◽  
Social Determinants Of Health ◽  
Social Determinants ◽  
Global Justice ◽  
Social Epidemiology ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Determinants Of Health ◽  
Housing Conditions ◽  
Early Infant ◽  
The Social

The term health disparities (also called health inequalities) refers to the differences in health outcomes and related events across individuals and social groups. Social determinants of health, meanwhile, refers to certain types of causes of ill health in individuals, including lack of early infant care and stimulation, lack of safe and secure employment, poor housing conditions, discrimination, lack of self-respect, poor personal relationships, low community cohesion, and income inequality. These social determinants stand in contrast to others, such as individual biology, behaviors, and proximate exposures to harmful agents. This chapter presents some of the revolutionary findings of social epidemiology and the science of social determinants of health, and shows how health disparities and social determinants raise profound questions in public health ethics and social/global justice philosophy.

scholarly journals Invited Commentary: Counterfactuals in Social Epidemiology—Thinking Outside of “the Box”

2019 ◽  
Vol 189 (3) ◽  
pp. 175-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tyler J VanderWeele
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Causal Inference ◽  
Social Determinants Of Health ◽  
Social Determinants ◽  
Social Epidemiology ◽  
Determinants Of Health ◽  
Potential Outcomes ◽  
The Social ◽  
Potential Outcomes Framework

Abstract There are tensions inherent between many of the social exposures examined within social epidemiology and the assumptions embedded in quantitative potential-outcomes-based causal inference framework. The potential-outcomes framework characteristically requires a well-defined hypothetical intervention. As noted by Galea and Hernán (Am J Epidemiol. 2020;189(3):167–170), for many social exposures, such well-defined hypothetical exposures do not exist or there is no consensus on what they might be. Nevertheless, the quantitative potential-outcomes framework can still be useful for the study of some of these social exposures by creative adaptations that 1) redefine the exposure, 2) separate the exposure from the hypothetical intervention, or 3) allow for a distribution of hypothetical interventions. These various approaches and adaptations are reviewed and discussed. However, even these approaches have their limits. For certain important historical and social determinants of health such as social movements or wars, the quantitative potential-outcomes framework with well-defined hypothetical interventions is the wrong tool. Other modes of inquiry are needed.

scholarly journals Impacting the Social Determinants of Health through a Regional Academic-Community Partnership: The Experience of the Mid-South Transdisciplinary Collaborative Center for Health Disparities Research

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (Suppl 1) ◽  
pp. 277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mona N. Fouad ◽  
Theresa A. Wynn ◽  
Richard Scribner ◽  
Yu-Mei M. Schoenberger ◽  
Donna Antoine-Lavigne ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Disparities ◽  
Social Determinants Of Health ◽  
Social Determinants ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Chronic Illnesses ◽  
Regional Level ◽  
Determinants Of Health ◽  
Community Partnership ◽  
The Social ◽  
Over Time

<p class="Pa7">O<strong>bjective: </strong>The purpose of this article is to describe the background and experience of the Academic-Community Engagement (ACE) Core of the Mid-South Transdisci­plinary Collaborative Center for Health Disparities Research (Mid-South TCC) in impacting the social determinants of health through the establishment and implemen­tation of a regional academic-community partnership.</p><p class="Pa7"><strong>Conceptual Framework: </strong>The Mid-South TCC is informed by three strands of re­search: the social determinants of health, the socioecological model, and commu­nity-based participatory research (CBPR). Combined, these elements represent a science of engagement that has allowed us to use CBPR principles at a regional level to address the social determinants of health disparities.</p><p class="Pa7"><strong>Results: </strong>The ACE Core established state coalitions in each of our founding states— Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi—and an Expansion Coalition in Arkansas, Tennes­see, and Kentucky. The ACE Core funded and supported a diversity of 15 community engaged projects at each level of the socio­ecological model in our six partner states through our community coalitions.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Through our cross-discipline, cross-regional infrastructure developed strategically over time, and led by the ACE Core, the Mid-South TCC has established an extensive infrastructure for accomplishing our overarching goal of investigating the so­cial, economic, cultural, and environmental factors driving and sustaining health dispari­ties in obesity and chronic illnesses, and developing and implementing interventions to ameliorate such disparities. <em></em></p><p><em>Ethn Dis. </em>2017;27(Suppl 1):277-286; doi:10.18865/ed.27.S1.277.</p>

scholarly journals Evaluating Strategies For Reducing Health Disparities By Addressing The Social Determinants Of Health

2016 ◽  
Vol 35 (8) ◽  
pp. 1416-1423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel L. J. Thornton ◽  
Crystal M. Glover ◽  
Crystal W. Cené ◽  
Deborah C. Glik ◽  
Jeffrey A. Henderson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Disparities ◽  
Social Determinants Of Health ◽  
Social Determinants ◽  
Determinants Of Health ◽  
The Social

For the Sake of All: Civic Education on the Social Determinants of Health and Health Disparities in St. Louis

2016 ◽  
Vol 53 (6) ◽  
pp. 711-743 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Q. Purnell ◽  
Melody Goodman ◽  
William F. Tate ◽  
Kelly M. Harris ◽  
Darrell L. Hudson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Disparities ◽  
Social Determinants Of Health ◽  
Civic Education ◽  
Social Determinants ◽  
Implementation Strategies ◽  
Strategic Communication ◽  
Determinants Of Health ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Research Translation ◽  
The Social

Civic education translates research evidence about topics of social importance for broad public audiences, with increased understanding and meaningful action of the desired outcomes. For the Sake of All is an example of civic education on the social determinants of health and health disparities situated in the local context of St. Louis, Missouri. This article describes the research translation, community engagement, strategic communication, and approach to policy that characterized this project. It presents data highlighting racial disparities in health, educational, and economic outcomes, along with policy and programmatic recommendations. Engagement and implementation strategies are described within the context of the events in Ferguson.

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