Social Determinants of Health Affecting the Health and Wellbeing of People

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Introduction

People’s life circumstances have a direct influence on their health and well-being. A person’s access to healthcare, educational opportunities, a safe place to live and healthy food are just few of the many elements that contribute to their health and well-being. As defined by Donkin et al. (2018), social determinants of health include not only the physical environments in which individuals live and work but also the larger range of social factors and institutions that shape these environments. A wide number of variables may be considered as social determinants of health, and they can be found in almost every facet of modern life. Although they are not part of a person’s medical or lifestyle decisions, they are nonetheless important to consider. Social variables, according to recent research by Palmer et al. (2019) have an 80 to 90 percent importance in shaping a person’s health. Overall, social determinants play a major role in influencing the health outcome of an individual.

The aim of this paper is to provide a description of how the social determinants of health have shaped the health and wellbeing of Mike, my sibling. Mike is 16 years old, a sibling living with level 3 autism. His severe autism makes him dependent despite his age. His levels of functioning and the demands of his condition are overwhelming. He is unable to properly and fully use spoken language, has extreme sensitivity, has many repetitive behaviours, and sometimes has physical symptoms such as epilepsy and sleeplessness.

Social Determinants of Health Linked to the Health and Wellbeing of Mike

Social determinants of health may be categorized differently. However, Frank’s et al. (2020) study uses five broad categories that are applicable in Mike’s situation including healthcare, economic stability, education, neighbourhood, and social and community life. Under healthcare, Mike has to deal with the health insurance coverage issue that affects access to healthcare and also determines health literacy for his caregivers. In terms of economic stability, housing stability is a major issue because Mike has to be under specialized care at all times requiring large financial support. Under the education aspect, childhood development is an important factor that focuses on Mike’s connection between access to education and health outcomes, applying majorly to the rest of the family as the primary caregivers. Discrimination is an important element in the social and community life because Mike (and by extension the rest of the family) faces significant stigma from society relating to his condition. These four social determinants of health (health insurance coverage, housing stability, childhood development, and discrimination) impact Mike’s overall health and wellbeing.

Health Insurance Coverage

Health insurance coverage is a major determinant of Mike’s overall health and wellbeing. Some of his doctor visits are not covered by the family’s insurance provider. As noted by Crear-Perry et al. (2021), physician visits and diagnostic testing for symptomatic diseases are more likely to be covered by health insurance policies than preventative and screening treatments. As a result, some recommended tests and therapy sessions are forfeited on the basis of high costs and a lack of proper coverage. Poor health insurance coverage is linked to worse health outcomes, especially for people living with severe conditions such as Level 3 Autism and so on (Sterling et al., 2018). Therefore, health insurance coverage is a significant issue in ensuring that Mike gets the help he needs.

Housing Stability

Another major determinant is housing stability. People with housing insecurity are more likely to suffer from chronic illnesses including diabetes, heart disease, and level 3 autism illnesses because they have less access to diagnostic and preventative treatment (Chhabra et al., 2019). As a result, the life expectancy of such people is lower (Hill-Briggs et al., 2021), compared to people with stable housing. While Mike has access to housing, he requires specialized care and facilities, including customized sleeping quarters, special accessibility to bathrooms, and other needs. Having such facilities at home has significantly improved his motor and cognitive skills, leading to better health outcomes for him.

Childhood Development

Children are either exposed to factors that help or damage their development from the moment they are born. Chronic poverty, repeated maltreatment, parental drug usage, homelessness, and violent behavior may all have a poor influence on a child’s health and well-being. Research by Rollston and Galea (2020) has shown that high-quality early childhood development and education programs have a key impact in lowering hazardous health behaviors and delaying the development of chronic illness later in adulthood. The health and well-being of a child’s development and education throughout their formative years are important considerations (Schickedanz et al., 2019). By eliminating imbalances in early childhood development and education, it is feasible to greatly enhance the long-term health of young children. Mike’s childhood was not what may be termed as normal due to his condition. However, he has grown up in a loving home, free of violence, maltreatment, and zero drug usage. Such conditions, albeit his severe autism, have positively impacted his growth and development.

Discrimination

Discrimination occurs at several levels and targeting different groups. Specifically, discrimination is a kind of stressor experienced by communities of people with autism and other diseases, and it is also a social predictor of health in and of itself (Russell, Coleman, & Ganong, 2018). Access to other important socioeconomic determinants of health is also hampered as a result of discriminatory activities. The target of discrimination, as well as their families, loved ones, and members of a community are all harmed as a result of the practice, both directly and indirectly (Donkin et al., 2018). Consequently, prejudicial attitudes and behaviors have a broad range of effects on health, contributing to the considerable health inequalities that are experienced by disadvantaged people. Mike has been fortunate to not experience discrimination while seeking healthcare services.

Frameworks and Action Areas for Health Promotion

Due to the dependency levels that Mike displays, a majority of the action areas for health promotion relate to our parents as the primary caregivers. For Mike, his level 3 autism requires daily learning and improvement to reduce dependency. To improve his health, Mike will need to have better access to health care through better health insurance coverage. This is a part of the action areas of the Ottawa charter linked to building healthier public policies.

Developing Sound Public Policy

Developing sound public policy requires the participation of government agencies and non-profit organizations dedicated to promoting health and social justice (Wilberg, Saboga-Nunes, & Stock, 2021). In the case of Mike’s health and ultimate wellbeing, the government may build a healthy and equitable environment through enacting laws, allocating funds, and implementing policies that are friendlier to people living with autism and their caregivers. It is possible to attain the goal of developing healthy public policy through enacting laws, financing, and policies that support good health, and to meet the social justice principles (Thompson, Watson, & Tilford, 2018). Mike would be better off if he had access to some of the diagnostic, therapy, and related treatments that he is currently unable to afford.

Developing Personal Skills

Mike’s parents, his other caregivers, myself included, and close family and friends would help to improve his health by developing their own personal skills as per the action areas of the Ottawa charter. Developing personal skills helps individuals to better their health knowledge via the supply of knowledge and training, enabling for the characteristic of social responsibility to be addressed (Peimani, Nasli-Esfahani, & Shakibazadeh, 2019). In order to maintain social justice and good health, all children, regardless of their conditions, must have equal access to a quality education. Individuals may better manage their health by gaining a better understanding of the issues at hand. Mike, unfortunately, is unable to attend the conventional classroom, requiring specialized care and education. As a result of having the ability to make healthy decisions, individuals may have a beneficial impact on others around them. For instance, a caregiver in Mike’s life who knows the value of eating a healthy would ensure that he gets the right nutrition and balanced diet in his meals.

Strengthening Community Action

Strengthening community action is needed to combat health policies that are discriminatory in nature such as those that exclude some populations because of their conditions, race, or ethnicity. Strengthening community action under the Ottawa charter means that communities are empowered to develop and execute health-related initiatives, allowing social action ideals to be addressed (Munodawafa et al., 2021). Increasing the possibility that particular needs will be satisfied and giving the communities a stronger feeling of control are two benefits of giving communities the ability to utilize their voice and band together so as to tackle health inequalities. As an example, empowering persons with autism or those supporting them to make healthy choices may be accomplished by establishing a supportive atmosphere in which they feel empowered to do so. It is only through embracing the principles of fairness that community actions can be strengthened.

Conclusion

Mike’s condition renders him totally dependent on his family. This takes a lot of energy and financial constraints on the whole family. He faces discriminatory policies in health care, financial struggles, and stigma. These issues also overflow to the rest of his family. As a key part of my brother’s journey, I have seen the benefits of better insurance coverage, education, a supportive community, and policies that are fair in terms of advancing positive health outcomes. In this discussion, Mike’s condition and his environment has shown that social determinants play a major role in influencing the health outcome of an individual.

References

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Crear-Perry, J., Correa-de-Araujo, R., Lewis Johnson, T., McLemore, M. R., Neilson, E., & Wallace, M. (2021). Social and structural determinants of health inequities in maternal health. Journal of Women’s Health, 30(2), 230-235. https://doi.org/10.1089/jwh.2020.8882

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