When a person thinks about health, they consider it as a personal phenomenon. However, it is not as simple as that. Family, society, income, expenses, status, recognition, education, and healthcare, among others, play a very vital role in affecting an individual’s health. That’s where the concept of Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) arises where it links the gap between the effects of social factors on health outcomes.
Since COVID-19 and its restrictions, these factors have affected an individual’s health more than any virus could ever. That is why this article will discuss what SDOH is, its impact on personal health, and what an individual can do to avoid its negative impact. So let’s go ahead and give health a new perspective and a chance to be healthier-
What are Social Determinants of Health (SDOH)?
Viruses, flu, and any other medical, everyone thinks are the worst nightmares for health but learning about how much social factors affect an individual’s health, everyone will start taking them seriously. To understand their impact on health, it is important to discuss what SDOHs are.
SDOH are the non-medical factors that have a high toll on health. These are the factors that a person is born, ages, lives, works, and grows with. There are six key social determinants of health.
Food Access and Quality: The most important social determinant that has a huge impact on an individual’s health is quality and access to food. Food doesn’t just provide nutrients but also provides happiness and satisfaction. It is the basic need that a human requires and its access and quality take a huge toll on human health.
Social and Community Context: Factors that have not only affected physical health but have a high impact on mental and emotional health are social and communal determinants. Social bonding (both offline and online), social integration, support, stress, and discrimination, all can have a huge impact on the emotional and mental health of an individual.
Economic Status and Stability: Financial stability, employment, income, expenses, and debt, are the factors that determine the quality of life of an individual. A person with good earnings and savings has less to worry about when it comes to health, as they can get access to healthy living options comparatively easier than a person with low income and no savings.
Healthcare Access and Quality: The most important social determinant of health is the quality of healthcare infrastructure and its availability. Health coverage, provider availability, and quality of care are the key factors contributing to SDOH.
Education Access and Quality: Literacy level, language, early access to education, higher level of education, and communication training play a vital role in SDOH. A good education system determines the quality of life that a person will lead in the future because quality education opens the door to growth opportunities.
Neighborhood and Built Environment: House, transportation, safe surroundings, environment, and physical surroundings also play a vital role in SDOH. These factors create a sense of safety, security, and belongingness and if not available have a huge impact on human health.
Digital Wellness: Digital wellness has become “super” SDOH since the technology is growing and has become an integral part of human life. Digital growth has many benefits but has some severe drawbacks too and for that, it is important to have a healthy and balanced relationship with technology both at the workplace and in personal life.
What is the Impact of Each Factor on Health?
Socioeconomic Status (SES): There have been studies conducted on how socioeconomic disparities play a vital role in contributing to higher rates of anxiety and depression. It has been long seen that these factors various health outcomes as people with lower SES, usually face discrimination, limited healthcare access, high stressors, and a high possibility of getting exposed to environmental hazards. All these collectively not only threaten physical health but take a high toll on an individual’s mental health.
Education: Education has the power to make life healthy, and happy as it equips an individual to gain knowledge and skills that are required for a healthier lifestyle and long-term health outcomes. Education affects the way people get treated in society and not only that, lower education can directly correlate with compromised mental health well-being, high chances of chronic diseases, and poor health.
Neighborhood and Physical Environment: Neighborhoods and surroundings can have a huge impact on an individual’s health as they can make or break it. Living in polluted, unsafe, limited recreational spaces can cause physical and mental health challenges whereas access to green spaces, healthcare facilities, and safe neighborhoods can foster an individual’s well-being.
Employment: Employment is directly connected with mental health as employment status and working environment can either increase or decrease the stress of job security, work environment, and work-life balance. It can significantly contribute to disturbing the mental health of an individual as these factors are directly connected to factors like economic stability, job satisfaction, security, and lifestyle.
Social Support Networks: According to many researches, social networking has a huge impact on an individual’s health as a person with strong social support has the least chance to get suffering from mental health whereas living in social isolation, and lack of support can lead to anxiety and depression.
Digital Literacy- Digital Literacy has become one of the most important parts of SDOH as every individual needs to learn about the benefits and drawbacks of the digital world for a balanced and happy lifestyle and mental health.
One thing that needs to be learned from the explanation of SDOH is that all the factors are interconnected and codependent on each other. For instance, if there is an unavailability of good education, the person might not be able to find economic stability as education helps in getting employment. Similarly, other factors as well are connected.
These factors have a major impact on a person’s mental and emotional health and can affect mortality, morbidity, health care expenditure, health status, life expectancy, and functionality.
Impact and Awareness of SDOH has Increased after COVID-19!
Since the shockwaves of COVID-19 have hit the world, the significance of SDOH has come into existence and spotlight public health disorders. SDOH has always been there in society but the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the hidden fault lines within societies, exposing issues that have inexplicably affected certain demographics. As a person learns more and more about SDOH, it is easy to establish a strong and profound relation between the impact of COVID-19, and SDOH on mental health.
The pandemic not only affected human health with its deadly virus but also damaged human health beyond its immediate effect. Due to isolation, the stress level, anxiety, and social isolation left a huge impact on global mental health. Demographics who were already the victims of SDOH disparities, took the highest brunt of a pandemic on their mental health. High-stress situations arise due to unemployment, financial instability, and no social contact highlighting the role of SDOH on mental health and lifestyle.
Awareness about the causes of mental health outcomes is essential as it is not just limited to medical factors but also social, economic, and environmental contexts. The negative effects of SDOH can exacerbate mental health conditions, and to reduce and remove them it is important to create effective strategies to improve the global mental health well-being, and lifestyle of every individual.
It is important to integrate mental health well-being and lifestyle-fostering policies into SDOH for overall human well-being. Improving mental health and lifestyle is the most resilient and fostering way to improve societal conditions and mental health is one of the most important components of overall health.
Apart from mental health, SDOHs are important to shape lifestyle choices as education, financial stability, and healthcare infrastructure are important to influence an individual’s ability to make healthy decisions. Disparities in SDOH lead to poor nutrition, stress, sedentary behavior, discrimination, and substance abuse leading to a negative impact on overall health.
Let’s Fight Against Social Evil and Take a Chance to be Healthy!
It is important to address and educate every individual about the social determinants of health as they highlight the existing disparities in society. Learning about them will help society fight these social evils and will help form a multifaceted approach to strategy that will include policy changes, community engagement, and individual empowerment.
Policy Changes: Government and policymakers need to form a policy that addresses the key issues of SDOH such as quality education, inequality, differences of income, safer neighborhoods, and surroundings, and create equal and safe employment opportunities to create a healthy environment for better mental and physical health outcomes.
Community Engagement: It is as much every individual’s responsibility as a society and a government to foster a loving and caring community environment. It is important to form a strong social engagement to build strong health. Community-based SDOH, such as good food, emotional support, and affordable housing makes it easy for human health to foster.
Individual Empowerment: SDOH helps in improving decision-making and improves individual empowerment. Education and awareness campaigns can equip people with the knowledge and tools to navigate and mitigate the impact of social determinants on their health.
Digital Well-Being: Digital Literacy has become as essential as education since every individual has been exposed to it. Creating a digital literacy plan and educating individuals about basics such as screen time, social media usage, and creating a balance between real vs reel needs to be done through SDOH strategy.
To form a healthier society, it is important to establish a relationship between social determinants and health outcomes. By addressing these social disparities and addressing them with effective strategies and changes, society can be healthier and happier both physically and mentally. It can improve lifestyle choices and lead a healthy and fulfilling life. Creating equal opportunities for all acknowledges the interplay of social factors, combating social evils, and taking collective action to build a healthier and more equitable world.
