Analyzing Social Determinants and Health Outcomes: A Case Study on Heart Disease in Australia

1.  Analyse the impact of social, environmental and behavioural factors on the health of different populations
2.  Analyse population health outcomes and the major social, economic, political and cultural forces that contribute to health inequalities
3.  Apply theoretical frameworks to develop effective health promotion interventions.

Background

Tobacco consumption in any form, lack of physical activity, a diet high in fats and sugars, hypertension, obesity and diabetes are well?known behavioural risk factors for heart disease.

Populations with lower socioeconomic status are more likely to have increased behavioural risk factors for heart disease, including smoking and lack of physical activity (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2010). Although behavioural risk factors might be evident causes of diseases, public health professionals also consider social and environmental factors that contribute to the social gradient of health.

Choose a population group in Australia (e.g. men/women, low socioeconomic status, rural/remote, people with disabilities/mental illness).  address the following:

• Describe the burden of heart disease within your chosen population. Please describe burden of disease in terms of any two of following: incidence, prevalence, mortality, morbidity, survival or quality of life.

• Discuss how the social determinants of health can explain the burden of heart disease within your chosen population.

• Propose a public health intervention to prevent heart disease in your chosen population that addresses at least one social determinant of health (e.g. working conditions/ unemployment, social support, transport, housing conditions, education, access to healthcare).

• Explain what other sector/s could be involved aside from the health sector (e.g education, local government, transport, housing) in your public health intervention.

This task can be addressed by including two sections in the body of your assessment. Section 1 focuses on the burden of heart disease for your population and the social determinants relating to this. Section 2 proposes an intervention to address a social determinant and prevent heart disease in your chosen population. Please see the template below for more details about how to address this task.

• Provide a short introduction which gives the reader an overview of the whole assignment. Briefly introduce the public health problem (heart disease) and identify the specific population group that your report will focus on. Explain that your report will propose an intervention to address a social determinant of health for this population group.

Section 1: Social determinants of Heart disease for [Chosen population]

• Burden of heart disease within your chosen population

Provide an overview here of the burden of heart disease in your chosen population: referring to two of the following: incidence, prevalence, mortality, morbidity, survival or quality of life. In this section, you should summarise and appropriately reference information you have found from sources such as the Australian Institute of Health of Welfare (AIHW).

• Discuss how the social determinants of health can explain the burden of heart disease within your chosen population.

Here you should discuss how the burden of heart disease in your chosen population can be explained by social determinants. Consider t health inequities and the social gradient here, and how disadvantaged or advantaged your population is relative to the broader Australian population. Identify any particular social determinants that are relevant for understanding the burden of heart disease in this population group. Make sure you support all your points with evidence from appropriate sources.

Section 2: An intervention to address social determinants of Heart disease for [Chosen population]

• Propose a public health intervention to prevent heart disease in your chosen population that addresses at least one social determinant of health (e.g. working conditions/ unemployment, social support, transport, housing conditions, education, access to healthcare).

Propose an intervention here to prevent heart disease in your chosen population. This can be a completely new idea or you can draw on ideas from research you have done on existing interventions (for example, physical activity or nutrition interventions). Either way, it must be clearly explained how your intervention could prevent heart disease, and how it addresses one social determinant of health. Clearly identify what this social determinant of health is. In terms of justifying that this intervention can contribute to reducing heart disease, and why taking action on the particular social determinant of health is important, make sure you support all your points with evidence from appropriate sources.

• Explain what other sectors can be involved aside from the health sector

Identify here what other sectors could be involved in your intervention. Examples of other sectors include (but are not limited to) education, housing, transport, local government. Identifying one sector is fine. Clearly explain how this sector/s would be involved in the intervention and justify why including this sector is important. Support all your points with evidence from appropriate sources.

Conclusion

• Provide a brief conclusion which does not introduce any new information, but ‘ties the assessment together’. It should provide a recap of the information discussed in regard to the burden of heart disease for your population and social determinants of this. It should also give a short overview of the intervention that was proposed. This provides a useful overall summary for the reader.