Social Determinants of Health

Health. When one thinks about his/her health, they might think of the state of being well. But what exactly defines well? It is common knowledge that eating junk food every day and smoking cigarettes is not good for ones health. However, health is influenced by multiple factors. Health starts in our homes, neighborhoods, workplaces, schools, etc. Social determinants of health include things such as   socioeconomic status, education, and access to health care. 

The TED talk by Dr. Manchanda, gives a perfect demonstration of how our environment has a huge impact on our health. Many health conditions can arise from being in a nasty/unsafe home, lack of health care, and unemployment. For example, someone who is unemployed and has a low socioeconomic status is extremely stressed about how she is going to pay this months bills. The adrenal gland in this individual will begin to release cortisol, the stress hormone. In times when we are stressed,  cortisol is released to control things such as motivation and fear. 

If our stress response is being activated consistently, health conditions such as anxiety, depression, and, sleeping problems may began to form. The prefrontal cortex and hippocampus are often helpful in managing stress but when in times of excessive stress they are at risk of being damaged.

As we learned in the TED talk, it is important for health care professionals to strive to be upstreamists. In order to treat patients with the best care, it is important to understand where they are coming from and get a better understanding of the life that they life. This is extremely important for occupational therapists because we use a holistic approach rather than focusing on our client's symptoms. The UTHSC OT program's requirement for service/professional development hours gives us the perfect opportunity to truly understand the important of being an upstreamists. 

As an occupational therapist, we will work with people of all races, social classes, and neighborhoods. Each individual client has a story and factors that determine the outcome of his/her health. The service hours that we are required to complete in the program will give us a chance to see this first hand and prepare ourselves for what we will be exposed to in our career.